Lmst

Last Sunday, I led a morning bird walk at Basin Pond in Evans Notch, New Hampshire. After a day of rain, the clouds started to lift just as we got there, briefly revealing a glassy surface on the pond before the breeze picked up.
#NH
#SilentSunday
#NaturePhotography
#reflection

The mist is lifting from Basin Pond and there is a small opening in the clouds that reflects as blue sky in the surface of the pond.

Trees at the edge of Basin Pond are reflected in its glassy surface.

Floral highlights from last weekend in New Hampshire: Rhodora, Pink Lady's Slipper, and Painted Trillium at White Lake State Park, and a large patch of Fringed Polygala near Evans Notch.

#bloomscrolling
#NaturePhotography
#NH

Delicate purple flower with green leaves and a gray background

A light pink flower hanging from a long green stem above wide furrowed leaves.

Close-up of a painted trillium, with white petals, reddish center, and wide green leaves.

A patch with many small purple flowers and green leaves, wet with rain

I like the near perfect radial symmetry and graceful curves of this unfolding ostrich fern in Brattleboro, VT, near the Creamery Covered Bridge.
#ferns

An ostrich fern grows out of rocky soil, covered with small black rocks.

Expect no end to Winter’s chills
‘Til snow rains down on daffodils.

A stand of daffodils in full bloom is weighed down by slushy snow, to the point where some flowers are resting on the ground

Listening to woodcock, chickadee, and robins at sunset

I submitted some photos for Acton, Massachusetts’ new Open Space and Recreation Plan, and three of them were selected to be in the publication: hay-scented ferns, a female bluebird, and a slaty skimmer dragonfly. They appear on pages 69, 74, and 77, which you can see in context at the following link:
https://www.acton-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10363/2024-2031-Open-Space-and-Recreation-Plan

A slaty skimmer dragonfly sits poised on the seedy end of a tall blade of grass.

Sun shines through the woods and across a wide swath of hay-scented ferns.

A female Eastern bluebird perches on top of a wooden post that holds a nesting box.

Celebrating Latin Rhythms, Dances, and Harmonies!
The Concord Band presents Music From Warm Places on Saturday, March 8, 2025, 7:00 PM at the 51 Walden Performing Arts Center in Concord, MA.
https://concordband.blogspot.com/2025/02/music-from-warm-places_02134356812.html

Jerry Vabulas, clarinet soloist with the Concord Band, dressed in a tux and holding his clarinet

Snow falls noiselessly from a nearly cloudless sky in northern Vermont, while slabs of ice that slid off the roof stand vertically out of the snow like tombstones.
#silentsunday
#snow
#winter
#vermont
#NEK

I deactivated my bird site account today. I see no need to keep my bird site account anymore. I have not been on that wretched site in ages, except to download the archive of my account, which I probably won't look at.
In celebration, I'm sharing a picture of an elongated muskrat (the picture is elongated, the original rodent was unharmed).
#elongated-muskrat
#tweXit
#Xodus

A muskrat is sitting in a brook. Its fur is wet and spiky. The photo has been distorted horizontally.

A small puddle on a handrail is refreezing -- where sun had melted snow or ice earlier in the day, now a skim of ice has formed in feathery crystals as the January afternoon sun drops toward the horizon.
Ice House Pond, Acton, MA.
25 January 2025
#ice #nature #photography

A puddle of water is in the process of freezing. Long feathery crystals of ice have formed on the surface. The reflects the afternoon light in shades of gray. The railing under the puddle is bluish gray and made of a composite material with an artificial wood-like grain.

Frosty morning in Eastern Massachusetts
#frost #nature #photography

Early morning at a cattail marsh with frost on the leaves. Thin clouds are reflecting light from the sun just after it has risen.

There is frost on gracefully arching cattail leaves. In the distance bare trees are silhouetted against the sky, which is faintly lit by the rising sun.

@danmccullough@wooded.stream Hope they come back by day -- that would be exciting! Red foxes appear regularly on our trail camera (by night), but a gray fox appeared for the first time last Sept (also at night).

@danmccullough@wooded.stream Could those be gray foxes (black-tipped tail, light-colored legs)?

I collected about 40 of my photo highlights from 2024. Here are 4: aurora borealis, barred owl, foliage along the Connecticut River, and a lizard. If you like these, I invite you to click through to view the full set.
https://webofnature.wordpress.com/2025/01/02/2024-highlights/
#Nature
#NaturePhotography
#WildlifePhotography

The aurora borealis as seen from AMC Cold River Camp on May ... Rays of color from purple to green are radiating down from the top of the sky. Along the horizon, the silhouettes of pines and still bare deciduous trees stand out against the aurora.

A barred owl sits in a pine tree, peering at the camera with large black eyes.

Foliage in hues of orange and yellow along the banks of the Connecticut River in New Hampshire (viewed from the Vermont side). The trees and the perfectly blue sky are reflected in the almost perfectly still river.

A southwestern fence lizard looks sideways at the camera from atop a rock, where it blends in with the gray and brown coloring of the rock.

In honor of National Bird Day, which is today, and also to celebrate the New Year, I put together a bunch of my favorite pictures I took in 2023, which includes a lot of birds, as well as dragonflies, mushrooms, and other nature photography.

https://webofnature.wordpress.com/2024/01/04/2023-highlights/

Happy Bird Day to you!

#NationalBirdDay #birds #naturephotography

Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) at NARA Park in Acton, MA.
More late August photos of dragonflies and other interesting insects at https://webofnature.wordpress.com/2023/12/08/dragonflies-at-nara-park/ and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=pnorton&on=2023-08-29&place_id=any&verifiable=any
#Dragonfly
#Odonata
#Dragonflies
#Nature
#NaturePhotography
#Photography

A Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) rests on a twig at NARA Park in Acton, MA. Colors from lilypads in the distance shine through the delicate transparent wings of the dragonfly.

Blueberries for Catbirds

It all started when a catbird boldly stole a blueberry right out of a cereal bowl as my relatives were having breakfast on their deck.

#Birdphotography #Birdphotos #birds #catbird #robin #blueberries #capecod #poetry

https://webofnature.wordpress.com/2023/11/07/blueberries-for-catbirds/

A gray catbird has landed on a small white bowl containing blueberries on the railing of a deck. The catbird has one blueberry in its beak, and has managed to spear a second berry so it will be able to make off with two berries in one trip.

@uncapybarable I highly recommend eBird. Not only is it personally satisfying to have records of the birds you've seen, but it only contributes data for important research.

@uncapybarable I went to Great Meadows this morning and saw wood ducks, marsh wren and a northern harrier. Enjoy! 🦆 https://ebird.org/checklist/S153648383

@uncapybarable
Plum Island/Newburyport/Salisbury Beach;
Cape Ann;
Great Meadows in Concord;
Ipswich River Mass Audubon

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