I was hoping to build on last week’s warbler report, but my only warbler observation this week was one American redstart in my yard. I also saw red-eyed vireos in both the Crum Woods meadow and the Saul Wildlife Preserve in Rose Valley, and the northern water snake basking in the stream bank rocks in the Saul Wildlife Preserve.

Also in the Saul Wildlife Preserve, Chris Bourke saw a common garter snake on September 8.

Lily Scott of Swarthmore heard an eastern screech owl near the intersection of President Avenue and Melrose Terrace in Rutledge on September 10.
Gina Eberly found a saddleback moth caterpillar in her Swarthmore yard. Dave Eberly said, “We didn’t find out until afterward that the thing can inflict a painful sting with those bristles. Fortunately Gina’s fingers escaped unscathed.” Dave also submitted a dramatic photo of a ruby-throated hummingbird checking out a monarch butterfly that had recently emerged from its cocoon.
Amy Graves had two interesting sightings on the 300 block of Cornell Avenue. First, she and her dog encountered a Virginia opossum: “After a few moments of eye contact, it walked away in a leisurely way, to hide in some bushes ... a first for me in Swarthmore.” But a more dramatic tableau unfolded at her bird feeder: a Norway rat was eating spilled corn beneath the feeder, she said, when “Suddenly, there was a flurry of white and brown feathers. A huge bird of prey had swooped down with a cry. I got a glimpse of the rat ... being carried away in the big bird’s talons.” The behavior and description suggest a red-tailed hawk.

Please send reports and photographs of your sightings from within Nether Providence Township and Rose Valley, Rutledge and Swarthmore boroughs by using the form below.