Early in April in southeastern Pennsylvania, many green shoots emerge from crunchy carpets of dead, fallen leaves on woodland floors and push toward the sunlight.

Raptors are birds of prey, including hawks, eagles, and owls, that capture other creatures for food.

Raptors are birds of prey, including hawks, eagles, and owls, that capture other creatures for food.

During February, some years ago, while driving through snow-covered farmland in Lancaster County, I saw a flock of over a hundred small birds “bounding” low in flight, down to snowdrifts in a large field.

During February, some years ago, while driving through snow-covered farmland in Lancaster County, I saw a flock of over a hundred small birds “bounding” low in flight, down to snowdrifts in a large field.

The beautiful and hardy harlequin ducks and long-tailed ducks are small species that adapted to wintering in specific saltwater niches along North America’s Atlantic Coast, from Canada to Virginia.

The beautiful and hardy harlequin ducks and long-tailed ducks are small species that adapted to wintering in specific saltwater niches along North America’s Atlantic Coast, from Canada to Virginia.

Tall, picturesque loblolly pine trees dominate Southern lowlands from Louisiana along the Gulf Coast to northern Florida and up the Atlantic Coast to the Delmarva Peninsula, located between the Chesapeake and Delaware bays.

Thickets are a dense, human-made community of young deciduous trees, shrubbery and vines, and tall weeds and grasses growing where they took root in soil that was disturbed, then abandoned.

Thickets are a dense, human-made community of young deciduous trees, shrubbery and vines, and tall weeds and grasses growing where they took root in soil that was disturbed, then abandoned.

Pokeweed and staghorn sumac trees are plants that have red foliage in September and October.

During summer, the many large, broad shallows and mudflats of Lake Onalaska, a large backwater of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin, are resting and feeding habitats for a variety of water-living birds.

I remember at least four kinds of predatory animals having killed and eaten other, smaller creatures on our suburban lawn.

I remember at least four kinds of predatory animals having killed and eaten other, smaller creatures on our suburban lawn.

One sunny spring morning a few years ago, I had the thrill of seeing a beautiful, supple mink, with a mouse in its mouth, dash gracefully across a park lawn and down a woodchuck hole along the Cocalico Creek.

One sunny spring morning a few years ago, I had the thrill of seeing a beautiful, supple mink, with a mouse in its mouth, dash gracefully across a park lawn and down a woodchuck hole along the Cocalico Creek.

Sycamore trees commonly grow along creeks and rivers through much of the United States, including here in southeastern Pennsylvania.

At least four kinds of small birds raise young along the shores of clear-running woodland streams in southeastern Pennsylvania, as elsewhere in the eastern United States.

Some short-grass lawns in southeastern Pennsylvania are made attractive and interesting with a variety of adaptable, flowering plants close to the ground.

Red-shouldered hawks and barred owls are interesting, handsome counterparts of each other; both species live and raise young in wooded bottomlands, often near bodies of water.