Stick Season arrived ushering out a spectacular Fall Foliage season. There was still some color around these last few weeks. Tamaracks were blazing yellow. We were touched by snow. Fog was nice in the valley. After some rain, the local streams were running with gusto. The nicest surprise during the last four weeks was a

Bobcat !!!

I never captured a decent photo of a bobcat until a magical late afternoon this fall. I’ve been frustrated for years about not getting one. But recently, Jann and I were treated to a fantastic experience.

A half leg of lamb was grilling on our back deck, fortunately cooking at low temperature for a long time. I was in the kitchen when I spotted something dark in the tall grass/weeds/wildflowers in our yard to the east. I hustled downstairs to my photo studio and grabbed a camera. When I managed to finally get focused on the object, I knew instantly that it was a bobcat.

After taking many photos through our kitchen window, I hustled downstairs to grab another camera with a longer lens from my car. I then cautiously walked out onto our back deck. I photographed the bobcat as it hunted in the tall grass of our side yard. The sun was setting and hidden behind dark clouds. The light was dim, and the tall grass made focusing on the bobcat very difficult. For much of the time the bobcat was almost invisible down low in the weeds.

I was amazed that I was able to stand on our back deck 30 to 40 meters away from the bobcat without it fleeing. It certainly knew I was there because a number of times it looked directly at me. It kept hunting in the tall weeds, occasionally bounding around and jumping on whatever. I never saw it catch anything, but perhaps it did so when it was low in the grass.

Eventually the bobcat disappeared into the woods just as our lamb was ready to take off the grill. I was much more concerned about photography than cooking, but the lamb did not burn. Very fortunately, the timing was perfect. Seeing the bobcat was a wonderful experience, one that Jann and I will likely remember the rest of our lives.

Ted Levin saw a bobcat March 4, 2021 and wrote about it in his Homeboy Newsletter:

“While dogs sit on the edge of the road, preoccupied eating biscuits, bobcat walks through alders, thirty feet away: silent feet, coat of twilight, face like a soiled softball. Sideburns flare, ears straight up. Search-light eyes, mustard-colored and slashed by vertical pupils—the original marbles. Never looks up. I whisper bobcat, bobcat. Busy licking biscuits and reeling in drool, dogs oblivious. Not wanting to disturb the bobcat, I never lift my binoculars. I just watch and breathe. Bobcat walks through the austerity of alders into the cattails. Vanishes in plain sight like a forgotten metaphor. I’m ghosted. Pileated drums . . . jars me out of feline delirium. Pond: coyote and fox tracks, pales by comparison to bobcat, a Vermont first.”

On March 6, Ted wrote:

“Forty-eight hours out, I still can’t stop thinking about the bobcat, locked in my mind’s eye, padding across the snow, passing through the alders, a gray ghost on long legs. A noiseless, solitary sojourn. Cat not meant to be seen—a shadow animal. Dogs don’t share my bobcat enthusiasm . . . but they obey memory. Sitting at the viewing site, they wait for biscuits while I wait for the bobcat. When bobcat jarred the bleakness of early March, time froze like the marsh itself. My breathing crept. After nearly half a century waiting for a bobcat, I can’t tell Linny . . . so I notify our boys, the older one, son on the edges of fatherhood will soon understand the joy of storytelling, the pleasure of showing, the joy of seeing the world through virgin eyes. Bobcat turned old eyes youthful, flicked a switch.”

His words are much more elegant than mine. But he is a writer while I am a photographer and former engineer.

Late Foliage

There were still some spots where the leaves remained colorful. Here are a dozen photos from Hanover and Lyme.

Landmark Land

I took a brief hike on Landmark Land, the wonderful series of trails south of DHMC that loop westward to Boston Lot. Most of the leaves were already on the ground. Here are nine photos from that area, which is very well-used all-year round by mountain bikers.

