Photographs by Frank

6 November 2013

Early November Olio

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,November,Odontates,Uncategorized,Wildlife — Tags: , — Frank @ 9:00 PM

I was surprised to see male Autumn Meadowhawks around the yard on the weekend (2 and 3 November) since we had some cold nights (temperature in the low twenties Fahrenheit) last week. I only saw one or two individuals at a time but they were still flying strong.

On Sunday (3 Nov) Joan was raking leaves when she disturbed a very cold and torpid red-backed salamander nestled among the leaves. As I moved him from the spot where we found him, he became a bit more active. I grabbed the camera which was rigged for odes and made a couple of exposures. I then headed back into the house for the macro lens… all for naught, as he was gone from the rock where I had placed him by the time I got back. I searched the area in vain for some minutes but he was not to be found.

Tuesday evening (no…  make that late afternoon, as sunset is about 4;30 these days), I headed down to the lake in hopes of a nice sunset to photograph. I was rewarded with less than five minutes of nice pink colored clouds but this was enough to make a nice photograph.

Today (Wednesday, 6 Nov) I headed up Pack Monadnock for some more raptor watching. I arrived just before noon and stayed until about 3:30. We saw a number of raptors including two golden eagles, but none were close enough to photograph. (Henry’s full report is here).  I did, however, make a few photographs of smaller birds which alit briefly nearby.

There is another week and a half of  the raptor watch season remaining, so hopefully I still have time to get a “portfolio quality” photo… if not, there is always next year!

[scrollGallery id=245 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

28 October 2013

The Weekend’s Work

Filed under: Autumn,Birds,Monadnock Region — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 4:00 PM

I spent Saturday afternoon at the Pack Monadnock Raptor Observatory again. It was a slow day, only six birds total, but one of those six was a rough-legged hawk. I missed seeing by a few minutes. This was only the second time ever that a rough-legged had been observed at Pack Monadnock.

The other highlight for the day was a golden eagle (the fourth of the season) which I did get to see at a distance.

Lastly, another merlin alit in the same tree as the one I photographed one on Friday.  I was again able to get a decent (although highly cropped) photo.

On Sunday, Joan, Sally (Joan’s childhood friend who was visiting from Lewes, Delaware) and I took a “stroll” through our neighborhood. We hit all of the high points: the lake shore, Brimstone Corner, cellar holes, the beech tree with bear claw marks, and all of the nearby beaver-made wetlands. We covered about 4.5 miles in roughly 4.5 hours and a good time was had by all.

[scrollGallery id=244 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

25 October 2013

Pack Monadnock Hawk Watch

Filed under: Autumn,Birds,Monadnock Region — Tags: — Frank @ 10:26 AM

I spent yesterday afternoon (arriving just after noon and staying until 4 PM) at the NH Audubon migratory raptor observatory on Pack Monadnock in Peterborough.  It was a slow day… seven raptors observed when I got there and fourteen for the day. The official report can be found here.

The day was blustery and cool (mid-40s) but with good layers including a windproof  outer layer it was not bad at all.

Even with the weather, there was a good crowd gathered… six individuals including Henry, the official counter, were there when I arrived.

As with most of my visits, the birds were generally too far away for photography. I keep hoping for one of those days when the birds appear at eye-level a hundred feet or less away but it hasn’t happened this year… yet! The season still has a couple of weeks to go, so there is still hope!

I did manage to grab photos (both are heavily cropped; about a quarter of the frame is shown) of a red-tailed hawk in flight and a merlin that perched briefly on a dead tree.

[scrollGallery id=243 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

6 October 2013

Pack Monadnock

Filed under: Autumn,Birds,Monadnock Region — Tags: , — Frank @ 7:00 PM

Yesterday morning Joan, Suzy (Joan’s cousin) and I headed up to the top of Pack Monadnock to watch for migrating raptors. Each year, during September and October, NH Audubon maintains an observatory there to count migrating raptors.

We spent roughly three hours there along with Henry (the NH Audubon staff member) and a small group of other raptor watchers. Dozens of other folks (hikers and sightseers) also passed though.

All told, we saw 30-40 raptors but none close enough for good photographs. I had the 50-500 mm lens mounted on the tripod and at time amused myself photographing other birds and the foliage.

