a walk along the tracks
 

yesterday (memorial day) I took a drive up to lake bonaparte to try and find a nature conservancy holding that has lots of native orchids on it. I didn't find it, but when I was walking along the tracks to the south of the lake (which goes through the swampy area where there can be arethusa (dragon's mouth orchid) I was stymied by the hundreds of train cars parked along the tracks in both directions. the tracks are just a little higher than the wet area, so I had to walk on the thin strip of 'land' to the north, or opposite side of the tracks where I thought I might see orchids. much to my surprise when I decided to peek between rail cars to the other side, I found someone(thing) peeking back at me from underneath one of the cars!

http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/birdy510a.JPG

http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/birdy510b.JPG

http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/birdy510d.JPG

http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/birdysleep510.JPG

I think they were robin chicks; the closest one had some orange on it's breast, and they had that 'look' to the eyes that I often associate with robins. It was quite warm, and they didn't seem to be too worried about me. The one in front in the last picture was so sleepy I had to wake it up to get pics with open eyes, and finally it dozed off with it's head hanging low (it was pretty warm that afternoon, even that far up north)

I walked along the tracks a bit further, trying to get to where the land reached fairly close to the tracks hoping to see nature conservancy signs indicating a property boundary. When I got to some real soil I noticed a fair number of what I've been told is a parasitic plant called one-flowered cancer root. Each stem has one flower, there is no chlorophyll and either the plant gets it's nutrients from another plant or saprophytically like mushrooms.

http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/1fcancerroot510a.JPG

http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/1fcancerroot510b.JPG

http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/1fcancerroot510c.JPG

many of the box cars had old spiderwebs on them, so I took a pic of one near the bird nest. the cars had been there quite a while obviously for the parent birds to think that the cars were safe to build a nest under

http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/birdy510c.JPG

Interesting place and experience!!! (Any more pics of the cars?) Jean

Although rail traffic seems to indicate in upturn in the economy, railroads still have a lot of cars mothballed due to decreased interchange from previous years. Thanx for the photos, were you too early or too late for the orchids?

Cool.
I have lived next to the tracks most of my life.

Great photos of some great wildlife, both plant and animal! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/clap.gif

A robin built a nest in the euonymous shrub just outside my front door this spring and was rearing a batch of hatchlings until about 11pm Friday night at which time something attacked her nest. I am assuming it was a neighbor's free-roaming cat, but I can't be sure. I was watching television when the chicks began to tweetscream as the mother frantically chirped and flew in circles right outside my kitchen window. I had been feeding her strawberries during the incubation period, and I almost wonder now if she was calling for my help on the night of her tragedy. I went out immediately to investigate, but the nest was destroyed and the chicks were already dead. Mama robin stayed up in a nearby tree for the remainder of that night calling out in distress. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/frown.gif

Aww, cool pics.

Interesting, I'm assuming those cars are out of use! Now that would be a bumpy way of growing up and confusing as hell too - "so, where'd ya grow up?" - "ah, here and there, Utica, Rochester, Erie..."

If you get shots of the Arethusa, please do post them. Lovely plant!

I didn't take any other pictures of the cars, they were all the same drab color and only much further down the lane did the box cars change to others like coal carriers. I think they had been there quite a while. For the orchids I wanted to see, I'm pretty sure I'm early. I just didn't see them because I didn't find the right spot yet. If I do get more pics of flowers, I'll post them

Cool trip along the RR tracks!

Mark, what a sad story. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/frown.gif