February 5th 2012: Finishing Up Edgartown

I resumed my sightseeing in Edgartown this cold Sunday morning, heading to the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary. The view from the parking lot at the end of Felix Neck Drive was pretty nice, so I took a picture here.

From here, the route I took is highlighted below in pink.

I walked the Sassafras Trail to reach the Nature Center, where there were a lot of birds including woodpeckers, sparrows and others, due to the presence of bird seed feeders in the area. Some interesting birds I took are shown below.

Northern Cardinal in the tree

Black-capped Chickadee at Birdfeeder

Past the Nature Center, I crossed a bridge over Turtle Pond to my right and wetlands to my left.

Turtle Pond

Wetlands

The Bridge

Carrying on to the Shad Trail, I walked to the end of it to a tiny beach area on the shores of Majors Cove.









Finding a path among the grass to get to the Beach Trail, I headed back to the Sassafras Trail, which I then took to the end to see more views of the cove.

I then backtracked to the junction with Old Farm Road, and headed to its end to get views of Sengekontacket Pond. Backtracking one more time, I headed along the Old Farm Road to get to the Marsh Trail, which I then took to see more of Sengekontacket Pond. Walking down the Marsh Trail, I then headed left onto the Jessica Hancock Memorial Trail to head to the boat launch area, then rounding about to go back to the parking lot. Pictures I took of Sengekontacket Pond follow, with the Joseph Silvia State Beach across the water in the distance.

From here, I headed to the Caroline Tuthill Preserve, located on Edgartown Vineyard Haven Road between Beach Road and 21st Street North. The trail I took is highlighted below in pink.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see here except partial views of Sengekontacket Pond. Not recommended to hike here.

I then headed for brunch at the Artcliff Diner back on 39 Beach Road in Tisbury. This is a small town diner that I've seen so often in the other towns I have been to. Anyway, to eating. I decided to have the Bull's Eye,  consisting of codfish cakes, eggs and Hollandaise sauce, which was not bad at all.

After having my fill, I headed to the World of Reptiles and Birds Park. This is a kind of mini-zoo for all kinds of interesting birds and reptiles, taken care of by a man named Gus Ben David. The place has a facility housing all the reptiles, and a free range area where all the birds are free to roam. Pictures of the animals follow, including some of which I have never seen before, really intriguing stuff.

Snapping Turtles

Cane Toad 

Dwarf caiman

Green Iguana

Baby snakes

Burmese Python

African Bullfrog

White Throated Monitor

Albino Burmese Python

Reticulated Python

Melanistic Pine Snake

Rhinoceros Iguana

Bullfrog

Royal Palm Turkey

Red and White Silky Chickens, Indian Peacock

Feather Footed Pigeon and Silky Hen (Right)

White Doves

Golden Pheasant

Barnacle Geese (Behind Left), Canadian Goose (Right), Muscovy Duck (Behind Right)

Wood Ducks and others

More Ducks

Geese and Ducks

Blonde Mandarin Ducks (bottom) 

Long-Eared Owl

Red Breasted Goose (right)

Lady Amherst's Pheasant

Kalij Pheasant

White Peacock

Grey Crowned Cranes

The next place I went to was Little Beach, which has to be accessed from Fuller Street Beach, which I visited yesterday. The rough path I took to get to the very tip of Little Beach is shown below in pink.

Unlike South Beach, I did not have to walk too far to get to the very tip and get views of Eel Pond and the Atlantic Ocean. On the way back, I found a near perfect horseshoe crab shell, and for a moment I thought it was alive, but when I turned it over, it was all sand underneath.

Eel Pond Side

Atlantic Ocean Side

End of Little Beach

Dead horseshoe crab

My last stop for the day was the Bend-in-the Road Beach, the Edgartown side of the Joseph A. Sylvia State Beach. Even though it is facing open sea, the waves were relatively calm while I was there. I walked all the way to the bridge to Oak Bluffs, then walked back to my car, taking these beautiful pictures of the beach and Sengekontacket Pond across Beach Road.

Bridge into Oak Bluffs

Finally, as I drove into Oak Bluffs to head back to my friend's place, I took a few more pictures of Joseph Sylvia State Beach itself.

 After picking my friend up, we decided to head to the Edgartown Entertainment Cinema to watch the movie "We Bought A Zoo". This is a semi-family  comedy movie starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. We both enjoyed the movie thoroughly, and I definitely recommend going to watch it.

With that, it soon came time for me to head back to the mainland. Once again, I had had an unforgettable time in Martha's Vineyard.