Saturday, February 24, 2007

Cold Wind Blowin' Down The Railroad Tracks






The wind was howling on this cold winter morning but at least the sun was shining. It was one of those days that I could have just as easily stayed home, but I getting outdoors on the weekend is a priority for me.


I decided to take a walk along the abandoned railroad tracks that lead to Pratt & Whitney in Middletown CT. The tracks follow a portion of the CT. River through a marshy section complete with beaver huts. There is a trail directly along the river once you pass the marsh.


I was a tad bit nervous crossing the trestle. Did you ever see a calf get up and walk for the first time? That's how I felt going across the railroad trestle which was covered with ice and had a few broken ties.


After I crossed the trestle, I started to hear sparrows making little chip notes on both sides of me. There were dozens of AMERICAN TREE SPARROW and WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS in the thickets along the side.There was also a few SONG SPARROWS.


As I entered the trail along the river, I saw a large flock of MALLARDS take off. There was a few COMMON MERGANSERS and HOODED MERGANSER near the shoreline. Two RED-TAILED HAWKS put on a nice aerial display. One BALD EAGLE could be seen flying very high overhead. The big surprise of the day was a female YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER which are somewhat uncommon around these parts. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a very good picture of it.

Other than that, I did not see a lot of birds. Other species included:RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, AMERICAN CROW, RING-BILLED GULL, NORTHERN FLICKER, CAROLINA WREN, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, AMERICAN ROBIN, TUFTED TITMOUSE, and BLUE JAY. I was a lot warmer and had much better balance crossing the trestle on the way back. Not a bad day after all.




3 comments:

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I like your red-tail picture. Sounds like a terrific day- except for the trestle. I'm pretty sure I couldn't make myself cross that! The blue skies and sunshine are gorgeous. We're in the midst of a good snowstorm here in MN.

LauraHinNJ said...

Yea - nice red-tail pic! Sounds like a good day out with all the usual winter company.

Larry said...

Thanks for the comments-Even though it was cold , the sun was shining and the skies were blue.