Wild Mountain Blueberry Picking

One of things Mark and I like to do in late July is hike up Piper Mountain in New Hampshire to pick wild mountain blueberries! A friend introduced us to Piper Mountain a long time ago and we have been making the trek up ever since to pick blueberries.

This is the type of habitat where the blueberries grow.

Mark is hard at work picking blueberries.

We once met a seasoned Piper Mountain blueberry picker who was using a set up like this to pick her blueberries. I like using it because once draped around your neck your container is always close by, when you bend over it’s close to the ground, and it also allows you to have both hands free so you can pick more blueberries!

This year’s crop was bountiful!

When you are picking wild mountain blueberries you spend a lot time looking at the ground but in this habitat there is a lot to look at.

So as you work towards filing your container with blueberries your senses are never idle.

The fruits of my labor!

There is always a beautiful view to take in on your way up and back down the mountain.

We picked 11 cups of blueberries during this trip! I froze much of our bounty and will remember this day when we take them out during the winter to make blueberry pancakes and bake blueberry breads.

Joppa Flats ~Finished~ Tile Painting Project

Back in February of this year, I wrote about Tile Painting for Joppa Flats – a project I participated in for Mass Audubon. On June 5th, the Joppa Flats Education Center unveiled the finished project and I was thrilled to see my tile on display with many others! If you are in the area its worth a visit to the center to see the tile display located on the second floor.

Here is a photo of my finished tile - not too bad for my first attempt at ceramic tile painting!

Here are several photos of all the other tiles that are on display.

Birding Parker River NWR by Bike ~ 05-01-10

This morning, Mark and I led our annual spring birding by bike trip for the Brookline Bird Club at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. Eight other bike and birding enthusiasts joined us at Parking Lot #1 at 6:30AM.

Weather-wise, this was one of the best days we have had for this trip - the temperature ranged between 51 and 75 df, no wind, and abundant sunshine! We birded our way south to the Hellcat Trail and back over a 5-hour period. We tallied 77 species for the Club list, of which 12 species were warblers! Following is a complete list of the birds we saw:

Common Loon - 2; Double-crested Cormorant – 4; Great-blue Heron – 4; Great Egret -7; Snowy Egret – 3; Glossy Ibis - 7; Canada Goose - 70;

Mute Swan - 4

Gadwall – 5

American Black Duck - 12; Mallard – 53; Blue-winged Teal - 3; Green-winged Teal - 2; Ring-necked Duck - 1; Osprey - 5; Northern Harrier - 2; American Kestrel - 1; Merlin - 1; Peregrine Falcon - 1

Sora – 1; Killdeer - 3; Greater Yellowlegs – 9; Willet - 11; Wilson’s Snipe – 1; Ring-billed Gull - 3; Herring Gull - 20; Great Black-backed Gull - 1; Mourning Dove – 26; Belted Kingfisher – 3; Hairy Woodpecker – 1; Northern Flicker – 1; Eastern Phoebe – 2; Eastern Kingbird – 7; Blue-headed Vireo – 12; Warbling Vireo – 1; Red-eyed Vireo - 2; Blue Jay - 5; American Crow – 42; Fish Crow - 1; Purple Martin - 5; Tree Swallow - 350; Barn Swallow – 60; Black-capped Chickadee - 8; Golden-crowned Kinglet – 4; Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 280; Hermit Thrush - 5; American Robin – 75; Gray Catbird - 3; Northern Mockingbird - 2; Brown Thrasher - 14; European Starling – 120

WARBLERS: Nashville – 10; Northern Parula – 12; Yellow - 40; Black-throated Blue – 3; Yellow-rumped - 150; Black-throated Green – 7; Prairie – 3; Palm – 16; Black-and-white – 53; Ovenbird – 2; Northern Waterthrush – 27; Common Yellowthroat – 2

Eastern Towhee - 55; Savannah Sparrow – 13; Seaside Sparrow - 2; Song Sparrow – 33; Swamp Sparrow - 6; White-throated Sparrow – 175; Northern Cardinal – 24; Red-winged Blackbird -190; Eastern Meadowlark - 1; Common Grackle - 90; Brown-headed Cowbird - 20; Purple Finch - 1; American Goldfinch – 24; House Sparrow - 10.

We had an aMAYzing morning of birding and I hope you did too.

Happy Migration!