Photographs by Frank

20 September 2014

Early September

Filed under: Birds,Early Fall,Landscapes,Mammals,Monadnock Region — Tags: , , — Frank @ 2:00 PM

The beginning of September brings three harbingers of the autumn that is just around the corner…

The hawks and other raptors begin their migration. We, in the Monadnock region, are lucky to have a wonderful spot from which to observe this world-class spectacle. New Hampshire Audubon organizes and staff an observatory on the summit of Pack Monadnock in Miller State Park during September and October each year. Visits are always interesting; I tend to go on weekdays when it is not quite as busy.

The swamp maples begin to turn red. For some reason, the swamp maples at the north end of Gregg Lake seemed to turn especially early this year; there were signs of red in late August. Currently, these trees are about at their peak and there it little change most of the other trees.

The chipmunks become manic. Living more-or-less in the woods, with a property bounded by stone walls, we are well acquainted with chipmunks. However, in early September as the acorns start to drop, the chipmunk activity really picks up. One does not even have to go outside as their squeaking vocalizations are clearly heard when the windows are open.

Late yesterday afternoon, I noticed “nice light” on the chipmunk highway (i.e. the stone wall) down by the road. I headed down, with camera in hand, hoping to get some photos of “flying” chipmunks as they jumped from stone to stone, often with an acorn in their jaws. I failed miserably… they are just too fast for me! I did manage a couple of frames of individuals who stopped to eat along the highway!

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Home and Harvest – 2014

Filed under: Early Fall,Monadnock Region — Tags: , — Frank @ 1:00 PM

One of the markers of early autumn for me is Antrim’s Home and Harvest festival; this year was the eleventh annual edition.

Along with many vendors spread out along Main Street and a multitude of activities for the kids, the main activities for the weekend are a parade on Saturday morning, skateboard racing all day long and a chicken barbecue organized by the Lions Club topped off with fireworks.

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27 August 2014

“Down Back”, again.

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,wildflowers — Tags: , , — Frank @ 11:00 AM

Sunday afternoon I donned my waders and spent a couple of hours “down back” in the beaver-made wetland at the back of our property. A short while after I left, Joan headed down in the same general direction to do some botanizing. She says that she saw me but I must have been completely engrossed in the odes since I did not notice her at all… makes me wonder what else I am missing!

As has been the case for most of the summer, the numbers of odes seems to be low. The most common odes on this visit were the large darners patrolling both low at the margins of the open water and between roughly five and ten feet over the wet meadow.

The only other dragonflies I saw were small numbers (roughly half a dozen) male meadowhawks present where woodland meets wetland; I saw no females.

There were also a smattering of damselflies (less than a dozen total) including bluets, spreadwings, a single female forktail and a lone sedge sprite.

I arrived back at the house a roughly 6 PM to find a feeding swarm of mixed darners (probably 50 or more individuals) in the yard down by the garden.

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21 August 2014

The “Wilds” of Antrim

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

This morning about 9, my CWS* announced that an AWS** had emailed saying that there was a great blue heron on the Mill Pond behind town hall.

It takes about seven or eight minutes to drive from our house to the town hall… I was on the scene in the parking lot behind town hall by about 9:15!

When I arrived the bird was atop the pile of rocks in the middle of the pond by the bandstand in Memorial Park. I got two or three frames before it moved to the far side of the pond and began hunting. The hunting was poor as I saw him/her make a single attempt to grab prey in about 45 minutes. At about 10 AM the bird moved from the pond to a tree near dam at the south end of the pond. After a few minutes of preening,  (s)he flew again, this time headed east over Main Street and towards the Contoocook River.

I chatted briefly with the folks in Town Hall (including the AWS) and was back home before 10:30; not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

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*Chief Wildlife Spotter; i.e. my wife, Joan.

** Associate Wildlife Spotter; one has to have a network! Thanks… you know who you are!!!

 

23 July 2014

The Dearth of Odes Continues

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , — Frank @ 5:00 PM

Monday afternoon I spent a couple of hours (4:15 – 6:30 PM) “down back” at our beaver-made wetland. I was interested to see how the population of odes was doing here. My impression is that the total numbers of odes was low here, as it was at other sites that we visited late last week.

Usually, there are large numbers (dozens) of darners flying out over the wet meadow. On this visit there were a few… maybe five or six… on patrol mainly over the beaver pond. I also saw a single male calico pennant and a single male frosted whiteface. That was it for dragonflies.

As for damselflies, I observed a handful (maybe six total) of spreadwings. The most common damsel was the sphagnum sprite. There were both males and females present and I saw two pairs flying in tandem. That was it. I saw no bluets at all.

The rose pogonias and swamp candles that were blooming a couple of weeks ago on my last visit “down back” were completely finished blooming. However, I did note the presence of sundew which I had never seen in this location before… probably because I was’t paying attention!

