Photographs by Frank

9 July 2014

Loons and Catbirds

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 12:15 PM

Yesterday afternoon, I spent some time observing the nesting loons again. No chicks yet… a worrying state of affairs as they have been sitting on the nest at least since the 9th of June.

I did watch the two adults switch places twice during the four hour interval (1:15 to 5:15 PM) that I watched them.

Photographs of loons actually leaving or entering the nest are not very interesting. These birds leave the nest without any obvious (to me anyway) warning… they simply slide off the nest into the water. Loon butts do not make for interesting photos! Conversely, watching an adult loon climb back onto the nest is a vivid reminder that these are water birds… the word “ungainly” comes to mind.

Once the incoming adult gets on the nest, they proceed to move the eggs about a bit and do a bit of housekeeping by rearranging a stick or two before settling down on the eggs.

Take a careful look at the loon photos… see any other animals present?*

The best place to photograph the nesting loons is from atop a large rock. Yesterday,  I kept noticing that  two or three small gray birds would briefly appear on another nearby rock and then disappear back into the bushes behind the rock.

Eventually, an adult appeared with a single small insect that one of the three fledglings gobbled up in a microsecond. There are only two young birds in the photo because the “winner”  did not waste any time in getting away with the prize. The two you see are still yelling at mom or dad “where’s mine”!

The appearance of the adult allowed me to identify, without the need for a book, the birds as gray catbirds.

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*I am now to the point were I can photograph odes without trying!!!

 

Sunday Odes

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

I am a bit behind on the blogging… too much to photograph!

On Sunday, I spent some time roaming the yard and the logging road across from our driveway. The most common ode present were many immature male calico pennants. There were also at least two female spangled skimmers and a smattering of other species. Not a bad assortment for a warm and windy afternoon.

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19 June 2014

Nesting Loon

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Spring — Tags: — Frank @ 9:00 AM

Yesterday, I had some errands to run in Peterborough. I decided to take the camera along and stop by the nesting loons I visited last week. When I arrived, another photographer (Don from Hudson, NH) just packing up. Word is getting out!

There are no young yet, but both adults were present. The adult not sitting on the nest was only nearby briefly, but two or three times during the couple of hours I watched, I heard it call from out on the water. The adult on the nest did not return the call.

Photographically, the conditions were tough. It was partly cloudly but the clouds were moving fast. The light changed minute-by-minute and ranged from harsh full sun to nice diffuse light; only the latter makes for good photos of black and white birds. It was only worthwhile to trip the shutter when the sun was behind a cloud.

Spending time watching a nesting bird is quite interesting. It is clearly a high stress job. The adult on the nest is hyper-aware… always listening and watching. At one point during this visit the adult arose briefly to shift position  on the nest.  A couple of times small groups of swimmers walked nearby; each time the adult scrunched down on the nest it what was clearly an attempt to hide.

You will note that in most of these photos the loon has its mouth open. This was true  for the large majority of the time I observed it.  One might think that they are calling or singing by looking at still photo. This is not the case, this animal did not make a sound during the time I observed it. Rather, the “panting” behavior is a thermoregulation strategy. Birds do not sweat but, by opening their mouths, they can evaporate saliva which helps them to shed heat. I have also observed this behavior in great blue herons on a hot summers day.

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18 June 2014

One Quarter Mile – Seven Species

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Spring,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , — Frank @ 12:05 PM

It is about a quarter mile between our house and Gregg Lake. There is an old logging road that begins across from the end of our driveway and heads directly for the lake.  On Monday, I spend a few hours wandering this road photographing odes.

I was able to photograph seven species in this short distance. (There are eight photos because I got both sexes of the Aurora Damsel.)

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16 June 2014

Food & Sex

Filed under: Mammals,Monadnock Region,Odontates,Other Insects,Spring — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 10:00 AM

How is that for an attention-getting post title!

It might be attention-getting, but it is a good description of the ode activity in our yard yesterday.  There were dozens of whitefaces, at altitudes ranging from one to twelve feet constantly on the move and feeding.  There were also smaller numbers of other species both hunting and mating.

In addition to the odes there were also decent numbers of butterflies around… small orange butterflies down low in the vegetation, many swallowtails nectaring (especially on the blackberries) and a single black butterfly on the edge of the road looking for salt. (The last two butterfly photos as of the same individual.)

There were often groups of three or four swallowtails doing their in flight dances… is this mating behavior or is it about territory? More stuff to learn!

