Summer — a time for relaxing and enjoying nature. It was a very good summer in spite of the rain. Visitors, hikes, birds, and a super blue moon were a few highlights.
Antique cars were just starting to arrive for this once-a-month event when we did. Over the next hour, the field filled with perhaps 40 vehicles — I was too busy taking photos to count.
In early August we stumbled upon a parade in New London. I took many photos but only show a few here, including two “resident” vehicles from the Ice House Museum that joined the parade.
Birds
It’s a crazy way to start the section on Birds, but here is an out-of-focus Phoebe. I did not see it sitting on a branch in front of the deer when I took the photo.
I spent two nights on Appledore and four on Monhegan this season to look for increasingly scarce birds but also to enjoy these two charming and relaxing Maine Islands. I have barely had time to look at the photos from these trips although I have processed some scenic and two bird photos from Appledore. Hopefully in the next month or two I will view and process the Maine photos and publish blogs or pages. Here are two bird photos from Appledore — a wedge (a name for a flying flock of ibis) of Glossy Ibis returning to their roost at dusk and a Greater Black-backed Gull at dawn.
Except for the visits to the two Maine Islands, my bird photography this summer was mostly by chance in Hanover, New London, Sutton, Sunapee, and Newport. I photographed an almost-fledged Bald Eagle in New London at a nest I was monitoring for Chris Martin.
In Sunapee I photographed an adult quite a distance away from my bouncing boat.
A Red-tailed Hawk on a power line in Lebanon along Route 4 surveyed the fields near Ice House Road.
Great Egrets paid visits to many inland spots in NH during August. I found one near the Sugar River in Newport.
In Lake Sunapee I found a group of five Common Loons (sometimes, rarely, called an asylum) swimming together.
Also in Lake Sunapee, a female Common Merganser drifted peacefully.
I photographed an immature Gray Catbird in Sunapee.
And a mature one near Occom Pond in Hanover.
A pair of Cedar Waxwings were looking very chummy in Newport along the Sugar River.
I found Red-eyed Vireos in our Etna yard in July and September.
In Sunapee I found a beautiful Blue-headed Vireo with its distinctive white eye-ring in very warm light at sunset.
A vocal Tufted Titmouse made an appearance in our Etna yard.
A woman who reads my blogs emailed me about a family of Kestrels on her property. I travelled to Norwich to try to photograph them, but they failed to appear. Perhaps next year. While there I did photograph a House Wren.
The warbler photos I managed to capture in the Upper Valley this summer came from Hanover, Sutton, and Sunapee. The following warblers are, in order: Black-and-White, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Common Yellowthroat, and Pine.
Mammals
In August I did three commissions — a wedding celebration at the Hanover Inn, a family and individual portrait session in Sunapee, and a beautiful brown and white poodle in New London. I do not normally put photos I take for hire on my blog, but I do want to share a few photos of a wonderful dog, Dixie.
While hiking with Bruce, I got a photo of his chocolate lab, Caro.
A deer in Etna…
…a chipmunk in Sunapee…
…two harbor seals in Maine waters off the coast of NH…
… and our silly cat, Rilla.
Long Pond
Bruce and I paddled beautiful Long Pond in Benton in the shadow of Mount Moosilauke early morning September 1st. We arrived before 7 AM and saw the nearly full super moon.
The pond was quiet, misty, and wonderful in the 6:51 AM light.
Here are more photos from this remote and charming pond. The last photo shows Mount Moosilauke.
Cornish Fair
Jann and I visited the Cornish Fair on a very crowded Sunday afternoon. Her primary reason for wanting to go was to talk with our friend Colleen who was scheduled to sit at a quilt exhibit. We also had a good time walking around the fair people watching.
Sky — Moon, Sun, and Clouds
The moon was the “star” of the show in August. We had a Sturgeon Moon on August 1 followed by a Super Blue Moon on August 31.
The best time to photograph a full moon in the west at sunrise is the day after the full moon. That is because the moon will still look full but the sky will have color and not be pure black. Below are early morning photos of the full moon on August 1 and the next day when it still looks full.
Here is the Sturgeon Moon on August 1 at 1:35 AM.
