Paul and I spent this past weekend in New Hampshire, at the eastern end of the White Mountain National Forest. It was, simply put, amazing. I can't believe we've lived in Connecticut for so many years and not explored the states to our north until now. And I have to say, for all that Connecticut is technically part of New England, everything in New Hampshire felt just so much more New England-y than what we have in Southern Connecticut. The fall weather was lovely and crisp, we drove through cute towns and farms and forests and mountains, and we saw gorgeous scenery everywhere we looked. Of course, the magnificent fall foliage had a lot to do with that!
We did a lot of things during our brief trip, but the nature-related highlight was our visit to Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeastern U.S. at 6288 feet. We drove up the Mount Washington Auto Road, braving the narrow turns with no guard rails. The somewhat harrowing drive was 100% worth it, both for the things we saw on the way and the amazing views when we got to the top.
We got out of the car to walk around a few times during the drive, and the change in environment as we went up in elevation was amazing. At around the 2000-3000 foot level, the abundant clusters of Mountain Ash berries were extremely dramatic:
So many berries!
A few small birds were flitting around in this area, including this female Purple Finch (a bird I don't get to see very often in Connecticut):
Another couple thousand feet up and we were nearing the tree line. This might have been my favorite environment on the mountain, just because every plant here was so warped and weird. These fully-grown trees must have lived through some astonishingly harsh conditions to end up so small (about my height) and crooked; they look now like they're constantly being pushed by the wind, although there was hardly a breeze on the day we were there:
(We did learn that the Mount Washington observatory held the record until recently for highest wind speed on Earth. Poor trees!)
There were lots of little birds foraging in these small trees, too, but they mostly stayed under cover, so that the miniature forest seemed to be constantly chirping. As far as I could tell, most of these birds were Yellow-rumped Warblers and Dark-eyed Juncos. Hello, Junco on your tiny tree perch:
I just love how barren this whole area looked, especially compared to the lush, colorful, berry-laden forests on the lower mountain slopes:
And I am totally fascinated by these trees:
I described this place as "barren", but there were actually things growing all over. These things were just amazingly tiny. There were carpets of strawberry plants with multicolored leaves no bigger than my fingernail:
Edit: Huge thanks to Jackie for pointing out that these plants are actually most likely Three-toothed Cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentata), a plant which thrives in alpine regions. I should've known better than to jump to conclusions about plant IDs in such an unfamiliar place as near the top of a mountain!
And bone-bleached woody plant stalks among the most perfect little rock gardens:
I don't know what kind of plant this is, but it looks like it should be tree-sized in any other environment, instead of the creeping, foot-wide (delicate, beautiful) thing it is here:
Even the rocks were green with big bright patches of lichen:
Finally, we reached Mount Washington's peak, and there were no more trees, not even tiny ones. Instead, there were rocks and lichen and clumps of brown grass, and astonishing views from the top of the world in every direction:
These mountains look like huge creatures to me, with their green-ridged backs:
So yeah, this was an awesome experience, and unlike anything I've seen before. (Although Paul and I have noticed that we tend to end up in high places on all of our trips together. We suspect that we have goat instincts.)
We made it back down the mountain safely and got to explore other wonderful things as well. In our other wanderings, we thought we might've found a Moose print on the edge of a muddy pond, and there were also the (possibly) Coyotes howling at night while we were getting ready for sleep. I would've loved to stay longer and see what other wildlife might show up, but our brief visit was awesome nonetheless.
At the end of our trip, we took a brief detour into Maine, which, as it turns out, is also beautiful:
Thanks for the lovely vacation, New England. Hopefully we'll get to visit again sometime soon!
Now I know it's fall, because the Cedar Waxwings have arrived and are feasting on the Red Cedar cones outside our apartment's windows. Big flocks of these birds have shown up for the Red Cedar harvest in the last week of September every year since we moved here, and they were right on time again this year. :)
Almost all of the birds in this group are streaky juveniles. They're not quite as sleek as their adult relatives, but they're still pretty awesome with those cool masks. They do look kind of funny head-on, though:
The feasting is pretty much all-day out there, with waxwings crowding onto branches to get the best berry-like cones:
Mmm food!
(Gulp!)
Juvenile or not, all these waxwings are sporting their perfect yellow-dipped tails:
Hey, bird, your yellow spot is in the wrong place....
Oh! A Yellow-rumped Warbler!
