The first visitor is a female American Goldfinch. Later there are Chickadees, Chipping Sparrows and a Song Sparrow. But the real show is the male American Goldfinch. He looks around for a
long time to see if it's going to be okay then he.... You'll just have to watch between 2:30 and 3:30!
Sunday in Acadia National Park
Few saw this awesome scene
I climbed Schoodic Head and descended The Anvil with my father-in-law on Sunday afternoon. The picture above is looking west across Frenchmen Bay towards Bar Harbor from the highest point on the Head, one of the few open views on the Schoodic Peninsula side of Acadia National Park. Cadillac Mountain is the only feature high enough to be out of the fog bank.
This is a wonderfully low-traffic part of the park. We did see four parties, but while atop Schoodic Head, we were all alone.
Veazie summer
Tufted Titmouse
It's good to be back in Veazie for the summer. What a great day this has been! I had plenty of time to wait for feeder visitors. There has been a Cardinal coming by, but this Tufted Titmouse makes a good frame too.
Posted by The Owl on Jul 02 at 18:52. Filed under: Nature photography
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Appearance at the end of March
Earlier than usual
Ms. Owl snapped this marvelous early spring frame late last week. Crocus by definition is early. But these are really early. Compare to the last few years:
April 6, 2009;
April 10, 2008;
April 11, 2008;
April 20, 2007(!).
I guess
2007 was a weird year, tons of snow in April slowed down a lot of stuff.
Huge credit to Ms. Owl for this shot, one of the finest I've ever seen.
Posted by The Owl on Apr 05 at 13:21. Filed under: Nature photography
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This scene is at the riverfront park on the northwest side of Estherville, Iowa
Hoar frost on an old bird nest in Estherville
This morning was a reward for enduring the horrendous weather of the last week--the most intense
hoar frost I've ever seen covered the entire town.
Posted by The Owl on Jan 12 at 12:05. Filed under: Nature photography
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Just pulled:
Danvers, best we've had in years
These are sweet & crunchy. It was an outstanding year for carrots. There are even a few left!
Seen along Back Cove in Portland on Sunday
Posted by The Owl on Nov 30 at 08:48. Filed under: Nature photography
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It's a Canon SX 120 IS point-and-shoot. Quite inexpensive (sub-$200), but with full manual control. I think the results are quite good. Today is cloudy, so I used cloudy white balance along with the "vivid" picture setting. Worked well. You'll be seeing more from this camera.
Near Holland, Minnesota on Saturday October 24
Holland would seem to be an appropriate name for this place that I drove through early Saturday. Except the sea there is a sea of prairie.
Foliage beginning to peak
This is a NW view from an open ridge at the Bald Pate Preserve in Bridgton, Maine. Click for a bigger image.
The feature peaking up in the center of the frame behind the foreground hills is Pleasant Mountain in Denmark, about 20 km to the NW. A little more to the west and much further in the background are the White Mountains including Mt Washington and the Presidentials.
This is an HDR image made into a composite from seven separate exposures. A good article on HDR is
HERE.
Bonus fall foliage from Western Maine
Beech-maple forest near Bridgton, Maine:
We took a walk today at the Bald Pate preserve in the western foothills of Maine, in the town of Bridgton. The site was saved from the radio tower builders a decade ago by the
Loon Echo Land Trust.
Last good one
Odds and ends
It was not the worst year for the garden. Yes, the tomatoes were pretty much a disaster, plagued by a blight that limited the number of good brandywines to about ten. On the other hand, the zucchini and those hot peppers produced well for eight weeks!
