A Good Day To Stay In Bed

Tuesday morning I wanted to go on Alan's last scheduled bird walk of the year, so it was an early start on the day. On the way out the door, I grabbed my camera, flipped the latch to insert a memory card...and the latch came off in my hand! Not a great way to start they day. But not a disaster, so I grabbed my backup camera and continued on my way.

It was grey and not raining when I arrived at the refuge. In fact, I thought I was going to be late, but arrived just at 8 o'clock to find Alan by himself at the top of the tower. Maybe everyone was scared off by rain in the forecast. However, a few minutes later 3 more people arrived.

It was somewhat quiet at the refuge. Canada Geese and Coots were abundant. Several Buffleheads were on the far side of the Upper Impoundment. They were small even in the scopes. Near the opening on the Cross Dike Trail, the Ruddy Duck was hanging out on a tuft of lotus leaves and other vegetation. Of course the light was all wrong, so I am substituting this photo from yesterday that didn't make the editorial cut. It shows the same duck, on the same tuft, playing "King of the Hill" with a coot.



As we walked we encountered sparrows, chickadees, goldfinches, bluebirds, woodpeckers and a belted kingfisher. Unfortunately, they weren't very cooperative. They generally were hiding within the branches or back sides of vegetation. Occasionally, one would pop into the open and cooperate for a brief moment.





Unfortunately the clouds got denser, the sky darker and rain loomed on the horizon. (Why do weather forecasters rarely get the forecasts for rain wrong?) My backup camera, doesn't perform as well in darker conditions, so photographs became fewer and fewer.

Finally, the rain came and chased us all back towards our cars. It let up after a while it let up. Alan & I wandered over to the Timber Trail where we constructed a bog bridge, using wood reclaimed from old repair projects. It now spans the only section of trail that never dried all year long. There is now a path to allow people to pass without destroying the trail, or their shoes. Of course, where's my camera? Back in the car. Just one of those days.

Back at the parking lot, I wandered for a few minutes hoping for some photo make the day. Along the trail to the dike, I heard a cardinal calling. I tried for ten minutes to find a view that wasn't blocked by branches. With such a bright red body, I guess you learn not to let your guard down, even if it is only for a photograph.



As stealthy as the cardinal tries to be, it is really difficult to hide, when there are so few leaves on the trees.

I guess it was a fitting end, to an otherwise unremarkable day of photography. (Of course, becoming a better birder, it wasn't so bad.)

The day wasn't a total failure. The Great Meadows calendars have arrived and I've started to distribute them. They look really good. There are still some left. Click on the Great Meadows 2012 Calendar link for details.

Foggy Morning

Monday morning had a fog alert with limited visibility. Since bad weather makes good photos, I was at Great Meadows to capture a few, before the sun rose and burnt off the fog.










Wandering around the lower impoundment, I tried to catch the beavers out and about. They weren't available. But there was a flock of Goldfinches that lead me to the lodge.






I like the shape of these trees, but without the fog they have always faded into the background.




Arriving out the outflow of the lower impoundment the fog was starting to lift, but pockets still persisted.


Click on the panorama to see a larger version


You can't beat the combination of blue water / sky and cat tail reeds turned golden by the rising sun




After Canada Geese and Coots, Sparrows must the the next most numerous type of bird currently at Great Meadows. While previously Song and Swamp Sparrows reigned supreme, now there are plenty of Tree Sparrows, which have migrated south from the tundra for the winter. We offer a song sparrow, followed by some photos from a couple of tree sparrows that were cooperative to give a 360 view.




Now for some tree sparrows to compare and contrast. I wonder where they get their name from. At Great Meadows they were rarely found in the trees. They were more common in the cat tail reeds.














Many use the white wing bars or the bi-colored bill to identify them. For me the easiest identifier is the dark spot on the chest.

Exploration

Thursday, after a couple of delays and false starts, I arrived at Great Meadows about 9:30. November is gone and December is starting out cold and windy. There wasn't a lot of of activity as I wandered across the Dike.

At the far end, I caught up with Alan who was on his way to meet up with Ziggy to do a couple tasks, so I hitched a ride. One of our stops was a tree that came "that close" to destroying a bridge on the Edge Trail. The tree is a metaphor for the recent financial system failure. Everything looked good on the outside, meanwhile it was rotting on the inside, until it finally came crashing down.



After bidding Ziggy goodbye, we explored some of the secrets of the woods. Based upon a report from Cherrie, we did some exploring on the Edge trail and found what appeared to be an old road and a large hole deep in the woods. As you might expect the bottom of the hole was used to dump some garbage a long time ago. The rusting containers and glass bottles were buried under years of leaf litter.








Wandering through the woods I was drawn to pine needles floating on the surface of a vernal pool. With the sky reflecting in the surface it feels like you are looking up, not down. Nearby I liked the patterns of fungi growing on a downed tree.





We explored one of the lesser used trails trying to determine if it was for people or animals. Ending at a swampy area, we noticed skunk cabbage starting to push through the ground. I remember reading in Thoreau's journals that he mentioned skunk cabbage growing in the late fall / early winter.



After Alan had to leave, I spent some more time wandering through the woods collecting "photos" of patterns and textures that I can use for Photoshop processing in the future. Its fascinating to see the infinite variations in nature.










I was still in the woods as over 200 geese returned to the impoundment. Before landing they circled overhead a couple times. Even through the tree top canopy it was an impressive sight.

Returning to the impoundments, the mature Bald Eagle went flying overhead. A birder noticed that there was some fishing line stuck on one of its legs. I couldn't confirm that until I got home and uploaded the photos. You can just see it if you look closely.After a couple of passes over the impoundment, it didn't see anythign of interest and flew off to the west.