Broad Meadow Brook: Worcester, MA (6/23)
Shannon and I drove up to Massachusetts on Saturday the 23rd to meet my family. But, before stopping by the house I had to bring her to Broad Meadow Brook. We got to the sanctuary in the early afternoon and, after talking a bit with Deb Cary, started off on our hike.
We had some really nice sightings on our hike, but I didn't write them all down. So, from memory, here are the highlights. We started down Holdredge Trail and almost immediately saw a pair of butterflies fighting. I didn't get a good look but I'd guess that they were a Red-spotted Admiral and one of the anglewing species. We took a left onto Frog Pond trail and startled a Garter Snake who had been sunning himself on the boardwalk. At the pond we actually found one Green Frog submerged up to his throat in the slime.
We walked up Sprague and stopped for a while to admire the brook. We continued on to the power lines which were absolutely alive with activity. We found this cool dragonfly in the leaf litter and saw a Hummingbird Moth flittering about. It moved so fast that I never got a good shot of it. We also saw three Monarchs, two Harris' Checkerspots, lots of skippers, and an Eastern Tailed-blue.
We eventually made it down to the stretch where we had the sightings of the day. Halfway down the trail Shannon spotted a strange shape in the water. It was a Snapping Turtle (possibly the same one that I had photographed out of the water a year ago?). The turtle took a breath at the surface and then dropped down into the mud.
Then, towards the end of the road we came upon a Great Blue Heron wading in the brook. From the picture you can tell that he was only about 10-15 feet away from us. And the strangest thing was that he didn't spook and fly away. He just slowly moved up the brook to an area which provided more space between him and us. He was so calm about the situation that he even stopped to catch and eat a fish as he walked.
Our last sightings of the day were some more butterflies. At the intersection of Frog Pond and Holdredge I spotted a Eastern Tiger Swallowtail sunning itself on a bush. And, further up the hill we found two anglewings engaged in a territory dispute. It was a great visit to a special place.
We had some really nice sightings on our hike, but I didn't write them all down. So, from memory, here are the highlights. We started down Holdredge Trail and almost immediately saw a pair of butterflies fighting. I didn't get a good look but I'd guess that they were a Red-spotted Admiral and one of the anglewing species. We took a left onto Frog Pond trail and startled a Garter Snake who had been sunning himself on the boardwalk. At the pond we actually found one Green Frog submerged up to his throat in the slime.
We walked up Sprague and stopped for a while to admire the brook. We continued on to the power lines which were absolutely alive with activity. We found this cool dragonfly in the leaf litter and saw a Hummingbird Moth flittering about. It moved so fast that I never got a good shot of it. We also saw three Monarchs, two Harris' Checkerspots, lots of skippers, and an Eastern Tailed-blue.
We eventually made it down to the stretch where we had the sightings of the day. Halfway down the trail Shannon spotted a strange shape in the water. It was a Snapping Turtle (possibly the same one that I had photographed out of the water a year ago?). The turtle took a breath at the surface and then dropped down into the mud.
Then, towards the end of the road we came upon a Great Blue Heron wading in the brook. From the picture you can tell that he was only about 10-15 feet away from us. And the strangest thing was that he didn't spook and fly away. He just slowly moved up the brook to an area which provided more space between him and us. He was so calm about the situation that he even stopped to catch and eat a fish as he walked.
Our last sightings of the day were some more butterflies. At the intersection of Frog Pond and Holdredge I spotted a Eastern Tiger Swallowtail sunning itself on a bush. And, further up the hill we found two anglewings engaged in a territory dispute. It was a great visit to a special place.
posted by Mike @ 8:57 AM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home