Spring brought a killing frost, a heat wave, many cold rainy days, and smoke from wildfires in Canada. It was a strange season in the Upper Valley, but it is wonderful to live here and be actively engaged with this very special location.
Hiking
Hiking this spring consisted of two early short hikes while the ground was still mostly frozen so as not to damage the trails. But I walked many miles to photograph the birds that I showed in my previous three blogs. This blog will contain photos of only a few birds, but all in flight.
A short hike up Signal Hill in Lebanon yielded a hazy view of Okemo, aka Ludlow Mountain.
And a trip up to Cole Pond in Enfield was interesting for the snow scenes.
Fox Kits
Spring is a time of birth, and the pups of red foxes make wonderful photo subjects.
To photograph them I travelled twice to a friend’s yard in Ryegate where I captured the first photo of this blog. Unfortunately the den was in a thick patch of “sticks”. I waited three hours for the fox kits to appear and only got a few marginal photos.
On my second trip the kits never appeared during the three hours I was there, but I did get a nice series of photos of Chipping Sparrows mating, twice.
For those fox kits I was only successful 50% of the time. For a den in Etna, my success rate was much lower — only about 10% of the time did I see the kits. But this den was much closer to home so I went very often and only stayed around if they were out. Here are some photos from four visits to that den.
Beaver
During the 23rd annual Birding with Bill in Boltonville, we spotted a beaver in tall grass fairly near to the Cross Vermont Trail. Because of the grass I had to use manual focus.
It is interesting to see the teeth of a beaver, a most important part if its anatomy.
After preening for a long time the beaver went for a swim in the marsh.
Woodchuck
While waiting for the fox kits in Alice’s yard I took a photo of a woodchuck near its hole.
Sports
In Charlestown while trying to photograph Eastern Meadowlarks, I was able to take some photos with my “bird lens” of two friends flying with paramotors. Here is Bryan.
And here is Griffin.
Jann and I headed to Mascoma Lakeside Park to walk on the Northern Rail Trail one windy afternoon in mid-April. I could not resist photographing the three windsurfers speeding back and forth. It is a sport I used to enjoy and practice whenever the wind was strong.
Returning home from photographing birds, I stumbled across an ECCC bike race, the L’Enfer du Nord Road Championship. The route went right through Metropolitan Downtown Etna, and then up the hills, passing fairly near our home. I like to photograph bike riders with a slow shutter speed panning as they go by. I feel it better shows motion.
Vernal Pool with Hanover Conservancy
I joined a hike to a vernal pool in the Greensboro Ridge Natural Area led by biologist Steve Faccio. The light was very contrasty, so I did not take many photos. This image is a 19-photo composite that shows the pool. You might be able to see part of the group at the top right.
Here is a closer view of the group.
We did not see live amphibians this time, but we did see some spotted salamander eggs.
Five years previously, the same pool yielded numerous amphibians including spotted salamanders to the joy and excitement of many children. Plus the light was much better. You can see photos from that trip if you CLICK HERE.
Reptiles
While searching for birds at Kendall Station in Norwich, I came across a Painted Turtle crossing the road.
But the real thrill came when Jann and I hiked the Northern Rail Trail in Lebanon and found a Snapping Turtle. This is very near the spot where, years ago, I photographed snapping turtles mating — a scene straight out of a horror movie that you can see HERE. Here are five photos of the recent sighting with Jann in one for scale.
While in Bradford, VT photographing birds I saw an American Toad along the RR tracks. You can see it in the top left of this photo.
I also took a closer photo and one at eye level.
Wild Colors
Jann and I like to walk around Occom Pond, and beyond, in Hanover. One day we came upon the remains of chalk left presumably by children. It was a very colorful scene. Here are five photos.
In Newport photographing birds, a bird led me to a spot I have visited before. It has amazing graffiti. Since I was only carrying a long lens I took some photos with my iPhone. Here are three. The last one is a six-photo panorama which is distorted — the wall is not curved.
