Pine Barrens View

Our friends Kate and Tom arrived from Maine yesterday for a brief stay with us in Tamworth.  This morning we went for a walk in the nearby Ossipee Pine Barrens--a large refuge managed by the Nature Conservancy. Pine barrens are a type of ecosystem that is increasingly rare; they were originally called "barrens" because their soil was too infertile to support agriculture, but they in fact support a wide and diverse range of often rare wildlife and plants. The refuge's website clearly elucidates the importance of this distinctive habitat. 

Our visit to the area last year with Kate and Tom yielded a considerable range of birds, but this year there were very few, for whatever reason. Nevertheless it was a worthwhile outing, on a perfect summer day.

N.B.  The area is not  clear on the map; my mark is approximate at best.