can’t seem to get enough of being in nature.

It doesn’t matter what season, either.

A day-old light snowfall begs me to take a walk to see what tracks or signs I can find.

March bodes the return of many of the waterfowl species to our region so I head to Beltzville, the “Canal,” or even the Parryville or Phifer ice dams.

Late April and May offer the return of so many breeding and migrants though the forests or woodlots.

Fall offers beauty unmatched and the migrants’ return trip south.

They just keep tempting me to get out every day.

Of course, wherever I venture, the camera and binoculars go along. Even if I make a trip to the grocery store or church, I usually have my “camera sidekick” sitting next to me on the seat. With today’s cameras making it easy to delete unwanted photos, I snap a “bunch of pictures.”

But it isn’t all animal life that intrigues me.

I feel rather comfortable with tree identification, but ferns, mosses, mushrooms and even some wildflowers can pose a challenge to me. So, if I don’t have a field guide along, I take a few photos that I can pull up on the computer to decipher later.

In my column this week, I’ve included some pictures of things you could find in various habitats in this local area. One is rather rare, but I have seen a few in Lehigh County, so that one may trip you up.

I’ve included an answer pool to assist you, but of course I’ve added a few extras to increase the challenge. The correct answers are included as well. Let’s see where your local nature knowledge level falls. Enjoy.

I’ve skipped the nature trivia question since you’ll find 12 others to identify this week.

In addition, I got a bit wordy answering last week’s trivia answer regarding ice lakes in the Pocono area but here goes. Ice harvesting was a big business in the Poconos in the late 1800s and even through the Great Depression era. Brady’s Lake, Gouldsboro Lake and Tobyhanna Lake all were used to harvest ice that was sent by railroad to New York, New Jersey and the Philadelphia area. During the Depression, ice harvesting supplied important winter job opportunities. Growing up on Main Road in East Weissport, I remember the old ice house at Phifer’s Ice Dam with its very thick walls insulated with sawdust, which enabled ice to be stored all summer long. My grandfather Roland worked part time as an ice cutter on that dam.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com