Moving Water in Hanover

We had some rain. I tried to take advantage of it and photographed two local streams, Slade Brook and Mink Brook. It was dark and cloudy the days I went. In my opinion, that is the best time to photograph moving water. Bright sun rarely works.

Below are thirteen photos from Upper Slade Brook, followed by five from Lower Slade Brook, and finally three from Mink Brook.

FK390-Ferns-near-Upper-Slade-Brook-Pan-2

FK396-Waterfall-Bench-at-Lower-Slade-Brook-Pan-3-crop

Tamaracks

Larix laricina, commonly known as the tamarack and eastern larch among other names, is native to Canada and the upper northeastern United States. I was surprised when I also found this species when hiking in the mountain of Bhutan. It is a conifer that looses its needles in fall, but not before they turn bright yellow. In the right light in late fall, this tree can be spectacular. Here are three photos from Hanover.

Lunar Eclipse

On the evening of November 7, with the moon full, I noticed some iridescent clouds around the moon.

Nine hours later, in the early morning of November 8, 2022, there was a lunar eclipse. I only took a few photos. Below you can see a partial stage and the “blood moon” stage.

When the moon is fully eclipsed, the sky is dark and stars appear. On the night of September 27-28, 2015 I photographed a lunar eclipse from our yard and, with a shorter lens, the Milky Way at the same time. I superimposed the two photos. Below you can see the result. The bright “star” on the left is actually the moon near full eclipse.

Occom Pond

Jann and I enjoy walking around Occom Pond. It is about the right distance for her. I enjoy seeing how the same “scene” changes from week to week and with the time of day and the light.

Below are two photos taken of the old golf course from near where we normally park. You can see how very early light six days after the first photo changes the hillside.

Even earlier on that same walk, the sun was blazing through the trees across the pond. I took the photo below. Do you see what is hidden in the photo?

I did not see the two deer in the white birch until I looked at my photos on a large monitor. Here is a cropped part of a different photo that shows them.

Continuing on, I took another photo from perhaps 90 degrees from the first set. Again, I failed to see the deer. Here is the photo I took and a cropped version revealing the deer.

Those birch make a great subject. Here are nine more photos of birch near Occom Pond taken on different days and in different light.

Along Rope Ferry Road, I liked the texture and pattern of the branches and berries that might soon attract waxwings.

I was excited by red leaves and truck and hurried to position myself with a longish lens to capture both in a much-compressed view. They are hard to see, but the red flags on the mailboxes continue the theme.

I wondered what the photo would look like with detail removed. Here is an “artistic” version.

Deer

We seem to have three deer that frequent our yard. Even thought they are common mammals, I enjoy photographing them. Here the three nicely lined up for me.

This one was photographed out my car window as I stopped on our driveway to watch the deer stare at me in very contrasty light.

I love backlight. As we topped our driveway, this deer posed nicely for me as it was backlit by the sun.

I especially like photographing very early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the light is very warm (yellow). Below are three photo taken just before the sun set.

Birds

There are certainly still birds around. Many do not migrate. I found two nice ones, a sparrow and a woodpecker.

While on a walk around Occom Pond with Jann, I noticed a beautiful Piliated Woodpecker very low down on a tree near the pond. It was fairly close to the road. So I was able to get some photos with the short-walk-around lens I was carrying.

But Jann, as she often does, kept walking while I was taking the photos. I did not want to let her walk around by herself, so reluctantly I left the woodpecker and hustled to catch up.

After we finished the loop, I drove to the spot where we saw it, just in case. Amazingly, it was still there. I let Jann out of the car, drove back to park, got a longer lens, and walked back to take some more photos. It was a cooperative bird, although finally it flew across the street and into the woods. I got these two photos before it disappeared.

A Fox Sparrow, a large and beautiful sparrow, visited our Etna yard very briefly. This species sometimes appears in spring or fall as it migrates through the area. This bird was hard to photograph as it almost continually scratched in the fallen leaves with its head down. But I managed to get a few photos.

