Slice of Heaven: Trustom Pond NWR

On 8 May, we had breakfast at Slice of Heaven Cafe on the island of Jamestown, Rhode Island —

exteriorSliceofHeavencafeJamestownRI8May2017.JPG

— btw, best oatmeal ever: steel cut oats and 9-grain cereal served with plump raisins, walnuts, fresh berries, and drizzled with pure Vermont maple syrup — after which we let Zillow show us houses for sale, then we drove off the island and south through part of North Kingstown, part of South Kingstown, Charlestown (where we walked in the Kettle Pond part of the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge), and eventually toddled back up through Narragansett, where we had a great early dinner at Georges of Galilee (happy hour buck-a shuck oysters!), on a tip from a Facebook friend, and walked the Narrows beach.  More on some of that later.

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Today’s field trip is to Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge in South Kingstown, which we might have missed, though it was on my list of places that sounded good, because we were running a bit short on time. But the staffer at Kettle Pond was fervent in her unprompted praise for Trustom Pond NWR, which she said was the best place to walk in the area, with many habitats, and it was on our route back to the motel, so we decided to check it out.

TrustomPondNWRsignsSouthKingstownRI8May2017

trailsignsTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017

Trustom Pond is one of the walks described in the Trails & Walks in Rhode Island blog that I mentioned in an earlier post. It’s comprised of a small loop trail around a field (Farm Field Loop Trail), which leads to a large loop trail (Osprey Point Trail + Red Maple Swamp Trail), an extension of the loop (still Osprey Point Trail), and a 1/2-mile side-shoot off the loop trail (Otter Point Trail). In all, it’s about 2.5 miles of basically flat walking through a field,  grasslands, a red maple swamp, an upland forest with wetlands, shrublands, woods, and a saltwater pond. Trustom Pond is the only undeveloped salt pond in the state. If we had had more time, I would have walked it twice.

Plants

asclepiasemergingmeadowbTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Asclepias (milkweed) emerging
AmelanchiertreeTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Amelanchier (shadbush, serviceberry) tree
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skunk cabbage
somanyskunkcabbagestreamTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
skunk cabbage growing in swamp
skunkcabbageTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
skunk cabbage close
hairyfernfrondsmossTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
hairy fern frond and some moss
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furled hairy fern frond
unknownpurpleflowerfoliageTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Pedicularis canadensis (wood betony aka Canadian lousewort) … I think this is the first time I’ve noticed it in my whole life
unknownpurpleflowerTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Pedicularis canadensis (wood betony aka Canadian lousewort) flower
AnemoneQuinquefoliaWoodanemoneflowercloseTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Anemone quinquefolia (wood anemone)
PrenanthesRattlesnakeRootleavesTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Prenanthes (aka Nabalus) – Rattlesnake Root
unfurlingmapleleavesTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
unfurling maple leaves

 

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Animals

First, the turkey photo shoot; there were three of them, in tall grass, a ways away:

Then the rabbits:

Three young deer were hiding from us; you can sort of make out faces and tails:

yearlingdeerTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017threedeerTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017yearlingdeerfacehiddenTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017

And the birds!

scarlettanagerbirdTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
scarlet tanager
muteswanTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
mute swan in the pond
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mute swan in the pond
swallowsbirdsreflectionspondTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
swallows and reflections in the pond
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you can barely see the swallow flying

There were dozen of swallows flying around the pond grasses; they are fast, have a slim profile, never seem to land, and make themselves hard to photograph. But it was breathtaking watching them swoop.

Then there were warblers. I was lucky to get a decent couple of shots of one, a yellow warbler, and her nest, which we were accidentally standing near:

yellowwarblerbirdbestTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017yellowwarblerbirdneckchestTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017yellowwarblernestTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017

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Landscape

pathrecentlyburnedmeadowTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Farm Field Loop Trail — the field had been burned very recently
grassypathTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Farm Field Loop Trail
pondreflectionstreeslilypadsTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Otter Point on Trustom Pond
pathtreessunlightTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Red Maple Swamp Trail
grassypathhedgerowsTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
Red Maple Swamp Trail
oldwindmillTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
old windmill along Red Maple Swamp Trail
oldwindmilldetailtreesTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
old windmill, closer
curvedpathtreesTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
path to Osprey Point
barnswallowsflyingpondTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
view out across Trustom Pond, with swallows
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deck, Trustom Pond (another swallow)
thornybrambletreetrunksTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
thorny bramble and trees, Osprey Point Trail
pathbrightgreengrassTrustomPondNWRSouthKingstownRI8May2017
bright green grass, Osprey Point Trail

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MollywalkingTrustomPondSKingstownRI8May2017

“Approximately 300 bird species, more than 40 mammals, and 20 species of reptiles and amphibians call Trustom their home.”

 

 

 

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