Observable changes in Plummer’s Hollow biodiversity, 1971-2011

This is a quick-and-dirty attempt to assess changes in biodiversity in Plummer’s Hollow during Bonta family tenancy. We are not experts, especially where things like microscopic taxa and non-vascular plants are concerned, and it’s more than likely we’ve missed some things.

Mammals new to Plummer’s Hollow since 1970s

• fox squirrel
• eastern coyote (new species in PA since 1950s; first seen here in early 90s)
• fisher (once extirpated from state, now firmly established and spreading rapidly)

Mammals much more abundant since 1970s

• black bear (breeding on mountain since late 80s or early 90s)
• porcupine
• bobcat (best sightings from 2006 on)

Mammals less abundant since 1970s

• red fox (prob. displaced by coyotes)
• red squirrel (common around house in early 70s, very infrequent vistor thereafter)

Breeding birds new to Plummer’s Hollow since 1970s

• winter wren (first began breeding in 1993, the summer after an early, wet snowstorm felled over 100 trees across Plummer’s Hollow Run)
• Carolina wren (northward expansion of its range probably facilitated by global warming)
• red-bellied woodpecker (first appeared after the gypsy moth invasion in the early 90s killed lots of oaks)
• cerulean warbler (breeding since at least mid-80s)
• golden-crowned kinglet (nesting in planted Norway spruce grove beginning in 2002)
• black-throated blue warbler (breeding since late 90s)
• common raven (resident since 1980)
• black-throated green warbler (confirmed as breeder in 1993)
• Acadian flycatcher (first confirmed breeding in 1995)
• wood duck (breeding on the mountain in 2005 and 06)
• black vulture (occasional visitor beginning around 2004; prob. breeding in adjacent Sinking Valley)
• barred owl (year-round resident since 2007)

Breeding birds either new, or at least much more abundant since 1970s (uncertainty due to our poorer attention to such things in the early years)

• solitary (blue-headed) vireo
• Kentucky warbler (confirmed as breeders in 1993)

Breeding birds more abundant since 1970s

• worm-eating warbler
• wild turkey

Breeding birds less abundant since 1970s

• wood thrush (still common, but maybe only half as abundant)
• great-horned owl (ditto — West Nile virus victim?)

Reptiles and amphibians

• steep decline in wood frog numbers since mid-90s
• more garter snakes
• possibly fewer wood turtles (but they were never common)
• box turtle population possibly holding steady (we regularly find juveniles)

Invasive plants new since early 1970s

• ailanthus (tree-of-heaven)
• privet
• barberry, both European and Japanese species
• stiltgrass
• hayscented fern (first large patch in late 70s)
• multiflora rose (first sighted in late 70s?)

Native plants extirpated since 1970s

• butternut (originally, there were five individuals scattered across the property. American butternut is globally endangered, being wiped out by a blight throughout its range)
• skunk cabbage (due to logging in 100-acre Helsel tract — the only area where it occurred — 1991)
• American ginseng (? — based on report of one individual who claimed to have collected it here in 1970s. We never saw any ourselves)

Native plants newly established since 1970s

• wood betony
• spring beauties
• nodding ladies’ tresses

Native plants more abundant since 1970s

• purple trillium
• yellow Mandarin
• Solomon’s-seal
• pinesap
• rhododendron
• pink lady’s-slipper
• Canada mayflower
• mayapple
• cutleaf grape fern
• rattlesnake fern
• red elderberry
• wild hydrangea
• maple-leafed viburnum

Native plants suffering declines since 1970s (but some now returning due to recent decline in white-tailed deer population)

• staghorn sumac
• black elderberry
• blackberry
• black raspberry
• red raspberry
• pasture rose
• Joe Pye weed

New invertebrates since 1970s

• gypsy moth caterpillar
• Asian ladybug
• deer tick
• various longhorn beetles (due to dramatic increase in dead trees)

Invertebrates extirpated

• Cicindela rufiventris (a tiger beetle formerly found in bare, sandy areas on powerline, which are now covered with hayscented fern)
• native ladybug species