Three years ago I did a fuller job documenting this graffiti. You can see those photos if you CLICK HERE.
At Campbell Flat in Norwich, someone built a very nice boardwalk out to the Ompompanoosuc River.
To the left of this walk you can see a small puddle. At the correct angle, the reflections in the puddle were interesting and colorful. Here are two of the photos I took with my iPhone.
On the subject of colorful reflections, here is one from Stevens Road in Thetford in a tiny pond,
Esther Currier WMA
I visited the Esther Currier WMA in New London hoping to photograph birds. I struck out. But while sitting in a duck blind I made a pair of photos that you might find interesting. How did I change the first image below into the second one?
You can’t do this with a phone camera or even with Photoshop. I did it in “real time” in the field simply by rotating a polarizing filter that I had on my lens.
Below are six other photos I took during my short visit to Esther Currier.
Butterflies
I photographed a few butterflies in Newport and Hanover while searching for birds. In Newport, NH, I found a beautiful Red-spotted Admiral.
There also was a group of Tiger Swallowtails.
They were puddling! Many butterflies (and a few moths) engage in puddling. Puddling sites can include: mud, dung, fermenting fruit, carrion, urine. The key is the chemical make-up of the site, for these butterflies are looking for something specific: salt (sodium) and minerals.
It did not look like anything special was on the ground at this site along the Sugar River Rail Trail. Here are two photos of the behavior. When puddling the butterfliers often stay in the same spot for a long time, even with a photographer moving around.
I photographed two tiny butterflies during a brief visit to the Hudson Farm in Etna. The Common Ringlet had a 1.5 inch wingspan.
The Little Wood Satyr is slightly larger with a wingspan up to about 1.8 inches.
Plants
A leftover from fall, the bur cucumber is an interesting photo subject for me. This one was at Bedell Bridge State Park in Haverhill.
Spring is the time for lupine. These photos were taken at the Mount Sunapee traffic circle in Newbury.
I got down very low along Moose Mountain Road in Etna to look up at this red trillium.
Just below that spot along one of the branches of Mink Brook, I photographed some false hellebores.
There is a spot in our yard hidden in brush where a pink lady’s slipper has bloomed for many years. The flower is not easily visible, but I know to spread the branches and look. It has never disappointed.
While walking with Jann, we came upon a tiny flower, less than one inch in diameter. I took a photo with my iPhone which quickly identified it as in the Stellaria (chickweed) genus. It is a common starwort also known as a lesser stitchwort. It is an introduced species.
Here are a pair of yellow flowers. The common marsh marigold and the invasive yellow iris.
I photographed a violet at the Colby-Sawyer garden in New London with a long lens.
Three from Hanover follow. A dandelion along Moose Mountain Road,
colorful trees in Hanover Center,
and crabapples in Hayes Farm Park in Etna.
Here are five photos I took in Sunapee.
Fast and Very Slow Fixes
Quick action resulted in a rapid clean-up of a diesel spill in Sunapee Harbor. Only a few boaters were inconvenienced.
But a painfully slow replacement of the East Thetford bridge will inconvenience many for over another year.
New Hampshire Mountains seen from Vermont
Here is a collection with titles taken this spring.
New Hampshire Scenes
Below is a show of scenes around the Upper Valley of NH from this spring.
Vermont Scenes
Below is a show of scenes around the Upper Valley of VT from this spring.
A Few Flying Birds
I showed many spring bird photos, some in flight, in my three previous blogs. During the last few weeks, I captured nine species of birds in flight. Here is a slide show, in order: Eastern Meadowlark, Bobolink, Red-winged Blackbird (male then female), Turkey (about to fly), Great Blue Heron, Back-crowned Night Heron, Peregrine Falcon, Osprey, and Bald Eagle.
It truly has been an exciting spring, even with the wildly varying atmospheric conditions. I hope you enjoyed my wildly varying photos.
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