Loon plumage in the fall is often very plain. Here is a Common Loon in Lake Mascoma that I photographed while walking with Jann along the Rail Trail.

In the fall, Dark-eyed Juncos often come down from the mountains. I took these four photos in Lebanon and Hanover in late October when the foliage still had some color.

Below are some of the other birds I photographed (in order): Downey Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Blue Jay, White-throated Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Great Blue Heron, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, and American Goldfinch. Several of the later photos were taken after our snow/ice storm.

Fog

Early morning valley fog is normally found below the hills of Etna where we live. So I head down to capture the soft light and muted colors of fall fog. It can make stick season photography worthwhile. The dozen photos below are from Enfield, Hanover, and Lyme.

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While photographing fog along River Road, I stopped at the Hewes Brook boat launch and took this photo.

It was not until I viewed the image on a large monitor that I noticed the bald eagle. I wish I would have spotted it, as I had a longer lens in my car that I would have walked back to get. Below is a cropped version of the photo above.

On another foggy morning after our snowfall, I photographed this scene across the Ompompanoosuc River in Norwich.

While there, I pulled up next to Larry who was looking across the water with binoculars. He pointed out a group of Otters far out beyond some Hooded Mergansers. Here are two highly cropped photos taken in very poor light. In the first you can see the tail of one framing the head of another.

Late Fall Details

When the grand landscapes of VT and NH are not so grand, sometimes details can make good subjects. Like the last berries and leaves of fall, Bur Cucumber and ferns along the Rail Trail, Milkweed, and a carpet of leaves on Pinneo Hill as seen below.

FJ936B-Milkweed-near-the-South-Branch-Baker-River-Reservoir

Two versions of a barn wall, with and without weeds, and shadows on a building were colorful subjects with nice patterns.

Bigtooth Aspen leaves were the subjects of these photos taken near Occom Pond.

I love backlit subjects like this Intermediate Wood Fern.

Backlit Milkweed can be dramatic.

One of my favorite fall plants is Clematis virginiana, known as Virgin’s Bower and Devil’s Darning Needle.

Sunsets

A few sunsets to share. The very red one shows Killington in the distance. The second has Ascutney on the left side. The third shows some hills of Vermont looking toward Okemo, which is the peak to the right of center.

Mowing Fields

Three photos of Robert mowing a beautiful spot in Lyme and also our much less charming backyard.

Strange “Comet”

I photographed a puzzling UFO in the southwestern sky from Etna. What is really strange is that I saw and photographed it two different days, November 9 and 14, both times shortly after noon. It moved slowly and was visible for perhaps 30 minutes each time. If anyone has an explanation, I would love to hear it. My guess is an airplane with short contrails.

Snow

We received a modest snowfall mid-November. Most of the snow is now gone around the valley, but it remains in our yard. The day before the snow, Hanover covered the roads with a snow-melting solution that leaves interesting stripes.

I took photos of the snow in Lyme and ice pellets on a White Oak leaf at KW North in Wilder.

Mountains around the Upper Valley

Over the last few months I have photographed many mountains from spots in NH and VT. A number of times I was photographing across the valley from one state to another. Here is a collection of photos.

Black Mountain

Black Mountain from North Haverhill, NH

Black Mountain from Bradford, VT

Mount Cardigan

Mount Cardigan across Lake Mascoma from the Shaker Bridge in Enfield, NH

Moose Mountain

Moose Mountain from Etna, NH

Moose Mountain from Enfield, NH

Mount Ascutney

Mount Ascutney from Reading, VT

Mount Ascutney from Lebanon, NH

Mount Ascutney from Hanover, NH

Mount Cube

Mount Cube from Wilson’s Landing, Hanover, NH.

Looking up the river, it seems like one is looking north. But from this spot one is looking northeast to Mount Cube almost 15 miles away. Thank you, Peak Finder, a great phone app. It lets you even “view” the mountains that you can see from anywhere in the world without leaving home.