Miscellany

White crowned sparrow

Bittern

It's not supposed to be like this. Really, it isn't. Nature photography takes skill, patience, timing, a little luck thrown in for good measure. And some birds are very hard to see. Honestly. Bitterns are one such bird.
You hear them more than you see them. On occasion, one may fly up if you approach a marsh. Or most likely, you stare for hours at marsh grass, knowing one may be right there, but never see it.
Or you could just go driving up a woods road and see this bird in the road, and think, "what the hell is that".
That's what I did.

 I didn't know that his mate was hiding in the grass at the edge of the pond. As I stepped closer, she took off and so did he. He circled and came right to me.

Mystery in the woods.

Let me warn you right now, this isn't a very pleasant image. It's real life, not censored,it's nature. Pure and raw.

On my way back from the post office, I stopped at a favored local spot t check things out. It was warm,sunny and the tiger beetles were out in full force, as a matter of fact, most things were out. Walking along, I saw something that made me stop. Through binoculars I could see it was a snowshoe hare, and not moving. I went over and there it was, a headless hare. The head and front legs were neatly cut away, and other than that,not much damage. No large clumps of hair and the body wasn't much disturbed.

This has also been the third time I have found a hare in similar condition. Once in December before snow, I found a headless hare. The head was missing, the rest of the body was undisturbed. A few years later about 2 miles away I found another. hare in the same condition in the spring.

So what is happening? My best guess is a Great Horned Owl. They are known to take the heads off of game birds. Other than that, I'm at a loss.

Dog Graffiti

Nose prints on the windshield.

Spring is back

Ah, New England weather. If you don't like it,wait a minute. Last week we were pushing 80, then down to 26. A lot of plants got hit hard, trees have had their leaves freeze and now they have withered and died. Some trees have had close to 75% leaf kill.
Fresh photos, straight out of the camera.

                                  Tree swallows  (Tachycineta bicolor)

                                 Serviceberry (Amelanchier)    

                                  male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

I know,I know

It's been awhile, hasn't it?
There hasn't been much going on, and I haven't been taking many photos. But green-up is here, and that also means I will be spending more time out, hopefully.
But here's a few.