Photographs by Frank

9 September 2015

Solitary Sandpipers

Filed under: Autumn,Birds,Monadnock Region,Wildlife — Tags: — Frank @ 11:00 PM

The Monadnock Paper Mill in Bennington has drawn down the water level in Powdermill Pond so that they can work on their dam. This has exposed large expanses of mudflats. The last time this happened (according to the Fall newsletter from the Harris Center*) thirteen species of shorebird were found using this temporary habitat during the Fall migration.

This afternoon, I headed over to the NH Fish and Wildlife boat launch in Greenfield to see what was around. As I was standing on the boat ramp (which ends a good thirty feet from the nearest bit of water), I saw four peeps come in for a landing on the flats and promptly lost them. They really blend in well!

I shouldered the tripod and Big Bertha and headed over closer to where they landed. By the time I got the tripod set up at kneeling height, one of the peeps showed itself at the waters edge.  I spent the next hour watching six solitary sandpipers “do their thing”. (I’m not sure if the additional two where already there or if they flew in and I did not notice.)

The birds spent most of the time foraging and twice I saw dragonfly nymphs being consumed. There was also some bathing and preening activity.

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* Eric Masterson from the Harris Center will be leading a trip to Powdermill Pond on 16 Sept. to look for shore birds; check out the Harris Center calendar for details.

 

7 September 2015

Brimstone Corner Road

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,wildflowers — Tags: , — Frank @ 12:30 PM

Yesterday afternoon, I made a right at the bottom of our driveway and headed out on a short stroll on the unmaintained section of Brimstone Corner Road. I was expecting to find both meadowhawks and asters. I was not disappointed.

I saw about six meadowhawks in total, including a single red (i.e. male) individual. The others were yellow… i.e. either females or immature males and hard to tell apart without netting them. My guess is that they were autumn meadowhawks but, again without netting them, it is hard to be certain. These were the only odes I saw.

There were many asters along the roadside; mostly the small white type that grows in large clusters. However, there were scattered larger, more deeply colored types mixed in here and there.

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Juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 12:00 PM

For the last few weeks, we have had many juvenile ruby-throated hummingbirds in the yard near the feeder and flowers. They seem to come in groups of three or four feeding and flying around.

The juveniles also seem to perch near the feeders much less frequently than did the adults, especially the males, did earlier in the summer. The juveniles prefer perches higher up and farther away from the feeder than the adults. The flight of the juveniles also  has a much more “playful” character than that of adults.

All of this is, I imagine, tied into to territoriality. The adults were protecting “turf” by perching near the feeders and flying to drive away interlopers. The juveniles are eating and flying around in a “pack” at breakneck speed just for fun.

When they return next spring, this summer’s juveniles will be as “serious” the adults were a couple of months ago.

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21 August 2015

Gregg Lake Clubtails

Filed under: "Camp",Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 4:00 PM

August at the lake is time for the big dragonflies… clubtails and darners.

The most common ode around the lake on Wednesday afternoon was the black-shouldered spinyleg, one of the clubtails. I also observed a number of dragonhunters (another clubtail) and a number of unidentified darners. The last of these only as they flew by at breakneck speed.

As for damselflies, there were a few male variable darners hanging around the vegetation along the shore; always low to the water. These are stragglers. The bulk of the population mated some weeks ago and are now gone.

The clubtails and darners are difficult to observe and especially photograph. Both groups are strong fliers and don’t spend much time perched.

Darners are the worst in this respect. They are really fast in flight, so you don’t get a good look at them. They also tend to perch high in the trees and thus are hard to see and harder to photograph.

The clubtails are a bit easier… they tend to perch lower down, often on rocks. Thus, getting a good photo is at least thinkable. On the lake they like to perch on the deep water side of the many rocks that emerge from the water.

My strategy is to watch them carefully and observe where one lands. I can usually observe them with the binos. Often, I can then get the kayak in position to make a good photo before they decide to take flight again.

Photographing at high magnification from a moving platform (i.e. a kayak) has its own challenges and my “keeper” rate is lower than is typical. However, the “hunt” is an entertaining way to spend a hot sunny afternoon.

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11 August 2015

The Past Week’s Birds

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Summer,The Yard — Tags: — Frank @ 2:00 PM

No special “photo sessions” in the past week… I keep the camera set up on the deck and “catch-as-catch-can”.

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Suspicions… Confirmed!

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Summer — Tags: — Frank @ 12:30 PM

Regular readers will remember that we have had a pair (one male and one female) of red-breasted grosbeaks visiting the feeders for most of the summer. In the past few weeks, I have noticed that these birds would make their exit from the feeder in the same direction while carrying a seed. I suspected that there was a nest in the neighborhood, but I had no real evidence.

