Ponds & Streams

  • Ponds & Streams

    Spring Sights: Pond Walk

    Wild geranium

    Though it’s now late August, these pics are from a walk back in May.

    Eastern phoebe
    Great blue heron
    Dandelion
    Lupine

    These days, mature milkweed, asters, sunflowers, and the sound of walnut leaves fluttering to the ground replace these fresh spring colors and sights. It’s nice to review the “baby pictures” of this summer as we transition into fall.

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  • Ponds & Streams,  Walks,  Woods

    Fall

    I have a number of photos taken over the summer to post. But for now, let’s think about the wonders of autumn.

    Leaves covering the earth, even in a grove of evergreens.

    I photographed this prospect in spring. It has quite a different character now. This little guy was perched in exactly the same spot as he was in spring, too, but drowsier.

    I didn’t expect turtles, but there were some out on our walk the other day.

    My daughter commented on the smell of fall. It’s true. Fall has its own odor, and I’m aware of it even though I’m not a good smeller and often don’t notice odors. It triggers a sense of great satisfaction edged with bittersweet.

    It’s been some summer for our country, and there’s a weariness and worn-outness that goes along with it. I felt it was being reflected in the sights on our fall walk.

  • Ponds & Streams

    Mother’s Day

    We set out bright and early on Mother’s Day. It was clear and cold, and we had the woods to ourselves.

    We weren’t sure what this bird was. It made no sound, was about the size of a female cardinal, and hawked insects. My daughter and I snapped some photos, and when we got home and looked in the bird book we realized it was a great crested flycatcher. This photo is posted not as an example of a good photo, but as an example of how the camera is an aid to figuring out what things are. It’s a damage-free hunting tool.

    Black-throated green warblers were singing around the creek. No great pictures, but we enjoyed seeing them all around, feeding along with some yellow-rumped warblers. Here, the camera magnified something too small and high to see clearly, and enabled me to see its markings. Again, an example of a camera as a tool in nature study, even when the result is not a good photograph.

    The glen was lovely, though choked with blown down trees.

    The trillium is blooming, along with other vegetation.

    On the way home, we observed another mother — a leucistic redtail keeping her chicks warm.

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  • Ponds & Streams,  Walks,  Woods

    Spring woods

    Let’s take a walk. We’ll go through the woods to the pond…

    …and enjoy the wild cherry blossoms.

    The trail is grassy there, so we have a good view of the water and its life.

    Just remember that no matter how many things we see — warblers, geese, blossoms, color, tracks — we’re always being watched as well!

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  • Ponds & Streams,  Walks,  Woods

    Greening up

    The light in the woods is taking on a greenish tint at last. The trees are beginning to produce leaves, and the mosses are incredibly varied. This rock is just one example, showing a number of different textures.

    This tree reminds me of hobbits, thanks to its fuzzy toes.

    Chipmunks are always watching. Though they’re not secretive enough to go unnoticed, they do blend in pretty well.

    I’ve photographed this boardwalk many times, but it always intrigues me. Yesterday it saved our shoes in the extremely muddy woods.

    A little photo-editing was done on this one.

    Fiddleheads are starting to appear…

    My pictures don’t show it, but there were quite a few people taking advantage of the nice day to walk in the woods. This is due to pandemic cabin fever. I wonder if it will last.

    The crowded woods didn’t prevent us from visiting some favorite spots, and all in all I’d say it’s a great development that people are enjoying the outdoors. . . ourselves included. Hopefully next time we’ll spot some warblers.

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  • Ponds & Streams

    Brick Pond

    My youngest and I decided to “carpe the diem” and take a walk yesterday, even though it was late in the day and we didn’t have much time. We chose Brick Pond, a site nearby that usually promises some rewarding sights. The mud in the pond was at one time used to make bricks, and it even rebuilt the town after a devastating fire. But today it’s a nature preserve.

    My daughter took the Panasonic Lumix, a point-and-shoot bridge camera; I took the Canon T6 which, after being sent out 3X for its sub-par autofocus, actually produced some fairly focused images. Here are a few of my favorites:

    This dragonfly’s wings remind me of stained glass windows whose panes haven’t been stained yet. The wings would have been completely invisible to me without the telephoto lens to show me the details… except when the sun caught them:

    This one was small. I’m guessing it belongs to the category of “skimmers.” But there were some large ones about as well. Maybe these big ones belong to the category of “darners”:

    This giant indigo fly seems to think it’s camouflaged…

    Another treat was this green heron:

    You can right-click and choose “view image” to see the picture full-size.

