Birds are mostly quiet, fledging young. Flowers are glorious, mosaics of color. Skies have been clear at times, filled with stars and the occasional meteor. Summer is slipping toward fall too quickly.
Birds
Magnolia Warbler
I found a stunning Magnolia Warbler not too far along the trail into the Canaan Town Forest.
I spent many minutes with it as it moved around the trees near the path.
I did not have to venture off the trail, but I did have to move along it a bit.
American Redstart
Both genders of American Redstart are showy birds. Male is black with bright orange patches on the sides, wings, and tail. But I think the female — shown here from White River Junction just south of Norwich — is more beautiful.
Common Yellowthroat
I found many Common Yellowthroat on five different days in the same area near Post Pond in Lyme, NH. At one point the black-masked male and female were near each other.
Here are more photos of a male Common Yellowthroat.
And some of females.
If you study the above photo carefully it appears that the warbler has several ticks near it eye. Here is a blowup of the previous photo.
Downy Woodpecker
My Downy Woodpecker photos are all from our yard in the hills of Etna, NH. One close up.
A pair having a disagreement.
And many in flight.
American Goldfinch
We have many flowers to attract hummingbirds that American Goldfinch occasionally visit. Here is a photo of a bright yellow male and then two of females.
Indigo Bunting
Although we have seen them in our yard over the years, a surprise visitor this spring was a brightly colored Indigo Bunting. This summer the birds I saw were not as fresh and bright.
Gray Catbird
I’ve seen few birds along the rail trail at Ice House Road in Lebanon when Jann and I walked it this summer. But I did photograph a Gray Catbird.
Red-eyed Vireo
A very brief stop at Bedell Bridge State Park in Haverhill, NH when heading elsewhere yielded these two photo of a Red-eyed Vireo.
Dark-eyed Junco
Both from our Etna yard, first a male.
And then a strange-looking juvenile in flight.
Chipping Sparrow
A Chipping Sparrow paid a brief visit to our Etna yard. First I’ve seen in our yard for over a year, I believe.
Common Grackle
Walking the rail trail from Mascoma Lakeside Park with Jann, I got a quick photo of a Common Grackle, perhaps a female or juvenile that appeared quite brown, perhaps because of the light.
Eastern Phoebe
These three photos of Eastern Phoebe flying or launching were all taken from our back deck.
Bald Eagle
I put many photo of the Bald Eagle chick in Quechee, named V-2 by VINS, on my last blog post covering the “Birds of Dewey’s Landing”. But another eaglet fledged from a new nest in the woods in Lyme.
Song Sparrow
A very common bird, we almost never see a Song Sparrow in our yard. But this one visited briefly.
Merlin
I believe the only visit ever to our yard by a Merlin was high in a partly dead oak against the western sky on an overcast day. I handheld a heavy lens aimed at it for many minutes until my arm got tired. As soon as I lowered the camera, it flew and I missed the shot I hoped for.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
I went far overboard photographing Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Perhaps it was because they are one of the few birds that are not normally hidden by foliage and hence heard rather than seen. Just hearing the bird doesn’t work well for photography.
Our back deck is surrounded by colorful flowers, and the hummers visit them paying little mind that we were also on the deck. Hummingbird photography is actually fairly easy since they hover before or in flowers. And the setup was nice because the background was far away and hence nicely blurred.
It is great entertainment watching the hummers chase each other. At times there were four in the air together over our yard.
I took a break from loading these words and images on this web site halfway through the project. I saw a Downy Woodpecker on our hummingbird feeder drinking the sugar water in a pecking fashion like it would on a tree. So of course I decided to take a photo.
And then suddenly a hummingbird was in front of my lens. I kept shooting as it approached me. I could not get both birds sharp in the same shot since they were separated by quite a distance. Here is one of the photos with the hummer sharp and the woodpecker very soft, and barely visible, in the background.
Here is a photo with the woodpecker sharp and the hummer just a blur on the right above the feeder.
So I selected two pairs of photos with either the woodpecker or the hummer sharp and blended them together to show you what I was seeing for those few magical seconds.
Here is a slide show that you might not have time to see all the way through. But if you are only interested in birds, you can skip the rest of this blog and use the slide show as a “screen saver”.
Other Living Things
As Jann and I circled Occom Pond, we spotted this chipmunk.
I stopped by the Community Gardens in Norwich for birds but only got a monarch.
Here is a dahlia against the late afternoon yellow sky with the flower lit by an LED light attached to my iPhone. I plan to take the light on night walks in Costa Rica in April when we search for red-eyed tree frogs and venomous snakes.
And more flowers from Hanover and Enfield.
Night Sky
This series started with an attempt to see if I could finally get a few photos of meteors during the recent Perseid Meteor Shower. So I headed down to Mascoma Lake very early one morning. I started with a practice shot of the Shaker Bridge from the boat launch.
But then I decided that Mascoma Lakeside Park would be a better spot with sailboats in the foreground lit by a light in the parking lot. I got one bright meteor after seeing a few with my naked eye.
A bit later I got some more.
I took a photo as the sky was lightening and the light on the sailboats was better balanced.
Twenty minutes later the scene looked like this.
I never did see the Milky Way that morning, so a few days later I photographed it from two spots in Etna.
The peak near the center of the photo below is Mount Ascutney.
A Few Random Scenes
An Etna field with two Canada Geese. The kids were not tall enough yet to show above the grass.
A structure in Canaan.
A favorite hike in Etna.
Mascoma Lake at sunrise.
Mount Ascutney from Etna.
The former Hanover golf course.
Just Playing Around
Walking with Jann in Norwich I spotted what looked like an artificial dragon on the lawn. When I got closer I saw it was just a tree stump. But I decided to add a dragon to it.
Marc showed me a set of steps in Photoshop that take an ordinary image and transforms it into an abstract gem.
Here are nine that I created from some of the photos in this blog post.
If you missed my Birds of Dewey’s Landing blog post, you can see it if you CLICK HERE.