Yesterday my suspicion was confirmed. Just before lunch, I was able to make two photographs of the adult male feeding a juvenile. There was a five second interval between these two frames. In another second, the adult had flown off.

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3 August 2015

Botanicals and a Barn

Filed under: Monadnock Region — Frank @ 12:05 PM

No deep stories here*. Just some visually interesting (at least to me) stuff from around the “neighborhood”.

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*I bet though, if that old barn could talk it would have a few stories to tell!

 

Antrim Centor Cemetery

Filed under: Monadnock Region — Frank @ 12:00 PM

Yesterday, I finished reading a wonderful book, Seeking Parmentor; A Memoir of Place by Charles Butterfield.  Highly recommended!

In this book Charles mentions that Amos Parmentor is buried in the Antrim Centor* cemetery. This inspired me to make a visit to the cemetery and the nearby Lily Pond which features prominently in the book.

The Parmentor grave sites were in a deeply shaded part of the burying ground and thus I did not make any photographs of them. I did, however, find and photograph a number of other nineteenth century headstones in”interesting” light.

The first two photographs below speak to a couple of interesting “philosophical” issues in photography.

The first of these is the idea that photography is, in one critical way, fundamentally different from other art forms. In making a photograph, an artist must consciously decide what to exclude (either by the original framing of a scene in the viewfinder or by cropping later) from his or her artwork. In making all other artwork, the artist must decide what to include in their artwork.

The second issue is that of “truth”. It is often suggested that somehow a photograph shows a “true story”.  Of course, in this age of “photoshopping”, this idea has begun to crumble lies in a heap of shards.

However, if you think about the first issue, i.e. that photographers must consciously decide what to include in the frame (and therefore also what to exclude), one realizes that the truth in a photograph is highly subjective and it has always been that way.

The first photograph below shows a pair of gravestones, that of Artamus Brown (who died in 1875 at the age of 73 ys, 4 ms) and Rhoda, his wife (who died in 1813 at the age of 33; one could make an educated guess that childbirth might have been involved in her demise). This photo suggests a tidy story.

However, if one takes a step back and includes one more, adjacent gravestone, that of Almira, [also] wife of Artamus Brown (who died in 1897 at the age of 81 ys, 4 ms), one sees a more complete (“truer”?) story of Artamus’ life.

I am fascinated by an implied story in the second photograph. Notice how Almira’s headstone is not aligned with the other two; it is set back from the other pair. Furthermore the gap between Artamus’ and Almira’s stones is larger than that between Artamus’ and Rhoda’s. What story does this spacing of gravestones tell? Am I “reading” too much in to this story? I doubt that we’ll ever know!

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* This is the nineteenth century spelling.

 

28 July 2015

Time Marches On

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Summer — Frank @ 10:30 PM

Well, here it is the end of July. I am not saying that fall is just around the corner, but… I am beginning to see signs of changes around the bird feeders.

In the past couple of days I have seen a chickadee and a tufted titmouse at the seed feeder. These are the two most common birds at our feeders in winter. However, they have been completely absent since late March. I have no idea where they have been!

There are two other changes of note.

The number of chipping sparrows is on the increase, we see small numbers in the summer and significantly more in the fall.

I have also noted a drop in the consumption of “nectar” from the hummingbird feeder. We still get regular visits to the feeder but, these days, the hummingbirds have lots of other choices, including the garden flowers at the foot of the post where the feeder is mounted.

Otherwise, the gang that has been here all summer, are still common… three kinds of woodpeckers (hairy, downy and red-bellied) and white-breasted nuthatches on the suet and two kinds of finches (purple and gold) on the seeds. The rose-breasted grosbeaks also still put in an occasional visit to the seeds.

Oh… and the seed and suet thieves seem to be as active as ever!

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20 July 2015

Gregg Lake Odes

Filed under: "Camp",Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer — Tags: — Frank @ 4:00 PM

I spent a few hours yesterday (Sunday, 19 Jul) afternoon wading the shore of Gregg Lake near our camp. The weather was hot, sunny and breezy.

Although there were a few dragonflies in flight over the water, I saw only damselflies along the edge of the lake. The most common damsels were variable dancers. There were mostly males present; probably two or three dozen along the roughly hundred feet of lake shore I wandered.  However, I also observed four or five tandem pairs ovipositing.

I also saw two male eastern forktails and either one or two (it could have been the same individual twice) male swamp spreadwings. I do not remember seeing swamp spreadwings along the lake before.

The highlight of the day (for both the spider and myself; not so much for the damselfly) was watching a spider feasting on a variable dancer trapped in a web.

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