Are you inside looking outside or outside looking in?
Mural on the side of a Main Street, Middletown, CT building.
Inlet Activity
The sign at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens said “Nature Trail.” It turned out to be the highlight of my visit with a variety of water birds sharing the water leading to the Ashley River.
Great Blue Heron
The majestic Great Blue Heron surveys slowly and deliberately. The bird above was squawking at a nearby Alligator at the edge of the Ashley River near Charleston, SC.
Eventually he lifted up and fluttered down in a new spot, showing off his massive wingspan.
Back into the reeds, soaking up the sun.
South Carolina Winter Marsh
These Eastern Phoebes were back and forth in a swampy area. They and some other small birds were going about their business while various ducks, herons, and alligators did the same in the adjacent small pond.
The Common Yellowthroat was more elusive, sticking to the brush.
Spanish Moss gave the Sparrows nice camouflage.
Hartford Icon
If you have driven through Hartford, CT chances are you have seen the “onion dome” atop the Coltsville armory. Zipping by on I-91 you can’t really focus on the detail. These pictures were taken from the Huyshope Avenue side.
The blue sky on this February, 2015 day was a great backdrop to the gold, blue and white of the dome structure.
American Crow
This Crow was wading at the shore of the Connecticut River at Haddam Meadows State Park. As Crows will do, he poked, dunked, and tried to eat any number of things.
Click any photo to enlarge.
This piece of trash kept his attention for a few minutes then he went back to dunking acorns.
Flood Control
Levees are not that common in Connecticut and it looks like it has been quite awhile since any water has climbed the sides of this one in Windham. Mansfield Hollow Lake is formed, or enlarged, behind the levee and the water empties through a dam into the Willimantic Reservoir.
Walk a little over a mile on the levee to come to the “end of the road” where a gate and sheer walls turn the walkers and joggers back the way they came. It’s hard to imagine the circumstances when water would overflow this structure.
Lovely water reflections made up for not seeing any birds on this December afternoon.
Tropical December 24 in Connecticut
The temperature rose to nearly 70 degrees in central Connecticut today, which is most unusual for December 24th. Late this afternoon I walked around our back yard and was surprised to find a Black-Eyed Susan and a Purple Violet in bloom. Both flowers looked like they had been chewed on, likely by some bug that also shouldn’t be out at this time of year.
The Downy Woodpeckers kept to their routine as the afternoon light waned.
Ponds
Northeastern Connecticut is dotted with small ponds, lakes and reservoirs. Now that we are fully into “brown” season we explored a few last week and were rewarded with smooth water and reflections. The evergreens in the photo above were the most colorful thing around. We didn’t see much for wildlife this December day, either.
Hampton Reservoir and the pond at Brown Hill Marsh were as smooth as a mirror, with puffy cloud reflections. (Click to enlarge photo or view as slide show.)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is aptly described by Cornell Lab’s All About Birds as being “overflowing with energy!” As a small flock of them darted in and out of this small fruit tree I tried to work out their flight pattern. Almost like a helicopter they changed direction midair and proved elusive to photograph. They flew quite close to me without seeming to care about my presence, and flitted off just as fast. Chickadees came and went at a more leisurely pace.