Through it all, the chipmunks living in our stone walls would chatter at me. I guess that they want the yard to themselves.

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10 June 2014

“Down Back”

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Spring,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: — Frank @ 12:00 PM

Still catching up…

Saturday afternoon I spent some time “down back” at the beaver-made wetland (a large wet meadow and small pond) on our property.

I was expecting to find Hudsonian Whitefaces back at the water to mate. They had been present up near the house for a couple of weeks but the numbers have fallen off in the past ten days or so.

Also present were the first four-spotted skimmers of the year and a few female chalk-fronted corporals. I saw, but did not photograph, a single damselfly… a sprite, probably a sedge sprite.

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Loons

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

 A long time ago yesterday in a galaxy pond far, far not too far away… I discovered a pair of nesting loons.

It is unusual to find a nest that can be observed (and photographed) easily from land and one needs really soft, even light to do justice to a black and white bird photographically. Yesterday afternoon, in intermittent light rain, every thing came together.

The photos are of two individuals. The one sitting on the nest was there the entire time (about 90 minutes) I observed him/her. The other, which was close by most of the time, alternated between fishing and resting. The nearby mallard family was just a bonus.

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Willard Pond & Loverens Mill Cedar Swamp

Filed under: Audubon Sanctuaries,Monadnock Region,Nature Conservancy properties,Odontates,Spring — Tags: , , — Frank @ 11:00 AM

I am just a little behind in my blogging…

Last Friday, I headed out to see what was up ode-wise at two different habitats.

My first stop was the Audubon Sanctuary at Willard Pond. I was specifically interested in seeing what was up at the Mill Pond there. In the past, I have observed the Kennedy’s Emerald there.

On this trip, I did see a few dragonflies in flight over the pond that may have been emeralds but none perched so I did not get any photos. of them.

I did spend some time in the woods along the Mill Pond trail photographing wild flowers… there were literately many dozens of lady slippers along the beginning section of the trail. I also photographed odes in a number of small clearings. (All of the photos below, except for the last one, were made at Willard Pond.)

My second stop was the Nature Conservancy’s Loverens Mill property*. The rare cedar swamp at this site often has some unique odes, but this trip was earlier in the season than I have been in previous years.  I did observe small numbers of dragonflies in constant flight as well as small numbers of jewelwings, mostly river jewelwings; it is early in the season.

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* Joan’s father donated a parcel of land which is incorporated into this preserve. Her family calls it the “Windsor Bog”.

 

1 June 2014

The Progression of Odes

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

The ode season began here about two weeks ago with the appearance of yellow Hudsonian Whitefaces in the yard; both females and immature males are yellow. Over time, as the males matured, red individuals appeared and then the numbers began to decrease as they moved back to the water to reproduce.

Today, as I roamed the neighborhood, I did not observe a single Hudsonian whiteface; I guess that it is time for a trip to our wetland “down back”… Tomorrow!

The Hudsonian whitefaces in the yard have been replaced with large numbers of common whitetails (both females and immature males). There were also smaller numbers of chalk-fronted corporals of both sexes present this afternoon. (I first observed females of this species about a week ago.) I also saw a single male four-spotted skimmer.

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12 May 2014

The Weekend’s Work

Filed under: Amphibians,Birds,Monadnock Region,Spring,Wildlife — Tags: , — Frank @ 9:00 AM

After a wet Friday, Saturday dawned clear and sunny and brought a number of red efts to the yard.  This was the start of a good weekend for photography.

On both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, I spent some time down by the north end of the lake. There were at least three species of warblers (yellow rumps, common yellow throats and I third that I could not identify or photograph)  present. Chickadees, pheobes, and kingbirds were also present.

I concentrated on the birds which spend time down low in the bushes along the waters edge… mainly the warblers and the chickadees. These birds will be present all summer but the become next to invisible when the shrubs leaf out. Even without the leaves they are difficult to photograph as they spend most of the time in the thicket of branches. Usually one get a single chance to trip the shutter when a bird appears at the “surface” of the thicket.

Late Saturday afternoon, we put kayaks in the water at Eva’s Marsh WMA in Hancock. I don’t think that we visited Eva’s Marsh last year.  Yesterday, we discovered two big changes since our last visit.  There is now a very long (200 feet or more) beaver dam bisecting the marsh. Thus, the mud flats that used to support foraging sandpipers here are now well under water. Additionally, there is now a single great blue heron nest on a snag in the back section which was not present on our last visit.

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