Photographs by Frank

24 June 2015

You Can Observe A Lot By Watching

Filed under: Amphibians,Monadnock Region,Other Insects,Summer,wildflowers,Wildlife — Tags: , , — Frank @ 5:00 PM

The title of this post is a quote attributed to Yogi Berra and how true it is!

When one is low to the ground with a camera set up to take photos of small things (such as odes) one finds oneself attuned to a world that is hidden in plain sight. There is a lot of “stuff” going on between the ground and six inches of elevation!

Much of the “stuff” one sees are insects, but I often observe other types of critters as well. The immature wood frog is one of those.

I had just stood up from photographing a damselfly and had taken a step or two when I heard a faint rustle in the old leaves underfoot. I quickly dropped to my knees to investigate and after searching for a few minutes, I finally found the source of said rustle… a wood frog the size of my thumbnail, unmoving and doing its best impression of a dried leaf!

I moved a bit trying to find a “window” in the detritus on the ground without scaring away the frog. I successfully found an angle with a clear view of the frog and was rewarded with a nice photo of this fairly common but seldom seen animal.

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Another good subject for a camera set up to photograph odes are small wildflowers. One can easily make nice photos of the flowers nicely isolated against out of focus backgrounds.

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14 June 2015

Nesting Loons

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

A couple of weeks ago, Joan and I discovered a loon nest on a body of water that has not supported a breeding pair for more that forty years*.

Yesterday, I got permission to cross the privately-held shore line and photograph the nest and its occupant.

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* I am being a bit circumspect about the exact location in order to protect the nest site.

 

Backyard Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,The Yard,Wildlife — Tags: — Frank @ 12:30 PM

Friday (12 June) I notice two yellow (i.e. female or immature male) calico pennants in our yard.

Yesterday there were a dozen or more… enough so that I dropped what I was doing and picked up the camera.

There were a few four-spotted skimmers in the mix. The usual chalk-fronted corporals were also “out and about”.

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12 June 2015

Odes Down Back

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer — Tags: , , — Frank @ 10:56 AM

Ten cords of firewood is finally stacked… I can get back to photography!

Yesterday afternoon was warm (about 80 degrees F) and windy. I donned my waders and headed “down back” to the beaver-made wetland at the back of our property.

I arrived at about 2 PM and stayed for three hours. I spent most of my time at the edge of the beaver pond and the small stream that feeds it.

Given the recent lack of  male Hudsonian whitefaces in the yard (the females are still present), I was expecting to find them down by the beaver pond. I was not disappointed.

However, the most common ode was the chalk-fronted corporal. There were many dozens of both sexes mostly flying out over the open water; although a few perched for short intervals. I also observed a small number of mating-wheels.

Common whitetails were almost as abundant as the chalk-fronted corporals and their activities were similar; less perching and larger numbers of mating-wheels.

The abundance of common whitetails at the water was surprising since, in contrast with the chalk-fronted corporals, we rarely seem then in the yard.

There were small numbers of male clubtails (I’m unsure of the exact species probably beaver pond clubtails*), male frosted whitefaces and a couple of four-spotted skimmers.

I saw only two damselflies during the three hours I was out. A small brownish individual, probably a female bluet, that I did not get a good look or a photograph.

The second individual, which I  did get a good photograph of, is an immature male Amber-winged spreadwing* probably a male Aurora damsel but I am not entirely convinced. It has the yellow lateral spots but the top of the thorax is blue rather than black. My impression is that this individual was significantly larger than the typical Aurora damsel.

Oh… about the frog… “he” appeared seemingly out of thin air (water?) three or four feet from where I was kneeling and was completely indifferent to my presence as I went about photographing odes for the next twenty or so minutes.. He did not even flinch when I stood up to move on.

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*Thanks to Steve and Hal from the Northeast Odes mailing list for the help in identification.

 

2 June 2015

Rainy Day Birds

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

Over the past few days, we have been getting some much needed rain. I’m not complaining but I’d much prefer a 65 degree (F) rain than the 45 degree rain we’re getting!

Yesterday afternoon, we noticed a male hummingbird spending a lot of time perched near the feeder. Presumably he was defending his territory from an intruder.

His more-or-less constant presence was enough to get me to set up the blind and camera in the 45 degree rain and spend an hour photographing the birds. I was amazingly warm and dry in the blind and a number of other birds appeared in the hour I was sequestered therein.

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24 May 2015

Ruby-throats & Red-bellies

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Spring — Tags: — Frank @ 11:30 PM

Today dawned warm and sunny. After breakfast this morning, I set up the camera on the deck, “just in case” and went about my around the house chores.

