the grapes
Tuesday and Wednesday I spend some time at Lake Erie State Park which is in the heart of the Wine Country. I wooed and awed over the many photographic opportunities of these vineyards reaching as far as the eye can see. The windy weather didn’t allow me to get any shots on Tuesday but on Wednesday I became obsessed with how these vineyards operated and so I took as many photos as my time would allowed. The grape smell in the air was just wonderful!!
I have never had an opportunity to do any birding in these vineyards. I would have to assume that this area would be an excellent place to locate unique nesting and migrant birds. These sturdy vines can provide wonderful shelter (with leaves and snow cover) and some of the fallen fruit would then be eaten by numerous birds. I would also be curious on what other critters would live in these vineyards.
While driving around, I happen to notice it was harvest time for these grapes and they had numerous (strange) machines parked near their barns. After long discussions, we concluded that these machines must shake the vines and the grapes fall into something (or on the ground, that part we were not sure about). The grapes would then get packaged into these huge wooden cartons and loaded onto flatbeds. From there they get shipped to wineries to be turned into award winning wine!
It wasn’t until we headed home that I noticed the sign for the Chautauqua and Lake Erie Wine Trail. After quickly googling the trail; I found this website www.chautauquawinetrail.org . It appears that this trail is almost 40 miles long and follows the Lake Erie shoreline. Many activities are scheduled throughout the season including a large festival. Check out the website if you’re interested in learning more about the area.
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 