Early spring is characterized by ice breaking up on the rivers and lakes with pastel scenes in the fields. I tried to capture some of that this last week.
In early spring there is an occasional colorful sunrise, like on the right from Lake Mascoma this morning.
It’s sugaring time, and some folks still do it the old-fashioned way.
This is the time when ducks come up the Connecticut River. Here is a pair of Hooded Mergansers in Norwich.
In Lyme I watched a Canada Goose landing and then taking off very near a Hooded Merganser. Here is its landing.
A few seconds later it turned around and took off in the direction that it came from.
But there was a problem during take off. The Canada Goose seemed to be a bit clumsy or maybe too heavy. It splashed down in the water before it finally got airborne.
After watching this adventure, a flock of American black ducks flew overhead. Here are three from the flock.
Just across the border from Lyme in Orford I found a turkey displaying who had a few missing feathers.
Yesterday, Common Redpolls were still hanging around. I believe they’re all gone today, at least from my yard.
Also yesterday, I found a group of Wood Ducks in the mouth of Grant Brook in Lyme.
Still in Lyme, the ice on Post Pond was breaking up in an interesting pattern.
Looping back through Norwich I found this pair of Hooded Mergansers in the Ompompanoosuc River.
Nearby a Robin was watching me.
I managed to capture two of my favorite birds, but unfortunately neither photo is as good as I’d like. Both of these species are in the area year-round, but they are rarely seen. The first was a Brown Creeper in my yard.
The second was a Golden-crowned Kinglet that I found along the rail trail in Enfield. Jann and I were hiking there, but I only was carrying a-walk-around camera. I took many photos and only a few were marginally sharp. This is a very cute bird that stays here through the seasons, unlike the Ruby-crowned Kinglet that migrates.
This morning there was a nice sunrise over Lake Mascoma. Here are a of the few photos I took. The peak in the background that is reflected in the lake in one of the photos is Mount Cardigan.
Later I found some male Common Mergansers on the lake.
In Lebanon I found a very beautiful Common Grackle. This is a blackbird, but under the right light it shows an amazing iridescent rainbow of colors.
Here are a few more photos I took during the last week.
