News

Asbury Woods invites the community to stroll along the boardwalk adjacent to the Andrew J. Conner Nature Center and enjoy the holiday light display.

Asbury Woods’ volunteers play a vital role in helping us to achieve our goals of conserving the land, connecting people to nature, and inspiring environmental stewardship. We were fortunate to have 1492 individual and group volunteers spend 5228.

Pennsylvania is home to eight owl species that are either residents or occasional visitors, including the Barred Owl that is represented in Asbury Woods’ logo. But the one that many people recognize the easiest is the largest and most powerful of the Pennsylvania owls, the Great Horned Owl. These are the owls seen most in TV shows, movies, and advertisements when an owl or its low pitched five syllable hoot is needed for effect.

 Great Horned Owls are between 20 -23 inches in length, weighing up to three and a half pounds, and have wing spans up to five feet. They have brown feathers mottled with gray and white, and white upper breast feathers. They are known for the tufts of feathers on their heads. These are neither horns nor ears, but feathers covering the owl’s ear openings. Large, yellow-colored eyes are located on the front of the owl’s head and set in the center of bowl-shaped facial disks that help channel sounds to their ears. Owls have tremendous hearing and night vision.

These owls are able to fly silently through the forest at night. This, along with great hearing, night vision, sharp curved beaks, and strong sharp talons help make them very efficient nocturnal predators. A Great Horned Owl’s diet consists of smaller birds and mammals such as mice to mammals as large as foxes and skunks. They have a poor sense of smell so have no problems with having a skunk for dinner.

 Unlike other birds, owls nest and start raising their babies in winter and early spring. You can often hear the call of the male Great Horned, Barred, and Screech owls as early as December as they stake out territory, work to attract a mate and start nesting. Great Horned Owls do not build their own nests but clean up and use old crow or hawk nests. Female Great Horned Owls typically lay their eggs in February. This early nesting is advantageous because when the babies are large enough to start learning how to hunt for food, their prey’s young are starting to leave their homes to start learning how to survive on their own.

If you want to see what a Great Horned Owl looks like up close, we invite you to visit the taxidermy specimen in the exhibit hall of the Nature Center as part of our Year of Wildlife exhibit, Wild About Wildlife: Discovering Pennsylvania’s Native Species. The exhibit can be viewed during regular hours. The Nature Center is free to visit.

The first week of September Asbury Woods will debut a new interactive trail map and visitor experience through Engage by Cell, a recognized leader in mobile technology solutions. The new program will allow visitors to use a QR code to have a dynamic trail map in their hands. “Blue Dot” waypoint locating will use GPS to show visitors where they are on the trail system to enhance navigation and wayfinding. The program will also include points of interest along the trails to provide a deeper level of engagement for visitors who want to know more about the flora, fauna and history of Asbury Woods. Seasonable updates will ensure that there is always something new to learn whether a first-time visitor or a frequent trail user.

Allie started volunteering with Asbury Woods in 2022 and has already had a huge impact donating over 400 hours of her time! After retiring, Allie came to Asbury Woods looking for a way to utilize her undergraduate knowledge in biology and chemistry. Since coming on board, Allie has volunteered at festivals, City Nature
Challenge, Cyclefest, Children’s Water Festival, at countless hikes, and has spent many hours teaching children about nature. Allie states that, “A few of my favorite things about volunteering at Asbury Woods are teaching macroinvertebrates and water quality chemistry tests, as well as working with Asbury Wood’s Environmental Educators and learning more about nature.”

Allie’s dedication and appreciation for nature is an asset to the entire community and Asbury Woods organization. Thank you, Allie, for always stepping in when we need a hand!

Kate started volunteering with Asbury Woods in 2022, where she started as part of the Animal Care Crew and later as a summer camp assistant. Since then, Kate has donated over 200 hours of her time. One of her favorite parts of volunteering at Asbury Woods is caring for our resident ambassador animals, particularly the box turtle, Fridge. Kate says, “I love working with all the school groups and seeing a love for science and nature in summer campers.” She originally began volunteering at Asbury Woods as part of a school service requirement but has stayed on because she loves the atmosphere and how nice the staff are. We love having the younger generation as volunteers and hope that even more choose Asbury Woods as their way to give back.

Thank you, Kate, for all the time and energy you’ve put in with our Summer Campers!

This spring, Asbury Woods put out a call for help for Facilities and Grounds volunteers, and Jon Hurst answered that call! Since then, he has dedicated over 50 hours of his time to projects such as boardwalk repair and other trail maintenance. Jon was familiar with Asbury Woods as a walking destination, often coming with his wife. Jon states, “I enjoy giving back to Asbury Woods because I see it as an asset in Erie that lots of people use and appreciate.” Jon says he has found the experience worthwhile and would recommend it to others thinking about volunteering. 

We certainly appreciate all the work you have done and hope that others will be inspired by your efforts to volunteer as well. Thank you, Jon, for all your hard work!

In July, two of our Educational Educators got the opportunity to go on professional development trips! Casey Keating, took part in a weeklong immersive workshop about Lake Erie aboard the EPA’s research vessel, The Lake Guardian. Meanwhile, Emma Mader spent a week at the National Audubon's Hog Island Camp on a boat trip around the restored Atlantic Puffin and Tern colony on Eastern Egg Rock!

Asbury Woods education staff Sarah Bennett, Casey Keating, Emma Mader, Erin Paquette, and Amy Shook, along with MTSD Environmental Education Coordinator, Steve Wasiesky, met with over 170 other environmental educators at the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators Conference at Pocono Environmental Education Center March 17-19, 2024.

Donor Spotlight: J. Thomas Tree ServiceAs owner of J. Thomas Tree Service, Jake Thomas lives and breathes trees.

Asbury Woods receives PRSA Silver Award! We are pleased to announce that Asbury Woods won a silver award for its "Year of Water" programming at the Niagara Awards held by the NW Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Asbury Woods Adopts Conservation Stewardship PlanIn July 2023, the Asbury Woods board of directors took a monumental step forward in Asbury Woods’ mission to protect, manage and interpret our property by adopting a formal Conservation Stewardship Plan for the 216 acres owned by Asbury Woods.

Educational Improvement Tax Credit Donations Positively Impacting Students at Asbury WoodsPennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program allows organizations to maximize their ability to positively impact the community while also reducing their corporate tax liability.