A few minutes before ten, I heard the call of a red-bellied woodpecker announcing its arrival in the vicinity of the feeders. I, of course, headed for the camera. While I was watching the red-belly, I noticed the hummingbird out of the corner of my eye.

The first two photographs (below) were made within twenty seconds of each other.

Just before eight this evening I put the camera away and started the grill to cook supper. Not more than five minutes later, I heard the red-belly call again. I was able to get the camera back out and make few more photos before he flew off again.

The lighting in the two sets of photos is about as different as it can be. Bright, harsh sun in the morning and very low, soft light in the evening about a half hour before sunset*.

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* For the photo geeks, the exposure in the morning was ISO 200, f/5.6 and 1/750 sec. The evening exposure was ISO 800, f/4 and 1/60 sec. If I’ve done the math right this is about a seven stop difference.

I had to work a bit harder to clean up the noise in the ISO 800 exposures but the six or seven year old D300 still does a pretty good job… me thinks!

 

20 May 2015

Ode Opener – 2015 Version

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Spring — Tags: — Frank @ 5:00 PM

The ode season is off to its usual slow start in the Monadnock region.

Ten days ago (on Sunday, 10 May) I noticed a single yellow (i.e. an immature male or female) Hudsonian Whiteface. The next day, I saw another single individual.

By the end of the week, there were dozens of individuals sunning themselves on the driveway and the road and a few of the males were beginning to turn red. Small numbers of female Chalk-fronted Corporals had also appeared.

This past weekend (15 – 16 May) , I observed a couple of Hudsonian Whiteface mating wheels on the wing. Thus, the season progresses.

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This morning (Wed., 20 May) dawned chilly (temperature in the 50’s) and breezy. I had thoughts of heading down to the lake to look for emerging odes, but decided against it based on the weather.

Mid-morning, Joan had some business to attend to down at the public beach. When she arrived there she called me to say that there was an eclosing nymph on the beach shed.

I arrived at the beach shortly thereafter and we discovered a number (all of the same species, probably a skimmer or an emerald; but don’t quote me!) of shed exuvia on the tree trunks as well as a couple of nymphs still scaling their chosen tree.

Shows you how much I know!

When she got back to the house, Joan headed down to the garden. A short time later, I was summoned down to the garden because she had discovered a dragonfly,  probably an immature male American Emerald, perched on the ground.

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19 May 2015

Big Bertha Returns

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Spring,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: — Frank @ 11:00 PM

Last evening I took a drive and picked up Big Bertha* from the repairman. Don’t ask how she ended up in the shop… I’m trying to forget!

This afternoon, just to make sure that all is working properly, I set up by the feeders and gave Bertha a thorough workout. All is looking good, as you can see in the photos below.

The male red-winged blackbird made an appearance again… just to observe. Very strange… the feeders are set up at the edge of the woods (i.e. it is not typical red-winged blackbird habitat) and we are at least a quarter mile from the nearest marsh where these birds usually hangout.

The other interesting visitor was a great crested flycatcher. I do not think that I have ever seen one before.

At least the feeders are in the right habitat for this species… mature deciduous forest, according to Sibley. This individual just perched for a minute or two near the feeders before it flew off.

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* My 600 mm f/4 lens.

 

An Afternoon’s Birds and a Seed Thief Chipmunk, Too.

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Spring,Wildlife — Frank @ 9:30 PM

Yesterday morning, I set about to re-engineer the support for the main bird feeder in hopes of keeping the chipmunks at bay.

After lunch, I sat down with my camera to watch the birds and to see the results of my efforts regarding the chipmunks.  I am happy to report great success… only one chipmunk on the feeder in a day and a half and none since I made a minor adjustment early this morning.

As for the birds, the most common birds at the seed these days are finches. Gold finches are the most common but we’ve had good numbers of purple finches as well. Downy woodpeckers are the most common suet eaters present but an occasional nuthatch and a red-bellied woodpecker also appear.

One oddity that has appeared at the feeders over the past few days is a male red-winged blackbird. It just seems to perch and watch for a while before flying off. I have never seen it take either seed or suet.

The turkey is also an oddity in that I was actually able to get a good photograph. Turkeys are very common in our neck of the woods. (I am usually awakened at about 5:30 these mornings by their calls.) However, they are usually very skittish and thus difficult to photograph.

This male appeared by the greenhouse about six last evening and stuck around long enough for me to get a few nice photographs.

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16 May 2015

Spring Olio

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Spring,wildflowers — Frank @ 4:00 PM

Joan and I took a walk yesterday to assess the state of the neighborhood wildflowers, especially the lady slippers.

We were a bit early for the annual lady slipper spectacular, but there was much else to keep us entertained.

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