Ponkapoag!

Sundews, Ponkapoag Bog, Canton, MA

My first time on the Ponkapoag boardwalk in over a year.  One of my favorite places. (I must say the alien mood is hard to sustain when confronted by so many cheerful school children walking through).

The boardwalk is in even worse repair than I remember. You will get your feet wet, unless you are wearing rubber boots and then you risk slipping off the boardwalk entirely. My shoes and socks were soaked, almost from the start. But I didn't care.

Because the pitcher plants were in bloom!

What an extraordinarily beautiful blossom for what is, let's admit it, a fascinating but pretty loathsome looking plant.

Here's a distant look at the entire unit.

If you look closely at the base you will see the pitchers.

I wasn't there for the birds, though I was paying attention. Lots of flycatchers and a singing northern waterthrush (that one again!) added to the mood. My favorite bird moment was a stunner: I was listening to a nearby wood thrush sing and all of a sudden I heard a burst of pewee. WHAT? Did the wood thrush just sing over the pewee? It would seem, on the contrary, that the wood thrush has incorporated a little pewee into his own song. This is the first time I've ever heard this kind of thing. (By the way, that three note descending phrase in the background? An oriole, I think.)

I spotted the singer as he flew down to be with another bird, which I assume to be his mate. Looks like wood thrush breeding in Ponkapoag. Which is not good. This is a bad environment for them. Too close to the cowbirds. And indeed, I saw a poor phoebe trying to satisfy a giant screaming cowbird chick on the way back to my car.

Finally, it was nice to see this red-spotted purple (it was in attack mode but I waited around for it to land).

Lots of dragonflies today too, of all shapes and sizes. Some were flying in swarms so dense they would accidentally run into me. If you are a dragonfly lover, run don't walk, to Ponkapoag. And don't worry about getting your feet wet.