In Other Woods

It is different birding the kids' woods at their new house. We have some nice woods at home, mostly in ravines and places earlier settlers couldn't work the land or graze the cows, but they are somewhat inaccessible for just those reasons. And steep for the most part too. I have walked all of them, but not in the past couple of years. Best places are looking down from the T-field into the old sugar bush or looking down the back of 7-County Hill from the hickory ridge. Wonderful views in the first, and a busy wildlife pathway below at the second. 

These new woods are steep as well, going straight up behind the house....and I do mean straight up......they say if you can't walk up a hill without using your hands you shouldn't ask a horse to take you there. My old horse was pretty intrepid, but I wouldn't have asked...

Not the steepest part

However, off to the side of the house there is a series of easy climbs to long, flat alleys carpeted with brown leaves, mostly oak, but some hickory, birch, beech and maple as well. Here and there a few mighty white pines are sprinkled among the hardwoods.

The trees are tall and lean, perhaps fighting each other for the light, down behind the ridge. At home the trees are thicker and sprawl a bit, more spread out I guess with room for horizontal branches. Being used to birding our shorter, fatter, trees, I was constantly peering around for chickadees that I could hear but not see.....I couldn't see them because they were seventy or eighty feet straight up!

I had a great time though wandering around those woods finding all kinds of nice birds. However, I could not get up the last few yards of the ridge no matter where I looked for a place to climb.....or let's change that. I probably could have scrambled up although it would not have been easy. It was getting back down I was worried about. It's hell to get old.