    It sat for quite awhile, observing us as we observed it. Usually they’re spookier than that. If I were in the habit of posting pics of my family, I’d love to share the one of my daughter photographing this bird with a gaggle of Canada geese just beyond her, all pointed in the same direction. It was quite the spectator sport.

    There were some pretty flowers and berries too, and I was pleased that the camera could pick up on them.

    I’m wondering if that last one is a “button bush.” A friend posted her button bush, absolutely alight with yellow swallowtails, on Facebook the other day. But the butterflies were elsewhere yesterday.

    Here’s one from a walk earlier in the week, taken with the Panasonic:

    Monarch on milkweed. The spots on his wings show that he’s male.

    Fritillary on thistle

    We’re feeling pretty blessed to have such an abundance to enjoy during these warmer months, as well as two decent cameras to capture the memories.

     

  • Ponds & Streams,  Woods

    Spring Marsh

    It was in the 40s this morning, but the sun was inviting. We headed for a nearby marsh in search of spring warblers.

    The May apples were just opening their “umbrellas,” and a riot of green shoots of all kinds reached for the sun. These ferns were fist-bumping!

    Others stretched their fronds more tentatively. This one looks like it’s admiring its shadow.

    We saw more than I was able to capture in photos. My camera doesn’t focus well when fully zoomed out, so I have only one semi-decent warbler picture. But we saw pileated woodpeckers and downies, red-winged blackbirds, mallards and geese, at least one flicker, and numerous yellow-rumped warblers like this one.

    A bench in a strategic place allowed some time to reflect and listen.

    It’s heartening to see the surge of life bursting out all over. Along with spring leaves and blooms, all the beautiful summer-dwellers are back: orioles, grosbeaks, hummingbirds. May is my favorite month, and by the end of it we’ll have seen an intricate tapestry of tiny wildflowers and ferns and mosses grow to carpet this landscape. The leaf canopy will thicken, softening some of the brightness and contrasts in the scene. I plan to savor and enjoy every phase.

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  • Ponds & Streams

    Spring Walk

    It’s been a cold, overcast spring. Daffodils and forsythia are finally open, and today the sun came out and warmed us to the heart.

    So we went for a walk — and discovered others were enjoying the warmth, too.

    We decided to name this guy Thanos, even though we haven’t seen the new Avengers movie yet. He has a sinister look about him, even sluggish and mud-covered.

    Under the water near where we stood, another snapper looked more awake, and more malevolent.

    He rose to periscope depth to examine us.

    We saw more agreeable spring pond-dwellers, too: a kingfisher, a number of box turtles, a deer, a green heron, and a snake. Younger Daughter saw muskrats twice, but her sister and I didn’t get there soon enough to see. We also saw bluets growing, and a goose family.

    Oh for more days like this!

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  • Landscapes,  Ponds & Streams,  Walks

    Summer Falls

    This is a 3/4 mile walk along a gorge, but that short span includes something like a 600 foot rise in elevation. We climbed a lot of stairs, then walked down the other side on a more gradual trail. It was an absolutely lovely day.

  • Ponds & Streams,  Walks,  Woods

    Chipmunks or deer?

    “What would you say?” I asked my daughter on our way out of the woods. “Was this walk mostly about chipmunks or deer?”

    “Chipmunks, probably,” she answered.

    But three deer, resting and grazing, were the first things we saw — after the monarch mudskipping in the parking lot. Later, we heard the snorty scream of a deer warning call, followed by some banging sounds, and then a young buck running through the woods across the creek from us. Could he have been clashing antlers with another deer? Or did he get stuck in a tight spot somewhere? Strange. We back tracked to see if we could get another look at him, and though we did see him we didn’t get any pics. Still another young deer bid us goodbye as we left the woods, too. They were surely out and about.

    The chipmunks were definitely impossible to ignore, however! They scampered everywhere and chirped till the woods rang with it, warning everyone that we were intruding. The little guy pictured in the log was close enough to his safety zone to indulge his curiosity about us somewhat before disappearing inside.

    The other story, for me, was the busyness and color of the woods. It shows up especially in the stream/bridge pictures. It’s difficult to find a single area of the scene that isn’t already brimfull of other outlines. It reminds me of those art class exercises where you are instructed to fill every space with a different pattern.

    Not a ton of color this fall — mostly yellows and rust colors. It’s been dry. But it’s enough to tint the sunlight, giving it a beautiful burnished glow before it hits the ground.

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