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    Wildlife abounds in and around Hills Creek State Park. Along with an active beaver colony, there are other water-loving creatures, including:

    • Muskrat
    • Wood duck
    • Great blue heron
    • Osprey

    Bald eagles are frequent visitors to the park.

    Visitors may see transient black bear, wild turkey, or deer.

    Hills Creek also is a perfect habitat for:

    • Rabbit
    • Grouse
    • Pileated woodpecker
    • Woodchuck

    During the spring, Hills Creek Lake becomes home to migrating waterfowl like loon, bufflehead, and common merganser.

    The common birds brochure lists the birds most likely to be seen in the park and in which habitat:

    Common Birds of Hills Creek State Park (PDF)

    Hills Creek Lake

    The focal point of the park is a 137-acre lake developed by impounding Hills Creek. The earth dam, built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is 34 feet high and 422 feet long. The basin of Hills Creek Lake is long and narrow ending in an irregular triangle at the north end. The elevation is 1,486 feet and the nearby mountains rise to an elevation of 2,200 feet.

    The temperatures and chemical characterizations of the lake support a good warmwater fishery.

    The general area now covered by water has almost continually, since the end of the last ice age, been under the influence of beaver dams and beavers. Beavers still abound in the area, including in Hills Creek Lake. The depth of the beaver marsh (vegetation and sediment) is as great as 20 feet deep.