Once in a Blue Moon

December 30, 2009

So this is Christmas...

Hope you all have a great one.

The Winter Solstice

Winter begins tomorrow, December 21 at 12:47 pm (EST). Go out and celebrate.

Tracking along.

It's been a while since my last post. I have not forgotten, nor have I been wrapped up in the holidays. My mother has Parkinson's and so I have been here primary caretaker,helper and support. It's hard. Watching someone you dearly love not able to do her normal daily routine and just changing. Incredibly hard. I don't get the time to run off,don't get the time to spend with friends, and don't have a life.

It's done out of love. I desperately need time off, away, to recharge. Posts will be down, she's had a hard week, there had been a trip to the hospital, medicine has been missed and trying to get back on schdedule has been difficult.

Thanksgiving

I started this blog as a way to keep me motivated and to share with my friends both here and aboard. To that end I think it was successful. But as I've gone more into this, I see it as trying to educate people. Let's face it, there is a lot of ignorance about nature out there. By posting photos I hope that it does several things, makes you open your eyes to the beauty around us, makes you question and to seek answers.

How many of you can with a high degree of confidence name the plants (native) in your yard?Your neighborhood? How about birds? Rodents. How many know the insects? Even the experts are still confounded. We know, but we don't know.

Love what we got, get to know what we've got. Protect it, fight hard,question,wonder. Give a damn.

Be thankful some do.

Edward Abbey worked as park ranger for a big chunk of his life. He liked to tell when someone asked him about a plant, he would respond, "What it is ma'm, no one knows, but men call it..."

There is so much to know, so much to see, so much to do. Start small,learn something new everyday. If you know something, you are more inclined to protect it and to love it.Or at least respect it.

And thus we give Thanks.

Friday morning.

A few miscellaneous photos for today.

This time of the year, the cluster flies are demanding to get in. Some years their numbers inside make for a setting that almost rivals a horror flick. Bernd Heinrich wrote about vacuuming up thousands in his camp here in Maine. And on those last warm days of autumn, the ones left outside,(and the ones inside,now clamoring to get back out), it's enough to drive a man nuts.

I noticed this one the night before. Holding fast and when I poked and prodded it, there was no sign of life.

I have seen numerous flies in the same position, stiff legged, abdomen raised, head down, wings canted up. Inside and out, I'll come across them. even on the windows, where if you look carefully, you will see a white bloom around the body on the glass. A hmm moment. It appears the flies have a fungus that has taken their life. I had read that recently, and now I can't find the source.

And the Snowshoe Hares are changing to white. It's not a problem when the snow is here, but they stick out when it's not.

Boreal chickadee

I have no problem with birds. They in fact come to me.

I like birds, they like me.

Except a certain paatridge.

Happenings

It's been a busy past week. First I was out in the woods, when I saw a large bird sitting on a lower limb. It was hunched over looking at something on the ground with it's back towards me. When I lifted my camera,the whir of the autofocus caused it to turn and look directly at me. I couldn't believe my eyes, staring back was a Great Gray Owl. They don't live here. At least they aren't supposed to, but here was one. Those yellow eyes, and that face, it was incredible.

So I spent a lot of time trying to see it again. I haven't and in a way, I'm happy with that. Sometimes you just need to know they are around.

I have been running into a lot of moose too. Today, I came across a cow and twins.

Gray Jay

Gray Jays are rather tame. Always looking out for a handout, aways entertaining.

Visitor from the North

It always happens. I take the dog for a walk, and see a bird. This time it was a Lapland Longspur, a bird from the north. They nest on the tundra and winter down in the states in open areas. As I was driving out this morning, he (or she) was at the end of my drive and very nicely sat still for me.

I am in awe of my lens. It's a Nikon 80-400 with antivibration . I had always been trained to use a tripod. It was so ingrained in me that I always used one. But I had also been trained to try different styles and techniques. Well the darn thing works. Hand held without support. Yep, it's a Lapland longspur!

First snow.

The weather system that has been dropping snow across the country finally got here.

The moose and other happenings.

