With warmer than usual temperatures, many of us have been spending more time outside this winter. And with some days feeling almost spring-like, it’s a great opportunity to explore the Wissahickon Valley Park.

With less leaf cover, it becomes much easier to see things that may be obscured during other seasons. And though the bird and animal life may not be immediately apparent, the Wissahickon is full of activity.

Take a walk and look for some of the trees whose distinctive features make them stand out in the winter woods. You will see river birch, with its pink, peeling bark; black cherry trees, with their “burnt potato chip” bark; and hackberry, with smooth gray bark punctuated with warty ridges. The shagbark hickory is easy to identify with its namesake bark. Sugar maples, seen throughout the park, have a fairly distinctive bark — smooth, with long flaps of raised areas. These trees will soon be ready for maple-sugar tapping near Cedars House and on the trails near the Wissahickon Environmental Center.

Along the hills, you can see Eastern hemlock, the evergreen that is also the Pennsylvania state tree. Native rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) can be seen clinging to the slopes. They are nature’s thermometer — the leaves curl tighter in cold temperatures. The green of Christmas fern brightens the bracken everywhere you look — this evergreen fern grows throughout the park.

Walk to higher spots throughout the park — with the leaves down, you will be rewarded with gorgeous vistas of the park and surrounding area. 

There is still a great deal of animal life in the Wissahickon in the winter months. Gray squirrels, red fox and white-tailed deer are active throughout the winter, and some of the species of birds that call the Wissahickon home stick around in the colder months. You might spot woodpeckers, nuthatches, creepers, juncos, sparrows, cardinals, kingfishers, chickadees, goldfinches, owls, robins, bluebirds and several kinds of hawks. And of course, mallard ducks and Canada geese often congregate in or along the creek, especially near Valley Green.