Smoke Gets In My Eyes

For regular followers of this blog; my apologies for the delay in your next post. The power was restored to our house Tuesday evening, so the remainder of the week was spent with my electric chain saw and the large number of tree parts littering our and neighbor's yard. Each evening, I would crash on the couch to watch television, until I could drag my sore, tired body down the hall.

However, before then, on Tuesday morning, without power, and a cool house, I thought walking around Great Meadows would be a good activity to warm me up and get the circulation flowing. The air quality reminded me of my winter time business trips to Delhi, India. The large number of people burning wood in their stoves and fireplaces has cast a haze over everything.

For some reason a large number of Mute Swans has decided to invade the refuge. I counted 8 and later was told the number had increased to 11. While these birds are pretty, they are pretty aggressive towards all other animals and are considered invasive. This group includes mature adults and the grayer juveniles.










The big flocks of Canada Geese had departed before I arrived. However, there are always a few stragglers.






The sparrows are still hanging around the dike trails. I was glad to finally find a Swamp Sparrow in a setting more typical of a swamp. The classic pose justified including the one in the tree.






Here are some miscellaneous shots from around the refuge. I'm not sure I've taken a fall foliage shot of the tower. Will being on top with his scope was bonus. (Note to self - don't park car at base of tower when taking its picture!)










On the backside of the lower impoundment I encountered a couple of Goldfinches in winter plumage feasting on the Evening Primrose seeds. I included the first photograph because most bird photographs are from the side. It's rare to see a bird straight on. I'm glad this pair was so interested in eating. They allowed me to get to within 20 feet.

Trick or Treat Storm

The "Halloween Storm" dumped 3-4 inches of wet heavy snow on the area, breaking tree limbs and downing wires in the process. Thankfully, though we have several big branches down, there was no damage to our house or cars. With no power, no heat, no television, and no internet we decided that sitting in the house all day would not be fun, so we headed towards Great Meadows to see the extent of the storm damage there.

There were lots of trees down in Burlington and Bedford. Concord has spots that with fallen trees, but we felt it was slightly better off. Maybe that's because we found that Great Meadows still had heat and power in the rest rooms; which was something we were just starting to envy. The refuge was deserted, allowing us to take those first photos of a virgin landscape, leaving our foot prints behind for whoever followed.








It's too bad the refuge was deserted. Amy spied a mature Bald Eagle across the upper impoundment sitting in a tree. We tried to sneak up on it, but the curve in the path prevented us getting a good shot. As soon as it heard us it flew.



Shortly after the eagle departed a harrier arrived cruising the upper impoundment looking for a meal. He stopped to rest momentarily on the top of the duck box near the poison ivy bench. Several other raptors were seen circling near the waste water treatment plant.








Between the raptors and the cold many of the smaller avian animals were either hunkered down, or hiding in the reeds. We did encounter a couple that were photographic.






Downy Woodpecker


Downy Woodpecker


Several details caught my eye including the seeds on Speckled Alder and Milkweed.






As we finished circumnavigating the lower impoundment my mind was just starting to come to grips with the incongruity of the foliage on the trees combined with snow on the ground. I've been dreading the onset of winter, with more challenging conditions and photographic opportunities. However, if there are going to be eagles and harriers every day, maybe it won't be so bad.

Looking for Evidence

Just a quick post since we are still without power at home, so I'm posting from the public library. My apologies if the developing is off, but they won't let me turn off the lights in the study room so I can see the LCD better....They are afraid I might be sleeping here!

Thursday evening we received a dusting of snow intermixed with rain. Since this is a change in the recent weather, it provided a built in excuse to go to Great Meadows to see the impact.

There really wasn't any. The geese were still flying.













A Cornell Alumni Group sponsored by Cornell Labs for Ornithology



Along the Dike a Goldfinch was feasting on Evening Primrose seeds. Which photo do you like better?





Here are a few random impressions that caught my eye

A little snow remained in the woods in the shadows


Ferns turning yellow highlighted by the sun


Solitary leaf boating on the Concord


Leaves and frost greet visitors to the observation deck


Frost provides "sugar frosting" to plants


Frost on lotus seed pod


Fungi shines in the sun


Foliage reflections