Good To Be Home

It's been a couple weeks since I've been to Great Meadows. We were in Atlanta for our daughter's wedding. While setting up for the wedding, I managed to fall and turn my ankle. You have to know a little pain is not going to stop a proud dad from walking down the aisle and having the father / daughter dance. Of course temperatures in the high nineties and a sore ankle were enough to persuade me that sitting in an air conditioned bedroom with ice on my ankle was appropriate. By Friday the record temperatures were starting to break, my ankle was feeling usable, and my curiosity motivated me to get up early and get out to the refuge. My focus on this visit was to visit the Tree Swallow nest near the outflow of the lower impoundment. Just before I left, the parents were seen using the nest. I was curious had the young hatched? Had they fledged? Had a predator found the next like last year? It was a long, slow walk but when I arrived, I was rewarded with seeing the parents taking turn flying from the nest, gathering bugs and returning. The chicks must be young because you couldn't hear them crying out and they weren't peeking out the hole yet.


Female Tree Swallow peeking out of hole


Male returns with a mouthful of food


They often will land on this branch just before they arrive / depart


They weren't making noise, so best as I can figure they are panting to stay cool


Tried for about a half hour to get a flight shot. This was my best one.


Each trip lasts about five minutes, so in between I alternatively; enjoyed the beautiful day, thought about the week that passed, enjoyed the shade, and observed the other animal activity in the area. The outflow area is quite peaceful in the early morning. So few people, other than the occasional jogger, actually make it down there in the early morning.


I wondered about why the swallows weren't hunting the many dragonflies at their door step.


Maybe they are just too large. One photo that didn't make the editing cut had three damselflies in the swallow's mouth.

Once the light got too harsh I proceeding to walk back around the impoundment on the Dike Trail to return to the parking lot. I scared this large snapping turtle back into the water. Its shell must have been about 18-24" long. I encountered a couple more smaller ones. I wish I had been fast enough to catch the one who dove 9" off of the water control gate to the water below.


I noticed that you could follow this snapping turtle by watching the bubbles, between his visits to the surface.


Most of the turtles you see are either Painted Turtles or Snapping Turtles. Here a Blandings Turtle crosses the path from the river to the lower impoundment. (You can tell by the distinctive yellow throat).

A Quick Lap

With a trip coming up in the near future I was anxious for the rain to stop falling so I could sneak in a quick visit to Great Meadows. So it was a quiet Wednesday morning that found me at the refuge. The refuge was pretty quiet as both the people and animals started to recover from a couple days of battering rain. All this rain certainly hasn't helped F&WS efforts to drain down the upper impoundment to kill the lotus.

Black-capped Chickadee flew right up to me on a tree near the kiosk


This pair of sparrows must have a nest near the end of the cross dike trail


They can be seen collecting bugs


The gosslings are getting large


A Baltimore Oriole near the lower impoundment outflow


Landing above my head for a brief moment


Thanks to Alan's identification of the song we determined this was a Red-eyed Vireo


I hope their chicks don't hatch before I return


If you come often enough you see the dark side of nature too. This one didn't make it.


Too bad I wasn't paying attention. I stumbled upon the Wood ducks in the area of open water near the cross dike & upper impoundment. They were in the open for about 2 secs before they saw me and retreated into the reeds.


I have mixed feelings about the invasive yellow iris. I thought it looked interesting as it was almost ready to open.


Walking along the railroad bed I heard something rustling in the gravel


It only took me about 50 photos to get the one I could see in my mind's eye.

Before & After

Thursday I was visiting the refuge to join Alan Bragg's bird watcher walk. Friday morning found me back there to test out my new D7000. (My D300 was part of a most unfortunate accident. In the end the cost to repair exceeded the cost of a new used camera). So today's post contains photos shot from both days. See if you can identify which photos are from my D7000 and which are from the backup D90.


I arrived a bit early and surprised this Momma Wood Duck & chicks in the reeds quite near the dike

The Canada Geese are rapidly growing up. Elsewhere in the refuge you can see larger chicks starting to get new feathers.

Most geese are content to step one side and let me pass. This one decided to move on.

This is the first time I noticed an Ebony Jewelwing in my walks are Great Meadows. The body was glowing an emerald green in the morning sun. Bryan Windmiller told me that they are commonly found in the woods along streams. I found the first one along the Upper Impoundment on the river side of the trail. Friday while back on the Timber Trail, I noticed a very similar damselfly in the woods along the Timber trail, except its body was a brilliant blue. Checking the Field Guide to Dragonflies & Damselflies of Massachusetts, I learned that it's the same creature, but their bodies appear blue when backlit.










Maybe its my imagination, but it seems like the dragonflies are out in force earlier this year.






I've noticed that I have been taking more photos of fauna, not flora. Unfortunately the early spring caused many flowering plants to bloom early. Right now it seems a bit quiet. However that allows us to enjoy that colors and shapes of other plants.





I love how each layer of leaves is offset so as not to overlap the leaves below.

As a reward of circumnavigating the Lower Impoundment if you are observant you may notice this Tree Swallow nest.






Down near the refuge entrance by Borden's Pond there were Cedar Waxwings.



Also near that entrance I've encountered a pair of Swamp Sparrows in the same general area. When I have a bit more time, I will have to camp out to see if they are nesting, or if it was a coincidence.



One thing photographers like about Great Meadows is how some of the animals become habituated to humans. After a while you can't take any more Red-winged Blackbird photos. However, it's hard to pass up when the bird is sitting in a tree right next to the dike and is willing to sing as you walk past.