In the Pond

Rock Fire Pond, Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts

It is this time of year, the only time in the year,
    when Salamanders leave the darkness of their homes and journey to the ponds to breed.
  The young are skillful swimmers, their supple bodies moving with grace as if born to live in water.

Much as they will live most of their lives under cover in the forest
   their bodies have not forgotten the past. 
    When about 350 million years ago, their ancestors diverged from strictly aquatic animals
   and
    made the first steps onto the land... without looking back...

Today they are equipped to survive on the land with a little help from water.
   And their gigantic genome attests to that,
     being in the range of 14-120 billion base pairs,
    while our human genome has only 3.2 billion base pairs.
  
   So delicate yet so sturdy to live for 20 years, a very long life, in a harsh world... 

On the Hill

Brown Hill, Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, Massachusetts

This is a rolling land with rocky hills but very few peaks.
  So these peaks are popular for all those who wish to reach the top... a lot of us...
    which makes them pretty busy places we tend to avoid and

   enjoy the hills instead... 

Accidental Flowers

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Those humble violets, the charms by chance of imperfect gardens that wish to be wild... 

Reflections of the Silence

Brewster's Woods, Concord Conservation Land, Massachusetts

William Brewster, a well-known ornithologist, bought this land to get away from busy Cambridge.
   It was in the early 1890s.
 Today, Cambridge is far more bustling but the woods have not changed much
    thanks to the people of Concord who wished to keep them that way...

   ... in silence...

And Then we See Them !!!

Brewster's Woods, Concord Conservation Land, Massachusetts

    Wood Ducks !!! FINALLY !!!

  I have read about them, have seen their pictures
    but, in miles of walks through their swampy habitats, have never seen them...

  Their divine looks enticing my dreams of spotting them one day, by chance.
      And IT happened!
    Among the grasses where they can hide well but, this time,
     they show-up and flood the moment with delight...  

Tidmarsh

Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Once a farm for growing cranberries,
 Tidmarsh underwent the largest ecological restoration ever completed in the Northeast.
  Nearly three and a half miles of arrested streams were given back to join others
    in making this swampy space alive and connect
  the headwaters of Beaver Dam Brook to the ocean so Herrings can journey upstream over again...

This place shows how nature responds to different conditions and how,
  if given a chance,
 IT always comes back to the state where each and every part plays a role to sustain the whole...