Posts in Category: Acadia National Park

Black Swallowtail! Happy Sunday.

Black Swallowtail on Honeysuckle, Timber Point Trail, Rachel Carson NWR, Biddeford ME

Black Swallowtail on Honeysuckle, Timber Point Trail, Rachel Carson NWR, Biddeford ME

Yesterday I made my first pilgrimage of the year to the Timber Point / Timber Island section of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge just south of Bidderford Pool. You might remember that I highlighted this is a new addition to the Wildlife Refuge in a few posts last fall. They only made a decision on how to use the property in the early winter, after the predictable period of study, recommendations, public comment, (the expected bit of controversy), etc. The property includes an large building, formerly a guest lodge, and the NWR system does not have the funds to renovate it for use. They have decided to bring only the exterior up to code, and post “interpretative personnel” there for an expanded range of activities and programs during the season…the minimalist approach. We will see how that goes. The property consists of the tip of a rocky peninsula leading out to low-tide-only crossing to Timber Island. Both the headland and the island are rocky outcrops, with lots of big boulders. On the mainland much of this is covered by a mature oak forest, with some open fields and old ornamental trees right along the water. On the inland side of the trail/access road there is an extensive fresh water marsh. Timber Island was pretty much clear cut, and is now home to a dense thicket of pine and bramble, with some fresh water marsh. All in all, a prime piece of habitat for birds and mammals and bugs, and a great addition to the NWR system!

It is not very big and you can explore the accessible parts on the point in a couple of hours. If you time your visit for low tide, you can cross to Timber Island and do a loop around the rocky shore and the edge of the pine forest. That will add at least an hour to your visit. It is not the most exiting place in the world, but I have only been there 4 times now, and on each visit I have had at least one significant sighting…and it is a great place to get out and walk. The highlight of yesterday’s visit might have been this male Black Swallowtail butterfly, caught sipping from the Honeysuckle that lines the trail in open areas most of the way down the point. The Black Swallowtail is a common butterfly over much of North America, but certainly a beautiful bug. This panel shows off both top and bottom views of the wing patterns. The Black Swallowtail is a partial mimic of the Spicebush Swallowtail…a poisonous cousin…the female on both upper and lower surfaces…the male only on the under-wings. This mimicry, apparently, provides the much more common Black with a measure of protection from predators.

As with the puddling Tiger Swallowtails I posted last Monday, this was a particularly fresh male, probably only emerged a few days to a week ago. It showed little wear on the wings and both “tails” were intact. I rarely see them in this kind of pristine condition. 🙂

Nikon P900 at 800mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 125 @ f5.6. Processed and cropped in Lightroom. Assembled in Coolage.

Many of us (humans) have a fascination with butterflies. The beauty and delicacy of the wings…the slow dancing flight…make them the angels of the bug world…so much so that most people do not really think of them as insects, and if they do, they don’t think of them the same way they think of other insects. Butterfly collecting is not what it once was…due partially to ecological awareness…and perhaps more to the advent of the digital camera and lenses long enough to photograph butterflies in the field and field guides to “butterflies through binoculars”…but a “butterfly house” is still a major attraction for any zoo or park. Many of the birders I know now will now confess to being butterfliers too. We love our butterflies. One of the new features of Timber Point this year, in fact, is several large plantings of “Monarch” habitat along the trail, with signs for protection. The Monarch, you might know, is a long distant migrant butterfly that is in serious decline due to habitat (host plant) loss. There is not much there yet, on Timber Point, but I assume they are Milkweed plantings, since Milkweed is the host plant of the Monarch. They have even brought in a portable pump to make sure the Milkweed gets a good start this year.

And of course, conservation and restoration is the most sincere expression of love. Love that does not “take care” of what it loves is not love at all. We respond to the love of the creator not because we are created, but because we are cared for…and we experience, once aware, that care in every moment of our lives. And of course, the creator cares for the butterflies too. We are uniquely privileged, when we take an hand in conservation and restoration, to share that care. What a gift! Happy Sunday.

