For the birds

It was the quintessential spring day here in Vermont today—sunny, blue skies, warm but with a hint of underlying coolness in the breezes. My folks were once again kind enough to invite me over for dinner, so I decided to head over there around mid-afternoon in order to do some photography beforehand.

This first image is of the top of their magnolia tree:



Violets have started popping up all over the place; these particular flowers were under one of the other trees in their yard:



I loved how the different shades of green looked against each other:



I spent most of my time before dinner out on the porch watching for birds, a pursuit I found to be much more enjoyable in April than it was in February—it was nice not to have to worry about my shivering screwing up the photos.

This daring chickadee perched in a rhododendron just a few feet from where I was standing on the porch:



Eventually I pulled up a chair and kept an eye on the bird feeder. This woodpecker was one of the first birds to return after I'd been settled for a bit; that white spot under where it sits is a bit of sunflower seed it sent flying as it ate:



A goldfinch and a titmouse on opposite sides of the feeder:



The blur on the right is the titmouse taking off with its food for parts unknown:



A male cardinal followed the titmouse in, and looked pretty cool across from the goldfinch:



The cardinal perched in a Japanese willow in Mom's center garden:



A junco:



A female goldfinch, sitting in the same plant as the chickadee was earlier:



Five goldfinches enjoying the bounty of the birdfeeders:



After I'd gone back inside, a chipmunk emerged from under the porch to get a drink from the fountain sitting on the porch railing. Fortunately for me, I have this awesome new camera that had no problem focusing on objects even through glass. In this first one, you can even see a droplet of water clinging to one of its whiskers just in front of its mouth:



And in this one I liked both the chipmunk's pose and how clearly it was reflected in the water:



Finally, no visit to Mom and Dad's would be complete without at least one photo of Kaylee, right?

Insert your own witty subject line here...

...because, having just finished writing the body of this post, my brain is now saying, "Uh uh—I'm officially done with the whole stringing words together thing for the evening."

Last night Wayne and Tara finally returned from their Irish sojourn, a trip that got extended by four days thanks to the European air travel hiatus. But despite having arrived back home in the wee hours of this morning, pub was open for business this evening. After I arrived, I joined Tara when she went out to check on her chickens and whether they'd produced any new eggs for her. My photo of the eggs themselves didn't come out all that great, but I think the chicken coop is still worth checking out anyway:



I also took this shot of their sprinkler at work, backlit by the setting sun:



After I left Wayne and Tara's I decided to swing by Nemesis Pond for a bit. There were even more swallows circling overhead this evening once the bugs started coming out than I saw last night, and at times they'd also come down and fly just above the pond itself. Most of the waterfowl were at the other end of the pond, with just the goose on her nest and her mate hanging out where I was. She never stirred, but he quietly floated along, dipping his head to grab some snacks now and then:



As was the case yesterday, activity in the pond seemed to increase as the light faded. Fish started jumping out of the water to capture insects, and I'm almost certain I spotted a turtle again. I also noticed forms swimming in the water that I was pretty sure weren't turtles—their movements had a rhythm much like that of a breaststroke swimmer, as opposed to the smooth glide I noticed with the turtle yesterday. So I kept a careful watch on the closest one of those shapes; thankfully, the surface was still enough that I could mostly track its progress when it went too deep to affect the water above it. I lost it when it reached the edge of the pond near where the goose sat, but kept my attention firmly focused on that area in case it decided to pop its head out. And suddenly it did. Not only that, but it started swimming right in my direction.

Unfortunately, between the low light and the reeds between me and it I had a hard time getting a focus capture on it. And the closer it got, the more the reeds in the foreground became a factor. So this is the only shot that really came out halfway decent:



Then it turned and swam across in front of me, where I had a bit more luck photographing it. In this shot, I liked the effect of its wake fanning out behind it:



And I liked this one because it provides the best overall sense of the animal's body—including its tail:



Despite the low light, seeing that tail both as it swam by and when it dove back under the water told me exactly what kind of animal I'd been watching: an otter. In fact, it wouldn't really surprise me if I'd been mistaking the otter (with an occasional turtle thrown in) for a beaver this whole time—there's no real way of knowing when the lodges in the pond were built, and I certainly haven't noticed any sort of decline in the surrounding tree growth during the weeks I've been visiting. Adult otters and beavers grow to about the same length overall, and until tonight I'd never seen the animal close enough to gauge its weight or the shape of its tail.

So, I feel a bit sheepish about most likely misidentifying what I'd been photographing for all this time. But I'm also excited at getting to see an otter in the wild at such close range, not to mention the prospect of perhaps observing an otter family in the future.

