A Drive By Shooting

Upon returning from New Hampshire, I had less than 48 hours before I left for Maine. Into that time I tried to cram celebrating Mom's birthday in Rhode Island, hosting a college friend for two nights, unpack / repack, and a quick visit to Great Meadows. The visit was successful, but this blog post was delayed until my return.


Morning dew or in this case the remnants of Sunday's rain storms often yield interesting views of fauna bedecked with diamonds.


There were plenty of lotus in bloom. The bees were busy with pollination. On one plant I actually counted four bees.

The Evening Primrose is very attractive to a number of animals. Often you find Goldfinches feeding on them. Today I found a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly attracted to them.






The morning quickly warmed and the dragonflies became active. My Field Guide to Dragonfiles and Damselflies of Massachusetts finally arrived. Who knew there are 166 species found in our state? Here are a pair of Great Blue Skimmers and a Common Whitetail.



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Along the backside of the Upper Impoundment I found this familiy that had set up house in a milkweed plant. The tree canopy nearby was full of small birds flitting to and fro. I liked the Tufted Titmouse that descended to my level and posed like a CEO for his portrait, staying only a few seconds before flying off to his next task.






Cardinal flowers have been blooming along the riverside. I have attempted (and failed) to get a photo I would be willing to share. This is my best effort to date which captures them in the morning sun.




Along my walk I encountered this Mom, walking with her child. As they walked and talked, Mom was pointing out the flora and fauna. It was obvious they were both enjoying their time outdoors. This photo makes me smile as I remember them.




Alas there was no to carry me back to the parking lot. So I gathered up my camera, tripod and lenses to race back to the car and pack for Maine. I wonder what I'll find when I return.

Being Flexible

Wednesday morning I found myself at the refuge at the crack of dawn with my friend Bill who wanted to photograph the lotus in bloom. The impoundments were mist shrouded, while the skies overhead were cloudless as we ventured out onto the dike. We were greeted by Great Blue Herons arriving to fish and hunt among the lotus plants.







Last night's rains had beat the petals off of most of the lotus that were fully in bloom, while many more lotus were budded up tightly. The goldfinches that have been active along the Dike Trail were also sleeping in. With our plans disrupted we decided to wandered the refuge to see what else we could photograph.



Bullfrog soaking greets the dawn


A rare photo of the Virginia Rail in appropriate habitat not surrounded by reeds at the base of the observation deck


Mist on the Concord River


Monarch Butterfly on Milkweed




Swamp Rose Mallow with Dew


Along the Upper Dike Trail we encountered one area that was busy with birds. While a birder's paradise, they weren't very good photographic subjects as they chose to hid in the shadows and tangled branches.


The first Cedar Waxwing I've seen during this project




Blue-gray Gnatcatcher


Completing our lap of the impoundments we once again visited the cross dike trail. The goldfinches had since woken up and were feasting on the primrose and the lotus plants were greeting the warming sun by opening their flowers.








One side note - In the past week this blog broke the 5,000 pageview barrier. Since the blog really was an after thought of my photography project, I just wanted to thanks to all of you who read along and follow my adventures. The nice comments and emails I've received have made the extra work worthwhile. They also helps keep me motivated on those days where I would rather be sipping a cold drink and watching the telly.

Between The Storms

After reviewing my project I realized that I don't have many photos of Great Meadows under stormy conditions. So Tuesday evening when the storms came passing through I went back to Great Meadows to get some photos after the first shower had passed by.

Though the skies were still threatening, there was hope that conditions would actually be improving. Patches of sunlight would break the clouds spotlighting the ground below in their "God beams". In the distance you could still hear thunder and see the occasional flash of lightning. However, from my hiking experience, I felt safe since they were routing planes over the top of the refuge. The planes were taking some interesting routes to avoid the lighting for their approach to Hanscom and Logan.












Most of the animals were hunkered down. Even the Marsh Wrens were quiet. The Great Egrets must have been cleared for flight about the same time the planes were. Water covered all the plants. I liked how the water droplets decorated this lotus like a rhinestone covered costume.






This round of the fight between light and dark, dry or wet, went to the dark side. The ceiling dropped, the rains returned, and the little bit of remaining light was pushed out to sea.