Branch Pond

To make up for how very long it's been, an extra-long foliage post. All of these images were taken during a trip with my father to Branch Pond, off Kelly Stand Road here in Vermont, on September 27.

First up, a shot taken as we started our journey up the mountain:

Images from the path we walked to get to the pond itself:

Branch Pond:

In the back center of this one, you can see someone standing on a floating platform, fly fishing:

A shot taken through the trees at one of the few moments the water was relatively calm:

Pretty much the same view, sans trees but with an unfortunate bit of lens flare:

Just thought this was an interesting little shot:

A mushroom Dad spotted as we wandered around the pond:

The largest Gartersnake I've ever seen in the wild, also spotted by Dad:

I just thought the inky markings on this trunk were interesting:

I also snuck a picture of Dad as he sat and looked over the pond:

Photos from our walk back to the Jeep:

Yes, this is the same tree as the photo above, just from a slightly different angle and with me attempting to be artsy by including the sun through the pine trees on the other side:

We stopped on our drive back down the mountain so I could take this photo looking back up the road:

Considering I got Dad to stop in the middle of a one-way bridge so I could take this shot, I figured I really should include it

Finally, my favorite shot of the day:

When seasons collide

Last night we experienced our first snowstorm of the year. If I dwell too much on the fact that winter appears to have begun in October, I'll probably end up curled up in a ball in a corner somewhere. So instead I'll focus on the unique photo opportunity it provided me this morning in the form of a maple tree I noticed when I got to work. Vivid red leaves, white snow, clear blue sky... how could I resist?





Not much in the way of snow in this one, but I still liked how it came out.



And a closeup of some leaves to close things out:

Feed the birds

Given that over the course of the day today my next-door neighbor put up four bird feeders and a suet cage about 15 feet from where my feeder sits, it'll be interesting to see how much traffic I get at mine moving forward. Here's hoping these aren't some of the last good close-up photos I get to take from the comfort of my living room...

Love the little feather tuft sticking out of this White-breasted Nuthatch's chest:



A couple of Chickadee action shots:





The male Purple Finch was flying solo when he visited my feeder today. Happily for me, he hung around long enough for me to get a few quality images:



A lucky shot that includes the debris spray created when the bird crunched down on the seed:



You've got a little something stuck to your face there, dude:



A look at some of the trees across from my apartment in the afternoon light:



Finally, I'm incredibly grateful that I just happened to get up and head for my kitchen when the sunlight was created this cool shadow/light effect:

More fall colors

When I stopped by the house last night, Mom mentioned that she'd seen a particularly striking maple tree while driving through town recently. So I went and checked it out after I left work for the day. Once I saw the tree, I totally agreed with her—I just wish there'd been a way to take a clean picture of it, so to speak. Or at least one that didn't involve depriving the neighborhood of electricity and cable television:



And a closer look at some of the leaves:



As I drove home, I couldn't help but notice that the sunset was shaping up to be a very colorful one. As the color of the clouds slowly deepened, I considered my options, knowing I needed a spot where I could both get off the road safely and have a relatively unobstructed view of the mountains. And it had to be one I'd reach in the next few minutes, or else the light would be gone. Luckily for me, I was just coming upon the one section of my route home that fit all three criteria—it has a very wide shoulder that runs along part of a field (in fact, it's the same spot I photographed a group of sheep on my first day with my new camera), and once I got past the power lines there was nothing standing between me, my camera, and the southern horizon:



Better still, because of the rain we've had recently the field across the road was partially flooded, giving me the chance to get a couple of nifty reflection shots as well:

Second verse, same as the first: the reprise

It certainly wasn't my intention when I started my day today, but someone I managed to put together a photo day remarkably similar to yesterday: foliage photos (trying saying that five times fast) and bird pics. But at least this time I didn't take any of them near my apartment...

To start with, a few foliage reflection shots courtesy of the museum's pond:







As for today's bird photos, the star of the show is undoubtedly the Red-breasted Nuthatch that spent a good 30 minutes visiting the feeders at Mom and Dad's when I stopped by after work. It was a total accident on my part, but I really liked how well the bird's reflection shows up in the feeder in this first shot:



This particular nuthatch (or nuthatches—they still refuse to help me out by wearing name tags) would have gotten low marks on the "plays well with others" part of its grade school report card, as you can see in this sequence of shots:







Sitting up on the hook:



Telling another Chickadee it's not welcome on the feeder:



And then settling its feathers back into place:



Apparently, at least one Chickadee figured out that the easiest way to avoid fights with the nuthatch was to hop right on inside the feeder:





Grabbing a seed:



I got a kick out of how the nuthatch and Hairy Woodpecker mirror each other in these next two shots:





This Chickadee was moving to a slightly better spot on the feeder... but still keeping a safe distance from the nuthatch:



I can't point to a specific reason why this one caught my eye when I was going through images, but it did:



I liked all the different things going on in this one:



And finally, I'd definitely classify this one as the catch of the day, so to speak: