A Hands-On Approach

The clouds were taking on odd shapes today, looking almost like ghosts. Maybe the ghosts of winter past, being swept away by another bright, beautiful, warm Spring day. (if I may be so corny)



Just about everything is popping...







After work Wednesday we brought our bicycles down to the Fannie Stebbins Memorial Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow. It's located on the 'flats' of Longmeadow, right alongside the Connecticut River.





Bicycles are not allowed on the wooded trails throughout the Refuge, but there is plenty to see along the road that goes through and around it. Like everything else watery, the water levels of the wetlands here are very high. This Cormorant and a couple of his buddies took a rest on the nest boxes spread out over the water.



The Blackbirds and their referee-whistle-sounding calls were everywhere. Finally got a half-way decent picture of them...





This Swan kept to himself as he glided along...



Up above, a Downy Woodpecker lightly tapped away at a tree, looking for food.



Algae is starting to take over the stiller sections of water...



The road goes down by the Longmeadow DPW, then swings over some railroad tracks, and then toward the river, to a strip of residences along the bank...







We found a little access trail to the riverbank, and went and had a look.



There's something a little deceiving about how high the river is, considering we haven't had any real rain for quite some time now. Must be all that snow from Vermont and New Hampshire this past winter, slowly making it's way down.

Violets abound right now.



Country Girl Kelly put one in her hair....



Then, Country Girl Kelly picked up a huge slimy frog....



Personally, I'm content with a somewhat less 'hands-on' approach to wildlife viewing...

A little later, we encountered a Leopard Frog; but this guy managed to make his escape into the water, before Kelly could get a hold of it...



There is a lot of farm land here in between the residences and the refuge. The soil must be excellent this close to the river.



We didn't explore the trails of the refuge, as we were on bicycles, and most of them looked a little flooded anyway.





We'll be back to check them out when it's drier. The refuge is certainly a good place to view flora and fauna. I-91 is pretty close by though, and you can hear the traffic if you pay attention. But otherwise, the sounds of the wildlife tend to dominate...