I was actually really surprised to see this little yellow-butt (as Paul and I call them) feeding with the Cedar Waxwings. Usually, the waxwings come through our trees in late September through early October, and then flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers show up for a later feast in the last half of October through early November. (This is the magic of eBird, that I have these records so readily at hand.) This fellow (lady?) seemed to be alone, though, so maybe the groups of yellow-butts will still stop by in a few weeks. In any case, I'm happy to have this early visitor! I love these little birds and their amazingly showy butts:
While I'm already sharing pictures of yellow birds, here's a very puffy American Goldfinch in its dull winter garb who also showed up outside our windows in the past couple of days. I almost never actually see goldfinches in our yard, although they're anything but rare in this area, so it was cool to see this creature up close:
I love fall. :)
Finally! It's been a super long time (many weeks!) since I was last on a nice long woods walk, and even longer since I was in the area of Naugatuck State Forest where I used to walk all the time and where I returned on Thursday morning.
The trails in this area of the forest were closed this past winter and spring so that the state could remove some trees and keep the woods healthy, and this is the first time I've visited since all this management work was finished. I still recognized these familiar woods, but they're airier now, with more space between towering pines and plenty of morning light coming in:
Most of the trees that I saw marked with paint last fall have been cut down, but this tree was somehow spared, and the poison ivy now seems to be trying to hide that mark with its leaves:
I was very happy to get to see some of my favorite woodland creatures again, like this lovely juvenile Red-spotted Newt (also known as a Red Eft):
It's a good thing I happened to be looking down at this point, because this eft was right in the middle of the path, and surprisingly difficult to see!
I almost forgot how adorable Red Squirrels are. This park is actually the only place where I've seen these creatures in my area of Connecticut, and I suspect it's the abundant conifers that makes this such a good habitat for them. Several Red Squirrels made an appearance during my visit, including this alert individual:
A Bullfrog sat on a log in a small shady pool next to the path:
Here's another pose (possibly the same frog) from later in the morning. I love that speckled throat, on both the real frog and its mirror-version self:
In an open area next to one of the lakes, banks of blazing goldenrod lit up the path:
And in the underbrush, sawfly larvae made a cool pattern around their leafy meal:
The woods were also filled with birds, including a large group of warblers in the midst of their fall migration. These very active birds stayed mostly high in the trees and away from my camera, but the sight and sound of so much fluttering, chasing, and feeding was cool even from a distance. This very plain-looking Pine Warbler (assuming my ID is correct) was one of the few birds from this group to come down to my level:
This little bird showed off some very impressive aerial skills when it spun down and snatched a decent-sized winged insect right out of the air. It then proceeded to enjoy its meal from a branch above my head:
Nearby, a House Wren called loudly from atop a log:
And a young Yellow-bellied Sapsucker sunned itself, showing off its very pretty wings:
I'm very glad I got to wander around outside and enjoy the wonderful early-fall weather. I saw some awesome creatures, munched on wild grapes (yum!), and just had a great time. Hooray for the woods!
Fall migration brings an ever-changing cast of characters through the trees outside our apartment's windows, and I love it! In the past week, we've had several cool and unusual visitors stop by, many of them warblers that I only rarely get to see. Here are some highlights!
A few American Redstarts (a species of warbler) have appeared to flutter and forage in our trees, including one fancy black-and-orange male (who was too quick for a picture). Mostly, these birds have been females and young males in their more subdued (but still quite pretty) outfits:
A camera-shy Northern Parula (another warbler) has stopped by a couple of times, sporting patches of yellow/green both on its chest and on its back:
And a dainty Black-throated Green Warbler brought some bright color to one of our recent gray days:
(Male Black-throated Green Warblers have black throats in the spring, although I'm not sure where the "green" part of the name comes from.)
My favorite warbler so far, though, has been this lovely Cape May Warbler (a totally new bird for me):
How pretty is this bird? (So pretty.) The subtle brown/gray/yellow patterning on its face makes me think of fall (the leaves are starting to change now!), and its yellow-and-black chest is just too cool:
That's one bright yellow chin!
Along with the warblers, a Red-eyed Vireo has come through as well:
And even though they're not new or fancy, I still can't help admiring our local Black-capped Chickadees. This one had an intense grooming session near our window recently, cleaning its fluffy underarms:
And preening each of its long primary feathers, one at a time:
(You seem to be standing on your wing feathers there, bird. Does that help with the grooming process?)
There's been so much variety already, and there's still a lot of migration to come! I wonder what the next week will bring. :)
Fall is coming, and the birds are on the move! Now that migration is happening, looking out the window becomes extra interesting, because you never know who's going to show up next. On Sunday, this gorgeous Yellow-throated Vireo came through our yard:
Wow, what an outfit! At first glance, I thought this bird might have been a Pine Warbler, which I've seen in these trees during migration before, and which has remarkably similar coloring. But no, that stout bill and those cool yellow spectacles make this a Yellow-throated Vireo (a bird which, coincidentally, I'd never seen before, in my yard or anywhere else). Very cool!
I also really like how this bird looks from above, with its olive-green/yellow front fading into its monochrome gray back:
What a fun little creature. You can bet I'll be watching for more fancy visitors over the next few weeks! Keep 'em coming!
