I Spent The Morning Admiring Rocks

I went out to a place called Seven Falls State Park looking for a reported rare bird which I wasn't able to find. What I did find during my morning hike along the main trail was a whole lot of rocks.

Water tumbling down over rocks makes for nice scenery. 

This giant  caught my eye. It has a shape that and size that would make the perfect cabin for Fred Flintstone. They say a lot of boulders were carried along and dropped off at various locations during the ice age.

Seems likes something interesting and mysterious going on here.

I had to wonder who put together these nice structures? Why did they do it?  Do they have a purpose?  It must have been a lot of work.

I remember there was an episode of an old science fiction show called the outer limits in which the rocks communicated with each other. I wonder if the writer of that episode ever spent time out in the woods looking at rocks?

 

There Is Beauty In The Starkness Of Winter

The leaves have fallen and temperatures are dropping. Winter is just around the corner. 

Like most people who live in New England, I grow tired of the snow and cold of the winter season by the time February rolls around.

There is another side to the story though. I see beauty in the starkness of winter. The lack of foliage lets us see things that would have been hidden during other seasons. The air itself, seems fresh and clear with the smell of burning wood creating a flavorful contrast.

 Although the neotropical migrants are nowhere to be found, winter birds stand out nicely on the bare branches. I am looking forward to the raw simplicity of the minimalist season until April comes knocking at the door again. 

October Came And Went In The Blink Of An Eye

I'm glad I got this picture because the peak foliage didn't last long this year.

                Birds like this finch also showed their Fall colors.

This Yellow-rumped Warbler blended right in with the background except for a bright splash of yellow.

I love this time of the year but October came and went in the blink of an eye!   

Visualization & World's Smallest Dinosaur Park?

 

I spend a lot of time poking around different areas looking for new places to go birding, hiking, and recently, potential dark sites for astronomy. 

Daydreaming and visualization about what I might see at a newly discovered location provide inspiration and incentive for me.

The photo at the top is of a tiny park that has dinosaur footprints embedded in the natural rock ledge. I came across this place once before but had forgotten about it. To me, coming across places like this creates a nice little side dish to add to a day's birding and sometimes the side dishes are the best part of the meal.As tiny as this park may be it has a feature that I really like about it. 

These are the original prints that have been here for millions of years in this exact location. There are no casts or anything protecting them. 

I can stand right where these magnificent creatures once stood and imagine what it would have been like to be here millions of years ago to observe them in their natural setting!Of course there are still many warblers still around too and they say birds may have evolved from the theropods-(carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on 2 feet).

(I have no idea if this is the world's smallest dinosaur park but it really is tiny).