Flowers of Colonial and Duke Island Park

Welcome to the first week of April at Colonial Park in Franklin Township, New Jersey.


While early for the season, the cherry, apples and other flowering trees burst into bloom the first week of April of 2010. This is approximately one month ahead of schedule for this part of New Jersey.

I can never get enough of the transient beauty of these flowers. Just five days after I caught these and several other shots all their glory is over until next year.

I couldn't resist taking advantage of the fair sunny weather during the work week. Everyday after a full day of work, I changed into a tank top and capri's and strolled through park along with crowds of families with young children, dog walkers and lots of other folks out enjoying the sun.

If you visit the gazebo by the willow trees (Powder Mill Pond), keep an eye out for white feathers - 3 domestic ducks have made the pond their home for the past few years. Each duck has a different colored bill - red (Cairina moschata), orange and yellow (Anas platyrhynchos domestica). Orange bill here always seems to be smiling as he grooms his feathers.

If you'd like to escape the folks on the fitness path, Colonial park has several wooded trails. It always amazes me the proliferation of wildlife that can exist so close to so many humans tromping around in fair weather.

I can't resist sharing this lucky shot I caught of a Downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens). This little bird did not perch for more than five seconds at a time. I love the way woodpeckers can perch and move vertically up and down the trunks of trees, looking for bugs to eat.

Above is the gazebo at sunset. I often pause here, gaze across the water, and feel at peace.

Later in the week, on Sunday April 11th, I drove over to Duke Island Park, in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey.

Duke Island is easily recognized for 3 main reasons. The first is the park ranger station, with its distinctive architecture, pictured above.

The second is the picnic grove sized gazebos, pictured above. From a distance, they remind me of alien spaceships that have landed among the trees.

The third unique feature of Duke Island is its picturesque views of the Raritan River.

On this visit, wildflowers were out in abundance. In a perfect world, I would have enough time on my hands to key out every bloom, as well as every tree and shrub I see on my hikes. Unfortunately the real world is not quite to perfect, so I will invite you to key out those that interest you on your own.

Like Colonial Park, Duke Island has paved paths suitable for light walks, strollers and biking. Additional dirt paths wind through the woods, along the fish filled Raritan Power Canal. See the park map here for the full range of resources available. Next week I hope to visit some more distance parks to view further spring flowers.

A Sunny Weekend - Easter 2010

When I imagine an ideal weekend for hiking I picture bright sunlight, a cool breeze and temperatures just upwards of 75 degrees. While the temperature made it up past 80 degrees in the afternoon, April 2-4th were certainly some near perfect days for walking and enjoying the outdoors.

On Friday the second, I spent 2 hours working my way through Sourland Mountain Preserve in Hillsborough and Montgomery townships, New Jersey. Above is the view from the top of the hill, not far from marker 5 on the park map.

If you have time to negotiate an approximately 500 foot increase in elevation, I highly recommend the climb. In the sunny, unseasonably warm April weather, I made it to this spot in about 30 minutes.

There are always interesting things to explore at Sourland Mountain. While I'm sure fires are not permitted in the park, some folks built one anyway in this open area.

While I generally have a limited time to spend at the park, I managed to work my way from marker 1 to marker 13, 11 and 12 then up past marker 10 to marker 5, then over to marker 4.

I had never hit this particular area of the park before last Friday. The trail to and from marker 4 is extra rocky, and passes by an interesting boulder pile.

At marker 4 (pictured above), you can feel the preserve sloping down and away from you on all sides.

I admired the early spring growth that was fast appearing on every side as I descended the connecting trail (marked with a "c") back to the parking area.

Plants that bloom in the spring take advantage of the lack of leaf cover to get in as much growth as possible before the larger trees steal their sun. I saw wildflowers appear for the first time this season, coaxed out by the mild weather as I moved along the trail.

While I enjoyed my walk at Sourland Mountain, it was a relatively quite day. I passed many other hikers and many companion canines - I was not quick enough with the camera to capture much wildlife and the heavy use of the trail may have kept most critters at bay.

On Saturday the third, I made the drive to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge on Pleasant Plains Road in Basking Ridge, NJ. Great Swamp is administered by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, and contains a great abundance of prime swamp habitat that has remained largely undisturbed since 1960 according to the park website. Since I was a young child, I have visited the Lord Stirling Environmental Center just to the south of the Great Swamp refuge. I even volunteered there during high school. My favorite time of year to visit is the fall, as the summer days can get very hot even in the shade of the trees. Last Saturday the sun beat down without the benefit of leaf cover, and the temperature probably reached the upper 80's.

The plants and animals slowly awake after winter hibernation. The water table is very high here, hence the swamp designation. I slogged through the mud, looking for early risers.

I began my identification of frogs, snakes and turtles at the park brochure on Reptiles, Amphibians and Fishes. The main highlight of my first hour on the trail was the Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) below. This snake was basking on a log in the middle of large puddle. I was able to approach fairly close without disturbing him in the least - he seems content and secure in his spot in the sun. For another example of this species showing its darker coloration please see the article for the species on Wilkapedia.


On the way back to the parking area, I caught this shot of a Green Frog (Rana clamitans melanota).

If you care to skip the mud, Great Swamp also has an extensive system of boardwalk covered trails, which lead out to strategically placed bird blinds.

It is a beautiful place and wildlife of all kinds is in abundance.

An Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta) swims by.

Two Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) have feathered a nest not far from where the trail forms a bridge across a pond.

It seemed that nearly every spot of water was teaming with life that day.

I believe this is a Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina), about 14 inches long. This guy was pretty hard to see among the fallen leaves and rocks. I had a lively discussion with some other folks on the trail over whether he (or she) was in fact actually a rock. Luckily the camera captured the classic extra pointed snout of the Snapper.

This is a Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata). A cute little guy at just under 6 inches long.

Before we depart the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge, I want to mention the abundance of songbirds and waterfowl. I undertake each hike to experience nature as it is on that particular day, not to take pictures - I usually site many more species than I manage to photograph. My camera really isn't powerful enough to capture small birds from too far away anyway. But they are out there in abundance.

I spend Sunday, April 4th with family. The weather was still fair and mild and we took in some sun in the backyard before the big meal. With fair weather forecasted for next week, a world of flowers heralds the beginning of spring.

Washington Valley, Bridgewater, NJ

Welcome to Washington Valley Park, Newman’s Lane trailhead in Bridgewater, NJ. On this particular weekend (March 27th), the weather had turned cloudy and the temperature had dropped down to 40-45 degrees. While I was hoping to spend most of the weekend outdoors, Aengus and I had to cut our walk short as it was just too cold to enjoy the woodland. I snapped just a few shots as we ambled down to the water and then quickly returned to the parking area. This is the same trail I visited in a previous post, back in January.

This part of the park is littered with boulders that border the Washington Valley Reservoir.



On my favorite outcrop, the view west and east.






And due north.

I often come to the Newman’s Lane trailhead when it rains – I like the different colors of the water as it reflects the sky.

The highlight of our 30 minute walk were some Merganser waterfowl (Mergus merganser) which we spotted cruising near the far shore. My thanks to Whatbird.com for assisting with this species identification - While I usually make use of my field guides or just memories from field biology labs back in college to identify species, I was definitely stumped until I zoomed in on my original photo and hit the web for these guys (the green head is male, the brown female).


It is no mystery why waterfowl like to hang out here.

With the temperature back in the 70's, I am hoping to get in a hike each day of the holiday weekend. I hope the good weather lasts! See you on the trail!