Berkshire Flowers, Newt, Toad, and Potholes

 I made a visit to the Berkshires near the Mowhawk trail in Massachusetts. I did some birding in the area but I thought that I would post a few non-bird photos first. The first picture was taken in Shelburne Falls on a rainy morning. It is an old trolley bridge that was transformed into a Bridge Of Flowers by the Shelburne Women's Club back in 1929.

I found lots of Lady Slippers in the woods at a place called High Ridges. I was told that there were even yellow Lady Slippers growing out there but the pink ones were good enough for me.

I looked this up on the web and found that it was a Red-spotted Newt in the terrestrial eft stage. They spend up to 3 years on land before returning to the water. I may have seen these before but on this particular morning I counted 15 of them along one trail! I was afraid that I might step on one but they really stood out with their bright orange color.

  I found this toad hanging out in the middle of the night. I'm not sure what kind it is but I think it's an American Toad. 

Another attraction at Shelburne Falls were the falls themselves. There were glacial potholes in the rocks below the falls.

Here's a close-up of one of the potholes. 

I enjoyed my visit to the friendly little village of Shelburne Falls. They had a good breakfast diner too which is always a plus in my book. In the next post I'll tell you about a cool place called Hawley Bog that I visited along with some Berkshire bird photos to go with it.