Two views of Sunfish pond, located about 3 miles from the start of my hiking training along the Appalachian Trail. First picture is from the South end of the pond, the second picture is from a ledge overlooking the pond at the Northeast end. I always stop for a water break and snack at the pond.
Since the climb up Kilimanjaro will require a 100 km (60 mile) hike, I need to prepare for the hiking. I picked the Appalachian Trail area near the Delaware Water gap because it is relatively close to my house (about an hour away), and I have a good guide for the trail that details distances on the trail. What I didn’t realize was how much interesting wildlife I’d see.
As a birder I have been quite excited about what I’ve seen, most as “naked eye” birds (without binoculars). For warblers I’ve seen Worm Eating, Hooded, Blackburnian, Black and White Warblers; American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, and Northern Waterthrush. I’ve some of the more colorful woodland birds: Rose-breasted Grossbeak, Scarlet Tanager, and Baltimore Oriole. Other woodland birds I've seen include Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Wood Thrush, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Warbling Vireo, and Red-eyed Vireo. I’ve also seen 3 Pileated woodpeckers and a Winter Wren!
Among the mammals I’ve seen are deer and black bear (happily the bear ran away from me). I almost stepped on a Timber Rattler! (do not text while hiking!), found a 5-striped Skink (one of only three lizards species that live in NJ), and saw Pumpkin Sunfish in Sunfish pond.
All in all the different wildlife have helped make the hiking/training fun.
New sitings Jul 18: Another bear (quite close to the trail), 5 deer, new birds: Ovenbird, Raven, Bald Eagle
New sitings Jul 24: Eastern Wood Pewee (2), Flicker (7), Swainson’s Thrush, Red-tailed Hawk, and Carolina Wren.
No comments:
Post a Comment