Our nature preserves are open to the public 365 days per year from sunrise to sunset, providing natural places that offer peace and respite for all. Willistown Conservation Trust owns and manages Hartman Meadow, Ashbridge, Kirkwood, Kestrel Hill and Rushton Woods Preserves. We maintain these lands to preserve and enhance … Learn more about our nature preserves.
Autumn Offspring : A Collaboration with Natural Lands
As summer temperatures linger on, we receive hints of winter’s coming. Food sources begin to waver. Northerly winds bring waves of cooler temperatures from boreal forests, and along with it returns the excitement of fall migration. In late summer, invertebrate adults, nymphs, and larvae emerge, creating a perfect storm of conditions that usher along rainbows of avian sprites as they make their way to warmer climates of the south, where food abundance dwarfs that of what is available on their breeding grounds. By this time of the season, bird numbers have substantially increased- an entire continent’s new crop of juveniles brought into the world for the first time. This new cohort will learn how to forage for themselves, practice courting and territorial song which sounds like teenage voice cracklings, and most of all, travel extraordinary distances en route to warmer climes and food availability.
Autumn songbirds of Southeastern PA include insectivorous specialists such as Olive-sided Flycatcher, Bay-breasted and Connecticut Warbler, and Philadelphia Vireo. Frugivores that gorge on the abundant fruits and berries from our native shrubs bring Gray-cheeked and Swainson’s Thrush through our corner of the world. All these and more use the Willistown countryside as refugia and refueling stopovers, which is on full display at WCT’s premier nature preserve, Rushton Woods and Farm.
Join leaders Aaron Coolman and special guest Debbie Beer of Natural Lands, as they guide a group of wildlife enthusiasts through the mysteries of brownish juveniles and the worn plumages of proud new parents, all found in our own backyard of Rushton Farm and Woods Preserve. This is the second of a two-part collaboration between Willistown Conservation Trust and regional land trust giant, Natural Lands. We’re excited to see you!
