Sarah Flood GOLDNAME: Sarah Flood
LOCATION: Glen Rock, Pennsylvania
AWARD DATE: December 30, 2009

ANIMALS

  1. Virginia Opossum Didelphis virginiana
  2. Eastern Cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus
  3. Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus
  4. Woodchuck Marmota monax
  5. Eastern Gray Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis
  6. White-footed Mouse Peromyscus leucopus
  7. Common Raccoon Procyon lotor
  8. Striped Skunk Mephitis mephitis
  9. White-tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus
  1. Canada Goose Branta canadensis
  2. Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
  3. Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
  4. Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
  5. Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
  6. Ruby-throated Hummingbird Achilochus colubris
  7. Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus
  8. Barn Swallow Hirudo rustica
  9. Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
  10. American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
  11. White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis
  12. Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus (Parus) bicolor
  13. Black-capped Chickadee Poecile (Parus) atricapillus
  14. Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis
  15. American Robin Turdus migratorius
  16. Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum
  17. Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
  18. European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
  19. Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
  20. Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina
  21. Song Sparrow Meolspiza melodia
  22. Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis
  23. Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
  24. Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
  25. House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus
  26. American Goldfinch Carduelis tristis
  1. American Toad Bufo americanus
  2. Woodhouse’s Toad Bufo Woodhousii
  1. Silverfish Lepisma saccharina
  2. European Earwig Forficula aricularia
  3. Chinese Mantis Tenodera aridifolia
  4. Differential Grasshopper Melanoplus differentialis
  5. Field Cricket Gryllus pennsylvanicus
  6. Small Milkweed Bug Lygaeus kalmii
  7. Green Stink Bug Acrosternum hilare
  8. May Beetles Phyllophaga species
  9. Japanese Beetle Popillia japonica
  10. Pennsylvania Firefly Photuris pennsylvanicus
  11. Convergent Lady Beetle Hippodamia convergens
  12. Red Milkweed Beetle Tetraopes tetrophthalmus
  13. House Fly Musca domestica
  14. Eastern Yellow Jacket Vespula maculifrans
  15. Bald-faced Hornet Vespula maculata
  16. Eastern Carpenter Bee Xylocopa virginica
  17. American Bumble Bee Bombus pennsylvanicus
  18. Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxenes
  19. Monarch Danaus plexippus
  20. Tomato Hornworm Hawk Moth Manduca quinquemaculata
  21. Woolly Bear Caterpillar Moth Pyrrharctia isabella
  22. Gypsy Moth Lymantria dispar
  1. Earthworm Lumbricus and other genera
  1. Millipedes Spirobolus and other genera
  2. Carolina Wolf Spider Lycosa carolinensis
  3. Daring Jumping Spider Phidippus audax
  4. American House Spider Achaearanea tepidariorum
  5. Daddy-long-legs Leiobunum and other genera
  6. American Dog Tick Dermacentor variabilis
  1. Leopard Slug Limax maximus

PLANTS

  1. Eastern Hemlock Tsuga canadensis
  2. Pin Oak Quercus palustris
  3. Chestnut Oak Quercus montana
  4. Scarlet Oak Quercus coccinea
  5. Black Oak Quercus velutina
  6. Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra
  7. Flowering Dogwood Cornus florida
  8. American Holly Ilex apaca
  9. Sassafras Sassafras albidum
  10. Silver Maple Acer saccharinum
  11. Red Mulberry Morus rubra
  12. Highbush Blackberry Rubus allegheniensis
  1. Chicory Cichorium intybus
  2. Field Thistle Cirsium discolor
  3. Daisy Fleabane Erigeron annuus
  4. Orange Hawkweed Hieracium aurantiacum
  5. Common Buttercup Ranunculus acris
  6. Queen Anne’s Lace Daucus carota
  7. Poison Ivy Toxicodendron (Rhus) radicans
  8. Virginia Creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia
  9. Orchard Grass Dactylis glomerata
  10. Timothy Phleum pratense
  11. Japanese Honeysuckle Lonicera japonica
  12. Common Milkweed Asclepias syriaca
  13. Purple Milkwort Polygala sanguinea
  14. Hedge Bindweed Calystegia sepium
  15. Crown Vetch Coronilla varia
  16. Red Clover Trifolium pratense
  17. White Clover Trifolium repens
  18. White Campion Silene latifolia
  19. Pokeweed Phytolacca americana
  20. Wood Betony Pedicularis canadensis
  21. Butter and Eggs Linera vulgaris

