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Vermont Bog Field Report (with Pics!)

Hi Folks,

Just got back from a nice trip to Vermont and Massachusetts for a family reunion, and was able to visit one bog that was still accessible without hip waders, no thanks to the recent rain.  The bigger bog I really wanted to visit, Chickering Bog, was a mile up a barely marked, or apparently trodden, trail, the first 50 yards of which were more like a pond than anything.  Needless to say, I didn't get very far towards that one.

Anyway, the bog I did get in to was Eshqua Bog, a beautiful 45 minute drive from my Dad's near Ludlow and about 15 minutes East of Woodstock.  The trail was very nicely marked and the boardwalks above the wet bits well maintained.  The trail is essentially a loop, and not a big one; if one walked without gawking it wouldn't take more than 15 minutes, but I did plenty of gawking.
eshqua_01.jpg


I really lucked out on timing, because the Showy Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium reginae, I believe) were in full bloom, and they loved the rain!  Apparently, late June is their peak, lucky me.
eshqua_04.jpg


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I am not really an orchid person, but these beauties made me reconsider my position.  At the risk of boasting, the pics of these turned out so well, one person I showed them to demanded a high res version to use as their desktop wallpaper.  ;)

Regardless, I didn't drive 45 minutes and face hordes of Vermont mosquitoes to look at orchids; I wanted to see some sundews!  And I did!  I believe these are Drosera rotundifolia, but correct me if I am wrong.
eshqua_08.jpg


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I wish these pictures had turned out better, but when I was taking them I was battling said hordes of mosquitoes, and was anxious to get movin'.

These little guys were well hidden, too.  Here's what my view of their homes looked like from a standing position:
eshqua_10.jpg


Alas, there were no Sarracenia to be found.

And finally, no visit to Vermont is complete with out a picture of my childhood favorite insect, the spit bug:
eshqua_13.jpg
 
nice pics! Those do look like round-leafed sundews to me, but it seems like they're getting taken over by taller plants and shrubs. And the moss they're growing in seems like the ones that pop up in everyone's CP collection (not Sphagnum). I wonder if this bog is starting to be taken over by non-evergreen hardwoods (ie, the birch-looking trees).
 
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