Helen Carlson Wildlife Sanctuary: Portland, CT (6/17)

On Sunday the 17th I spent the morning over in Portland at the Helen Carlson Wildlife Sanctuary. This is quickly becoming my favorite spot for a quick hike since its relatively close to my house in Cromwell and it has some great habitat.

But during this particular visit there wasn't too much to see. There were lots of Catbirds, Red-wing Blackbirds, and Grackles flying around the bog but that was just about it for birds. I saw a few Painted Turtles sunning themselves but the Spotted Turtles were nowhere to be found.

I did hear what I think was the Worm-eating Warbler again. And it was in the same location (deep in the woods next to one of the trails) as the last time. But, like before, I couldn't ever find him. Next time I'm going to bring my call and see if I can get him to come in.

Other than that, my best sightings of the day were some plants. The first was a strange fungus that I found growing on a rotting log. I also found some of these fuzzy flowers growing deep in the woods. I didn't know what they were so I looked them up on the Connecticut Botanical Society's web site. I found that they were Patridgeberry. And, a cool fact about this plant is that the flowers always grow in pairs. Once fertilized, the two flowers fuse into a single berry.
-----
Birds: Gray Catbird, Red-wing Blackbird, Common Grackle, Mourning Dove, Veery, Eastern Wood Peewee, American Robin, Worm-eating Warbler (?), Great Blue Heron, Wood Duck