Monadnock Region « Photographs by Frank

16 July 2019

Spangled Skimmers

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,Wildlife — Tags: dragonflies — Frank @ 7:00 PM

This coming Saturday (20 July 2019), I am co-teaching a workshop on wildlife photography at the Harris Center in Hancock. This afternoon I headed over there to place some perches near the bird feeders and to scout out the odes.

The weather was warm (about 80), muggy and it was overcast. It was not great weather for odes to be out and about. I was disappointed, but not surprised, that I saw not a single ode in a quick trip around the Harris Center field. The weather for Saturday is predicted to be hot (mid-90s’ hopefully not too hot for either workshop participants or odes) and sunny. The fears of every workshop leader… a large crowd of participants shows up but there is no wildlife to be found, or vice versa!

Ever the optimist, I headed to the boat launch on the Contoocook in Greenfield to see what might be flying in the field. There were many deer flies and mosquitoes around but only a few odes… maybe a half dozen female spangled skimmers.

The trip was worth it, I was able to make a photograph of two perched dragonflies in the same frame. Although closely perched damselflies are quite common, this is a very rare event with dragonflies.

Spangled Skimmer (female)

Spangled Skimmers (female)

Spangled Skimmer (female)

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Powdermill Pond Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,Wildlife — Tags: butterflies, dragonflies — Frank @ 5:30 PM

Yesterday afternoon (from roughly 4 to 6:30), with the weather mostly sunny and the temperature in the low 80s, I headed to Powermill Pond for some odeing.

I parked the truck at Elmwood Junction and after a quick look around the waters edge and the road there, I headed down the trail (old rail bed) towards the bridge across the river. My ultimate goal was the field at the Cilley Family Forest (formerly the Robertson farmstead) in Greenfield. Google maps indicates the walk is about nine tenths of a mile one way.

I found a single female whiteface near the water where I parked and nothing along the road (which is usually a good spot for odes). On the way out, odes were sparse along the rail bed until I got to the bridge. Here I observed a half dozen or so male common pondhawks and a similar number of slaty skimmers.

At the field , the most common odes were Halloween pennants; I saw somewhere between six and twelve individuals. All of those I got close enough to see well were yellow (i.e. either immature males or females). There, I also observed a single male calico pennant and two stream cruisers (the one I photographed was male).

On the way back to the truck, the odes were a bit more numerous along the rail bed. In addition to the common pondhawks by the bridge, I found a single clubtail, a male chalk-fronted corporal and a male blue dasher.

Nine species of dragonflies on a two mile walk… not bad. Interestingly, I saw no damselflies. However, I did photograph a butterfly!

Whiteface (female)

Slaty Skimmer (male)

Butterfly

Halloween Pennant (immature male)

Calico Pennant (male)

Stream Cruiser (male)

Clubtail

Common Pondhawk (male) with Prey

Blue Dasher (male)

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10 July 2019

Contoocook River Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,Wildlife — Tags: damselflies, dragonflies — Frank @ 9:36 PM

Well, the winter’s firewood is finally stacked… all 10 plus cords. Now I have some time and energy to get out and photograph the odes.

This afternoon, I had lunch with my friend Victor at the Common Place in Bennington (NH). After we parted ways, I stopped at the canoe/kayak launch on the Contoocook River by the papermill.

I have never looked for odes here before but I will be stopping there more often going forward.

This site is just downstream from the papermill’s last dam. Just below the dam there is a small falls/rapids and then, after the drop, there is a stretch of fast moving, rocky bottomed river. There are also a number of backwaters with essentially still water and muddy bottoms. A very different habitat than I usually visit.

The weather was mostly sunny and the temperature was in the mid-80s.

I spent about an hour, covered no more than 200 feet of river and observed eight different species of odes.

The damselflies I saw were: powdered dancers (one of each sex, I think; this is a new species for me), a couple of male ebony jewelwings and a single male stream bluet.

As for the dragonflies, the most abundant were male common whitetails; there were many dozens of them, but no females. Next most abundant were spangled skimmers, I saw roughly a dozen of them; all males again.

