I did the Five-and-Dime loop this morning — in reverse. I headed up Route 10 (Dime) from Hanover, NH, took River Road which is still open this month, and then looped back to Norwich, VT from Lyme, NH and Thetford, VT on Route 5 (Five). First stop was Wilson’s Landing. I got some “scenic” photos of a Hooded Merganser there.
Suddenly a large bird headed my way. I shot quickly. The first few photos were not sharp, but eventually my camera found focus. Here are three as the Bald Eagle flew over head.
At Grant Brook along River Road, I caught a pair of Hooded Mergansers launching.
Shooting through branches, my camera amazingly managed to get a good focus on the Wood Duck seen at the start of this blog.
Then I caught a male wood duck squabble. In the photo below it looks like one male is attacking another.
But there were actually two woodies approaching a rather calm third.
Here are all three as the action subsided.
The water was high at Pompy in Norwich, VT so there was little action within easy viewing of my camera. But I did find a pair of Wood Ducks in a flooded field at Campbell Flats.
It was a nice way to spend a morning with nature away from people. About the only person I saw was a woman walking her dog near Grant Brook.
On April 11 last year there was an amazing duck show at the mouth of Grant Brook. At least a hundred Wood Ducks and many more ducks of other species were present. And this was just the start of a wonderful day photographing birds, including a very early Pine Warbler that stayed in my yard through snow and ice storms. The day even included a Bald Eagle, a Great Blue Heron, Buffleheads, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. You can see photos from this day if you CLICK HERE. The blog will open in a new tab.
Some of my favorite photos of Wood Ducks also were taken in Lyme. You can see them HERE. This blog also illustrated one of the advantages of shooting raw as opposed to JPEG. But the main advantage of raw is in very contrasty light, rather than the fog I found that morning along Clay Brook.