Photographs by Frank

23 February 2015

Porcupine!

Filed under: "Camp",Mammals,Monadnock Region,Wildlife,Winter — Tags: — Frank @ 9:30 PM

Yesterday was the first day with above freezing temperatures since early January… the high was 33 degrees! The warm spell did not last long. It was 11 when I got up this morning and it is -1  (-15 with the wind chill) as I write this at about 8:30 PM. The low tonight will be around -10 without the wind chill.

We are down to about a cord and a third of wood… I suspect that we’ll be switching to oil in a couple of weeks!!!

Joan and I took advantage of yesterday’s warm spell by heading across the lake on snow shoes. Our main goal was to rake the three feet of accumulated snow from the roof of our camp. Eventually it will warm up and rain on the snow and that sort of weight is not kind to old structures. Thus the need for snow removal.

While I started the raking, Joan explored the various animal tracks in the snow on the lake. A coyote had walked along the shore of the cove and stopped to dig out and explore an animal carcass buried in the snow.

Another set of tracks ended at a small hemlock a few feet off the lake. Sitting about eight feet up in said tree was a porcupine doing what porcupines usually do while sitting in hemlocks… eating!

It is very common this time of year to find the snow under hemlocks littered with small bits of hemlock branches; a sure sign of a porcupine had a meal aloft. Hemlock seems to be their preferred winter food and they are messy eaters!

I was easily persuaded to exchange the roof rake for my camera and was able to move to within a dozen feet of the porcupine without any evidence of concern upon its part… it just kept on munching hemlock boughs.

Eventually, it descended the tree and headed towards me along the edge of the lake. It shuffled around for a short while and then climbed another, small hemlock a few feet from the first. It settled in to eat again about eight or ten feet off the ground. After some time it headed further up the tree and I decided that it was time to get back to the roof rake.

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20 February 2015

Shadow Play

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,The "New" Yard & Environs,Winter — Tags: , — Frank @ 4:00 PM

About a week ago, I headed “down back”. I was expecting fairly harsh light as the skies were mostly clear and light from a low angle in the mid-afternoon, just before the sun dipped below the ridge to the west.

My expectations were met and I was able to make a series of photos of the vegetation sticking up out of the snow casting shadows on the nicely textured snow. Every once in a while nature cooperates with the photographer and his visions!

A couple of days later we got another 10-12 inches of snow and although I have not been down back since, I am sure that there is not much emergent vegetation now!

My next vision involves shadows and wind-blown snow out on the lake. But not today (I think) as the mid-afternoon temperature is hovering right around 10 degrees (and some where around -5 with the wind chill).

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26 January 2015

Practice

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,The "New" Yard & Environs,Winter — Tags: — Frank @ 8:00 PM

Like so many things in life, photographing small birds takes practice.

Thus, yesterday afternoon I set up the chair blind, tripod, etc. near the feeders in our yard intent on getting some practice.

In addition to the usual birds we see all winter (chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and downy woodpeckers*) we have been seeing small flocks (8-12 individuals) of goldfinches at the feeder in the past week or so. I photographed them all yesterday.

I have decided that the titmice are the hardest of these birds to photograph.

Many individuals fly directly to the feeder from fairly far afield. Those that do stop at one of my “photo perches” near the feeder rarely stay for more than two or three second; a much shorter interval than any of the other species**.

Photographing titmice requires rapid reflexes… and much practice!

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* We also seem to have a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers that visit the suet feeder regularly, most often fairly early in the morning. I did not see them yesterday afternoon.

** The red-bellies are hard to photograph as well for similar reasons. They spend a much shorter time at the feeder than the other woodpeckers. They stay only long enough to dislodge a large chunk of suet which they then carry off into the woods. I suspect that they cache much of this food for later use.

 

19 January 2015

Snow and Light

Filed under: Monadnock Region,The "New" Yard & Environs,Winter — Tags: — Frank @ 7:00 PM

Snow is not simple.

Once it falls to the ground, it begins to change. It is sculpted by the wind, pitted by rain, trod upon by animals, etc.

The late afternoon sunlight playing upon a snowy landscape makes life interesting for photographers.

