Most of the day last Saturday was filled with photography in NH. It started at a beautiful State Park, Bedell Bridge, seen above, and ended with a trip to the western parts of the White Mountains. Sunday found me in Norwich, Vermont on a bird walk led by Chris Rimmer of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Both mornings started with fog, which made for some nice atmospheric photos.
I arrived at Bedell Bridge State Park about a half hour early for a bird walk sponsored by the Mascoma Chapter of NH Audubon and used that time to take some photos. I got two of my favorite fall plants, Bur Cucumber and Devil’s Darning Needles also known as Virgin’s Bower. But I was mostly photographing what the fog did to the scenes.
With my small walk-around camera, I photographed my first bird , a Song Sparrow sitting in Devil’s Darning Needles.
Other arrived, and we started to find more birds.
Yellow-rumped Warblers were plentiful.
I was able to get a quick shot of another Song Sparrow.
And a very distant Red-bellied Woodpecker.
Jeff said he sees them at Bedell often and thinks they might breed there.
As we walked along the entrance road past the wetlands and through corn fields, the sun started to break through the fog.
Sunday morning we met in Lewiston (the old train station area of Norwich down by the Connecticut River). It was foggy, but the fog cleared faster than on Saturday.
We walked to Foley Park.
This is what the group in the photo above was seeing in the river.
I did not expect to see many birds, so I just took my small camera. We did not do much walking at this spot so carrying a big lens and tripod would not have been that hard. I should have taken it. Next time …
Almost immediately there were several Black-throated Green Warblers.
And Yellow-rumped Warblers.
In Foley Park itself there were few birds, so I photographed the birders and the scenes.
We dropped down to the RR tracks where I got a Gray Catbird hiding in colorful foliage…
… and a song Sparrow.
Back at the parking lot we found a group of sparrows near our cars. I got a White-crowned Sparrow …
… and some photos of a cute Chipping Sparrow.
We headed north up Route 5 to Pompy Flats.
But no birds were close enough to view well without a scope, so I photographed the foliage along the Ompompanoosuc River.
We drove the short distance to Campbell Flats, which can be a great birding spot. We first walked the road along the corn field.
I got a Song Sparrow in the corn.
And a Swamp Sparrow.
And another Song Sparrow made an appearance.
Chris Rimmer issued a challenge — to find 175 species of birds in Norwich during 2019. The list already includes 172, so he is well on his way to meet the goal.
As we walked the narrow path between the shrubs guarding the river and the corn field, we got a quick look at a Palm Warbler doing a Phoebe imitation.
There was a Savannah Sparrow in this area.
And a Yellow-rumped Warbler in front of some colorful foliage.
A Yellow-rumped Warbler, perhaps the same bird, caught a huge caterpillar. I did not see it swallow it.
We turned the corner toward our cars and got a very quick look at a Common Yellowthroat.
Along this stretch was a White-crowned Sparrow.
Very near our cars, another White-crowned Sparrow posed for me for a long time. I took a few quick photos then slowly moved to the side and in closer to get a better view. It did not move.
I close with one photo from late Saturday morning — Mount Washington with a bit of snow and foliage in the foreground.
