Bad weather and bureaucracy have stolen my blogging time this week. I thought I’d Share one of my most popular posts from the past . This was once “Freshly Pressed” I hope you enjoy the repeat.
Tag Archives: nature
Allens Pond Trails
A few days ago I started telling you about a new Wildlife Sanctuary, well new to me anyway…Allens Pond in Westport. So much happened between my first post about Allens Pond and this installment that it’s hard to believe its been less than a week.
Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary is 595 acres that includes a coastal salt-pond, a salt marsh, a barrier beach, shrublands , forested wetlands and grasslands.
The sanctuary consists of 6 miles of trails where you can wander along the Buzzards Bay Shoreline, cross an old pasture or climb among giant boulders.
On my visit the sun was shining but the wind off the bay was blustery and made it cold in spite of the sunshine. Because of this I only explored half of the Beach Loop trail which was only a tiny part of the trail system.
The section I explored took me along a dirt road with Allens Pond on my left and Buzzards Bay on my right. Most of the time I could see the pond but the view of the bay was blocked by the shrublands or what I would call shrubland. These low but thick bushes are nesting areas for several protected species of birds. Piping Plovers and a couple of species of terns are known to nest here and the area is clearly marked as protected.
As you first encounter the pond from the trail you will see an Osprey nesting platform. To my right were smaller nest boxes more suitable for Eastern Bluebirds or other small, grassland birds. I saw plenty of ducks including a merganser with its fluffy looking head of feathers but no action at the Osprey Nest while I was there.
A bit farther along it was clear that the swans were here. About 6 white spots floated on the blue water just beyond my camera’s range. In the soft sand in the road I spotted the distinctive split hoof print of a deer.
It must have passed through just before I came along because the way the wind was blowing the print wouldn’t stay visible for long. In fact by the time I had turned back it was gone, filled in by the sifting, blowing sand.
By now I was pretty wind burned but it had been a nice little walk. I didn’t walk back along the shore because the round rocks were pretty unstable underfoot and I was only wearing sneakers so I retraced my steps back along the road.
There are many more trails to explore so I bet I will be back and maybe next time I’ll see that deer!
Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary
As many of you know The Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield is one of my favorite places to go for wildlife photography.
I have never been there at dusk without seeing deer…plenty of deer. I have also seen muskrats, turtles, glossy ibis, swans, rabbits, and tons of birds, more than I can go into right now.
One year we even had an otter family pass through and I got to see them…briefly as they raced across the path to the pond. So you can see this sets the bar really high for other sanctuaries.
Since last year I have been hearing about another wildlife sanctuary that seems really popular, Allens Pond in Westport, MA. Daniel Webster and Allens Pond are both Mass Audubon sanctuaries so that means they are kept in really good condition.
In the week since the layoff at work I’ve been concentrating on rearranging furniture, cleaning out my storage area and just making changes to my living space. The weather hasn’t been great so I haven’t been out to shoot any photos. But finally we got a sunny day and according to the weather report we might break 60 degrees. I looked at the boxes of stuff I was trying to arrange and looked outside and the choice was made…I’m playing hooky!
Camera bag on my shoulder I decided to try to find Allens Pond to check it out. Westport is quite a bit south of Taunton but it was a nice day for a drive. The address I had for the sanctuary was 1280 Horseneck Road. I know Horseneck beach is a very popular beach in the summer so I wasn’t surprised when I saw the parking lot for the beach. Beyond the parking lot were some amazing dunes!
The sand here is so fine, like grains of sugar.
But as I continued on I was surprised to see the road was completely buried by stones.
These were smooth round stones…thrown up by the ocean in the series of storms we had this year? I don’t know because I’d never been this way before but it made me think of the roads on the Big Island of Hawaii that abruptly stopped, buried under lava flows.
The road followed along the beach by Buzzards Bay then made a sharp turn left and there was the entrance to a small parking lot.
Right away I noticed the field house was different. There were people inside, even a dog and cat and a rest room. No port-a -potty. I can see why that alone would make it more pleasant. But now the big test…what kinds of animals/birds will I be able to see here.
Whittier
Whittier is the end of the line for the cruise and the beginning for the Denali portion of the trip. We should get into Whittier at 12:30 am (midnight) and we won’t need to meet our train to Denali until 5:45 pm. The leaves us open all day.
Once again I turned to the shore excursions. We want to be sure that whatever we do we will make our connections so we chose to explore with the cruise line vendors.
The tour we settled on here has me really excited because it starts with a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
Like most places with the words wildlife conservation center in their titles, this where animals unable to survive in the wild are given refuge in spacious habitats. Here, you can safely get close, observe and photograph some of Alaska’s biggest land mammals, including moose, bison, bears and musk ox.
This is right up my alley!
But as an old commercial used to say…But wait, There’s more!
30 minutes away our tour will take us to the base of mighty Mt. Alyeska, home to one of the most breathtaking year-round destination resorts in the world. Ride Alyeska Resort’s Glacier Express Tram and take in panoramic views of Turnagain Arm and the surrounding valley from 2,300 feet above its floor. Woo Hoo! Can’t wait!
The last leg of the tour is the return to Anchorage (Whittier) along the Seward Highway-Alaska’s “Scenic Byway.” We should be back at the Welcome Center with plenty of time to make it to the train station at 5:45 to head to Denali.
Of course these tours are all subject to change. I’m pretty sure we’ll do them all. The only one I really want to confirm with the excursion desk is this one. The special notes say you have to be staying in Anchorage because you have to get your luggage from the ship. I might try to call Princess to confirm but if I can’t get through there is an excursion desk on every cruise I’ve ever been on so we’ll have plenty of time for adjustments if necessary.
So our trip is all planned. Excursions booked. It’s just a matter of counting down the days. I can’t wait to share our actual experiences and of course…my actual photos.
The pictures I’ve used in these recent posts have all been on the internet with no copy write information. I was careful not to knowingly pirate any other photographers work.
Planning for Port of call~ Juneau
Progress …that’s what we’re making. Sandy agreed to the combo tour of the Saxman Village and the Totem Park and we made that reservation. Now we have to tackle what to do when we reach Juneau our 2nd port of call.
Juneau is the Capital city of Alaska and the 2nd largest city by area in the US. It is also home to the famous Mendenhall Glacier. Juneau also has WHALES! We’ll be in port from 8:00 am to 9pm so we have a full day to explore.
Usually my sister and I are pretty in tune as far as tours go but here we almost had a rift. I didn’t want to force a “photo” tour on my sister but I really wanted to take the opportunity to get some coaching because the glaciers can be a challenge. I want my pictures to move to the “next level” beyond the post card , snapshot stage. But Sandy is not “into” photography the way I am so I wasn’t sure if she would want to go on a Photography Tour.
In the end both tours were going to the same place at the same time so I decided to go with the tour Sandy liked and do my best with my pictures on my own. The tour description for her Whales and Mendenhall Glacier Trail sounded more interesting than the Photo Tour which talked about photographing the moraines.
Also located in Juneau is Mount Roberts which has a tram ride to the summit. The “Whale Mendenhall Tour” is about 5 hours so we can take the tram in the afternoon.
I can’t wait to compare the actual experiences with what I’m telling you here because so far this is just guidebook information.