Western wildlife

Rocky Mountain National Park 

At breakfast we discussed the possibility of seeing wildlife up in the mountains—elk, bear, maybe even bighorn sheep. And we did see several elk and a black bear that day. The bear was in a tree and partially hidden by the foliage, but the elk were in the open. They are magnificent animals, much larger than I anticipated and with enormous antlers.

When I packed for the trip, I decided to take only my DSLR with my 17-70mm as a good all-purpose lens. For one thing I didn't want to lug a bunch of gear through the airports, and for another, nobody wants to be around me when I get engrossed in taking photographs. I was in Colorado to visit family, not to take pictures.

Consequently, I was without the long lens needed to photograph western wildlife, except for the friendly little fellow in the photo above, who came close and posed for me. The elk were more stand-offish.

Thanks for reading Photography In Place, and whether you travel or stay home this weekend, be safe and enjoy.

A couple of geese

Greene County, Virginia

I walk down to the lake now and again to check on the geese. Not that they need me for anything; I just like to watch and listen to their talk which sounds intelligent and purposeful although I understand none of it.

These two geese were not perturbed by my presence on the edge of the water, and swam quite close, seemingly wrapped up in their own affairs. They are most likely a mating pair. The goose on the right is the male. You can tell because he is a little larger than the female (and he is drooling). Canada geese are monogamous.

Geese on ice

Greene County, Virginia 

A couple of days ago I walked down to the lake to see what the geese were up to. We have been hearing them in the evening arguing about whatever it is that geese argue about. Maybe they are not arguing, but they honk as loud as they can and all at the same time, like Democrats and Republicans discussing politics on TV. You can't make heads or tales of it.

Waiting . . .

Greene County, Virginia 

The birds have been on extra rations this week because of the cold. The feeders are kept full and seeds are scattered about on the frozen ground for ground feeding birds that do not like to come to the feeders. The red bellied woodpecker has been coming to the feeders and a pair of downy woodpeckers frequent the suet cake.

The squirrels who normally hog the feeders have not been seen since the snow started falling on Tuesday. Most likely they are holed up somewhere trying to keep warm and living on a stash of pilfered bird food.

Everyone around here is waiting for the cold spell to end. Temperatures are forecast to climb into the upper 30s tomorrow. It will feel a bit like Spring.

Snow day

Greene County, Virginia 

Snow fell here in central Virginia yesterday, and birds crowded the feeders all day. They were getting ready for a cold night. Overnight lows were predicted to be in the single digits, and I kept the feeders full all afternoon as the temperature fell. This kind of weather can be cruel to such tiny creatures.

Geese on ice

Greene County, Virginia 

"Any sort of disturbance, whether man-made or elemental, is of immense interest to a goose, and geese watch the world through eyes that often seem capable of seeing things not visible to men.  I have always envied a goose its look of deep, superior wisdom." - E.B.White

A brief report

Tufted Titmouse - Greene County, Virginia 

Most mornings after filling the bird feeders, I put the tea kettle on and stand at the sink for a while to see what's going on outside the kitchen window. No doubt there are more useful, productive ways to spend my time, but then I would miss the mockingbird who comes to cast a proprietary eye on the feeders, like an absentee restaurant owner who shows up now and then to see that things are right, and take credit for it. Mockingbirds don't sing at this time of the year, but their presence is felt.

There are not as many Cardinals around this winter as usual but the titmice and house wrens are taking up the slack. That's the way things go sometimes; one species thrives and another declines. Years ago we had flocks of purple finches at the feeders but now we seldom see one. I hope the Cardinal population rebounds this spring. I miss them.

The squirrels had a successful mating season and are a constant nuisance at the feeders, gorging themselves on millet and scaring the birds away. Overpopulation has led to brawls over food and territory and whatever else squirrels fight about.  A couple of weeks ago one of the squirrels turned up at the feeder with a nasty, gash in his right foreleg, and a day or two later I noticed a squirrel with one eye gouged out.

Nature is not kind to injured animals and I wondered if these two squirrels would die. The words of Ebenezer Scrooge crossed my mind: " . . .they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population" Christmas was a few days away.

But yesterday old Stumpy was raiding the feeder, one useless front paw dangling. He looked healthy and was amazingly agile on three legs. And then to my surprise, One-Eye showed up as well, his eye clean but sunken and lifeless. I don't much think he can see anything out of the damaged eye, but seems to be getting along quite well. The pluck and determination to live displayed by these two small creatures banished my inner Scrooge and I was happy to see them back.

Our cats spend many an unproductive hour watching the comings and goings on the deck. Their interest is instinctual and unsentimental; their eyes unclouded by thought. Some mornings I try to clear my mind and see the world outside the kitchen window as a cat might see it but soon the cats are ready for breakfast and want my attention. I turn away from the window, line up the bowls and open a can of cat food. That makes me feel useful and productive again.

After breakfast the cats find a window and settle in to watch. They consider it time well spent.

Morning, with swan

Greene County, Virginia 

Earlier this week the lake was enveloped in fog. Fog usually presents some interesting photographic opportunities, so I grabbed the camera and set out. I worked for a while in the fog, and just as the air began to clear, I spotted this mute swan swimming in my direction.

Mute Swan

Greene County, Virginia

Widow Skimmer

Libellula luctuosa - Greene County, Virginia

Potomac River #2 - The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay

Charles County, Maryland 

The story of Mallows Bay is long and complicated. It begins in 1917 as the United States prepares to enter World War I. There was a tremendous demand for ships, and a scheme was put forth to construct a fleet of wooden steamships for shipping service. The wooden ships would be cheap, quick to build and free up shipyards to build steel naval vessels. By the end of the war, only 134 of the planned 1000 wooden vessels had been launched. The ships continued to be built after the war and by September, 1919, 264 wooden steamships were complete.

The wooden ships, built to a standard design were 240 to 300 feet long.

By the end of 1920, the government had decided to dispose of this fleet of obsolete and poorly constructed ships, and after several largely unsuccessful salvage attempts, the fleet ended up scuttled in the Potomac River at Mallows Bay. The remains are visible to this day. To read the whole story of The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay click here

We anchored just north of Mallows Bay and walked along the shore to where the ships lie. Over the years the bay has become rich habitat for wildlife—the rotting hulks forming a sort of artificial reef. We saw herons, ospreys and an eagle as we approached the ghost fleet.

Notice the osprey at the far left on what must be the lowest osprey nest I have ever seen. There is also a fishing boat in the shadow of the hull in the distance.

Rabbit at rest

Greene County, Virginia

Saw this rabbit stretched out in our front yard the other evening. He seemed content but I was a bit surprised that he was so relaxed out in the open.

Have a nice weekend and thanks for reading Photography In Place.

And, by the way, Rabbit At Rest is the name of the last of four novels by John Updike about the life of Harry Angstrom, whose nickname is "Rabbit". Good summer reading—start with Rabbit Run, the first book in the series.

Saturday Morning - Cicadas

Greene County, Virginia

The birds were in an uproar around here last week. I stood in the yard under the trees Tuesday around dusk  and wondered what all the fuss was about. A cat maybe, or a snake. Agitated birds flew in and out of the branches overhead. The plaintive meow of a catbird came from somewhere along the fence. It was a pleasant spring evening and I could see nothing to threaten what should have been a peaceful settling into night.

The cicadas also came out last week. An indistinct buzz at first, like a distant alarm, but by the middle of the week the noise was nearly overbearing. Birds enact their ritual of nest and egg and chicks each spring, but cicadas experience the joy of spring renewal but once every 17 years. They celebrate with a loud and continuous unison chorus, presumably to make up for lost springs.

Perhaps the unrelenting and monotonous song of the cicada is what put the birds on edge.  Seventeen years is a long time, and the birds heard the cicada song for the first time in their short life. I remember the cicadas of 17 years ago, and it is not impossible to think I might hear them again 17 years hence. Their noise puts me a bit on edge too.

Last night the cicadas and the birds were quiet. I suspect the cool weather on Friday is responsible for the cicadas' silence but maybe their song is done, and another 17 years of cicada silence is beginning.  In the meantime, my aging refrigerator has started to make a chirping sound rather like the song of a cicada; it will need to be replaced before long. Life goes on.

Squirrel, locust tree

Greene County, Virginia 

The other evening just before sunset I was looking out the kitchen window and spotted this squirrel in our locust tree. I went to get the camera, thinking he would most likely be gone before I could get a picture. But when I got back he hadn't moved and seemed to be enjoying a quiet moment in the early spring sunshine.

The locust tree is quite immune to the charms of spring. Other trees are starting to display ripe buds and will soon be unfurling their leaves, but the locust shows no sign of life. It will be the last tree in the yard to put out leaves, but the cool locust shade will be worth the wait when the hot days of summer arrive.

Winter morning at the lake

Greene County, Virginia

The other morning I walked down to the lake. I hadn't been there for a while and I wanted to see what was up with the geese and ducks and swans. After the recent rain and snow, the water was muddy and brown, and the woods were bleak looking except for a slight blush of spring reds and greens.

A group of turkey buzzards perching in the tall pine trees close to the bank flew off as I approached, and a few ducks flushed up from the edge of the water. A light rain started to fall. Across the lake, three Bufflehead ducks (Bucephala albeola) were feeding close to the shore, too far away to photograph. This is the first time I have seen Buffleheads on the lake and hoped to get a good picture of them, but they swam out of sight and did not return.

A blue heron flew in and perched on a log that had fallen in the water. After a minute, he flew away.

After the heron flew off, a pair of geese swam by. Away across the lake a rooster crowed. The mute swans were nowhere to be seen.

A winter morning walk #5

Mute Swan in flight - Green County, Virginia

Near the end of our winter morning walk we find ourselves standing on the earthwork dam that forms the lake, listening to to the sound of a mute swan approaching. Swans are strong flyers and their wings make a strange creaking, almost eerie sound that can be heard at quite a distance. (Click here to hear the wing sounds on a short video.)  The swan flies directly overhead and out over the lake, where he circles and makes another pass before disappearing into the fog.

Hope you have enjoyed our walk this week. Have a great weekend and thanks for reading Photography In Place.

The swan circles overhead before flying off to the other end of the lake.

A winter morning walk #1

Greene County, Virginia 

Let's go for a walk. The morning is foggy and not too cold. The air is still and except for our footsteps on the path all is quiet. Even the geese out on the lake are silent for now, but they are a quarrelsome bunch and unlikely to be quiet for long. When the fog starts to lift, they will  fly off together to spend the morning picking over a nearby farm field. It happens like this: one goose suggests it is time to go with a raspy two note call—hronk-a. Another goose agrees—hronk-a...hronk-a. Soon they all join in and, in a loud, excited hronk-a cacophony, rise from the water in unison. Geese love to fly. The noise is deafening; you can't even hear yourself think.

But it is not a morning for thinking; it is a morning for seeing and listening. The geese are gone now and it is silent once again. Let's see how the woods look on a foggy, winter morning.

Saturday morning

Early in the morning I went out to fill the bird feeders. After a bitter cold night the birds will need to eat. As I brought out the seed, a nuthatch landed very close to me. I stood still and watched. The nuthatch is usually so pert and debonaire, but up close, this one looked bedraggled and cold, and seemed strangely oblivious to my presence.

I worried about that nuthatch the rest of the morning, looking for him at the kitchen window once in a while. I did see a nuthatch at the feeder, but from a distance couldn't tell if it was the same one. To tell one nuthatch from another is easy only for a nuthatch in love.

Later I walked out in the snow with the camera, half expecting to find a small frozen body on the ground. On a  freezing cold January night, the line between survival and death becomes very thin for so small a creature. There was no sign of the nuthatch, and after my fingers got too cold to work the camera, I came inside to stand in front of the fire and stare out the window as the snow began to fall once again from the gray winter sky.

Geese and fog

Greene Mountain Lake, Virginia 

Last Saturday morning brought heavy fog to the lake. As I walked down to the water, I heard the geese but I could not see them.  I sat down and waited and soon they began to materialize out of the fog, and for a while the world was reduced to geese and fog.

Landing

Greene Mountain Lake, Virginia