Wild Winter Cleaning - Some pics from 2010

Metta (pronounced May-Tay), one of my eastern painted turtles. She swam around the reeds at Melendy Brook a bit and came back to my backpack on the ground to come home. Summer.

Wildlife Pond at Beaver Brook
I just loved how the setting sunlight reflected on the ice. You can 'see' the overwhelming silence and calm. During the windless days of winter, being there in person is lot like looking at the photo - silent, solitary and peaceful (without the discomfort of the freezing cold of course!) End of Winter.

Bronze Copper Butterfly
I was out looking for milksnakes and black racers in the powerline corridor near my home when I chanced upon this lovely little butterfly. I loved the colors against the dried grasses. Summer.

Lower Purgatory Falls
I took this picture while at my dog walking job. All that ice is usually a copious, gushing waterfall over moss strewn rocks. Winter.

Beaver Brook Trail
I'm feeling the chill and blandness of winter right now and wanted to see some green on my blog. Summer

Great Blue Heron
This young heron wasn't as skittish as most heron I've come across. As such, I was able to get within 15 feet or so to take a decent picture. This was taken at the former Benson's Zoo in Windham NH.

Summer Flora

Between a lovely trip to Pickity Place's Gardens and Maple Farm Gardens at Beaver Brook, I've no shortage of vegetation images this year. The above was a flower tucked away in the back of Pickity Place's garden. Pickity Place is a historic old farmhouse which served as the reference for illustrations in a very old printing of Little Red Riding Hood.

The blue flowers are also from Pickity Place. They reminded me of the 'Blue Girls' in my current writing project so I took the snapshot to remind me to work harder on my writings. lol















The mushroom was on a trail near Maple Hill Farm's gardens. If you click and expand it, it makes a whimsical wallpaper. So do fields of daisies...









And lastly I have 2 unknown flowers. The yellow one is from Pickity Place. It was unusual as it bloomed downward and compact. The other is from Beaver Brook and my sister and were intrigued by it, so I took a shot for her.

Bird Watching with My New Camera

I don't have much to write today, just photos to share which I took today at Beaver Brook's Bird Blind. I'm still getting the hang of my new camera. Almost all of the photos I took below are from at least 15 feet away and required using the digital zoom, so the quality isn't pristine, but I think they came out pretty nice.

Woodpecker eating suet.

American Robin

White Breasted Nuthatch

Dark Eyed Junco

American Goldfinch (I never saw these in winter before!)

Narnia eat your heart out!

The above picture I took right after our first real snow. This is the trail leading away from Monson in Milford. I had gone there early in the morning so that I could take pictures of snow on the branches in the forest. By mid morning, the branches were bare from the sun's heat. For a much much much much better quality image, click on it to enlarge it. I kept it large as it makes a nice background for my desktop!

This picture of "Cold Brook Cutoff" in Beaver Brook is one of my favorites despite the lack of quality because of what it seems to represent. (and yes, this is another that expands if you click on it) Doesn't it look like autumn up front and winter in the back? On a tree to the left you'll see the fitting sign "Cold Brook Cutoff". :)

Back in November, I took a picture of 2 of my favorite oak trees in the Monson fields. The first picture is that very one. The morning I came after the first snow, I tried to take the same picture again. I was only slightly off. :) I have pictures of these trees in all the seasons now. I just have to put them all together!

Long Overdue Post

Red Maple At Appalachian Trail

I admit, I've been procrastinating with new posts. A remarkably vibrant Autumn came and I didn't want to blink for fear of missing it. And then I've been doing more evening hikes - bad conditions for photography with my camera.

The literally cloudy image here was taken from the top of Kidder Mountain in Temple NH about a month ago. When I began the hike, it was blue sky and brisk. When I reached the top, this rain moved in. Click the photo to enlarge and you'll see the dark gray bands of rain hitting nearby Temple Mountain (before progressing into a thunderstorm and hitting the mountain I stood atop).



The next image is another shot from Kidder Mountain, before the rain struck. There's nothing too spectacular about this image other than, if you click to enlarge it, you can see the shining windows of the Prudential Tower (skyscraper) in Boston Massachusetts, about 60 miles away. This is the shining dot in the distance. If you have good eyesight, you can make out the shadows of all the other skyscrapers too.

The next image is what I opined to be a nice, quaint shot of the gardens of Beaver Brook in Hollis during the fall festival this year. So until I can format all the other photos I have taken over the past month, this is all I have to share for now. :)

Warm Tones of Summer

This post is just as simplistic as the last because I have a few good pics and pretty much no tale to tell. All these photos were taken at Beaver Brook's Maple Farm Gardens. The above is a lovely lily from the "Shade Garden" - the bee was an unintentional interloper to the photo. :)

The next flower came from the "Magic Garden". I've heard of this herb before, but never have I seen it in bloom. This is bee balm and it looks extraterrestrial to me! It comprised of tall green stalks about 5 feet high with these red crowns tipping each stalk.


