NH visit

The peak of Fall color was a week ago. Maples have lost their leaves, and the oaks have turned brown.  On Tuesday I took a bus trip to New Hampshire to visit my parents.  The feeders in their backyard have attracted many birds, both migrants and year-round residents. I saw my first of the season Pine Siskins, and a pair of Purple Finches.  Woodpeckers are always fun to watch, both Downy and Red-bellied came often to the suet feeders.
     My Mom and I walked a forest path (Longmarsh Rd) between several small ponds.  We heard few birds, it was a beautiful late Fall day.

Photo, above, is of  Oyster River in Durham, NH.
     Saturday I was back in Connecticut where my Dad found a Red-shouldered Hawk in a tree watching us.  What a pretty bird !!
     Hurricane Sandy is charging north along the eastern seaboard and will join a cold front from the mid-West.  This storm is being called  "Frankenstorm"  or  " Snor-easter"  depending on the forecaster's perspective.  High winds, coastal flooding, and downed trees are expected.  At my sister's location, we are quite a distance inland and away from the coastal flooding. 

     Pond and trail along Longmarsh Road.

more photos from CT

Forests are so colorful now, quiet pools of water make for good reflections.

CT in the Fall

This is a beautiful time of year to be visiting in Connecticut.  My sister lives in the northeast part of the state where maples, oaks, beeches and other trees have turned golden and crimson.  We drive to New Haven each morning for her work, and notice the trees further south have lost their leaves already.  I am a volunteer at Yale-Peabody Museum in the Vertebrate Zoology section, so this week I was able to help with re-organizing specimens in the backroom collections area.  Its still exciting to walk into the collections and be face-to-face with a Bison skeleton or a Jaguar or an Owl.
     In the mornings I walked around the entire campus looking for birds, and I found them.  Sparrows:  Song, Savannah, White-throated, White-crowned, Field, Swamp, and Chipping.  The regulars:  Blue Jays, Robins, Cardinals, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, American Goldfinches, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches and Wild Turkeys are present.  I was surprised with a Palm Warbler and the Blue-headed Vireo.
     Monday we celebrated my birthday in grand style.  Max, a teen-aged chef-to-be, made a gluten-free Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting that was wonderful.  Sue made home-made ice cream that was very good, as well.
    Wednesday Sue and I went birding on the coast, hitting all the good areas she knows about. October is an in-between time for birding; most of the summer birds have already departed for southern climates and the winter ducks and sea birds have not arrived yet.  We found 62 species for the day.  Highlights were a Nelson's (Sharp-tailed) Sparrow, and a Lapland Longspur.
     Today my most exciting bird was a Pileated Woodpecker in the Maple-Beech forest near Willimantic River. 

Photos of southern New England in the Fall.




    

Texas

I arrived at my friend, Jan's house this afternoon.  What an amazing drive !!  From the red earth country in the north, to the limestone canyons further south, and across the Hill Country.  Weather has not been spectacular, the grey skies are blowing out with the remnants of this cold front.
Photos from Palo Duro SP of the red canyons, the recently flooded creek, and a set of stone steps built by the CCC work teams.
 South Llano SP wins the prize for the most birds.  The 4 bird blinds are maintained by a "Friends" group and the camp hosts.  Cardinals, White-winged Doves, Black-crested Titmice, Lesser Goldfinches and Sparrows:  Lark, Song, Black-throated, Lincoln's, Clay-colored, Field, and White-crowned.

traveling south

I left Grand Tetons Park last week and started driving south.  The construction on Hwy 26 over Togwotee Pass is finished and the highway has a beautiful new road surface. 
Meadows along the highway range in color from golden yellow to brown, with all shades in between shown by  bushes, willows and other plants.  One creek was dried to mud and a couple muddy puddles. Lava Creek on the south side is still running between willow-lined banks.  I stayed that night in Casper, WY.
     I had a few business errands to do in the Loveland - Greeley, Colorado area so I headed south on Hwy 25 the next day.  Southern WY is sagebrush land, with Cottonwoods indicating the locations of creeks and streams.  Boysen State Park and reservoir was nearly dried to mudflats.  I saw Ring Billed Gulls and Red-breasted Mergansers enjoying the last bit of water remaining.
     In the 1800's many 1000's of pioneers traveled across WY.  They were going to the gold rush, to find land, and seeking religious freedom in Utah.  I stopped at 2 historic areas, one protected  a stretch of original trail where many wagon wheels had worn ruts into the grey sandstone.  Register Cliffs preserves a tall sandstone butte where pioneers carved their names into the stone.
     Robins are everywhere, a few Red tailed Hawks, a family group of Mountain Bluebirds, a Townsend's Solitaire, and a Western Kingbird catching insects from its perch on a barbed wire fence.
     After finishing my errands in the central Colorado cities, I choose Saturday to drive into Rocky Mt National Park.  What a perfect day !!  Not only was the weather beautiful, but Saturday was one of the FREE days in the national parks.  I didn't have to pay the $ 20. entrance fee.
     I was looking for Ptarmigan, a bird adapted to tundra habitats.  I looked in all the reported and recommended locations.  Ptarmigans were not out to be seen on Saturday.
     My friend, Jan, has invited me to visit and attend a bird festival.  She lives alone near College Station, and enjoys outdoor events.  Well, not exactly alone,  she has several cats and a dog.  
     I drove east from Colorado, thru Kansas and stopped to visit 2 wildlife refuges known for migrating shorebirds and cranes.  Everything is so dry.  The larger ponds still have water, the smaller ones are dried to crackling mud.  A report of Henslow's Sparrows had me driving a bit further to the southeast.  I spent a pretty morning along a dirt road watching Eastern Meadowlarks, Vesper Sparrows, Kestrels, and Scissortail Flycatchers.  No golden-faced sparrows appeared out of the grass.
      Oklahoma seemed greener, less dried out by the drought.  Maybe the land received more rain during the summer.  I crossed the stateline into Texas that afternoon on Hwy 40.  Texas has good state parks, and 2 in this area have been recommended to me.

Photos are all from Rocky Mt park,  a meadow with golden Aspens,  Ptarmigan habitat that I walked around in, and more habitat with snow-capped mountains.