Forest Life

It was a beautiful, blue sky Tuesday morning (6:50 am), May 20, 2020. I'm the first to arrive at Aitken State Forest, soon to be sharing the trail with a couple of older ladies. As they part up the trail for Bald Moutain, I make my way down a different road for about 45 minutes. At first, I was a little discouraged because there wasn't much activity going on except the abundance of chipmunk calls. As I turned around and began my journey up Bald Mountain, that soon changed. It was almost like I was watching a couple's show where there were two Black-capped Chickadees dancing with each other and then right after, two Black-throated Green Warblers. Though, those were the only species I really saw in this dense mixed forest. The forest itself was a beautiful composition of pines, beech, maple, oak, and even a few flowering species like bleeding heart and trillium. Throughout my way up to the peak of the mountain, I heard one Woodpecker going to town on a tree somewhere, unfortunately, I was unable to spot it. I knew it was a Pileated Woodpecker because of it's distinct 'laughing' call, but oh how I wish I was able to see it too. Most of the time I had to wait for a species to send out another call because all my recording would pick up was the loud call of a chipmunk. Though that was one of the biggest challenges today, Aitken State Forest did not disappoint in the number of species I was able to get a good recording on. I hope to go back there soon to see what else it will have in store for me, let alone, see that gorgeous view again.

Publicado el 20 de mayo de 2020 por chey_conn