The tree is a Japanese Maple from the Shade Garden that caught the light just right and merited a photograph.

And lastly we have a lily I have dubbed the "Creamsicle Lily". I'm actually not a huge fan of lilies, but they photograph so well and grow everywhere!

Whimsical Weekend Pics

Thanks to the break in the incessant rain this past weekend, I was able to take some more pictures. The above is a newcomer to my balcony garden - a very tenacious gray squirrel. In this picture, s/he is desperately trying to get into the goldfinch.

The next 2 pictures are taken from the "Kibby's Climb" trail at Beaver Brook, my favorite haunt. :) It's a growth on a pine tree that looks remarkebly like the Green Man to me. The brighter picture shows it better, but is not as good quality as the darker. It was dark in the forest, so it was tough to get these shots.









And the last picture is one of my personal faves. This large statue was guarding the herbal gardens of Maple Farm.

Hatching Dragons

Yesterday, I spent my time outdoors in two failed photo-journal pursuits. The first was tracking down a black capped chickadee nest I was watching. To my dismay, the nest was ransacked by some unknown predator (probably a raccoon) with nothing to show but stray feathers and egg shells. The second was to catch a freshly hatched painted turtle. A nest hatched and they quickly dropped into the stagnant, green waters of a deep roadside culvert - just out of reach. I sidled down the banking and realized with just one step in the water, I could reach one. So I took off a shoe, rolled up a pant leg, took a step down into the gross water and tried very slowly and carefully to ... and fell in! Nasty! AND I didn't get a turtle either. That was the worst part! So just when I was about to write off my day as *insert raspberry sound here*, I came across a seldom seen transformation; the hatching of dragonflies.That picture looks even nicer expanded. Click on it to see! There are so many different species of dragonflies and darners in NH, that I don't even know how to begin identifying this one without a good guide (the web is seriously lacking in good identification keys).

I walked along the grassy area by the Wildlife Pond at Beaver Brook where crickets and snakes can usually be found. Instead, I found lots of discarded, creepy shells of "dragonfly excuvae." These are the empty skins of dragons before they become flies. Don't expand the picture to the left if you don't like insects. It's rather "ew"-worthy.

Like butterflies from cocoons, dragonflies emerge from these skins complete with beautiful patterns and wings. The excuvai is normally insanely tiny compared to the dragonfly that emerges. The crumpled wings that were inside the skin are supple and crumpled. Here's a dragon that just emerged.


From this point, they try to sit stationary in the sun to dry off and let their wings harden enough to allow them flight. Just walking through the grass, I had many climb up onto me. It was very windy, so they were having a tough time of it. I sat with this one in particular, protecting it from the wind, just to see it all the way from excuvae to flight. It took a while, but it was pretty wonderful to experience. A half hour after the picture to the right, the picture below
shows the dragon's progress.


And the picture at the very top was the final snap I got before s/he took off into the air. I think it was a thank you shot. ;)

A little blog on little birds

Out in the depths of Beaver Brook there is a trail that runs through the craggiest, hilliest portion of an otherwise tame forest. Here, boulders the size of small cottages are strewn on hill tops thanks to the receding glaciers eons ago. As I was making my sweltering way along these boulders (It was around 90 so a bit too hot for me) I noticed a mud ball against the crevice of such a boulder.


It doesn't look it, but it is about 6 feet up from the ground. So last week, I took my camera, reached up and took a blind snap.

And then again yesterday....

Aren't they so ugly that they're cute? I have no idea the kind of bird. Last year I followed the growth of a different nest and was lucky enough to spot the parents. This nest is atop a hill and the parents have ample warning that a huffing, puffing hiker is coming. :)

A Few Spring Flowers

The lovely tree above was taken last week at the gardens of Maple Farm; Beaver Brook, Hollis. This is one of my favorite haunts. I'm not sure what this tree is really. It's aroma was absolutely heavenly however and reached to the back of the gardens. The scent reminded me of gardenias.


To the left you'll see the current winner of the garden popularity contest; the 'Bleeding Heart'. I saw these once in a greenhouse a few years back, but not in any garden. Now, I see them everywhere. Let's face it, anything mildly dramatic in name or nature always makes it big. This shot was taken from the Maple Hill Gardens.

Of course, I can't mention spring flowers without another glimpse of my favorite, the trillium. I saw my first trillium about 4 years ago - all white and solitary in the forest. Something enchanted me about it and I've been obsessed with them ever since. From my research on trying to cultivate a wild one, I've learned they are the official provincial flower of Quebec and are illegal to pick there. Considering my ancestry is from Quebec (both native and french immigrant) I found it suspiciously coincidental that it should speak to me so loudly. :) This is a painted trillium from the Heald Tract - where I've had most of my wildlife adventures.

And lastly, the New Hampshire state flower; the Purple Lilac. Trilliums may be my favorite, but these still top the list of the most enticing scent! You can't really drive down any street in Milford without seeing a big bush of these purple air fresheners in someone's yard.