Last week I stopped at a favorite spot on my way home form the post office, and while walking along the road, I heard a flurry of wings, saw a fair size raptor flying off. It was about that time that something fell. "What the ..." and there at the base of a spruce tree, was a dead robin. I could see a few drops of fresh blood.

Ten minutes later on my way out it was still there, and so was the hawk. I couldn't get a good enough look to identify it.

Today I was able to get out late this afternoon and the robin was gone.

But the moose was there.

If you never heard a bull moose calling, it's a weird,freaky noise. That's what told me a moose was ahead. Where was my camera? Back at the car.

Color

As the days get shorter,something magical happens. Well ok maybe not magical, but real close. Chlorophyl and carotenoids are always in the leaf during the year. Chlorophyl is the one giving the green color to the leaf and is continually being produced and broken down. As the days shorten and cool, chlorophyl production slows down and slowly the chlorophyl is completely broken down. The carotenoids and anthocyanin are then unmasked and start to give the leaf the fall colors.

But it is magic.

Coos Canyon

Down the road from Oquossoc.

Moose

It's that time of the year when a moose's interest turns to love. Yesterday I was walking on the Appalachian Trail with a friend when up ahead I saw a dark form in the woods. "Moose!" I grabbed my camera and crept ahead.

It's dangerous out in the woods now,and I'm not kidding. Bull Moose want some loving and they really don't have much to fear, and the hormones coursing through there system makes them not too afraid. They have been know to charge cars,trains hikers,cows, just about anything that they feel is a threat to their territory or their chances of scoring. I had a friend get treed by a moose a while ago. He spent a good half hour in that tree.

Alces alces

God's Dog

Canis latrans
In my backyard, today .

The usual suspects.

I was out the other day in the woods and got accosted by a of couple gangs. Before I got away , I was able to get a few shots off.

Boreal Chickadee (Parus hudsinicus)

Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)

The Other Morning...

I usually wake up around 5 am all year long.

Here's one of the reason's why.

Umbagog NWR

This past Wednesday I spent over in New Hampshire at Umbagog NWR. It's a 7 mile long lake, on the border of Maine and New Hampshire and is over 7,000 acres. But just 15 feet deep

Excellent bird habitat, and from the looks of things the fishing should be good.

Water lilies,bladderwort,a couple of eagles, fish, some sharp-shinned hawks, a merlin or two, throw in a few loons and you have a good idea what the refuge is like. Migrants are already streaming through the area. Whirligig beetles were rafted up in the thousands. It's hard to sit and write about someplace like this. A thousand images and experiences are going through my mind, and all I want to do is to go back.

The Refuge is in the process of doing surveys on what inhabits the area. Makes me want to go back over and help out, and I may just go back to see if I can. It's not far.

I know they have at least two Green Frogs (Rana clamitans).

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

After a dinner in Errol, it was time to go home and stop briefly at Cupsuptic River to watch the moon and sunset.

For more information on Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge ,click here.

I'm back!

A series of events at home had conspired to keep me busy and needing focus on other things.

Today is the last program of the year for the Wilhelm Reich museum and hopefully after that I will be able to change focus and get on with some other projects. The market is doing well for me,(I'm an equity trader by day). My mom has Parkinson's and there are times that what she needs is more important than my own time. And one of my aunts was diagnosed with cancer. The outcome for her is looking good.

I have spent some time getting pictures and even had a couple of great days out with a friend. So, here goes!

Summer is ending and the goldenrod has been just incredible this year. Down towards Farmington the fields were a carpet of gold. This is one of my favorite flowers, I just love the color and the variety and abundance of insects that visit goldenrod (Solidago spp) is great. I haven't really had the chance to get some photos this year, but there's always next year.

It's also a bittersweet end to the summer when I see the first blooming of goldenrod. It means cool weather is coming, and I always hate to see summer end.

We had some cool nights last week, it did drop down to 40 and after having 70-80's that was too much of a shock.On the day the front was coming through, I went out to Little Kennebago Lake with a friend. It was overcast and threatened rain, which of course it did. There is something about being in a kayak in the rain that makes it more fun.

So I got to see some of the locals. A cow moose, a few common loons and a common snipe.