To photograph the full moon to the east, plan your shot for the day before the full moon at sunset. At these times the moon will rise or set as the sun sets or rises, and you can get an exposure for the landscape that is close to the correct exposure for the moon. And there will be some color in the sky which is normally a plus.
I was on Appledore Island on August 30 and took these two photos of the almost-full moon. I would have liked to get a photo a bit earlier that evening but clouds to the east prevented a view of the moon.
Below are photos of the Super Blue Moon on August 31 just after 6 AM from Appledore.
Staying with the moon theme a bit, here are photos of the setting moon August 2 and September 1, both one day after it was full.
Moving to the sun, Crepuscular Rays, sometimes called “god beams,” are alternating light and dark bands of rays and shadows caused by clouds intercepting sunlight. They appear to diverge in a fan-like array from the sun’s position even though they are actually parallel beams of light.
Below are photos of Crepuscular Rays from Sunapee and Newbury.
This photo is a modest example of a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability causing the repetitive pattern of curling clouds. I’ll omit a technical discussion of shear layers so we can just enjoy the sunset colors in the northern sky August 14.
A good amount of clouds at sunrise or sunset or even midday, can make for nice photos. It is best to have objects in the images rather than just the sky, but sometimes we just can’t help ourselves. Here are a baker’s dozen of images.
On Appledore I had a few opportunities to photograph the sun and clouds when it wasn’t raining or foggy. In the slide show below, the first photos show Appledore in the distance with slight iridescent clouds. Then there are two photos of dramatic clouds followed by three sunset images and two sunrise photos.
Mushrooms
My good friend, Mary Holland, has a favorite mushroom, the American Caesar’s Mushroom. This summer I was fortunate to find one and photograph its progression as it grew and faded, getting eaten by a slug that you can see in some of the photos.
Below are some other mushrooms and fungi I photographed this summer.
Reptiles and Amphibians
While walking the Rail Trail in Enfield, Jann and I came upon a dug-up snapping turtle egg burial site. This is a common thing to see here in late June. Likely racoons did the deed.
In Newport we came upon a very tiny American Toad which was less than an inch long.
During a hike in Newbury we found some Red Efts.
Plants
The plants below surprised me because I do not remember seeing them in the summer. Yet they are a favorite photo subject in fall. What are they?
They are Clematis virginiana (also known as devil’s darning needles, devil’s hair, love vine, traveler’s joy, virgin’s bower, Virginia virgin’s bower, wild hops, and woodbine). I call them Devil’s Darning Needles. Here is a fall version in Norwich from October 7, 2020.
I found a number of red flowers this summer. Here are eight with titles identifying them.
Below are eight more plants. In order: Rosa rugosa (2), Dogwood, Tansy, Butterfly Bush, Perennial Sunflower (2), and annual Sunflower.
Insects
Here are some insects with titles to identify them. I’m not positive of all the IDs but I believe they are at least close. 🙂
Hiking
Hiking was somewhat limited by my injured calf that I kept reinjuring for over a month. Yet I did get in a few nice hikes. And I averaged 6 miles a day on Appledore and Monhegan.
Four of us and a dog took the Summit Trail up Mount Sunapee on August 6. Here are eight photos from the hike.
My daughter, Heather, and grandson, Julian, her nephew, visited in September. We had a great hike up Mount Cardigan on a misty day before my calf acted up again. Regrettably I missed the hike up Kearsarge that Julian and I have done two dozen times, even though he lives in the Midwest. Here are some photos from Mount Cardigan.
Heather & Julian Visit NH
Some photos from a great, though too short, visit by our daughter and grandson.
Early Fall Foliage
On my way to hike Mount Sunapee, I stopped near Red Water Creek in Sunapee at 6:20 AM August 6 and made some pre-dawn photos of early foliage.
Random Photos
Here is a collection of photos from around the Upper Valley this summer.
It was a wet spring and summer, but a very nice one nonetheless. I have Autumn images in my camera waiting for me to make time to download them. I am looking forward to seeing what I captured. I do not look at my photos in the field preferring to spend my time alert to new image possibilities. It is just like in the old days when it took several weeks for the slide film to get mailed back. And it is great to be too busy to get bored.