 

Herring Gull: Acadia National Park

I suppose, in the winter, the Herring Gulls of Acadia National Park actually have to work for a living. During the summer months though, tourist season, they mostly hang out where people gather, and live off the bread-crusts, Fritos, and Cheezits (with the occasional whole hot dog and bun mixed in) that they extort from the tourists. They are absolutely without fear. They practice a kind of open sheath approach, sidling up in plain sight, ever closer, until they are, often, within arms reach. They will steal food right out of the hands of unsuspecting children. Of course they never make eye-contact. They seem to believe that if they can’t see your eyes, you can’t see them. That is a reasonable assumption if you are a gull. Not so much when dealing with humans, but since we are, gull wise at least, a fairly tolerant race, they get way with it. 🙂

Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/800th @ ISO 400. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

Carol in the aisle of birches: Happy Sunday!

This aisle of White Birch trees, all of an age, that runs along one side of Great Meadow in Acadia National Park, is one of my favorite views. In the right light it is simply beautiful. Add my beautiful wife, Carol, and frame with moderate telephoto on the zoom for some compression of the length of the aisle, and it makes a classic natural portrait. (The “true”, and much shorter, focal length of the small sensor camera I carry, provides the perspective of a telephoto shot, with the depth of field of wide shot. The effect is very pleasing, at least to my eye. It does not always work well for portraits, but it works here.)

Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 170mm equivalent field of view.  f5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

And for the Sunday Thought. Simply beautiful. It can have at least a couple of meanings.

“Simply” because no more complex or precise an a description of this particular beauty is required. It is beauty itself. The object being described is one of those which provides beauty with its meaning. Simply beautiful.

Or, “having the beauty of simplicity.” For most of us there is a beauty to simple things, things with combine economy with elegance…things which are not overworked, overly adorned, overly artificial (in the sense that the the artificial is more art and artifice than substance)…things that are close to natural. Simple things. Simple beauty. Simply beautiful.

It describes the image, the aisle of arcing birches in the morning sunlight, and my wife in equal measure. It describes the person. It describes the experience. And, if you will allow it, it describes the catching of the experience in this image.  All three make me want to clap just once, or bow slightly in acknowledgement, or tip my hat in recognition. All together it makes me smile. It makes me want to kiss my wife, to sing a note of praise to the creator of such beauty, and it is what has kept a camera in my hand all these years, and what I attempt to catch in every image.

Simple beauty. Simply beautiful.

Happy Sunday!

Jack-in-the-pulpit: Wild Gardens of Acadia

The Wild Gardens of Acadia at Sieur de Monts Springs is a project of The Wild Gardens of Acadia committee of The Friends of Acadia. It was actually started by a looser group of volunteers before coming under the auspices of the Friends. It has won awards as example of its kind. Within a very small area at the edge of the forest, with a small stream flowing through, volunteers have collected and cultivated most of the native plants of Mt Desert Island and Acadia National Park. The garden is divided by habitat, from stream-side and a mini bog to a mountain top simulation, and covering just about everything in between. From early spring to late fall there is generally something in bloom, and it well enough labeled so that it is certainly a good place to visit if you are interested in being able to identify these plants in the wild.

This is Jack-in-the-pulpit. From the single plants I saw there a few years ago, there is now an impressive stand of these unique and very interesting plants.

Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. 39mm macro plus 1.5x digital tel-converter. f4 @ 1/50th @ ISO 160. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

This is one of those shots that is only possible because of the flip out lcd on the Canon SX series. I had to get right down under the plant 🙂

Fresh Garter Snake

Garter Snakes get very little respect. They are very likely the most common and widespread snake in North America. No one seems to certain just how many species there are, or, if indeed there is only one. Common Garter Snake, one of several recognized species across North America, has been credited with up to 13 regional sub-species. To say that the Garter is highly variable is an understatement. They eat amphibians and earthworms, as well as the occasional rodent, fish or even small bird. Since they are everywhere, from seaside to mountaintop, from deep swamp to surburan backyards and city parks, and they are active by day, they are often seen. No one gives them a second glance. “Ah, just another garter snake.”

But look! They are beautiful. This fresh specimen from along boardwalk between Sieur de Mont Springs and Great Meadow in Acadia National Park is particularly attractive. (“Fresh” in the sense that it appears to have recently shed its skin and still has that “brand new” look.) The delicate greens and browns, the intricate woven look of the scales, the strong, compact body…this snake is a beautiful creature.

Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm and 1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/400th @ ISO 800.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

White Lady Slipper: Acadia National Park

You might remember that, when I posted my Pink Lady Slipper shots from Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge last week, I mentioned that I hoped to see a White Lady Slipper when I visited the Wild Gardens of Acadia at Sieur de Mont Springs in Acadia National Park. I remembered seeing one in bloom there previous years, along with the Yellow Lady Slipper. It was not to be…the caged Yellows were no where near to bloom, and there was no White.

Imagine my surprise then, when hiking the Ship’s Harbor Trail, over on the other (southern or eastern, depending on how you look at it) half of the “mitt” that makes up Mt Desert Island, to come on this specimen growing all alone in a bed of trailing juniper and moss. There was no easy access without trampling plants, so the best I could do was a tel-macro shot.

I had always assumed that the White Lady Slipper was its own species, but a little research when I got home showed that it is just a rare form of the Pink Lady Slipper. Same plant. Different color. That makes it, of course, no less unique or beautiful.

Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1251mm and 1200mm.

Rhodora and the Bee: Acadia NP

Rhodoa, a New England relative of the rhododendron family, was in bloom all over Mt Desert Island…in any damp spot with sun, from hollows in the tops of the mountains, to the edges of marshes in the valleys. I caught this bee making the most of it along the shore of Jordan Pond.

Tel-macro. Canon SX50HS. 1200mm equivalent from 5 feet. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 640. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

Ascitou Azalea Gardens. Happy Sunday!

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The Ascitou Azalea Gardens in Northeast Harbor on Mt Desert Island, just outside Acadia National Park, can, if you hit it just right when the Azaleas bloom, be all but overwhelming. It is a gentle place, well manicured, with a hint of Japan in the stone and water and Azalea plantings. Very designed. Very beautiful.

Click any of the thumbs to open the image full sized.

Canon SX50HS. A mix to tel-macros at 1200mm equivalent, and wide-macros at 24mm plus 1.5x digital tel-converter. Processed, as always, in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

And for the Sunday Thought. Man might have had a hand in all the shades and colors of the Azalea, and man certainly had a hand in arranging them in Ascitou Gardens…but the fact is, you can not tame the Azalea. It is a wild plant, full of irresistible vigor and something very close to a will to be. The colors can be bold or delicate, but the live is always vibrant. The spirit in the Azalea will out! And it is, at least for me, the tension between that riot of life, the pure spirit, and our attempts to design and improve upon nature that adds to the wonder of the Azalea. I am always thankful to those patient folks who think they can cage the wonder…because it is so much fun to see the wonder break out!

 

Bar Harbor from Cadillac Mountain

I am in Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, and the environs for a few days for the Acadia Birding Festival. This is the classic view from the top of Cadillac Mountain, out over Bar Harbor, Frenchman’s Bay, and the Porcupine Islands. This is the kind of view that draws millions of visitors a year to Acadia National Park and Mt. Desert Island.

To make the most of not totally clear day, I used a 3 exposure HDR, processed and tone mapped in Dynamic Photo HDR, with final tweaking in Lightroom.

Canon SX50HS. 24mm equivalent.

6/28/2011: Log Walk with Cedars, Jordan Pond

We never, if we can help it, miss a chance to walk the loop of trails around Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park on any visit. It is sometimes the only hike we have time for, but if we have time for only one, it is it. This last visit we got rained on a lot (see Acadia from under and Umbrella: shooting in the rain) and we hiked around Jordan with rain gear on and umbrellas in hand…but still we did it. The subdued light and the rain wet woods provided interesting variations on our normal views. I always find the Atlantic Cedar forest at the south-west corner of the pond fascinating…dark and deep and dense and mysterious (even though in reality it is only a narrow remnant strip of trees in the semi flooded area next to the pond itself). The park service has built a raised “log-walk” (as opposed to “boardwalk”) the length of the habitat to keep hikers’ feet dry…and off the delicate roots and mosses.

This image captures the leaning Cedars right a the water’s edge, the log-walk, and a whole range of interesting textures and forms, from the ripples of the water to the grain of the wood in the logs, to the bark of Cedars, to fine green of the grasses and the feathery green of the Cedar foliage and the brown riot of fallen pine needles. I like the way the log-walk leads off, pulling the eye deeper into the image and the mystery of the forest.

Nikon Coolpix P500 at 23mm equivalent field of view, f3.4 @ 1/250th @ ISO 160. Programmed auto with Active D-Lighting and Vivid Image Optimization.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.