Surprise!! Cedar Waxwings

 I love Cedar Waxwings.  They are graceful and only voice faint high pitched calls to communicate.  I never go out expecting Cedar Waxwings.  It's unpredictable.  In November of 2011, I started a neighborhood walk, but only got two houses down the street when I saw them stripping berries from a tree.  Hurriedly I backtracked home for a camera with a long lens.  This is my favorite result.

I like to think I can do better now, but as I look at this I still love the scene and the behavior it shows.

Today, the target was warblers or maybe Baltimore Orioles. A few Yellow Warblers were high in the apple trees and never very visible.  I closed up shop and hoisted the tripod on my shoulder for the walk back to the car. But halfway there, there was motion in a small crab apple.  Binoculars revealed Cedar Waxwings, maybe a dozen.  There was good light and they seemed to not notice me.

They dropped onto upper branches that were heavy with blossoms.

Last year at the same trees, I saw Baltimore Orioles in the same trees picking small yellow caterpillars from inside the flower. I expected the same.

It is unwise to assume the different birds have the same habits.

Looking at the bird's beak closely reveals the entire blossom was being eaten.  Above, the waxwing is swallowing the final petal of the flower.  I saw and photographed this repeatedly.

The waxwings did not strip all of the blossoms from a cluster.  Maybe they only choose the sweetest?  With no warning, the bird was off to the next branch.  (Lucky timing by me.)

The flock only left when an early morning walker slipped past me.  They'd tolerated me at only 15 feet, but I had never moved directly towards them and only shifted a few steps each time. 

I had packed up to leave feeling disappointed, but got to the car elated. 

Paul

Bald Eagle Nest- A Work in Progress

Made my first exploratory visit to a Bald Eagle nest that is at eye level.  That's really a special opportunity.   It's going to take time to get the images I want.  Today's results were okay, but fishing seems slow at present due to muddy water in local rivers.  So there was no active feeding in 3-1/2 hours.

Here's an adult at the nest checking on the two chicks.  They are nestled down with only one head visible.

And here are two chicks.

Appears to me that the front chick is the dominant (alpha) one.  I expect they  have another four weeks before fledging.

Paul

A Burst of Spring Flowers

The woodland bloom is getting exciting.  I went out yesterday to search for a warbler at Cornell's Arnot Forest and did not get 200 yards into the woods before the wildflowers changed the plan.  Right along the main forest road was this stately Purple Trillium- Trillium erectum- in perfect condition.

 

While the species name would imply the flower is erect, it is always nodding down.  The trick to a good image of it is to get very low - that is best done by finding plants on a steep hillside.  Seen at right is the usual approach.  In this case, I had to straddle a fallen log on a somewhat slippery slope.  It is a slow process with much care to avoid damaging other blooming plants.

At such a close distance, the lens has a shallow of depth of focus. So, I made six images stepped from closest leaf tip the to the most distant leaf. This, of course, included the purple flower's detail.  The resulting "portrait" came from aligning all six images and selecting the sharper parts of each image.  This is a revolutionary change in how to overcome the inherent limits of optics. See the result below.

I became rather driven to find Purple Trillium clinging to increasingly steep slopes.

 

Inevitably, I found the most marginal of all possibilities.

This was about 50 feet above the valley floor.  It convinced me to find other subjects.  

The beautiful Trout Lily - Erythronium americanum - were also in bloom.  They are only open when the sky is clear so, this was the opportunity I wanted.

Like the Purple Trillium, they are looking downward.  I put my camera down in the leaves and propped it up to get the image.  They are a true ephemera and will totally disappear by mid-summer.

There are other blooms to find that were easier to photograph.  Consider the Virginia Bluebells- Mertensia virginica.  It is a plant of the river woods.  Here's one of my favorite images.

It had been a full morning. As I exited the forest road, I saw an exceptional cluster of White Trillium - Trillium grandiflorum - and had to stop.  Too lazy to unload my camera again, I depended upon my iPhone. 

 

Ten blooms!   The steep bank must be rich and well watered.  

No wonder that spring is my favorite season.

Paul

A Potpourri of Spring Offerings

This late arriving spring still staggers along.  Some of my field effort has been exploring new places.  Up near Cayuta Lake, I visited the newly discovered Allen Preserve of the Cornell Botanic Gardens.  I cannot recall a greater number of Skunk Cabbage anywhere.

It only required a cell phone for this image.  Honestly, I was ranging wide without a camera pack, had to stand in running water and the phone was what I had.  I held the phone about 2 inches above the water and wished for the best.   

Back in Cornell's Mundy Wildflower Garden, I did a stack of seven images to create create this companion image with the spadix clearly visible within the spathe.

 

Why one shot for the first image, and seven for this one?  The wide angle lens in the phone has huge depth of focus.  The lens used on the latter one only has sharp focus for about 1/2 inch.   Each has its place.  I like them both.  (No more Skunk Cabbage this year.  I promise.)

 

Let's look at some itty-bitty birds.  This male Song Sparrow was a bit angry at another intruding male.  I captured him leaping off to make a challenge.

  I discovered a different sparrow while waiting for a Bald Eagle at a beaver pond.  The Swamp Sparrow has a rich rusty-red crest, and is just as vocal as the other sparrow.

No Bald Eagle came within distance that morning, but some days later I did get a little closer when the male returned to the nest.  (I am still working on this for a closer result.)

Spring is also about wildflowers, and a few early ones are coming out now.  This is Sharp-lobed Hepatica.

Finally, the Great Blue Herons are back (and nesting already).  They can be supremely elegant in flight, or truly awkward depending on the moment.  I love the patterning displayed as they set wings for a landing.

It is getting more spring like, and some warblers are arriving.  Hope I can offer a greater variety of images soon.

Paul

Signs of Spring

 Here in New York State a late spring followed a hard winter.  The signs of a warmer season have been late and mixed.  The Canada Geese are back.

And they are starting to nest.

But appropriately, on April 1 some wintery weather dropped in to play a joke on us.

There is one spring flowering plant that cares not if it is snowy or cold.  The Skunk Cabbage creates a catalytic warming that melts the ground so it can bloom.  

First, it does not smell like a skunk. but the spathe does seem to have an odor that attracts flies and gnats.  I rather welcome its hardiness along with the daffodils.

Waterfowl also make an early spring arrival.  One favorite bird that always excites me is the Wood Duck.  Here are two gorgeous males that I found on a small pond lined with woodlands.

 It seems like there is always a greater number of males and on this morning there were six males vying for two females.  This female has made her choice and a rejected male is facing a determined stare from the female.

Another set of visitors to the pond on this chilly morning was a gang of Common Mergansers. They often sweep across a pond or river in a line suggesting a coordinated fishing strategy.

These early spring days are often a frustrating time where we are ready before the seasons are willing to make a clean switch to warmth. I am surely not alone in being ready for better days.

Paul Schmitt

A Winter Visitor

 Here in the Finger Lakes we have summer visitors and winter visitors.  Fewer birds choose to end their winter migration this far north.  One that has attracted me is the Horned Lark.  I first saw and photographed them in the summer of 2017 at Cape St. Mary's in Newfoundland.  We were there to see the colonies of Northern Gannets that nest on the high ocean bluffs, but one day produced such dense fog that I needed to find something inland from the ocean fog.

There were dozen of Horned Larks nesting in the highland grasses.  They were busy gathering insects to feed their young, and were fairly likely to come close if one picked a spot and just stayed there. Larks seem to be very skittish.  It was damp and it showed on the matted plumage.  The ends of the black head stripes normally stand up to resemble a horn.

Horned Larks are small (7 inches long) and slender (32 grams).  Compare that to the American Robin that is 10 inches and a relatively bulky 77 grams.  Getting close is a must for photography.

This winter, we have many flocks of one to four dozen birds foraging mostly where farmers have spread manure mixed in with bedding straw.  But they don't range widely  while feeding like in summer. Today was the first time in about six attempts where any Horned Lark came close.   

It appears that the winter has been hard on their feathers as most of them seemed disheveled, perhaps exaggerated by the strong winds. 

 

I don't expect to see them here much longer, as the days are growing longer and the nesting grounds are calling them.

 Paul Schmitt

Managing a Hard Winter

One key to managing this pandemic is staying active, and the hard winter we are experiencing is not making it easier. One benefit of living in the Finger Lakes is the number of outdoor activities that avoid close human contact.  Some of my early winter outings were to nature preserves close to Corning.  Plymouth Woods is small and rarely visited by more than a few people a week. At the entrance is a plaque featuring a timely poem by Robert Frost. 

I love exploring this small preserve to explore the intimate landscapes it reveals.  This thorny vine in early January still is showing a trace of green.  It's tough for sure.

 

Steege Hill is another nearby preserve, but it has miles of trails and some serious elevation changes.  It's a real workout in deep snow.  On one outing I used a phone app to remotely trigger my camera as I walked up a trail towards white birch trees. This is good way to take group photos with a tripod to hold the camera.  Easy.

In winter, the snow cleans up landscape so it is less cluttered.  Often, objects are seen more clearly. We are programmed to see familiar objects in cloud shapes, and likewise to see human forms in things like a tree stump.  Do you see a rather bizarre Root Man in this image?

Perhaps it was time to explore a little farther from home.  Snowy Owls are regular visitors when the winter becomes severe. Driving a few hours north, I found this owl perched at a roadside power pole.

My preference would have been to cross over to Canada for owls, but the border is closed.  Aren't we all accumulating a long list of deferred plans?  It just keeps getting longer each month.

Staying close to home, I met up with David Arkin to explore the Finger Lakes Land Trust preserve at Logan Hill in Candor.  It was one of the rare sunny winter days.  It was rich with animal tracks and a wide variety of habitats. It's now on my list for spring and summer wildflowers and birds.

We were so intrigued by Logan Hill that we returned to explore more with Betsy Darlington, who donated the preserve along with her husband for all to enjoy.  One highlight was discovering this fresh evidence of Pileated Woodpecker activity. There must have been a huge nest of Carpenter Ants in this old tree.

On the subject of deferred plans, one often frustrated plan for me was to capture an image of the full moon setting behind the iconic Little Joe tower in Corning.   Over about three years, I have plotted the shifting location of the moon relative to the tower, only to have my plan killed by complete cloud cover. I recall one morning when it all looked promising as the moon angled on a track down to the tower, only to be hidden by a fog bank rolling down the river valley.  Finally on a very cold morning in late January, I stood on the Chemung River dike and was rewarded with an image that I love.

You can see that the clouds advancing from the west could have ruined the image easily.

Installing a photo blind in my backyard and collecting some appropriate natural features, provided me with hours of enjoyment without the need to travel.  This Tufted Titmouse was captured at it hopped off its perch.  It was a matter of fortunate timing and selecting a fast shutter.

Sometimes, I am surprised at results that bring out a common bird's coloration with greater subtlety than we casually recognize.  That was the case for this elegant Mourning Dove that posed on a dead tree stump.  Doves are the earliest arrivals at our bird feeder most days.  Often they are shadows in the darkness.

Birds aren't the only visitors to my photo setup.  Gray Squirels police for sunflower seeds since my feeders are pretty safe from them. They are as alert for hawks as the small birds.

The White-breasted Nuthatch prefers a downward approach when foraging.  Each bird has a unique foraging habits and its is working down the tree.

In addition to the bird blind, another part of my strategy for tolerating the enforced distancing is to get out with my snowshoes.  As the snowfall became deeper, they became a great way to beat the cold and get some exercise. It was also another chance to practice using my phone to trigger the camera.

 By far, the time in the photo blind was the most productive activity in my plan to manage this hard winter and COVID.  It was rewarding when a beautiful bird slipped in swiftly to a perch that I had positioned for it.  I will end with two that were memorable to me.  The first reward was when a shy male Northern Cardinal appeared.  His posture indicated his alertness.

 

 

A second favorite was this inquisitive Carolina Wren that arrived to inspect this tree cavity shortly after I installed it.  Ten years ago, Carolina Wrens were unusual visitors, and now there are several pairs making daily visits.  

How to manage the double whammy of a hard winter and a pandemic?  A daily list of activities including some things one loves (plus the chores like clearing deep snow) and getting outside in low density areas for some fun. That's what works for me.

Paul Schmitt