I was back home in Philadelphia this past week to spend Thanksgiving with my family so I was unable to return to the silver maple grove, however, I was able to spend some time at a new location in the Wissahickon Valley Park.
The spot which I found is located on the orange trail of the Wissahickon Valley Park trail network and is about 100 feet in elevation above the Wissahickon creek, which more-or-less bisects the park.
Unlike the Intervale where the Silver Maple Grove is located, the Wissahickon Valley Park is not located on a floodplain forest. Because of this, I found that the species of plants were remarkably different at my Philadelphia site. Instead of silver maples and eastern cottonwoods, I spent my time here surrounded by predominantly american beech trees as well as some red oaks, chestnut oaks, and eastern hemlocks. Mountain laurel is also incredibly abundant and speckles the otherwise quite barren ground.
It was an incredible day for wildlife viewing in the park, as I managed to spot at least three different Red-tailed Hawks during the hour I spent at my spot. Especially remarkable was the lack of fear that these hawks seemed to have towards me (and my sister who was with me as well). The first hawk which we spotted was perched in a tree no more than 10 feet away from us, and the second was on a branch equally distant but the hawk was clutching a fully intact dead squirrel in its talons. I also spotted a unusually late-season woolly bear caterpillar.
