I love taking pictures of Song Sparrows, especially when they're perched atop a post or branch like this against the blue sky. It reminds me of some similar pictures I have of a song sparrow from the BwBTC trip to Plum Island last summer.
During this trip to Burrage Pond we also saw an Eastern Kingbird:
Can you find the Great Blue Heron in this picture? This is a very distance shot, but I wanted to use it because you can see the haze across the bog. People in New England will recall how this Memorial Day smoke from the Quebec wildfires rolled in and created quite the haze.
Burrage Pond is a Wildlife Management Area (or WMA)- a parcel of undeveloped land managed by the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. (Click here for a map of WMAs in Massachusetts) Naturally, since it's such a great piece of conservation land, there are several research projects going on there. One of which is the bog turtle (note: link opens a PDF). There's a note on the sign when you first enter Burrage Pond to be on the lookout for bog turtles. Well, 2 of the 4 times I've been there I've seen turtles but they weren't bog turtles. I'll keep looking!
Here's a cute little painted turtle I saw on Memorial Day, with quite the dirty shell (kind of looks like rust). How'd that happen? Just to be sure I took photographs of it so I could confirm later what kind of turtle it was. As with birds, I'm always secretly hoping it's something incredibly rare! But that's never the case...
2 comments:
Sure looks like a painted turtle. I see so many crossing the road right now and usually stop my car to carry the across. A big one was so frightened that she sprang a big leak (urine). Love the view of the bog with the GBH! Must be incredibly buggy though!
@Hilke: That's a great story. I love hearing about people helping turtles cross the road. The bog is beautiful, and if you go during the day it's really not too bad in terms of bugs.
Post a Comment