An Unexpected Day

The weather forecast for the week was cloudy and rainy, hardly the conditions for good photography.  However Tuesday morning was supposed to be dry. My plan was go to Great Meadows and attempt to photograph Marsh Wrens which to date have eluded my best efforts to photograph them.  With patches of blue sky greeting my rising, I quickly assembled my kit and drove rapidly to Great Meadows.  After all this is New England, that blue sky might not be around for long.

The Marsh Wrens continued to torture me.  The would pop up here and there; singing briefly and then ducking into the weeds, or flying away.  They would remain still for less time than it takes my camera to auto focus, resulting in blurry shots and then they were gone.

Watching them I made a discovery that made the exercise, much easier.  The key was noticing one Marsh Wren which was collecting materials for a nest.  Following him, I finally could see the clump of reeds where he was building the nest.  Once, I knew where the Marsh Wren was periodically visiting, I could pre-focus on a spot and wait for him to arrive or depart. After every few trips, this particular Marsh Wren would take a moment to stop and sign a celebratory song prior to returning to work.

About the time I was tiring of photographing Marsh Wrens and dreading the photo editing task that awaited me, Alan and Francesca stopped by interrupting their "pot hole" filling activities. On the way to showing me where the Northern Waterthrush was seen yesterday, we noticed the Virginia Rail.  The Rail put on quite a display walking along the edge of the impoundment, then coming out into the grass.  It flew to the other impoundment where it was active, before flying back.  In all it was active for about 15-20 minutes before creeping back into the reeds out of view.

Either of those would have made for a great day.  But there were so many other highlights, for the day.   Alan was topping some of the filled muskrat holes with gravel, until I got him distracted.



The Blanding Turtle crew were out.  Here they check on of the traps they've set out.  It appears that the Blanding Turtles are attracted to the can of sardines with a hole in it that is placed in the net. I want to ask them if the turtles are strong enough to open the can, while they await release. Jeff is in the front, Jared in the back. I don't know the middle person's name, so I guess it's not so bad that their face is obscured by the turtle!





Purple Loosestrife is an invasive plant that the refuge is trying to combat with beetles that are attracted to that plant. They are tiny little creatures. We found some crawling all over the Loosestrife. This pair looks like the find the plant quite agreeable and a suitable place to start a family.





Along the way we ran into Cherrie Corey who helped us identify many of the flowering plants we had been seeing along the paths. These are Cuckoo Flower and Wood Anemone .





We had encountered a female Mallard that appeared to be nesting quite close to the path. When we went back to find it, it was gone. But moments later we could see the proud with her dozen children following closely behind!





This truly was a bonus day. The weather, the Marsh Wrens, and Virgina Rail were extra special treats. I am just sad that there are other photos, I just had to weed out. The few I did share are like the nuts and cherry on the top of the sundae. Oh did I mention, I now know where there are four tree swallow nests - expect to see some of their photos in the future.

A Maiden Voyage

My new (to me) kayak has been languishing in the shed, waiting to be used.  I purchased it over six weeks ago, for one of my photography projects, but have yet to put it in the water.  Today was sunny and warm. After dropping my mother-in-law at the airport, my schedule was my own.  So this was the day for the test cruise to determine if what I bought was water tight, or did I buy a leaky bucket.

It was a day mixed with good and bad decisions.  It started off with a string of good decisions.  Since I didn't know about my new kayak, I decided that it would be prudent to leave my good camera gear at home and consign myself to a point and shoot for photography.  The camera conveniently fit in the pocket of my personal flotation device.

I put in off of Route 225 in Bedford and paddled upstream towards Great Meadows.  The current and the wind were off the bow.  My body was fresh and enjoyed the challenge.  The new kayak appeared not to be leaking.  All was good in the world.




It is several miles up river to Great Meadows.  It was interesting to see it from a different point of view.   In order you see the outflow from the lower impoundment where it rejoins the Concord River, the flooded woods near the beaver lodge on the corner, and the canal to the upper impoundment water control gate.

By the time I reached the boat landing, I was starting to feel sore muscles and a blister on my paddling hand developing.  Beaching my kayak, I enjoyed the opportunity to stretch my legs, drink some water, and soak in the sun.  

I knew that it was longer to Great Meadows paddling up the river from Bedford, than down from Concord.  I just didn't know how much.  So after my rest break, I continued up river to see the rest of the refuge and to see how far it was to the boat launch in Concord.  I still had to work hard to paddle upstream.  This was the first of my poor decisions.  If I wasn't thinking like the 18 year old, that my mind imagines, I probably should have saved this for another day.

Along the southern end of the refuge, I encountered a old boat that appeared to be barely water tight, tied to a tree.  I wondered what the story behind it was.

My eye was also drawn to some golden grasses against the dark water.  Drawing closer to get a photograph, I noticed they were floating on some sort of platform, similar to the nesting platforms I've seen for loons.  There were a couple more on the river, these more brightly decorated with flowers.

Once I reached the launch in Concord, I turned back around for the long trip home.  (I now know that it was almost a 5 mile paddle back).  I also learned that while the current made you work to go upstream, it didn't move you very fast heading down stream.

Some where along the line, the camera had gotten wet.  It would turn on an take a photo, but not multiples and the zoom didn't work.  I was able to take this picture of the river looking towards the holt, but missed the opportunity to watch a goose fly directly towards me, drop down to the river, and make a beautiful water landing directly in front of me.  At least I have the memory.

So I continued paddling back towards the car.  With each mile that passed, I got more and more tired.  By the time I reached the boat launch, I was very tired.  My Featherlite kayak, was anything but as I lifted it to the top of the Escape.  

My final bad decision, was one that I didn't consciously make.  Getting into the car, I realized that my skin was starting to get red.  Forgetting to put on sun screen was not a wise decision.  Because the day was cool and breezy I didn't realize that I was getting burnt from the sun shining from above and reflecting off the water.  

So the maiden voyage was successful.  The kayak is sea worthy.  While not as easy to navigate as a touring kayak, it is very stable which was my goal so I could use it for photography.  

Field Trip

The nature photographers in my camera club were in need of a field trip so along with Mike McNeil, Bill Willis and Gray Hoyt we invited them to Great Meadows for some early morning photography.   At 6:30 AM the sun was hid behind some clouds, but there was promise of more light as the skies were clear to the west.  At the appointed time about 15 photographers set out across the refuge in 4 different groups.  A few stragglers ended up joining our regularly scheduled programming in progress.  

My group headed through the woods to the outflow end of the lower impoundment and worked our way back towards the parking lot.  There were carp trying to cross the spillway into the impoundment.  While they were trying to get in, this sunfish that had given up the fight and was resting with the lotus seed pods, waiting to be eaten or swept downstream.

It was a bit early for the muskrats to be out feeding.  One industrious muskrat was busily expanding the size of his lodge.  He should probably consult with the beavers on construction techniques, since they had better luck with the coyotes this winter than the muskrats.  

In just a couple weeks the landscape has gone form dull and grey to green.  New growth is everywhere.  I was drawn to how the darker background highlights the miniature leaves. 

My group brought me luck.  We discovered a new tree swallow nest, near the beaver lodge.  It was on the underside of the branch.  I will be checking up on it's progress as time progresses.

Up near the holt, a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches were busily preparing a new nest in a knot-hole from a broken branch.

Back on the dike trail many of my fellow club members were learning the joys of trying to photograph the often heard, rarely seen for more than a few seconds, rarely photographed well - Marsh Wrens.  (I tried too, but came away with nothing I would want to share).  Between rounds of frustration, I did manage to shoot this pair of Red-winged Blackbirds - both male and female.