Just a few more pictures from CT.

The weather was perfect for my last morning out east; 46°F, dry, still, and sunny; and this time my sister and I tried the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Cheshire to see who we could find.

There is a big, shallow pond beside the stretch we sampled, and I was sure we’d find a heron of some kind fishing in there somewhere, but it took my sister’s keen eye to find this great blue heron at the edge of a low island in the middle.

We are certainly in the range of green herons, too, but we couldn’t find one today. Instead, back on land, this magnificent creature was crossing the path from the pond to the swamp on the other side.

I would say it is smaller than the giant in the pond at Estabrook, but bigger than the one I saw at the Milwaukee River last summer. It does have the same pretty eyes, however.

Snapping turtles weren’t the only critters with pretty eyes on the trail this morning, and here’s an eastern cottontail doing its best statue imitation in the golden, early morning light.

There were plenty of other birds about, as well, and many were making a racket, but the trees are pretty leafed-out here already, and so we couldn’t get a clear view of most of them. This eastern phoebe, however, perched perfectly on a bare branch over the remains of the old Farmington Canal.

And that’s a wrap for my east-coast tour. With any luck, I’ll be back in Estabrook tomorrow.