At one point a flock of more than a dozen cedar waxwings alit in the mountain ash trees just down slope from our position and began to chow down in the abundant berries.  I took more than a dozen photos hoping to catch more than one bird with berry in beak, all to no avail. In every frame I caught only a single bird in action!

[scrollGallery id=237 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

2 September 2013

A Loon and (Intimate) Landscapes

Filed under: Birds,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 1:00 PM

On Friday afternoon, I headed down to the lake and put the kayak in the water. I specifically left the “ode rig” at home and took only my little Nikon V1.

My intent was to force myself to look of things, other than odes, to photograph.

My thought was to cruise the shore line and to look for details that might make interesting photographs.

My inspiration  is the book “Intimate Landscapes” by Eliot Porter, in which the photographer concentrates on “details” in the landscape rather than broad, sweeping views. Porter was also a pioneer in using color film for landscape photography.

While on the lake, I had a close encounter with a loon, I had seen this loon on the surface a number of times, but was pretty much ignoring it since I had the 10-30 mm lens on the camera. However, at one point “he” popped up very close to me (and the shore). I was able to switch to the 30-100 mm lens and make a five or six  frames (in about 90 seconds) before he was gone.

[scrollGallery id=223 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

26 August 2013

Pitcher Mountain

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Other Insects — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 10:00 PM

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon found us (myself, Joan, Katrina, Suzy and Lyle) atop Pitcher Mountain in Stoddard, NH.

Pitcher Mountain is the site of some world-class wild blueberry picking; there are acres and acres of terrain specially maintained to promote blueberry bush growth. The blueberry season is winding to a close, but the hike to the top of the mountain is usually rewarded with spectacular views in all directions. I did not bother with landscape photos this trip… harsh mid-day light, a cloudless sky and a bit of haze don’t do justice to the scene.

Rather, as one might expect, I concentrated on the insects! There were dozens of darners patrolling territories and hunting on the summit but rarely landing… the one frame of a darner I show here is the only one I made. Darn those darners!

I saw one other dragonfly on the summit… a female Eastern Amberwing. A new species for me. She was quite cooperative and hung around for maybe five minutes or so.

In between hunting darners, I was able to keep myself entertained with the grasshoppers. The butterfly was spotted at the trail head as we arrived back a the road.

We stopped for ice cream at the new place on Route 10 (in Marlow) before heading home. It was delicious and well worth the short drive in the “wrong” direction. Dinner was not needed last night!

[scrollGallery id=222 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

Saturday’s Crop (of Photos)

Filed under: "Camp",Odontates,Other Insects,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , , — Frank @ 8:00 PM

After I finished “Big Red” on Saturday morning, I spent some time poking around the yard with the camera. There were many darners about and they would infrequently perch in one of our apple trees, usually too high up for a good photograph. These darn darners are always an exercise in photographic frustration. They are, however, fun to watch! I did get one decent darner photo.

There have been small numbers of autumn meadowhawks (of both sexes) in the yard over the past few days. One  female allowed me to make exactly three frames of her  obelisking before she went on her way.

Another unusual sight in the yard was a mating pair of Eastern Forktails. This seems a little late in the season for mating behavior in this species. More unusual was to find them mating in our yard which is a quarter mile from water (the beaver swamp in one direction and the lake in the opposite direction).

In the afternoon on Saturday, I headed over to camp with Joan, Katrina and Joan’s cousins Suzy and Lyle. While they swam and chatted, I cruised, with camera in hand, the lake shore near camp.  The slatey skimmer was very cooperative and posed for me until I decided that I was done. I can not say the same for the clubtail (which allowed me only the one frame) and the orange bluet (two frames) before they flew off. I had never seen an orange bluet on Gregg Lake before.

I ended the day with the vesper bluets under close to ideal conditions (calm and in good light). This species prefers to alight on lily pads and other vegetation in water that is too deep to wade, thus one needs the kayak. They also, as the “vesper” in their name suggests, only come out at the end of the day; as the light starts to wane.

For most of the time I was out, there were no vesper bluets around. However, as the shadows grew longer more and more appeared, seemingly out of “thin air”.  There were mostly males about; I would estimate 10-20 males for every female.  The few females I observed were already paired up and either flying in tandem or in a mating wheel. I saw no ovipositing behavior while I was out… it was probably too early in the evening.

