Visiting in Connecticut

Last Wednesday I flew from Denver airport to LaGuardia, where my sister, Sue, picked me up.  I am so glad to see her.  We drove a few hours back to her house in northern CT.  After hugs all around we sat in the kitchen talking, and celebrating the birds we had seen.  Max made tacos for dinner using venison.  Yum yum, all very good.  My brother Ken shot the deer himself and gave venison to his siblings.
      The following afternoon Sue and I walked along the RR tracks to a spot in the forest where a small bog existed. Bogs are amazing places providing a special habitat for acid-loving plants. This little bog is a true quaking bog with Black Spruce, thick moss mats, Pitcher plants and highbush Blueberry thickets.  We watched a Song Sparrow walking on the bog's surface  ankle-deep in water.  Blue Jays and Chipping Sparrows called from Pine trees behind us.
     Later that evening I walked down to the cornfield and listened to American Woodcocks in courtship display.  Peeeent,   Peeeent.
      Today Sue and I drove to Bluff Point SP for a day of birding. Bluff Point is a lovely forested area along Long Island Sound with good habitat for migrating birds.  We had nearly 30 species when the rain started.  Hardy migrants were Eastern Towhees, and a Black and White Warbler.

Photos from the bog:  looking into a Pitcher plant the slippery hairs that trap insects inside the plant's tube are visible,  the Black Spruce - Blueberry thicket,  and a cluster of Pitcher plants.