July 2 2011 (Rutland State Park)

I guess, I won't be writing about yesterday's misadventure into Keyes Brook in East Princeton... Le
ts just say the word Poison Ivy..enough said.

So I went for a family walk today through my favorite part of Rutland State Park. It is filled with transitions. In about a half a mile (perfect for Nora) the woods transition from pine forest to open field to deciduous hardwoods and low brush. It is an amazing walk. This morning was nearly perfect, except for the new additions of horseflies everywhere. Still really beautiful.

The milkweed was just coming into bloom,

and the scent of it was just everywhere. We saw all sorts of birds, here are just a few, Yellowthroat, Flycatchers, Catbirds, Cedar Waxwings, and tons of swallows. Henry and Nora are now accustomed to pointing out anything that they find along the way and it makes for a really pleasant walk.

April 19, 2010

Today felt like spring. The air was cool, right next to cold, and the leaves are just budding. There are some flowering trees and their are just the beginnings of spring birds flitting around. There is a nice influx of life in everything. Trees seem bouncier, I understand why this season is called "spring."

I went for my typical rounds today.... Rutland State Park. I found a culvert, that I at first though was a natural spring. I cannot imagine where its beginnings lie. It exits in a small bunch of scrub brush at the edge of the largest grouping of fields in the park. I also saw a small finch like bird that was jet black. I saw a pair of them actually. No rabbits yet... I don't think the bushes have enough leaves to create sufficient cover for them . I walked from 8:00 to 9:30. I saw only two people and thier friendly loping german shepard. Some horses had evidently been there this morning before I go there. It seems like the perfect place for that sort of thing. There is a ruddy haze to the trees that bespeaks what is coming.

Robins were out in abundance. The barn swallows were hovering about their nesting boxes and feeding what must have been there hatchlings, not mosquitoes or black flies yet to speak of.

It was a good morning.

lunch walks on Thursdays

I have been taking walks in Rutland State park on Thursdays during my lunch hour. This Thursday I was walking (I have about an hour) and guy stopped as he was driving by. He saw my abnoxiously large camera hanging on my neck and asked what I was taking pictures of. I told him whatever... and he showed my a picture of a moose... and also, that there is a goose that might be nesting in the field up the road on the left. So, I thought that it might be worth risking being overtaken by ticks.... .wait, lets rant about ticks for a tiny bit.

ticks...they weren't here when I was a kid.... not at all. I never even saw a tick when I was a kid. They were like tapeworms....you kind of heard about them...and thought they were disgusting and minorly interesting in an invasive sort of way. And, now they are everywhere.... I walk out there and have, without exagerating, like five wood ticks clinging to my close by the time I get back to the car....I have yet to ever see a deer tick (thank God) but my father-in-law got bit by one. Yeah... I hate ticks!!

Back to the walk. I was looking over in the field and as I cleared a bunch of trees, I saw a head duck down into the grass about two hundred feet away.... pretty far. So, I jumped into the tick lair and started wading through the knee length grass. The "goose" never poked its head up again, so I headed to where I thought it ducked down About tweny feet from the treeline a turkey that had bedded down in the grass erupted up about three feet away from me. It nearly killed me. I never saw it before it flew up. It ran over to the wood line, fluffed up its feathers and made very annoyed little chirping sounds. I KNOW this bird wanted to tear my eyes out and gobble them down. At any rate, I looked down and saw a tiny little baby turkey (what are those called?!) It was tiny and hiding in the grass. I bent down and snapped apicture and apparently got too close. At some other call, all of the chicks started back toward their mom. I think I saw about five little shuffles in the grass...

I turned around and left them to their mom...

April 20, Sunday, 6:00 am to 9:00 am

Rutland State Park: It was beautiful morning, I left just after six and entered RSP via the Intervale entrance. I am slightly sick and coughed as soon as I got out of the car, spooking a coyote in the middle of the road.

It has been years since I made this specific hike. It, I think, is my favorite.
I start at the Intervale entrance, and walk down to where the oddly named "unnamed road" joins with the "Prison Camp Road". Right before they meet, there is a small bridge with a great number of viewing possibilities for birders and nature watchers alike. It is surrounded with open pastures. I photographed a number of birds there: Eastern Bluebird (in the houses), Red Winged Black Bird, ********, a couple of Mallards, A Blue Jay, Goldfinches, and I am sure