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 
This would have made a great conclusion to Camp Flickr. I wish I would have took a detour on the way home…
20 October 2006 at 12:55 pm
Jason, I will give you directions the next time your in the area.
20 October 2006 at 1:46 pm
Very nice shots Tom. You were 15 minutes from my house. You are correct about the harvestors. The fiberglass fingers on the front shake the wire and vines and the grapes fall off into a collector on the bottom of the machine. This is only done for jucie and wine grapes. This form of harvesting would be unacceptable for table grapes.
I don’t think too many birds live in well tended vineyards. There are three mandatory sprayings for concord grapes each season as well as other regular maintenance. The shots you have here appear to be concord grapes that would eventually become grape juice. What you do get is a lot of rodents and snakes.
Nice shots. If you are going to be in the area again please let us know. There is always room for one more for dinner.
21 October 2006 at 12:39 am
Mike, it would have been nice to get-together but we were working and already 2 hours behind schedule. Maybe next time I am in the area!! I would love being able to smell those grapes all the time!! How interesting regarding how they collect the grapes and it doesn’t surprise me that there are lots of rodents running around. Thanks for visiting and next time we get together we need to discuss the grapes!!
22 October 2006 at 8:24 pm