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This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_hVjMbg/ERcx9PCE8X/eyqg) Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Wendy and I walked the Rogart Mountain Trail just south of Earltown off highway 311 yesterday. The trailhead is off the parking lot at Sugar Moon Farm located at the end of Alex MacDonald Rd. This trail and about 30 additional km of trail in the Gully Lake Wilderness Area have been built over the last 4-5 years by the Cobequid Eco-Trails Society working with Garnet MacLaughlin (Cobequid Consulting, one of the best light footprint trail builders in Nova Scotia) and Nova Scotia Environment. We were first introduced to this trail by local trail steward (read, Trail Hero) Norris Whiston a couple of years ago and Norris led a joint Halifax Field Naturalist/NS Wild Flora Society field trip there on Sat, May 21. The 6.2 km trail, for the most part, passes through a rich Beech/Sugar Maple/Yellow Birch woodland, complete with wet areas, streams, brooks and a waterfall. We made note of the flowering plants we saw and the birds we heard or saw. Bird species included Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireo, Ruffed Grouse (drumming). Northern Flicker (other woodpeckers were drumming but not seen), Least Flycatcher, Swainson's and Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren (seen not heard!), Blue Jay, A. Robin, Purple Finch, Grey Catbird and a few warblers (Black-and-white, Black-throated Green, A Redstart (looked like a female singing (!!??), Ovenbird, Yellow-rumped and Common Yellowthroat). I suspect that others who 'Bird by Ear' and with better hearing than mine would see twice the number that we did. Perhaps our most noteworthy sighting were the pair of Olive-sided Flycatchers seen just after Jane's waterfall (stop #14) in an area with a lot of dead snags - perfect habitat really! Trees and shrubs in flower included Striped and Mountain Maple, Rhodora, and Hobblebush (lovely!). Flowering herbaceous species included Nodding and Painted Trillium, Strawberry, Goldthread, Spring Beauty, Wild Lily-of-the-valley, Bunchberry, Starflower, Trout Lily (almost finished), Rose-twisted Stalk (at its peak!), Starry Solomon's Seal, Dewberry, Dwarf Ginseng, Pink Lady's Slipper (forma alba - white), Blue and White Violets, Strawberry, Clintonia, Jack-in-the-pulpit and Foamflower. We are still trying to identify a "mystery 5-part yellow flowering plant we noted. We were also able to identify many fern species, including Braun's Holly Fern (Norris showed me this species on an earlier walk). Non-flowering species included Wood Sorrel (still too early) and Dutchman's Breeches (finished blooming now). The only lep identified was an Eastern Pine Elfin on a wide track on the way out. I did get a decent pic. This is a beautiful spot! I encourage anyone interested in a beautiful but occasionally rugged venture into a mostly undisturbed woodland to hike the trail!! Cheers, Bob McDonald Halifax --Boundary_(ID_hVjMbg/ERcx9PCE8X/eyqg) Content-type: text/html; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19046"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY style="WORD-WRAP: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space" bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=2>Wendy and I walked the Rogart Mountain Trail just south of Earltown off highway 311 yesterday. The trailhead is off the parking lot at Sugar Moon Farm located at the end of Alex MacDonald Rd.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>This trail and about 30 additional km of trail in the Gully Lake Wilderness Area have been built over the last 4-5 years by the Cobequid Eco-Trails Society working with Garnet MacLaughlin (Cobequid Consulting, one of the best light footprint trail builders in Nova Scotia) and Nova Scotia Environment. We were first introduced to this trail by local trail steward (read, Trail Hero) Norris Whiston a couple of years ago and Norris led a joint Halifax Field Naturalist/NS Wild Flora Society field trip there on Sat, May 21. The 6.2 km trail, for the most part, passes through a rich Beech/Sugar Maple/Yellow Birch woodland, complete with wet areas, streams, brooks and a waterfall. We made note of the flowering plants we saw and the birds we heard or saw.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Bird species included Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireo, Ruffed Grouse (drumming). Northern Flicker (other woodpeckers were drumming but not seen), Least Flycatcher, Swainson's and Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren (seen not heard!), Blue Jay, A. Robin, Purple Finch, Grey Catbird and a few warblers (Black-and-white, Black-throated Green, A Redstart (looked like a female singing (!!??), Ovenbird, Yellow-rumped and Common Yellowthroat). I suspect that others who 'Bird by Ear' and with better hearing than mine would see twice the number that we did. Perhaps our most noteworthy sighting were the pair of Olive-sided Flycatchers seen just after Jane's waterfall (stop #14) in an area with a lot of dead snags - perfect habitat really!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Trees and shrubs in flower included Striped and Mountain Maple, Rhodora, and Hobblebush (lovely!). Flowering herbaceous species included Nodding and Painted Trillium, Strawberry, Goldthread, Spring Beauty, Wild Lily-of-the-valley, Bunchberry, Starflower, Trout Lily (almost finished), Rose-twisted Stalk (at its peak!), Starry Solomon's Seal, Dewberry, Dwarf Ginseng, Pink Lady's Slipper (forma alba - white), Blue and White Violets, Strawberry, Clintonia, Jack-in-the-pulpit and Foamflower. We are still trying to identify a "mystery 5-part yellow flowering plant we noted. We were also able to identify many fern species, including Braun's Holly Fern (Norris showed me this species on an earlier walk).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Non-flowering species included Wood Sorrel (still too early) and Dutchman's Breeches (finished blooming now).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>The only lep identified was an Eastern Pine Elfin on a wide track on the way out. I did get a decent pic.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>This is a beautiful spot! I encourage anyone interested in a beautiful but occasionally rugged venture into a mostly undisturbed woodland to hike the trail!!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Cheers,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Bob McDonald</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Halifax</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML> --Boundary_(ID_hVjMbg/ERcx9PCE8X/eyqg)--
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