REMARKS ON THE FIVE SPECIES
OF MOST INTEREST TO SARAH:

Sassafras: My introduction to sassafras as a kid was our neighbor showing me how to wash and suck on the roots. They taste almost like root beer. I’ve always loved how the leaves are different shapes, as well.

White-breasted Nuthatch: One of my favorite birds to watch. I really love watching them walk down a tree trunk, and I think their coloring is beautiful. I think it’s interesting how they almost never walk up the trunk, althought I’m sure they can do it easily. It’s always down.

The Common Raccoon has long been one of my favorite animals, ever since I got a stuffed one as a little kid. I read Rascal in school, and was absolutely hooked, but nothing beat the day I got to hold a baby raccoon in my arms and feel its little hands gripping my shirt. I don’t often see them in my area, except at night along the road. A lot of them get hit by cars around here, and are generally thought of as pests, if they are thought of at all. We had one that discovered our shiny chimney a few years back, and would sit up on our roof beside it night after night, which wouldn’t have been a problem except that it also left raccoon droppings all over the roof.

Toads were one of my favorite animals as a little girl. I used to keep them in a five- gallon bucket, giving them moss to hide under and a dish of water. Of course, I let them go after a few days. I remember rescuing them from my grandmother’s window-wells and on a good day could collect seven or eight this way. I think toads more than anything were the creature that started my fascination with the natural world. I would examine their feet, that look so much like hands, and feel the texture of their skin with absolute fascination. I never thought they were ugly.

Earthworm: I chose to write here about the earthworm because I recently did some reading about them and found them fascinating. It shows that even the most basic- seeming of creatures can have life histories that are incredible. I found out that they are hermaphrodites, which cleared up something I had heard before,which was that they can switch sexes. I found that fascinating, and it makes sense, because what are the odds of a male and female finding eachother otherwise? I also found out that they drag leaves down underground and then eat them. I didn’t know that either. Somebody had told me they ate dirt, and I always believed it. Fascinating little creatures, certainly.

SARAH'S ESSAY:

I began this list as a challenge to myself, to see if I could come up with 100 species in my area. I limited myself to my yard, the woodlot across the street, and my own road, approximately a mile in one direction and ¾ of a mile in the other. However, most of the species came from my yard, the surrounding cornfields within a few dozen yards, and the woodlot. Only perhaps a dozen species, including the Red-Winged Blackbird, came from much farther away, say down the road half a mile.

I learned a lot in compiling my list. One was that, while I could recognize many species, there were some large gaps in what I knew, especially about the trees growing right across the street, as well as the species of plants that grow around them.

Probably, though, the most exciting thing was that I learned just how much nature I do live among. I always thought there wasn’t much to see in my area, but I was wrong. That I didn’t have to struggle to come up with 100 species I was familiar with was a testament to that. (And to my mother’s encouragement when I was younger to notice and draw plants and animals in our yard.) And it encouraged me to get out there and learn all I can about those species. How they interact, what is eating what, where they live, etc. I could probably study what is right here for the rest of my life and never run out of subjects. The insects and wildflowers especially intrigued me. I don’t tend to look for insects much, but now I am going to. Because I know there are far more species around her than I have on this list. And I’m excited.

My goal is to compile a second 100 species list. I’ve got nine so far, and while I have a long way to go, I think I can do it. And that will be the real challenge. It will get me to look harder than I’ve ever looked before, and get out there more than I have. And it’s the beginning of really knowing where I live.