Like the rest of us, the pandemic got Mike Weilbacher taking long walks in state parks, preserves, and other natural surroundings.  

Now Weilbacher, director of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, has put together a “Wild Philly” guidebook highlighting the region’s natural history, 101 species to know and 25 field trips you can take, plus four bonus trips, writes Frank Kummer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The 366-page guidebook includes 250 photographs and 25 maps.

One place highlighted is the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge in Tinicum. It’s “an extraordinary place to be in the spring,” Weilbacher said.

He wrote the book in 2020 and 2021, taking walks each weekend to see what might work for the book.

“So we came up with 25 walks you should do here — but the right time of year to do them. I went out to each place at least twice and took lots of notes. We included eight counties in the area,” he said.

You’ll catch spring wildflowers at the Schuylkill Center, frogs and turtles in the summertime at the Manayunk Canal and fall color and goldenrod at Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust.

A pine forest in winter is great to see at Woodford Cedar Run in New Jersey.

See the full interview Mike Weilbacher in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Checking out the wildlife at the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge.