Tag Archives: birds

Not Entirely Wasted

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I may have skipped driving out to Springfield but I didn’t totally blow off the whole day. After taking my little mid-morning nap I settled in to start backing up my photos. That kept me occupied for several hours and when I looked up in the afternoon I was pleased to see the sun shining in.

Nice days will become more and more rare as the season progresses so I wasn’t going to pass it up. I grabbed the camera and headed out to drive south on RT 138. I wanted to see if I could find the farm, I think it might have been a vineyard, that I had noticed when I drove out to Narragansett. Since they call RT 138 “scenic” 138, I thought I’d drive it instead of the highway.

It wasn’t until Somerset that I spotted anything I wanted to stop for.

Off to my left I could see water. I’m not sure whether it was ocean or river. I will have to check a map. I do know the Taunton River runs through Somerset so it could be that. Anyway there was the cutest little boat out there

  and a bridge..of course there was a bridge! So I had to stop.

As I approached the bank I was surprised to see a whole flotilla of swans. Quite a few  hadn’t reached the “snowy white” stage yet so I can only guess they were still immature even if they were as big as the adults.

I took my pictures and turned around to return to the car when a movement caught my eye. I walked quietly to some trees and brush and there were some sea gulls having a bathing party. I’ve never seen any bunch of birds have quite so much fun in a pool of water. They were splashing and squawking like a bunch of kids having a water fight.

I didn’t find the farm today but I had fun playing “peeping tom” to the bathing seagulls.

Turkey Vultures!

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I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I had heard of turkey vultures but they certainly weren’t a bird that commanded much thought from me. Certainly not like Bald Eagles or Osprey or Red Tailed Hawks. Vultures are just kind of….spooky.

I think one almost hit us as we were driving through Hot Springs S.D. I know it scared me half to death (I was the driver ) and it was one ugly bird. By the time I was able to pull over for a look it was long gone. It happened so fast.

My next encounter was on the RiverQuest cruise in Connecticut. We were looking for bald eagles and we spotted a huge bird soaring on the thermals. Everyone got very excited. Cameras came out and then the bombshell…turkey vulture no eagle.

That brings us up to the present. Amid my distractions over the Alaska Cruise info I have been keeping my eyes open for chances to grab pictures of the fall foliage especially the cranberry bogs with their bright red berries.

 Sis sent me a link to the Yankee Magazine and suggested I enter one of my pictures of Rocky in the Cutest Cat in New England Photo Contest. While I was doing that I saw the  Fall Foliage Photo Contest. Although the leaves are only just starting to “pink” here in southern MA, the cranberry bogs are in full color and some are already harvesting.

In my search for the “perfect” bog picture I found what appears to be an abandoned cranberry bog.

There’s plenty of cranberries but it is filled with stumps and old dead trees. Even though it looks like it’s neglected there was something attractive about the way it was going back to the wild. As I was taking pictures of the bog I happened to look up at the tops of the dead trees and what to my wondering eyes did appear…not 8 tiny reindeer but about 15 – 20 big , big birds!

Just like the river cruise my first reaction was EAGLES! My heart began to pound and I tried to get a better look. They all had their heads tucked under their wings and against the cloudy sky I could only make out the silhouettes, not plumage or details. Then as I watched the one at the very top raised its head. As if on signal so did most of the others and they were clearly Not Eagles. They were Turkey Vultures and I couldn’t help but think of that old Saturday morning cartoon with the 3 vultures on the dead tree.

I remember the slow talking Beaky Buzzard from LooneyToons (Nope..nope…nope)

 and I think there was a buzzard in Jungle Book

and of course Vultures are prominent this time of year along with Ravens and black cats and witches.

In any case I didn’t realize that vultures roost in large flocks like that or that they resemble their cartoon caricatures so closely!

 I’m told that the flocks of vultures will stay pretty close to their roost so I may have a chance to try again to capture this in pictures.

 I need a little better light and a little longer lens.  I can see a great Halloween shot in my future!

D.W. Field Park

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D. W. Field Park is located in the middle of the city of Brockton, Ma. I have heard of the park but I hadn’t been there before today.

I dropped Smokey off at the vet first thing this morning and wanted to stay close to home incase they called so I gave my friend Nancy a ring to see what she was  up to for the afternoon. I was thinking of going over to the Fuller Craft Museum where there is a pond on the grounds.  I thought I might be able to get some pictures there.

Nancy lives in Brockton so through the wonder of miscommunication she thought I wanted to go to the D. W. Field Park that surrounds the Fuller Craft Museum. Sometimes things have a way of working out just right!

I picked up Nancy and her 5-year-old  daughter Dawn and we headed over to the museum. I missed the turn into the Museum parking lot but Nancy assured me we could get in at the next left.

 I found myself pulling through an iron gate set in a stone fence. A paved road led us on into the park. As we drove Nancy pointed out picnic tables and pull offs for parking.

The park itself is over 700 acres of woodland and ponds that support a wide variety of native wildlife. There are over 7 miles of paved roads that wind through the park along with paths and trails for walking and hiking.

As we drove along we spotted a pull off across from one of the ponds. There were benches and loads of ducks, geese and swans. There were even some pigeons. I’d never seen a  brown/red pigeon before but there was one in this flock.

Dawn found some fuzzy caterpillars and seemed more interested in the bugs than the birds although she did feed a whole loaf of bread to the riotous avians and watched the feeding frenzy that followed.

We walked a little way along the pond until we came to a man-made waterfall that is the out source for the pond.

It’s a really beautiful area. It’s hard to believe you’re in the heart of a city. Once the leaves really start to change color this is going to be worth a return visit!

We wrapped up our afternoon with a visit to Asack’s Turkey Farm where they have 24 flavors of soft ice cream. We had the ice cream first then considering the time picked up Turkey pockets for dinner..yummm! The Turkey pockets have turkey breast, stuffing and cranberry sauce. The pockets are really stuffed full. They don’t skimp on the turkey, an excellent value.

Our bounty in hand I dropped Nancy and Dawn back at their home. Young Alex, Nancy’s 7 year old son, had just come home from school so I said my good byes and headed on to my other errands.

What a nice afternoon break!

Mud Flats and Salt Marsh our Brewster Adventure Continues

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After we wrapped up our visit at the museum I took Dawn and Alex outside so that Nancy could pop into the gift shop real quick. We wandered around the building and found some picnic tables and a sand box.

Dawn was into that sand box in a heartbeat. It was almost lunch time. I expected that we’d be heading back to the car to find a place for lunch but when Nancy joined us she had other ideas. It was time to walk the trails.

The trails were amazing. The only problem was that I wasn’t prepared so I was dragging along behind everyone. It was kind of embarrassing when I’m used to setting the pace but I have noticed that I have definitely begun to slow down.

Anyway it wasn’t long before we reached the salt marsh. A narrow board walk path crossed the marsh. The osprey nest was to the right and there were two osprey on the nest. I wish I had the tripod and the bigger lens. I have to come back!

After crossing the salt marsh the kids spotted some standing stones. It was a solar calendar. A marker gave us information on how it worked and then the kids were off again! 🙂

We continued on down the trail with me bringing up the rear. We began to meet  people returning. They told us to keep going and we’d get to the water. Sure enough. Once we got out of the trees we were looking out over the dunes. The path sloped downward through the scrub grass and sand until we mounted the last rise to find ourselves looking out over the mud flats with the ocean beyond.

Nancy and Dawn walked down the beach to look for shells. I sat on the bank and Alex hung back with me. A lady with a couple of dogs stopped by to talk and we made friends with the canines, a little chihuahua and another medium-sized curly-haired black dog. They were really cute and the view was spectacular.

When Nancy and Dawn came back we headed back to the car. We drove back across the cape to Chatham where we stopped at the Kreme and Cone for a seafood lunch.

How we Spent our Morning In Brewster, MA

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Brewster Ma is located on Cape Cod, a wonderful place almost anytime unless you dislike snow. But spring, summer and fall are certainly beautiful times to explore the Cape and Brewster is right in the middle.

Mapquest wanted us to get there by following route  6A. This is a great way to see the sights as the little country-style road meanders through all the little hamlets and towns along the coast of the Cape.  However we had two young children in the car (Can you hear the famous query? “Are we there yet”) so we chose to take  the Cape Highway also known as RT 6. It’s not as scenic but it’s certainly faster. We got off at the Dennisport exit and crossed the cape back to 6A South for our last little bit to our destination.

We were heading to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History.

 The Museum is pretty tiny but it’s really well-appointed. The mission statement or purpose is to increase awareness of the environment around us.

There’s a library for research, an activity room where the kids can look at terrariums with snakes and toads, or enjoy the stuffed animals and birds in glass cases.

 There was a video feed from the Osprey nest and a large window looked out on bird feeders and bird baths. There were binoculars supplied to help with the bird watching.

In the short time we were there I spotted a family of cardinals, a yellow finch as well as an assortment of sparrows. The chipmunks were in attendance too.

There’s also a long activity table where the kids can color or trace the animals etched on the surfaces.

 Downstairs was a small aquarium with local fish, crabs, lobsters  and turtles. The jelly fish tank is a see through tank. Everyone was taking pictures through the tank, myself included.

A large shallow tank that looked like a “touch tank” was really a “No Touch tank” which was monitored by a volunteer who answered questions and pointed out the various creatures.

 She also made sure that no little fingers made their way into the tank. This was a bit of a disappointment for the kids but there were quite a few animals in this tank that would not do well with handling.

The museum is set on the edge of a salt marsh and mud flat but there is no admission for the trails. The only admission is charged for going into the museum itself. Even that is nominal, less than $10.00 per person.

You can go through the museum fairly quickly as we did with 2 energetic children towing us along but if you are an adult and go without  the kids , you may want to linger at some of the exhibits or sit in the comfy chairs in front of that big window and spend some time bird watching. I could have spent more time there without question. But today’s trip was for the kids and we moved at their energetic pace.

If you get to Brewster this is definitely worth a stop.