Hanging Rock State Park

After the frenzy of activity in the spring and before the rushed preparations for winter, the residents of Hanging Rock use the summer to eat and raise their young. The summer forest becomes a big food factory. Chlorophyll uses the sun energy from the long summer days to make food for the trees and other green plants. (Chlorophyll gives leaves their green color.)



As the plants grow, the insects continue to eat, eat, eat. Some insects drink plant juices, others chew into trunks and branches; many eat leaves, while some are predators that feast on fellow insects. Reptiles and amphibians spend most of their time feeding and maintain an optimal body temperature - either by cooling off in a stream or warming up in a bright patch of sunshine. In early summer, most parent birds work from sunrise to sunset finding food for their hungry nestlings.



As you relax and eat your picnic lunch, look around for evidence of animals feeding. A mushroom with a triangular bite denotes a box turtle lunch. Holes in leaves indicate insects feeding. A ball of hair on the forest floor, called a pellet, is the remains of an owl dinner. If you open the pellet, you will find the bones of the animal that the owl ate last night. What other evidence can you find?

(captions)

Eastern Box Turtle; American Locust; Great Horned Owl

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Show me all markers in:  Danbury, NC  |  Stokes County  |  27016  |  North Carolina  |  United States of America

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