PHILADELPHIA — Even though the Phillies fell far short of their goal to win the World Series in 2024, their home runs are impacting the city in a very green way. Home Runs for Trees, a 13-years-and-counting partnership between Asplundh, the Phillies organization and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), plants one tree in the Greater
More
Imagine walking on an abandoned pier in Philadelphia and entering a lush park surrounded by a mosaic of wetlands. An elegant heron jabs downward with its long, sharp beak, and you peer into the clear water to see what it’s after. Schools of fish swim over mussels amid waving green plants. This is the concept
More
It was a warm summer morning and shirtless, sweaty runners were just coming off the Wissahickon Trail. As they ascended out of the picturesque valley in Northwest Philadelphia to start the workday, a woman named Mary and two companions were heading the other direction, already getting down to business. Their mission looked a little like
More
Last week, I plucked a tick off the neck of a teenager I had guided on a canoe outing. (It came off easily, not having latched on yet.) Presumably the tick had climbed on as the teen had walked through some tall grass after the boats were put away. With single-minded determination, the tick had
More
Among the many reporting experiences accumulated in my 13-year career as a journalist, a walk in Philadelphia’s John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in 2022 stands out as one of the most memorable. I was invited there by various leaders from the Black birding community, who were in town to celebrate the 3rd Annual Black Birders
More
Even the most dedicated naturalists have their boundaries when it comes to cohabitating with wildlife. And for many home gardeners, deer are enemy number one. It’s possible to acknowledge that we’ve largely taken over deer habitats and, simultaneously, feel a potent ire while watching your landscaping efforts blithely munched by these creatures. According to Penn
More
Nature enthusiasts often speak of a “spark species” that inspired their love of nature; it’s hard to think of one more popular than the monarch butterfly, which captivates thousands across North America with its flashy colors and extraordinary annual migration. These iconic butterflies hold a name brand recognition not given to most insects. We see
More
Who is walking around the neighborhood while you’re not looking? Humans share the city and suburbs with a cast of other mammals that do their best to avoid us by only coming out at night. To see these shy beasts, scientists use infrared-triggered, battery-powered cameras. In a setup often called a “camera trap,” they can
More
It’s 7:30 a.m. on a Friday in late March and Stephen Maciejewski is walking around Center City looking for dead or injured birds. He isn’t hoping to find any. But it’s spring migration, a time when millions of birds pass through the city on their way north. Maciejewski knows many of them are bound to
More
Who doesn’t love lady beetles (aka ladybugs)? They are bright and cheery with that cute, round shape, plus they help gardeners by gobbling up plant-sucking aphids. There appear to be plenty of them; they’re not hard to find outside from spring through fall, and at the end of the growing season, they often make themselves
More