I also observed single individuals of the following species: dragonhunter, twelve-spotted skimmer and slaty skimmer. Again, these were all males.

Powdered Dancer (male) ?

Powdered Dancer (female) ???

Dragonhunter (male)

Ebony Jewelwing (male)

Stream Bluet (male)

Spangled Skimmer (male)

Common Whitetail (male)

Spangled Skimmer (male)

Twelve-spotted Skimmer (male)

Slaty Skimmer (male)

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23 June 2019

Experiments with Slits

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: experiments — Frank @ 7:30 PM

We had nine cords of wood delivered on Thursday. Thus, these days, I spend my mornings stacking firewood. I am trying to do about a cord each day.

Afternoons, however, are for experiments.

These photos were made by replacing the lens in my camera obscura with a slit made by placing two razor blades very close together. The slit acts similarly to a pinhole in forming an image, except that the image is stretched out along the length of the slit. I have placed the slit on the camera (with tape, nothing fancy!) at a roughly forty-five degree angle.

I took my experiment for a walk around the yard just to “get a feel” of what it might do,

The viewfinder of the digital camera is very dim; I can often see only a couple of the brightest spots in the scene. Thus framing is imprecise.

By cranking up the ISO as high as it goes (3200 on my little Nikon 1 V1), I can get a reasonable shutter speed; 1/4th to 1/20 of a second. I deal with the horrible noise this causes in the computer, but since nothing is really sharp to begin with heavy noise reduction seems to work fine.

I will be as interested as anyone else to see where this experiment leads!

Flocked

Peonies #1

Peonies #2

On the Road

Our House

Garden Flowers

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20 June 2019

A Short Drive in the Rain*

Filed under: architecture,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Frank @ 9:30 PM

This afternoon, despite the rain, I headed out to Tenney’s , our local farm stand. I was in need of a real local** strawberry fix; the first of the all-to-short season.

Of course, I took along my (current) favorite optical tool… the camera obscura. After the strawberries were safely stowed behind the seats in my truck, I decided that the rain was light enough for some photography and thus went on a short drive.

Bandstand & Vestry (Hancock, NH)

Bench, Hancock (NH) Green

Meetinghouse (Hancock, NH)

Dam & Powerhouse (Bennington, NH)

Meetinghouse (Greenfield, NH)

Bench, Greenfield NH

Bandstand (Antrim, NH)

Coke & Wood Pile

* The fourth post today. I think that that is a record!

** We have been subsisting on those inferior substitutes — the grocery store variety — for some weeks now. They are better than nothing, but not by much.

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A Walk and Backyard Birds

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs,wildflowers,Wildlife — Frank @ 2:30 PM

Can you tell it is a rainy day here in Antrim? Must be, it is a three blog post day!

Yesterday was a hot (for NH) and sticky day. The temperature was in the upper seventies and it was mostly cloudy. The rain held off until early evening.

I took a walk up Brimstone Corner Road with the camera rigged for odes. There was not much activity and the only species I saw were chalk-fronted corporals. I saw roughly two dozen individuals in the roughly three miles I walked.

In one old log yard, I found three different wildflowers all within about a six foot radius. I barely had to move between photographs!

Chalk-fronted Corporal (male)

Chalk-fronted Corporal (female)

Wildflower #1

Wildflower #2

Wildflower #3

When I got home from the walk, I decided to set up the camera rigged for birds on the deck. It was pointed towards the feeders. All the usual suspects were present. Finches both gold and purple as well as downy woodpeckers have been most abundant recently.

Rose-breasted grosbeaks are also common. On other days I have seen as many as three individuals on the feeders simultaneously. They were present yesterday, but I did not get any photos as they have the annoying habit of flying directly to the feeders with out stopping at one of the abundant perches available. And, as I am wont to say one should not make photos of birds on bird feeders unless one is trying to sell bird feeders!

Every once in a while, a we get other woodpeckers. Hairy woodpeckers being next most common and very occasionally a red-bellied. We hear pileated woodpeckers in the woods regularly but have never seen one on or even near the feeders.

