Mass Audubon's Burncoat Pond Wildlife Sanctuary was my destination. I read somewhere that they may have red trillium, and even if they were already gone by, I was hoping to see some so I'd know where to look next year. I had no luck.
That didn't make it a bad hike, though. There were plenty of interesting things to look at, including:
Common Yellowthroat
A porcupine (my first)!!
We met on the trail, and he/she continued toward me, which was a bit intimidating. I turned back a few steps, and then turned around to watch. Again, the porcupine really seemed irritated that I was not letting it continue along the path. I then talked to it, saying, you're going to have to leave the path because I'm not going anywhere. And then, of course, it listened to me and went off into the woods.
Pink Ladyslipper
(at least half a dozen along the trail)
A distant Pileated Woodpecker
chiseling out a rather large hole
Striped Maple
(the first one I've seen outside of Garden in the Woods)
Eastern Wood-Peewee
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Eastern Towhee
My view of the pond from Richard's Rock
Juvenal's Duskywing
(I had my gloves off by this time)
Azalea (not everything pink in the wild is Rhodora! See comment from Josh below.)
Partridgeberry
White Corporal
European Starling
about to feed nestlings
I doubt this is the bird that they want using this box!
Lupine! (in the parking lot)
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Also seen but not photographed (at least not well): Scarlet Tanager, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Ovenbird and Clouded Sulphurs
Dawn: The rhododendron flowers you show have 5 stamens and 1 pistil each, ruling out Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense) which has 10 shorter stamens and 1 pistil. But no doubt this is one of the pink flowering Azaleas (Rhododendron sp.).
ReplyDeleteAs for the dragonfly... I'd say White Corporal (Ladona exusta).