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20 July 2014

Garden Flowers

Filed under: Garden Flowers,Monadnock Region,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , — Frank @ 1:15 PM

Since there were so few odes around on Friday, I took to making photographs of the flowers that Joan has growing around the vegetable garden.

At one point, I was aggressively investigated by a female ruby-throated hummingbird.  I guess that she decided that I was not going to eat too much nectar because, after the initial close encounter, she proceeded to visit a few flowers while I fumbled to take the extension tube off my camera. I was too slow and she headed off before I could make a photo of her.

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A Paucity of Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Nature Conservancy properties,Odontates,Summer,wildflowers — Tags: , , — Frank @ 1:00 PM

Thursday afternoon Joan and I headed out to explore… Joan was interested in wild orchids and I in odes, of course. Our “targets” were the cedar swamp at Lovern’s Mill and the Bradford Bog.

The most significant observation was the low numbers of odes we encountered in what are usually rich environments. The number of dragonflies we observed in four or five hours can be counted on one hand. Damselflies were slightly more numerous, but only at Lovern’s Mill; we saw none at the Bradford Bog.

The main trail near the Lovern’s Mill boardwalk yielded a handful of ebony jewelwings. This is always a reliable place for them. The actual swamp/boardwalk yielded single individuals of two other species.  (All of the photos shown below were made at Lovern’s Mill.)

The dearth of odes continued when I took a careful look around the house on Friday. I saw small numbers of damselflies and two or three dragonflies.

Last Tuesday we had periods of torrential rain which came and went beginning in the evening and continuing for most of the night. I wonder if this weather is related to the general lack of odes?

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If you look closely, you will note that all of the photos of the ebony jewelwing are of the same individual (with a bent wing tip). We encountered this fellow both coming and going from the swamp. We saw three or four other individuals as well.

 

16 July 2014

Monday Reflections

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

Monday afternoon I stopped by a local beaver pond. While I was getting out of the truck I clearly heard the sounds of a beaver near the dam. As I walked to the waters edge, I saw him/her dive quietly. I set up the camera and tripod and waited for the beaver to reappear. I waited more than a half hour and had only two quick glimpses of a nose poking out of the water.

I entertained myself by photographing the reflections on the dead-calm water. I am a sucker for the abstractions of reflections!

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15 July 2014

Recent Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates — Tags: , — Frank @ 11:00 AM

Below are photos taken over the past few days…

The first five photos are from last Friday at the heavily wooded stream flowing from Willard Pond into the nearby Mill Pond. There were lots of male ebony jewelwings present but no females and a smattering of other species. There were also many odes out over the Mill Pond proper that I did not get a chance to photograph.

On Saturday, I gave a presentation titled “Photographing Dragonflies and Damselflies” as part of the Athol Bird and Nature Club’s Dragonfly Institute. The presentation was followed by a couple of hours in the field at a nearby park along the Miller’s River. I did not make many photographs here but I did get a nice photo of a Halloween Pennant, a species that we do not have in our NH neighborhood.

Joan and I spend Sunday afternoon over at camp.The weather was overcast and windy and it rained for a couple of short intervals. There were not too many odes out and about. There were, however, a fair number of variable dancers hanging out low in the vegetation just above the waters edge… most seemed to be in active mating mode with many pairs flying in tandem. I did get some nice photos (the last four) of  “behavior”.

Lastly, an update on the nesting loons. I visited the nest last Friday and again yesterday (Monday). There has been no change; the pair is still sitting on two eggs.  This is not good news at 36 days since I first saw them sitting on the nest. The normal incubation period is usually cited as 26-30 days.

A fellow loon watcher who was there yesterday (and whose name I can’t remember) said that he read of a pair of loons who sat on a nest for 70 days before giving up!

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10 July 2014

Odes “Down Back”

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,wildflowers — Tags: , , — Frank @ 11:00 AM

Yesterday afternoon, I donned my waders and spent a few hours at the beaver swamp “down back” on our property. I am always amazed how quickly time passes while I am out in the field. The old saying “time flies when you are having fun” is certainly true for me!

Darners have appeared out over the wet meadow since I last visited the swamp. You know…the ones that I have yet to figure out how to photograph! Their numbers are small right now but their arrival is, to me, a signal that summer is truly here.

Additionally,  male spangled skimmers and male frosted white faces were present in good numbers. Mating season for the bluets (which I can not identify exactly) was in full swing… I saw more pairs flying in tandem than I did individuals.

The most common damselfly present was the sphagnum sprite. I had forgotten how frustrating these are to photograph. They spend all of their time down low in the vegetation and are very small. One finds them by looking for the bright blue spot on the end of their abdomen. Then the challenge is to find a clear “window” through  the grasses and sedges in which to photograph them. All good fun!

The fragile forktail is quite rare here. The single individual I saw and photographed yesterday represents only the second time that I have observed one “down back”.

In the water at the edge of the pond, there were large numbers of  rose pogonias in bloom. I had not noticed them in years past. Their foliage is very inconspicuous and thus they are easily missed  if you do not catch them in bloom.

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