Lunar New Year Celebration - 2025

About 150 kids and adults came to the Barden at Herrontown Woods on Feb. 23 to celebrate the Year of the Wood Snake. 

A wood snake might be a harder sell for some than 2024's Year of the Dragon, but all was fun and pleasure. 

The main organizers again this year were Danni Zhao (right) and FOHW board member Inge Regan. 

Artist Hope Van Cleaf created some powerful and charismatic interpretations of the Wood Snake, and 

coloring opportunities for the kids.

We took the dragons for a walk in the woods.

Towards the end, anticipation was running high for FOHW's first ever raffle.

Thanks to Herrontown Woods' caretaker Andrew Thornton, MC'ing with his able assistant Vadim, as they helped Danni with the raffle. 

So much thanks to all involved, including Perry Jones, FOHW intern Ninfa, Molly Cooke, and photographer Vera Zhao. 

Photo below by Inge Regan.

Princeton Birding Society Leads a Great Backyard Birdcount

Even in the middle of winter, a woodland comes alive when you walk with skilled birders.

Thanks to grad student members of the Princeton Birding Society for leading our annual Great Backyard Birdcount walk at Herrontown Woods again this year. The Princeton Public Library helped promote the Feb. 15 event.

The main leaders, Irene Sha and Kade Jackson, were able to detect and identify even the faintest bird sounds in the forest. 

In this photo, we're gathered at the Veblen Cottage farmstead, which includes a corncrib where black vultures have raised their young in the past. The black vulture family, which we've learned to respect and even admire for their devotion to parenting and their important ecological role, paid a visit a couple weeks prior, but whether they will raise their young here again this year is uncertain. 

The walk offered an opportunity to try out a new plankway trail we created through a wooded swampy area of Herrontown Woods. 

Kade posted the birdlist on ebird. The list included no revelatory sightings, but much interesting knowledge about birdlife was passed along, and as one of the students said, "All data is good data."

Thanks again to the Princeton Birding Society for joining us and sharing their knowledge on a brisk winter's day.