Wildlife/Nature Spots, US North-East to Mid-Atlantic

Hi friends of photography, lovers of nature, and friends of friends,

Greetings to everybody from a wildlife photographer.

I live in NY city. I must say, I am not wildlife photographer of this

country but may be I will be.

I am doing economic trip by Grayhound 10 days trip and the states

includes in the ticket are:

Maine, Maryland, Massechusetts, New hampshire, New York, Pennsylvenia,

Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West virginia. Also to Montorial and

Toronto.

I would love to have your valueable and fruitful suggestion where I

can find Birds, and/or other animals, nature for photography. I am

leaving by 18th May till last of May. I have a problem that I can't go

to the places where there is no publilc transport. I believe Greyhound

will bring to main destinations only and rest I have to pay on my own.

Kindly sugges me.

Thanks.

-Padmanjali

I don't think there's a wildlife hotspot near the Providence, RI Greyhound bus stop... unless you want to consider the Roger Williams Park Zoo. Have a look at their homepage - http://users.ids.net/~rwpz/index.htm. You would need to take a cab or city bus from downtown to the park...

I believe you can take the bus right to Pinkham Notch Camp in New Hampshire, where you'll find everything you're looking for along with reasonably priced rooms and meals. (you could easily spend the whole ten days or even ten weeks, there) You should also check and see where Greyhound routes cross the Appalachian Trail and/or Long Trail.

 

Local busses will take you from Atlantic City to all sorts of great places for shorebirds, but I believe that it's much easier to find nature by public trasit (from NYC) without Greyhound. Destinations like Harriman State Park, Cape May NJ, and Fire Island National Seashore are all easily reached by local public transit.

 

Don't forget the greatest gem of them all; Jamaica Bay. You can easily reach this first-class birding destination by NYC subway - take the A train to Broad Channel and walk right over.

 

I hope this helps.

Padmanjali,

 

If you have a driver's license, are over 25 and have a credit card, think seriously about renting a car. The cheapest models will come out to about $300 for ten days. I doubt your greyhound pass plus taxis and other transportation will be less. As a photographer, you'll want to be in the best/most scenic places in the very early morning and late evening. That's hard to do unless you stay or camp near the places. America is just not set up for public transit, especially to nature photography destinations.

 

If you don't drive or don't want to, I would cut my list of destinations, preferably to one and no more than three. Given time to get to a place, you can explore it by day-hiking or better yet, a multi-day backpacking trip. Don't worry about seeing it all because you never will. Just try to get the most out of the places you see.

 

Enjoy your trip,

 

Jeff

Hello Padmanjali,

 

Brian's suggestions of the White Mountains are noteworthy, with a few comments. First, there are many, many places to see the shore of Northeastern America; some of my favorites are:

 

- Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Yesterday, a pilot friend offered my wife and me a trip anywhere in New England, starting in Boston. We opted to fly over the Elizabeth Island (see Cuttyhunk on a map), Martha's Vineyard, Monomony, and the dunes of Cape Cod National Seashore, and to land on Nantucket. These areas are shorebird heaven, and the dunes are magical. Try to get all the way up to Provincetown.

 

- The coast of Maine, up to, and particularly including, Acadia National Park.

 

- The North Shore of Boston, including Plum Island National Wildlife Refuge. In one 2 hour period a few years back, I saw, at sunset, numerous shorebirds (some rare), beaver, racoon, and deer. Some of these areas are on commuter train lines from Boston.

 

As for Brian's suggestion about Pinkham Notch - It's a good one, with one flaw. Do NOT go at the end of May. This is the peak of Black Fly season in the White Mountains. These little demons will make you wish yourself safely back on your urban island. Save Pinkham for the Fall, after the first killing frost. Mind you, I plan on being up there this coming weekend, but I intend to spend all my time well above treeline (and you can't get THERE by public transport.)

 

- David