Monthly Archives: September 2013
Little Fall Soldier on the Forest Floor
I am always fascinated by the mushrooms of late summer and fall in our New England forests. Actually I am fascinated by mushrooms any time of year. 🙂 I found this bright specimen, which looks to me like a little soldier, along the Learning Trail at Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport ME.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F. Macro mode (28mm). f2.9 @ 1/45th @ ISO 100. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
A well worn Mourning Cloak
I took Carol to Emmon’s Preserve (The Kennebunkport Land Trust) yesterday for the first time in a long time. I have been telling her about the new trails and all the work they have been doing to improve access, and how much I have enjoyed finding new dragonflies in the meadows there. She wanted to see, so we spent the afternoon exploring. I got out of the car, literally, just in time to see a Black-tipped Darner land for a photo op, and moments later, this Mourning Cloak fluttered into the path to warm itself. It was up and away before I could photograph it, but it returned several times to the path, eventually landing practically on my foot. It is a very well worn bug, clearly in its last few days of flight. I hope it had a good summer.
Canon SX50HS at 1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 320. Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom.
Coming on Fall at Old Falls Pond: Happy Sunday!
There are a few places locally that bring out the best in the autumn color. It is early yet, but this time of year is when the birding festival circuit heats up again and, this year, I have no weekends free at all in October, so I have been trying to fill myself with early fall color, just in case.
And there is no where more reliable for color than Old Falls Pond on the Mousam River. Add an autumn sky overhead to reflect in the water and frame the shot with a fringe of turning leaves and it is a sight to behold, and a joy to capture.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Rich Tone Mode (HDR). Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
And for the Sunday Thought. Someone posted a slightly malicious comment on my new adventure over at gobirding.us overnight. Something about my having too much time on my hands since I was running too many boring and redundant blogs. This gentleman has posted similar, just slightly nasty, comments on this page in the past. Hurtful. Intended to hurt. I can generally roll on past them, and I will this one, but that too much time on my hands remark hits home…and not , probably, in the way the writer intended. I have never been more aware of just how little time I have on my hands. I am, for the first time in my life, seriously thinking about retirement, looking ahead and counting the years I might have left, and wondering how best to redeem them. What will I do when I can do what I want, at least to the extent my retirement budget allows? How many more falls will I be able to get out to photograph the autumn leaves? Etc.
I can not, of course, know, but I do know, in a way that is new to me (and as old as mankind) that they are limited. Finite. Numbered, perhaps in the single digits. I can, and do, of course, hope. I hope for lots more falls. I hope for the health to enjoy them…but one thing I know is that I do not have too much time on my hands.
And that is somehow an appropriate Sunday Thought, here in the autumn of the year. I would like to go out like a New England fall, full of bright color under amazing skies. I hope my work over at gobirding.us is just the early fall show, and that the real season of brilliance is still to come. And I have a faith, as well as a reasoned confidence based on all my experience in life so far, that my time is in the hands of one who has all the time there is.
So, today, I will do my best to enjoy and celebrate what is…today, the early fall color at Old Falls Pond, and the changing foliage framing an infinite sky. Happy Sunday!
Unconventional Black and White (Warbler)
Working the Magee Marsh Boardwalk in fall is far different than working it in spring. There are fewer birds…not in total species…but in total individuals; the birds are, in general, higher in the trees; the trees are fully leafed out so the birds are much harder to see; and there are way fewer birders…which translates to easier movement on the boardwalk, but also to far fewer eyes looking…which means you can’t, most of the time, just sidle up to the bird-jams and ask the massed birders what they are looking at.
Still, you do find rapidly moving mixed feeding flocks of warblers, chickadees, nuthatches, and titmice. Warblers, of course, of several different species, and occasionally they are working low enough for some good photography.
This Black and White Warbler, caught in an odd pose (but hardly atypical, if you know B&Ws at all) was along the east end of the walk not far above eye-level, feeding with Blackpoles, Mornings, and a few Magnolias, along with the usual Chickadees and Titmice.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 640. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Early Fall
As I mentioned elsewhere yesterday, the first touch of Autumn color in our area is often seen at the ponds along Rt 9 that feed Back Creek. The cold deep water, the narrow opening of the ponds, and the exposure of the trees along the edge serve somehow to amplify the seasonal change. This is a three exposure HDR, handled automatically by the Samsung Smart Camera WB800F’s Rich Tone mode. And here is matter for Rich Tone if ever there were such 🙂
I glimpsed this particular view of the pond, not my usual head-on shot, as I was slowing the scooter down to stop, and walked back along the road to catch it.
Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Leaf for Thursday
I love to look at what the bark of trees, especially mature trees, gets up to. The textures are fascinating, and never more so than in the burles, galls, and other “infections” that tree-kind is heir to. Somehow I suppress the knowledge that I am looking at disease, and I just enjoy the feast of form and texture. Here the single leaf, growing from the section of affected bark, adds the element of contrast that completes the composition, and the fact that the bark is wet from a recent shower deepens the texture.