Single male vesper bluets very aggressively attack paired females trying to get them to un-pair from their chosen mate.  This behavior is difficult to photograph but great fun to watch live.

Here are the photographs (the first four from the morning and the second four from the afternoon):

[scrollGallery id=221 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

19 August 2013

Another Trip “Down Back”

Filed under: Amphibians,Odontates,Other Insects,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 11:00 PM

About 4 this afternoon, I donned my waders and spent about an hour and three quarters near the beaver pond “down back”.

I was surprised by the lack of meadowhawks… I saw only two or three along the margin of the beaver swamp. There were small numbers of darners out of the meadow… I saw maybe a dozen total while I was out. I also saw a single sedge sprite.  The most numerous ode present were the spreadwings (I don’t know what species). I saw roughly three dozen.

When I arrived at the edge of the beaver pond I found a convenient spot of open water and knelt down keeping the sun off my shoulder. I was happily watching and photographing spreadwings when I noticed a small (first joint of the thumb-sized) frog not more than I foot from my knee. I don’t know if he was there when I knelt down or if he appeared after I settled in. He was too close to photograph with the ode rig, so I backed up slowly. He was completely unconcerned and I was able to photograph him (see Green Frog #1).

A short while later I noticed two more similar sized frogs near by. One was too close to photograph and partly covered by some grass. The other made for a nice photograph (see Green Frog #2). I decided to try a different angle on the second frog and, as I went to move my position, I almost put my knee on a much larger (fist-sized) green frog. I was able to back off without disturbing him and made Green Frog #3. The big guy was more wary than the smaller fellows and fairly quickly jumped out of sight. I went back to photographing the second frog head on (see Green Frog #4; note the blood-sucking flies, one on each eye!).

The sedge sprite made a brief  appearance while I was photographing the frogs and I was able to get two frames before it disappeared again.

Eventually, I stood up and moved off a short distance. While I was moving I found the orange butterfly and was able to get a clear view for just a single frame.

I was entertaining myself with the spreadwings at the second spot when I heard the clatter of dragonfly wings. The sound of dragonfly wings hitting vegetation or each other is quite unmistakable.

I quickly located the source, a female darner down low in the grasses ovipositing. I was able to get two frames before she moved off to another spot without a clear line of sight. After short interval she moved again, this time to a spot about a foot in front of me but she only stayed for a second or two before flying off out of sight. I went back to photographing spreadwings.

After a few more minutes, I decided that it was time to make supper so I headed back up the hill to the house.

That’s my story for today and I am sticking to it!

[scrollGallery id=219 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

18 August 2013

Garden Amphibians

Filed under: Amphibians,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: — Frank @ 6:07 PM

My CWS* was down in the garden this afternoon picking green beans… 10 pounds of them from the look of the pile… and other vegetables when she told me that she had seen two small frogs amongst the leaves in the garden.

Luckily, I was finished picking up the piles of shrub trimmings she had left in the driveway because, upon hearing this news, I headed straight for the camera!

These “fellows” are very small… roughly thumbnail-sized.

Here are the photos (two individuals, two poses)…

[scrollGallery id=218 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

*CWS… Chief Wildlife Spotter.

Experiments in Video

Filed under: Odontates,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , — Frank @ 6:00 PM

Yesterday evening a feeding swarm of dragonflies (large darners) formed in our yard. This is a regular late summer happening. Usually I simply watch in awe when this happens as there is no way to capture this spectacle with still photography.

There were literally hundreds of five or six inch dragonflies flying about, seemingly at random, preying on insects too small for me to see. (Hopefully some were the mosquitoes that eventually found me while I was making these videos!)

Remembering that my little Nikon 1 V1 could do video (including slow motion), I set the camera up on a tripod and experimented with video.

This unedited clip is in real time:

Here is an unedited clip in slow motion (5 seconds of real time):

One more edited clip in slow motion (about 2.5 seconds of real time):

None of the dragonflies are in focus… I am not sure how one could get them in focus as they are moving very fast and randomly. I hope that one gets a sense of this interesting behavior anyway. However, it is no substitute for seeing it live.

I think that I will stick to photography in the main!

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress