Snow snow snowshoeing

Frozen Fern "growing" out of the snow. I found a bunch of these lovelies!

Yesterday, I noticed my brother left his snowshoes in the back of my car. For the first time in weeks, it was above freezing outside, so I just had to get out into the woods and try those shoes out. I went to a long disused logging road across the pond from some well established beaver brook trails.

Today, I'm still divided on my opinion of them. True, they kept me above the 3+ feet of snow in some places. But in other places, I plummeted hip deep and then had the grueling struggle of picking those cumbersome metal frames out of the tight holes they made. The snow quickly turning to 3 feet of slush in the 40 degree weather, I couldn't just kick through the snow to pick myself back up. This would have been fine albeit annoying, normally, but I was making my way to a hill topped with a rather large bobcat ~ and had I noticed him sooner, I would have been worried he was scoping me out as injured prey ripe for the picking and probably would have been a lot less collected in my struggles.

These tracks are from the beginning of my trek - when the snow was still frozen from being in the shadow of the valley.

While I did not manage to snap a pic of the bobcat who took off as soon as locked eyes with him, I did take some other interesting photos. My hike reached a literal apex when I crested the very steep hill that the bobcat had claimed earlier where I found not only his tracks, but deer and opossum tracks too.

Witch Hazel Flowers. The only forest blooms of winter! Reminding myself that witch hazels are in flower when there is hip deep snow on the ground makes winter seem a little less overbearing.

This is an opossum trail. The little hand prints inside the trail were muddled together making a bad picture, but the trail itself was whimsical, in my opinion. A well used thoroughfare, it snaked all over the hill, curving tightly in places where I couldn't see any obstruction to case such twists. The trail could have easily been a straight line with half the distance from point A to B. When inspecting the 6 inch wide trail, I noted fresh coyote tracks pacing after the latest opossum tracks.

And lastly, these are the bobcat tracks. Keep in mind, I'm a piano player - my fingers aren't short. These are definitely the largest bobcat tracks I've ever seen. From the back side of the hill, I measured 4 feet in between each pair of side by side prints to show he was bounding away from my direction through the snow. Thank goodness he was more afraid of me than I was of him or else, with my clumsy shoes and tiny switch blade for protection (its more for plant cuttings, but I like to pretend it affords me some protection on my solitary hikes) I would be bobcat chow by now. XD

"Heavy" Snow

Over the past couple of days, our area of New Hampshire has been on the brink of freezing. As a result, the snowfall has been very wet and very heavy. With powdery, drier snow, the trees are not weighted and splashed in white, but with the past few storms, they're weighted with pounds upon pounds of thick snow.

These photos were from my walk today in Beaver Brook. I took the Whiting Trail down to the main trails. It was a tough walk. In many places, the trail was over knee deep in heavy snow; not the kind you can just trudge and kick through.
The last picture of the bridge and the pine hill I took carefully whilst driving into Wilton. Not bad considering the car was moving. Don't worry. There was no other cars around at the time and I was very careful. ;)

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!)

Some Winter Pics

As most of you know, I have a new camera now; an Olympus FE-46. It has a setting for everything, is rather complicated compared to my last digicam, and I'm obviously still figuring it out. I have to take repeated breaks to give my eyes time to cool off. lol Anyway, above is the first landscape shot I took with it. This is a forest in Hollis near Monson on a foggy afternoon. What do you think?

The next couple of pictures were the last ones taken by my old *sniff* camera. On Sunday, in the foggy morning light, I spotted these deer in Amherst. The one to the left is a doe keeping watch as her twin yearlings graze and play.

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. :)

Scavengers

This past week I came across a couple of large birds in the wild; both scavengers. The first is no stranger to anyone. A seagull. During an excursion to the coast with my father and Janna, I decided to take pity on the seagulls at North Hampton Beach and feed them copious amounts of nutrigrain bar bits. This one seagull was by far the most feisty of his peers, thus warranting a photo.Next up! A few days later and much farther inland I came across this very tolerant Turkey Vulture. Typically, turkey vultures travel in pairs or families around here, but this one stood alone. And more importantly, they certainly take to flight well before you come this close to them! I was within 5-10 feet of this one before it cough/scrawked and nonchallantly went on its vulture way. :)

The Hummingbird

You may need to click on these photos I took to see the little guy properly. I went out to the historical conservation land of Monson yesterday and found a small tree behind the flower gardens. Near this tree was a hummingbird feeder; he who owns the tree shalt own the nectar. :)




This one hummingbird fought valiantly to defend the nectar against a formidable gang of three other hummingbirds. It was amusing to watch these tiny birds, no more than 2 inches long, in an epic battle over sugar water! In between bouts of high pitched squeals and fencing matches with teensy beaks, my little hero rested in the tree I sat near and I was able to get these cool photos. Never before have I watched a hummingbird resting in a tree in the wild.




So that's pretty much the whole story here. I hope you like them anyway. The photo of him flying is very blurry, but I thought it was interesting enough to put up here anyway. :)

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 motley mix of spring things

My Potted Pumpkin. I have a tiny pumpkin now in place of this flower.

I have a mish-mosh of photos today. This is mainly because I'm going to be overhauling my computer and want to get these up before I'm down for a few days.

First up! Those so-ugly-they're-cute mystery baby birds. I took the picture to the left on Saturday. There are really 5 birds there, but you'd never know it! The 5th bird has one bulgy, closed eye at the bottom of the photo.








To the right, you'll see the same birds as of yesterday. I really thought their eyes would be open by now. Instead, I found a show of prickly pinfeathers. All 5 managed to face the same direction, toward the rock wall.



On a completely random topic:

I felt inspired to post two photos here of a couple of my favorite herbs. To the left is Catmint aka Catnip. This is a healthy shrub from the wonderful Maple Hill Gardens in Hollis. Catmint makes a very delicate tincture and is great for mild headaches and relaxation.

To the left is my very own, home grown peppermint plant! Peppermint is one of my all-time faves. Any mint herb is really. It's calming for your stomach, relaxing and great for clearing your head. I need to drink it pretty often.

Mix these two wonderful herbs and you get a refreshing mint tea that is even better cold. And what inspired me to post these pics?

Thanks Charly! :D

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. :)