Photographs by Frank

25 April 2011

Great Brook / Late April Snow

Filed under: Spring,The "New" Yard & Environs — Frank @ 10:37 PM

Last Friday was a nice Spring day with temperatures up near 60 degrees. I spent a bit of time in the late afternoon photographing Great Brook as it runs past Joan’s cousin Margie’s  house.

Back in the 19th century, Great Brook, the outlet of Gregg Lake, performed much work along its short run to the Contoocoock River. It was lined with many water-powered mills which are, alas, no more.

The brook still flows high in the spring and dependably all year even though its power goes untapped.

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What a difference a day makes! We awoke on Saturday to a bit of snow in the air! A couple of inches accumulated before it turned to rain but the temperature was in the 30’s all day.

Joan had turned over the garden the previous weekend. But, as all northern New Englander’s know, we are still weeks away from safe planting time as the first photo below clearly shows! The apple trees in the yard are flirting with emergence and ended up with a cold, wet blanket for their trouble.

As the day wore on patchy fog developed. I headed up Meeting House Hill on my way back from doing some chores in town. I (correctly) figured that it would be foggy up there and that would set the mood for a few photographs of  the cemetery.

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We went to bed on Saturday with snow still covering most of the ground but awoke early on Sunday to 50 degrees and no snow. The New England Spring is never dull!

 

20 April 2011

Mid-April Backyard Wildlife

Filed under: Birds,Mammals,Spring,The "New" Yard & Environs,Wildlife — Tags: , , — Frank @ 4:58 AM

Well, spring has finally really arrived in our neck of the NH woods. There is no snow left in the yard, although there are still small patches here-and-there in the woods.

On Saturday morning, I filled a bird-feeder with black sunflower seed and hung it by the deck in the back of the house just to see what we could attract. I was amazed at how quickly the “word” spread. Within a couple of hours there were chickadees and nuthatches present as well as the perennial feeder nemesis, the gray squirrel! Within a day, the juncos and sparrows had found the feeder as well as the red squirrels and the chipmunks.

I, as you might have expected, spent some quality time with the camera set up near the feeder!

Here are the resulting “keepers”:

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On Sunday, we watched a female turkey amble though the yard as she picked over the remnants of last year’s acorn crop which were newly emerged from under the snow. In the afternoon on Sunday, Joan and I took a spontaneous break from the yard work  and walked down to the beaver swamp at the back of our property. Eagle-eyed Joan spotted a porcupine sitting way up in a tree right at the edge of the woods. No photos though, too high and too well hidden… maybe next time!

As I knew from the beginning, the environs of the new house were going to be great for wildlife (and photography). Our short time here has certainly proved that true and odonate season has not yet begun… although Joan did attract a few early blackflies as she worked turning over the vegetable garden on Monday!

 

10 April 2011

Nesting Geese and the Return of the Great Blue Heron – Signs of Spring

Filed under: Birds,Early Spring,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , — Frank @ 8:15 PM

Although the main part of Gregg Lake is still frozen, the area around the bridge has been thawing slowly for the past few weeks. The shallow, swampy part to the north of the road is now completely ice free.

For at least a couple of weeks now, there have been a number of pairs of hooded mergansers feeding at the ice’s edge.  The mergansers won’t nest here. They are just passing thorough on their way to breeding grounds in Canada.

This morning, I headed down to the bridge with camera, tripod and long lens to see if I could photograph the mergansers. Two pairs were around but the warm weather had pushed the ice back far enough that they were too far away for good photographs; they were pretty much back lit as well.

Instead, I turned my attention to a pair of Canada geese on the other side of the road. I had noticed them in pretty much the same spot for the past few days and assume that they are nesting there. The light was pretty good and I got a few nice shots.

I was about to leave when I noticed a great blue heron, the first of this year). She (he?) was some distance back… certainly too far away for good photographs. However, I decided to stay put and see what developed. (My  friend, Joe Kennedy, says that one’s “patience filter” is the most important piece of equipment a photographer has!)

My luck was good and after about forty minutes the heron flew right over to, and just behind, the geese. He (she?) waded around in front of the geese and started hunting along the shore. Another twenty or so minutes later,  the heron landed a large fish! After swallowing the prey, he made a U-turn and began prowling the same stretch of shore again.

The heron took off a few minutes later when another fellow intent on fishing off the bridge drove up and got out of his truck. I took a cue from the heron and headed back home for a second cup of coffee… it was almost 1o AM and the light was getting harsh anyway.

Here are the morning’s photos:

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5 April 2011

April Snow

Filed under: Early Spring,The "New" Yard & Environs — Frank @ 8:37 PM

Ah… early April… spring snow… that wet heavy glop that fortunately doesn’t stay around long.

The morning of 1 April  about 3 inches of new snow fell in our neck of the NH woods.

A few days later, on Monday, snow showers that lasted most of the morning began while we were having breakfast.

Much of the woods are still covered in the remnants of the winters accumulation so in some ways there was not much change in the view.

However, upon closer examination, one notices that many recently bare surfaces such as stones, trees and many man-made surfaces had a new coat of fresh snow. This is usually the first stuff to melt so if you want to catch it photographically you need to work fast.

Here is the weekend’s (plus Monday) crop:

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