New Years Day With the Birds

About halfway between my house and my parents house, just outside the town of Doylestown, is the Peace Valley Nature Center, located on the end of Lake Galena.

Having been asked to stop at the Doylestown Mennonite Church to see if a certain Godshalk family was buried in the church yard cemetery, I made plans to meet my mom afterwards at the nature center, which is just up the road a piece.


In the quiet stillness, surrounded by old stones, I found the gravestones of William (1781 - 1837) and his wife, Magdalena Kratz Godshalk (1782 - 1868). I've never seen a gravestone quite like this one. The green stone says, "In memory of William Godshalk who died the 12th day of December 1837, aged 56 years (obliterated) month and (obliterated) days. I saw that his wife outlived him by many years.

At the nature center, located on Chapman Road, is a bridge over the Neshaminy Creek.


This bridge, now closed to vehicle traffic, is no spring chicken, having been built in 1886.


From Chapman's Bridge, one can see down the 3-mile long, man made, Lake Galena, created when Bucks County flooded the valley in 1972.

Before that time, much of the lakebed had been part of the village of Leven, the economy of which was based largely on lead ore (known as Galena) mining. Mining of galena (in addition to small amounts of zinc, silver, copper and gold) had been mildly successful since the 1860's.

Down beneath the surface of the water, near the center of the 3-mile long lake, are the long abandoned lead mine shafts and smelting operations.

Water from the lake is used to provide cooling water for the PECO*-owned Limerick Nuclear Power Plant and for augmenting public drinking water supplies. It is also used for recreation by man and by "more than 250 species of birds."

*Philadelphia Electric Co.


The nature center end of the park has miles of trails winding through the woods along the bank of the Neshaminy Creek. Neshaminy is a Native American word that means "the double drinking place," or "where we drink twice".


On New Years Day (and the week later), the recreational folks were out in force, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather - and so were the birds.


I saw a pair of Snow Geese, much to my mom's excitement, as we've never seen them before in Pennsylvania (they cover the empty corn and wheat fields in Maryland when they migrate.)


Lurking around the rocks at the foot of the dam, I spotted a Great Blue Heron. I think this one was actually a little smaller than most as they run to 4 feet tall. They usually eat small fish, though they will feed on a wide range of shrimp, crabs, aquatic insects, rodents and other small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and small birds. Herons locate their food by sight and usually swallow it whole. It is quite a sight to see the lump in their necks as they strive to "get something down."


With a great commotion, a large flock (or brace) of Mallard Ducks took to the air when disturbed by a large raptor. In this case, I think it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk, looking for dinner. I got a blurry shot of the hawk (here).


Circling the lake, we returned to Chapman's Bridge, where the widening of the Neshaminy Creek makes a small pond that holds fish, snakes, and my favorite, turtles. Even unseasonable weather wasn't going to bring the warm sunshine loving turtles out of their winter hibernation, buried in the mud.


As I mentioned, Chapman's Bridge is closed to vehicle traffic. A braided wire, strung between two bollards and into this (un?)fortunate OCHA's head, blocks the road at one end of the bridge. I thought it had pierced ears, but Ladystyx tells me this OCHA is a rare Nordic Viking. My mom thinks it's a University of Texas Longhorn fan. What do you think?


Peeking into the Nature Center's giftshop, I spotted a couple t-shirts that made me laugh loud enough to have the saleswoman come over to see if I was alright. My mom wanted to know if I was taking my medication regularly, like I'm supposed to.

Well... I thought it was funny.

:)