To close things out, a photo I took not too long after I arrived at the pond. I saved it for last because I love how the moon stands out from the vivid blue of the sky (which I didn't tinker with in any way after downloading today's images), along with a swallow that flew by overhead just as I took the shot:

An embarrassment of riches

Did I say Nemesis Pond was like Grand Central Station yesterday? Pshaw. That was Danby at 2 a.m. compared to what I experienced today down there.

First up, though, a couple of shots of Yoshi vacuuming his head and neck after getting his hair cut today—I just love his expressions:





Now, on to the good stuff.

To start with, a photo of the goose all puffed up on her nest:



While she hung out there, two other geese peacefully floated along not far from where I stood:



Although things got a bit less peaceful later on:



The kingfisher put in an appearance as well:



And the specks you see in this image are not a sign you need to clean off your monitor—they're some of the dozens of swallows that circled above the trees across the pond when the bugs started coming out at dusk:



I also discovered something very interesting when I got home and downloaded my photos this evening—it appears there's a chance that least some of the time I've believed I was watching a beaver swim in the pond, I was actually looking at a turtle. And a pretty large one at that:





But I'm pretty sure this animal swimming toward the reeds is indeed a beaver:



I ended up standing there on the bank for quite a while as the light faded, seeing even more wildlife than I was able to photograph. On the avian side of things, I spotted a few different types of waterfowl flying to and from the pond, as well as a heron that flew back and forth above the opposite shoreline (and was harassed by some smaller birds at one point). As for mammals, I heard some rustling in the reeds just in front of me and glanced down in time to see an otter dart along the water's edge—unfortunately, by the time my brain had registered what it was it was already out of sight. Not too long after that encounter, I glanced to my far right and saw a rabbit making its way down the road. I turned to try and get a photo, but it spooked and was in the brush before I had time to bring my camera to my eye.

About ten minutes later, I was once again watching out over the pond when I heard something moving in the forest behind me. It was loud enough that I figured it was the rabbit rather than a squirrel, and even though I knew my chances of picking it out against the leaves were fairly low I swiveled my torso around to take a look. It wasn't the rabbit:



It's definitely not every day you get to watch a gray fox walk by a mere fifteen feet away from you. And considering the fading light, I'm feeling incredibly glad and lucky that I was able to get a decent shot of it.

Eventually, I had to accept that it was getting too dark for taking photos and headed for home. When I slowed up to go over the speed bump at the end of the road leading to and from the pond, though, these clouds caught my eye. So I couldn't resist one more picture:



Finally, a few Kaylee pics for your enjoyment. Here, she's chewing on a piece of rawhide:



Kaylee had a very, very busy afternoon yesterday playing with three young boys all under the age of 4, and was still pretty tired out today as well:



Make that very tired out:



And thus, at long last, today's epic post comes to a close.

Learn something new...

Today I wasn't feeling very ambitious, so at lunchtime I went out behind our office building to see what there was to photograph. These little blue wildflowers that had sprung up all over the lawn caught my eye, so I took several photos of those, as well as some shots of the small pond in back, and called it a day.

But when I got home this evening, I really didn't like that once again I'd be identifying something in one of my pictures as yet another pretty flower I don't know the name of. So I opened up Google, started trying different word combinations, and hoped I'd get lucky. And for once, I did—thanks to the wonder that is the internet, I discovered that these wildflowers are Bird's Eye Speedwell, a non-native species that grows throughout North America. I feel so proud of myself:







I liked how the yellow of both the dandelion and the bee stood out against the Speedwells:



Finally, a photo that came out a lot better than I'd expected it to—a look at the lunker of a brown trout residing in our pond:

This and that

Lot of pics today, so I'll just get right to it.

First up, pictures of Sam and Bear I took this morning:





At lunchtime I drove downtown to a spot where the river cuts right through town, taking some pictures of the vegetation along the banks against the sunlit river:





Then I stopped along Main Street when I spotted this flowering tree next door to the First Baptist Church. I figured it'd make for a nice contrast:



There were a ton of bees working the tree. Or at least attempting to, as it was rather windy out and they kept getting dislodged from their landing spots:







At the end of the day I headed over to Nemesis Pond, aka Grand Central Station. The kingfisher was working the other side of the pond, and did attempt to take some pictures. None of them came out very well, but I did get to watch it repeatedly bash a fish it caught against the tree it was perched in. In this shot you can sorta see it hanging out of the kingfisher's beak:



One of the Canada geese was hanging out very close to my side of the pond:





And the beaver was out and about as well. It never completely surfaced, but it did poke its nose out several times:



I'm not entirely certain, but I think this is the end of its tail:



Testing the air not far from where the goose stood:



Finally, I managed to snag this shot of a pair of geese heading out for parts unknown: