In response to lots of inquiries, we are working on an appropriate insert for your existing Passport book. We have been asked by DCNR not to launch the insert just yet. Keep an eye on the website news blog and our social media!

Apologies that this is a shortened Fridays this week. We have been hosting the [virtual] annual gathering of the National Association of State Park Foundations so time ran short.

In any event, it was really hard to pick photographs for the week. The Book of Faces is simply filled with amazing pictures. It's a banner year for foliage and it's really no wonder autumn is cited by many as "my favorite season." 

Biker Jim shared a series of beautiful photographs of Spruce Flats Bog at Laurel Summit State Park/Forbes State Forest which is a unique and dazzling setting any time. Give this one a click to the vertical.

A fascinating story was making the rounds of media this week. In the event you missed it, it was the story of a rose-breasted grosbeak/scarlet tanager hybrid that had been spotted in Pennsylvania. I suspect that those of you who paid better attention than I know that the bird was actually found in 2020 by birder Steve Gosser and was subsequently netted by Steve and Bob Mulvihill of the National Aviary. What was reported THIS week was that the DNA of the critter was confirmed to have been the offspring of a lady grosbeak and a male tanager. 

Alas, a subsequent search of the location (according to one source, McConnells Mill State Park) in 2021 did not turn up the bird so "we'll never know" if the little guy was able to reproduce. Join me in hoping that he did.

We have a lot of fans of the online Jigsaw Explorer included each week in this email. The folks at Clinton County Economic Partnership & Visitors Bureau have created a gorgeous 550-piece IRL puzzle featuring this stunner of a shot by Matt Hill of Mill Hall as their first annual "Clinton County Landmarks" puzzle. Orders are being taken by the bureau at their website. 

We are investigating the idea of doing one or two of these ourselves, perhaps with the Best in Show winners each year in our photo contest. What do you think? Would you be interested?

For our first October question we saluted the Friends of Ridley Creek and their park's 50th anniversary including an activity on the MUT. The MUT? Yes. Their Multi-Use Trail.

Another mutt features in this week's email - the tanabeak. What percentage of wild bird species have been documented with hybridization?

Enter each week to increase your chances of a fabulous prize at the end of the month when I'll draw one entry from all correct answers received during the month.

This week's look ahead takes us to the last weekend of October. Spooky!

Put a bookmark on the PPFF Events calendar and DCNR Calendar of Events so you never miss an announcement.

Wrapping up the season in style

Blue boxes locate events; green photographs and news. 

Poem Autumn (Resignation) by Humbert Wolfe. A rather bittersweet one.