Red-winged blackbirds are also infrequent visitors to our feeders. They are common in the wetland “down back” (about a quarter mile away) but are rare in our yard tucked away in the woods.

Downy Woodpecker

Red-winged Blackbird

Purple Finch #1

Purple Finch #2

Goldfinch (male)

Downy Woodpecker (female)

Downy Woodpecker (male)

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One Hour, Two Hundred Feet — Five Species

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs,Wildlife — Tags: damselflies, dragonflies — Frank @ 1:30 PM

Monday (17 May) afternoon, I spent about an hour roaming the neighborhood with the camera rigged for odes (300 mm lens and an extension tube). I never went farther than about 200 feet from the house.

Odes were abundant on this warm sunny afternoon. I found five species… four dragonflies and a single damselfly.

Hudsonian Whiteface (male)

Clubtail

ID Needed

Chalk-fronted Corporal (maturing male)

ID Needed

Hudsonian Whiteface (male)

Damselfly

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12 June 2019

More River Project

Filed under: Monadnock Region — Tags: River Project — Frank @ 11:00 AM

Sunday morning, on my way to Brattleboro (to teach a workshop at the VCP), I stopped at the stone arch bridge which spans the North Branch River near the Antrim/Stoddard town line.

Monday morning, I headed south to Peterborough to photograph the Contoocook. My first stop was Depot Square downtown. From there I headed south making three stops and ending at Noone Falls.

I currently have about three dozen photos in my “possibilities” collection. I am thinking of dividing the project into two (or three) phases… it seems less daunting that way. Phase one (maybe a dozen or dozen and a half photos) would cover the southern section of the Contoocook (between its source in Rindge and Henniker). This is the section of the river that I know best. Phase two (maybe a dozen photos) would be the North Branch River. Phase three would be the northern section of the Contoocook.

I have also begun experimenting with how to print the photos. I have made a few small (4″x 4″ and 5″x 5″) prints on matte paper using my printer modified to use Jon Cone’s warm neutral ink set. I like the small prints but I have made no real decisions in this regard, as yet.

Stone Bridge on the North Branch River (Stoddard, NH)

North Branch River Just Downstream from Stone Arch Bridge (Stoddard, NH)

Stone Bridge on the North Branch River (Stoddard, NH)

Contoocook River (Depot Square, Peterborough, NH)

Contoocook River Just Upstream of Noone Falls (Peterborough, NH)

Contoocook River at Noone Falls (Peterborough, NH)

Noone Falls on the Contoocook River (Peterborough, NH)

Noone Falls Dam (Contoocook River, Peterborough, NH)

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11 June 2019

High Wing Choo?

Filed under: Monadnock Region — Tags: Roadside Oddities — Frank @ 5:30 PM

Sometimes, one just has to stop and make a photograph…

High Wing Choo

I can make an educated guess as to how/why this bus came to be called “High Wing Choo”.

The bus was parked at Depot Square in Peterborough when I made this photograph. The bus seems to contain a tradesman’s tools and has a severe deficit of seats. There is a private school called the High Mowing School in Wilton, just to the east of Peterborough.

Knowing these facts, I am sure that you, dear reader, can put a story together!

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30 May 2019

Contoocook & North Branch Rivers

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: landscapes — Frank @ 11:30 PM

Inspired by a discussion at yesterday’s conservation commission meeting, I took a drive along our local rivers this afternoon .

The Contoocook River runs roughly seventy miles, from Jaffery (south of Antrim) to Pennacook (north of Concord) where it joins the mighty Merrimack. It forms the eastern border of Antrim.

The North Branch (of the Contoocook) River runs about seventeen miles, from Stoddard to its confluence with the Contoocook in Hillsborough. Most of its run is through the north part of Antrim.

I took both my “normal” camera and my camera obscura with me on the drive but I was moved to use only latter.

I am mulling beginning a larger project involving photographing along the entire length of each river. We’ll have to see how this pans out. Watch this space for future developments!