Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge - Dagmar Dale Trail

ABOUT THE PARK:
Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge - US Fish and Wildlife Service
Wallkill River Nature Trails - US Fish and Wildlife Service
No dogs allowed on this trail.

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.20093, -74.56509

Parking at refuge headquarters.

TRAIL MAP:
Refuge Map (shows all trails) - US Fish and Wildlife Service
Dagmar Dale Nature Trail - US Fish and Wildlife Service

HIKE DISTANCE:  
Dagmar Dale Nature Trail - 2.6 miles
hiked together with a 1.5 mile drive to:
Wood Duck Nature Trail - 3.7 miles

THE HIKE:
Warning:  There will be more bird pictures than you have ever seen at one time on this blog before.  I counted 14 different kinds and those are only the ones I got decent pictures of.  There are so many juveniles around right now that it makes IDing even more difficult so if I mislabeled anyone, let me know!  Also, since Shawnee hiked 7.7 miles the day before and it's a holiday weekend, I went again and did a no dogs allowed hike so she could sit this one out.

Already from the parking lot while I was still putting my shoes on, a field sparrow.

And a bunny!

Started on the Dagmar Dale North Loop to the right facing towards the maintenance area.

It's a mowed path uphill along meadows.

Views of the Wallkill River valley, covered by a cloud at 7 AM on this morning.

Everything was covered with tiny droplets of water from the morning dew.

Descending into the fog.  A little farther ahead is where I would stand so long taking pictures of birds in those two trees that the fog had pretty much lifted by the time I moved on.

Northern Rough-Winged Swallow

Eastern Bluebird

House Wren

Cooper's Hawk, I believe.  Saw this big guy fly in, then move to the dead tree...

... where he spread his tail and was catching some rays of sunshine breaking through.

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Moving on and with the fog now barely noticable.

Juvenile American Goldfinch

Fox Sparrow?

A wet bird.

Wallkill River

After going through and along meadows, the trail enters the woods...

... where it meets up with the south loop.

Those cedar waxwings, always so pretty and eager to be photographed.

The entire family arrived - two adults and three juveniles.

I hope I have lost enough weight on my recent diet to cross this bridge.

Two different kinds of birds in an apple tree, a yellow-throated vireo on the right, I believe ...

... and two more birds in another apple tree.  Looks like maybe male and female house finches.

This Eastern Bluebird is banded.

Back at the parking lot ...

... where yet another bunny passed by.  Think it is a different one than at the beginning of the hike because this one has a little notch in her ear that I did not see on the first one.

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