Taken on the grounds of Lakeside Chautauqua in OH.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in macro mode. 28mm equivalent field of view. f2.8 @ 1/20th @ ISO 400. Program. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Snake in a bush…
Now here is something you rarely see in North America: a snake in a bush. I believe this is a common Garter Snake, and I am certain I have never seen one in a bush or tree of any kind. It was well distended at the mid-point with its last meal, and I am sure it crawled up into the bush (just about eye level) to digest its food in peace. And then we came along: an avid group of birders and nature lovers on a field trip at East Harbor State Park on the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio for the Midwest Birding Symposium, and all had to have a look at the snake. And take pictures. I was a little concerned when folks attempted to fill the screen of their smartphones with snake…I thought they were a tad close for the snake’s comfort, but he/she took it all in stride and we left it digesting where we found it in its bush.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F at 481mm equivalent field of view. Program and Macro. f5.9 @ 1/30th @ ISO 400. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7 2013.
The Glory of Death by Vine
I have photographed this tree before…or attempted to. It is a challenge to capture anything like the effect of this totally vine shrouded tree. Sweep panorama on the Samsung Smart Camera WB800F comes as close as I have come. And the distortions are certainly interesting 🙂
The Vine Tree is across the street from the Hoover Auditorium at Lakeside Ohio, and is somewhat of a tourist attraction. As I was taking the picture, two ladies walked out of the cabin next door. “Don’t be fooled by its beauty,” one said. “It is killing the tree!”
And of course she is right. The vine will eventually suck the life out of the tree…but this is not a Strangler Fig Vine…it is some kind of Ivy…and I suspect it and the tree will have long season of coexistence. And it is beautiful in its way. Glorious even.
Processed in Lightroom. Click the image for a larger version.
Cleared for take off. Trumpeter Swan.
We did a loop around the Auto Tour at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Ohio yesterday during our last day at the Midwest Birding Symposium. The Tundra Swans have not arrived but there are increasing numbers of Trumpeter Swans. This one was attempting to get airborn. And with Swans every take-off does appear to be an attempt. A close fought battle with water and gravity. I have never seen one fail, but it always looks like it could happen this time 🙂
Canon SX50HS at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Program with iContrast and -1/3 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Snapseed on the Google nexus 7.
Milkweed Beatle and John Acorn. Happy Sunday!
The Friday night keynote at the Midwest Bidding Symposium was given by John Acorn, the Canadian naturalist who for 7 years was “The Nature Nut” on the Canadian Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in the US. This was, as John says, in the days before animal wrestling shows displaced real programing on Animal Planet. John also used to a regular at the Rio Grande Birding Festival and we have had several brief conversations over the years. He has been off the lecture circuit for several years, raising a family and working a real job, teaching natural history at the college level, but Bill Thompson invited him to this year’s MBS, where he told us about the challenges of teaching kids to appreciate nature in the digital age.
We bumped into each other several times after his lecture, the final time (so far) in front of the Lakeside Hotel where he was poking around in the milkweed pods. I asked him what he was doing and he told me there was an Earwig in there somewhere and, since they don’t have earwigs in Alberta, he wanted a picture. So of course I joined him in his poking. We found the earwig and both took our pictures but while looking I spotted this Milkweed Beatle, a far more colorful creature than an earwig ever thought of being, and of course we both had to photograph that.
We discussed cameras and I showed him my Samsung Smart Camera with its macro mode and WiFi connection, and I told him about processing the images on my Nexus tablet.
Somewhere after the Milkweed Beatle and before we found the earwig a lady walked by on the sidewalk, probably on her way onto the hotel. “What are you doing?” she asked (or words to that effect).
John said again, “There’s an Earwig in here somewhere.” but strangely enough she just kept on walking…as did several others who did not even bother to ask. Clearly John’s celebrity has taken a hit since he got a real job, but that was not what struck me at the time. I turned to John and said…”You see, that’s what normal people do. You tell them there is an Earwig in here and they just walk on by…”
“Yes,” he said, “odd isn’t it.”
And of course, to both he and I, and to you probably as you are reading this, it is indeed odd. How can anyone not stop and look at the Earwig in the milkweed? If that is normal then I don’t want to be it. I mean you run the risk of not seeing the Milkweed Beatle either…and who knows what else.
There is no pleasure greater, I my humble opinion, than going through life with your eyes open to the wonder of creation. John Acorn has always had it right. Go ahead and call me a nature nut. Proud and happy to be one.
And that, in a nutshell, so to speak, is the Sunday Thought. And let the unexpected Milkweed Beatles be your just reward!