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Sermons in Stone

Filed under: Monadnock Region,The "New" Yard & Environs,Winter — Tags: , — Frank @ 6:00 PM

Joan’s old friend Sally sent me a copy of a wonderful book about stone walls for the holidays.

I finished the book, Sermons in Stone by Susan Allport, last week and was inspired to photograph the snowy walls along Brimstone Corner Road.

All of these photos were made within a quarter mile of the house.

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9 January 2015

Plow Truck

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

Here in northern New England, folks with long driveways often keep a “plow truck”.

These old (and usually unregistered) pickup trucks are kept running for the sole purpose of plowing snow off the driveway during our long cold winters.

I have driven past this long unused plow truck dozens of times over the past three or four years but the light falling on it was never “interesting”. Yesterday morning things were different. Thus, with the temperature in the single digits and ungloved hands, I stopped and made a few exposures of this plow truck.

Oddly, this particular plow truck has been left way down at the road end of a driveway that is long enough that one can not see the house from the road. Usually plow trucks are kept up near the house. After all, who wants to have to walk the length of a long driveway in deep snow just to begin the clearing of one’s driveway. Just one of life’s little mysteries!

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Patterns in the Snow (and Ice)

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Tags: , — Frank @ 6:00 PM

Yesterday afternoon Joan and I took a walk “down back” in “our” beaver-made wetland. The temperature was about 15 degrees F (up from a low of -12 the previous night) but there was no wind (a stark contrast from the day before). As long as we stayed in the sunny spots the walking was quite pleasant.

The sky was cloudless. The sun was low. There was a light coating of new and very dry snow. These conditions made all sorts of interesting patterns on the frozen ground stand out. I photographed them!

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30 December 2014

Sunday Birds

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

Sunday was a warm (for December in NH) day… the temperature was in the mid-40’s.

Just after noon, I filled up my ersatz tree trunk with suet, set up my chair blind near the feeders and waited to see who would show up.

The chickadees, of course, were back about ten seconds after I walked away from the feeders. In addition to the numerous chickadees, there were good numbers of white-breasted nuthatches present and a few tufted titmice and blue jays. Two female downy woodpeckers appeared simultaneously a couple of times as did a lone male. Lastly, a male red-bellied woodpecker made a very brief (five frames worth) appearance.

The relatively mild temperature and sunny skies lulled me into complacency and I was under-dressed for sitting in the blind… a breeze had also developed. Thus, by two thirty, I was cold and stiff enough that I headed inside.

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11 December 2014

“Cheating”

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,The Yard,Wildlife,Winter — Tags: — Frank @ 4:00 PM

We have had a stretch of cold, gray weather. Monday’s “wintery mix” turned into Tuesday’s rain…nothing like a 35 degree F rain! Yesterday (Wednesday) nothing fell from the sky but the sun still did not make an appearance. I awoke this mornring to snow flurries which continue as I write this in the mid-afternoon.

So why is this post titled “Cheating”?

Well… you see that small “tree” upon which the birds are perched? It is actually a dead branch I picked up in the woods in the beginning of November and specially prepared for bird photography. I mounted the branch on a stand made of lumber so that it is more-or-less perpendicular to the ground. Around the back-side, I drilled a series of one inch holes.

On Monday, I packed the holes full of suet and stood the whole thing out back near the other bird feeders. (It is probably about 25 feet from the house.) I retreated to the warmth (and dry) of the house and photographed thorough the glass of our French doors.

See what cheating will get you!

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11 November 2014

November Skies

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,November — Tags: , — Frank @ 10:00 PM

November is a slow time for me photographically. The hillsides, devoid of foliage, are an unphotogenic grey and the weather, in our neck of the woods, is often cold and grey. Today was NOT one of those days!

The temperature was in the high 50’s and it was partly sunny with wonderfully photographic clouds during much of the day. I made the photos shown below while running errands in the early afternoon.

I intended to head out again in the late afternoon expecting a good sunset. However, about 3:30 (sunset is about 4:30) the overcast rolled in and despite some ribbing from Joan and I did not bother to get out of the recliner!

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