Orono Bog Boardwalk

It's a cold (45), wet, windy, and foggy day.

We headed out to a place called The Bangor City Forest and Orono Bog Boardwalk.
The boardwalk is a spectacular 4,200-foot long platform through a raised peat bog.


Orono Bog Boardwalk


Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)


Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense)


Tall Cotton-grass (Eriophorum angustifolium)


Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum)

Almost there!

We drove across northern New Hampshire (all 35 miles of it) and entered into Maine today.

Crossing the White Mountains:








We haven't seen a Moose yet, just lots of signs.

Vermont

It was raining when we crossed the state line

There were several places we wanted to see today in the Bennington area. Our first stop was the Fish Hatchery.

Built in 1916, it is Vermont's second largest fish culture station. This culture station uses a combination of spring, artesian well, and stream water for raising brook, brown, and rainbow trout.

A couple of years ago they got about 200 eggs that turned out to be albino rainbow trout. They keep these albinos in a separate tank and do not use them to stock with.


Albino Rainbow Trout

After the fish hatchery we went to the Bennington Battle Monument.

Built in the late 1880's, this monument is a dedication to the famous Battle of Bennington that took place during the Revolutionary war in 1777. It was at this location the American colonists maintained a store of weapons and food, which British General Burgoyne knew was critical to capture in order to restock his own troops.

The monument is a 306' stone obelisk that opened to the public in 1891. A guided elevator takes visitors to the observation floor for spectacular views of Historic Bennington and three states.


The windows about 3/4 of the way to the top where as far as we were allowed.


Looking out the window of the Battle Monument.

All around Bennington there are 22 of these decorated Moose. We found several of them. They were interesting.

Out my window

White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Forages mainly while hopping and running on the ground.


Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus)
Active during the day in open woods, brushy areas and around buildings. It hibernates during the winter. Feeds on seeds, bulbs, fruits, nuts, insects, meat, and eggs. Stores its food underground.

Happy Birthday to Mark

Although it rained again during the night, we saw a little blue sky by the time we headed out this morning. Our destination was the Lower Falls here in Letchworth State Park. Both the Upper and Middle Falls were rolling when we saw them yesterday so we expected the Lower Falls to be too. We weren't disappointed!





The park is beautiful. Some of the trees are just now coming out. There are a lot of different greens in the tree color.

Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge

The 10,828-acre Iroquois NWR lies midway between Rochester and Buffalo, New York. The Refuge’s 6,000 acres of wetland host more than 100,000 Canada geese and 20,000 ducks and swans annually. More than 3,000 acres of bottomland hardwood and 1,800 acres of grasslands and shrublands support migratory and resident birds as well as other wildlife.

We decided to take a chance on the weather and drive the 45 minutes to Iroquois NWR this morning. At the visitor center we were told that some of the trails were under water and all the trails were pretty soggy. We had on our waterproof boots so we headed on out to the Kanyoo Nature Trail. We slogged our way through the beginning of the trail but after that it was not bad at all. We were the only ones on the trail. We might have been the only visitors in the whole refuge. We certainly didn’t see anyone else besides the refuge staff.


Kanyoo Nature Trail marsh


Mark on the boardwalk.

It turned out to be a very pretty trail.


Wood Duck


American Redstart


Lots of Fungi in this wet area.


Tree Swallow
Unlike other swallows, Tree Swallows eat many berries, allowing them to survive wintry spells.

Even though it was pretty cold, it never did rain on us. Unfortunately, by the time we started back to the RV the fog had rolled in. Visibility was about 50 yards on the road!

New York

We got an early start this morning for New York. It rained the whole way. We’re staying at Letchworth State Park. The park just opened two days ago and is very soggy. We were told that this is the third wettest Spring in history.

Letchworth State Park is known as the “Grand Canyon of the East”. The park is 14,350 acres along the Genesee River. Within the park the Genesee River has three waterfalls, one of which 107 feet high. Some of the cliffs along the river are 600 feet high.


Middle Falls


Grand Canyon of the Eaat


It finally quit raining enough for us to get out for a little while. (Waterfall spray on the right side of the picture)
It's still cold!




Scarlet Tanager
We're seeing some birds but the weather is not all that great for bird watching!