Oh Boyd! Litchfield Hills Audubon Society's Boyd Woods, Litchfield November 2024 Another year, another random Litchfield trail hiked on the day I pick up our turkey from Bunnell Farm for Thanksgiving. The turkey for which I drive the 45 minutes west, pay ten times what others pay for their frozen Butterball, curse … [Read more...]
Riverbound Farm Nature Center
Centered on Birds Riverbound Farm Nature Center, Cheshire May 2019 Connecticut museum visit #419 Classic. This rarely open Quinnipiac Valley Audubon Society nature center is a straight up, old school, nature center. Even though it's in someone's living room. Essentially. And I love it. Well, I … [Read more...]
Mortensen Sanctuary at Riverbound Farm
Horse Chestnutting Around Mortensen Sanctuary at Riverbound Farm, Cheshire September 2016 For our visit to the adjacent nature center, go here. I'm writing up these trails six or so years after walking them with Damian. I'm starting it while listening in to his annual PPT meeting. (The Planning and Placement … [Read more...]
Smith-Hubbell Wildlife Refuge and Bird Sanctuary
Purple Martins Majesty Smith-Hubbell Wildlife Refuge and Bird Sanctuary and Tower, Milford August 2021 As most readers know, every hike (and "hike") I feature on CTMQ isn't great. Sometimes my hiking partner is a drag, sometimes the weather is a bummer, and sometimes the hike itself isn't impressive. … [Read more...]
Kalmia Sanctuary
Keep Kalmia and Carry On Litchfield Hills Audubon Society's Kalmia Sanctuary, Harwinton May 2018 Since my visit, the LHAS has added a substantially longer trail. I will return someday to complete it. I'm going to do a rare thing here in Harwinton. I hiked all seven currently trailed properties on one (rainy) … [Read more...]
Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center
Take a Flyer Old Lyme, (Google Maps location) March 2018 They have since moved into the former Bee & Thistle Inn, necessitating a revisit. I feel like I shouldn't be writing about the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center based upon an opening day visit. After all, the "center" is quite unlike all of the other … [Read more...]
Wigwam Brook Wildlife Sanctuary
Wiggin’ Out Litchfield Hills Audubon Society's Wigwam Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, Litchfield Novembers 2017 & 2020 The town of Litchfield has always been interesting to me. Everyone is familiar with its fancy dan “downtown” area; with its restaurants and high-end shopping. But outside of that strip through the … [Read more...]
226. Sharon Audubon Center
Sharon and Sharon Not Alike Sharon (Google Maps location) February 25, 2012 There are a lot of Audubon Centers in Connecticut. Certainly not as many as there are in other states, but we have more than you realize. And, as is always the case with most everything I write about, it's more confusing than you realize … [Read more...]
HAS: Lewis Farm
Suffield HAS It! Lewis Farm, Suffield October 2017 Once in a while, I'll realize that certain things I've done for CTMQ are things that not many others have done. Though I'm sure many people have walked all three of the Hartford Audubon properties. So I'm not really sure why I'm writing this introduction … [Read more...]
HAS: Station 43
Ice Station 43 Station 43, South Windsor January 29, 2014 & A year later I wasn't expecting much from this particular wildlife sanctuary along the Connecticut River in South Windsor, so I didn't really allot all that much time for exploring. Turns out, I was sort of right - at least in … [Read more...]