Wildlife at the Brandywine Valley Association

The Brandywine Valley Association is a wildlife preserve. They monitor habitat for the animals in Chester County. Their goal is to restore the many natural species to the area. BVA research has discovered four main groups of wildlife that live in Unionville area: birds, mammals, insects, and plant and animal invasive.

The first group, which is made up of birds, has raptors and seed eating birds. Raptors are the eagle, hawk, and owl families, which eat rodents, fish, and smaller birds. The only two eagles left in the area are the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle. They both are a rare sight and can usually be seen by rivers, hunting. The red-tailed hawk can be seen high up in the air, and are admired by many bird watchers. The kestrel, or sparrow hawk, is a smaller bird, and is often seen hovering in one spot above a field looking for small rodents.

The owls in the area are the great-horned owl, screech owl, and the barn owl. The great-horned owl is called this because of its feathers that stick off its head like horns. The screech owl is a small owl that makes a loud noise to call for a mate. Thebarn owl got its name because it nests in barns, using the hay for its nests and hunting in the barn for mice or rats.

The seed eating birds are very common in the area. Some of them include the cardinal, junco, goldfinch, tufted titmouse, morning dove, chickadee, red-winged blackbird, and crow. These small birds like to collect seeds from certain plants and bring them to their nests to eat. Their favorite plants are sunflowers, thistle, and berry producing bushes.

The second group, the mammals, is mostly made up of rodents. The local rodent family consists of gray squirrel, groundhog, eastern rabbit, field mouse, door mouse, opossum, and little brown bat. The gray squirrel is commonly found in the woods or at the edge of the woods. The groundhog is a quiet creature that lives in a tunnel in the ground. This can be very dangerous for horseback riders and off road vehicles. The eastern rabbit is a herbivore that changes color in winter and can produce up to eight babies every two months. The field mouse makes its nest out of grass, and is prey for many other animals because it is always out in the open looking for food. The smaller door mouse hides in and under wood. These are the mice that can live in your house. The opossum is an animal that hides all day and sneaks out at night looking for insects. The little brown bat is the only bat that lives close by. This bat lives on insects for which it searches for at night. Its body is only about the size of three fingers.

The canine family has a single member that lives in the area. It is the red fox. The red fox chases groundhogs out of their tunnels and uses the tunnel for their den. The raccoon has its own category. This odd and amazing creature lives in the woods and eats anything it can find. The last mammal but the most seen is the white tailed deer. Because it is the biggest mammal nearby it doesn't have any wildlife predators. The deer reproduce very quickly and can be seen in large groups. The Brandywine Valley Association, which protects animals that are losing habitats in Unionville, organizes a hunt every year to keep the deer from overpopulating the area.

The third group is insects. Some of the insects are helpful such as the ladybug, praying mantis, potato bug, and monarch butterfly. The predator insects are the Japanese beetle, mosquito, yellow jacket, and cicada. There are many more to be identified and the BVA is constantly cataloging this catagory.

The fourth group is invasives. These are plants and animals that have destroyed the circle of life because they take over the land. The plant invasives are kadsu, multi-flora rose, and mile-a-minute. Kadsu is a vine plant that wraps itself around other plants and destroys them. Multi-flora rose is a bush with sharp prickers and a very small flower which resembles a rose. It was brought by early settlers and used as a fence to keep cows in, but it spread over everything. Mile-a-minute is a pale plant that cuts up other plants when it grows. The reason for its strange name is that it grows very fast.

The invasive animals are a problem because they fill a niche that another native species originally occupied. Because the invasive is not controlled by predators in the area, they push the similar native animal to extinction in the area. The most well known invasives in the area are gray squirrel, red fox, and earthworm. The gray squirrel has replaced the red squirrel, which was smaller then its big cousin. The red fox used to steal the gray fox's den. And even the common earthworm took the place of a native worm.

As you can see we have many forms of wildlife in Unionville. Unfortunately many of these animals are losing their homes to developments. Places like the Brandywine Valley Association, and the Brandywine Conservancy are working to save land for the animals and encourage native species to grow back.

-More information about the conservation groups and BVA, Myrick Center and Brandywine Conservancy will be completed by student researchers next school year.