Young Eagles

Somehow, a couple years ago when we put up the purple martin house, I got to talking to the lady at the water company and the subject of birds came up.  She's had martins at her farm for years and she was happy to share information and tips and we've compared notes since.

This spring when I stopped in, we talked martins for a couple minutes and then she excitedly told me they had a nesting pair of eagles on the river bordering their farm.  What?!?  She had some pictures to show and told me where we could find the nest.  

Of course during lambing and baby Biscuit time I couldn't get away to go look.  When I stopped in the other day, I'd assumed the babies would have already fledged.  No, but they were close.  Tim and I headed to the river that afternoon.

The nest was easy to spot.  It's huge!  Probably three feet deep?  Maybe five feet across?

And yep, there's a young eagle.

Two eagles!

You should be able to click to biggify these pictures.

Poor Saint Tim is not out fishing today, rather working his butt off getting stuff caught up around the farm.  We've both had a busy spring.  Maybe the predicted storms will hold off this afternoon and he can make a Father's Day dash to the river.

Sunday Stills - Bird Stalking

Even here in the north country the birds are starting to return in hope of spring. The geese are back in droves, robins, starlings, waxwings and I’ve even heard a Meadowlark. Let’s get out and stalk some birds this week with our cameras.



I did actually go stalk some live birds the other day, but I like this bird sitting on the shoulder of Saint Francis just as well.



It was an idyllic location on the river. The light was nice, the goose only mildly perturbed with my stalking. He/she was gobbling bugs from the air and I got Completely Fixated with trying to capture that and it never crossed my mind to try for any different shots. Sigh.



This is the best I got. Apparently the rapid fire shutter burst capturing birds eating bugs falls under the same rapid fire shutter burst capturing sheep chewing their cuds. The shutter fires at the same speed as the chewing so you always get the same mouth open on fat sheep chewing cud and closed on cool bird gobbling May Flies.



If I'd thought to open up my aperture, this might have been a neat shot with the boat gliding one way and the bird the other. Completely Fixated.



"What is with you people?!?"

For more Stalking Sunday Stills...

Spend The Afternoon

"Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you." Annie Dillard

I really should have been back at the farm working on fleeces, web stuff, etsy shop, artwork, getting ready for the fiber festival, cleaning the house, sealing the new concrete in the barn, that stupid messy garden, trimming Betsy's hairy armpits (don't ask) and a million other things.

Tim offered to take me to the river though for a spring paddle and I justified it (why do I feel like I need to?!?) by turning it into a photo assignment. I knew we'd see some birds (Sunday Stills this week) and I still needed to take a spring river shot to add to a set at Tim's shop. I'd tried to last year, but we got so much flooding rain that the river was always muddy.

This spring has been beautiful.













I love this picture. Evening is my favorite time of day. It wasn't really that dark, just the way the exposure worked out trying to get some sunbeams shining through the cloud above.



And this is a classic example of Ed's Sunday Stills assignment to turn around and look behind you. I thought the sun had set and the photos were done for the day. Nope. As I circled around, headed to the ramp I "accidentally" saw the golden light hitting the far river bank. Much more than I was able to capture...but a golden memory I can take with me.

Sunday Stills - Shadows

If you use your imagination, you can see me and my kayak, floating down the river. Interestingly, my shadow is, what do you call it, like the reflection (upside down) is also broadcast up on the bank as a shadow. So I'm floating along upside down as well as right side up.



A clearer shot...with a poison ivy crown.



Pollen on the river is, at the same time, beautiful and ugly. The shadow of the trees of the bank add an interesting element.



On "auto" my camera wanted to brighten this shot up to something not even close to what my eye was seeing. By manually speeding up my shutter speed, I got it...and the woods are lovely, dark and deep.

For more Shadowy Sunday Stills...

Dog Is My Co-Pilot

Saint Tim and I headed out for a quick paddle yesterday evening. RooRoo wants to go everywhere with us, so we decided to see what she thought about the river.



She took to it like a fish to...oh nevermind ;-).



Actually, I don't think she was too interested in wading in, but was happy to ride on the boat.

This loyal, adventuresome dog is still looking for a good home. Anyone need a co-pilot?

Calling All Birders

Last weekend Saint Tim and City Boy headed out on the river to fish. A stretch we'd not tried before. They came back with tales of a huge nest spotted in one of the bends. Sunday Tim and I headed back out so I could see it and try to get some pictures.



If I had to guess, I'd say the wingspan was about four feet.



A young bird (I'm guessing) who did not leave the nest as the other hovered overhead, clearly upset with me.



A hawk of some kind?



Nothing exactly matched in any of my bird books and the nest being on the river is throwing us as well. He/she is over to the right, just down from the nest in this picture. I kept the file sizes fairly large, so click to biggify.



Any thoughts?

Sunday Stills - Potluck

This past Sunday I went out on the river with Saint Tim. It was a beautiful spring day and we enjoyed the peaceful quiet of early morning. We were not far from town and could hear one of the downtown church's bells ringing out favorite hymns for almost an hour and it brought a new depth to "river church".



This is a click to biggify shot. I was trying to capture the water drops zinging off his line as he cast. I like the bokeh behind the tiny droplets.



I like the line in this shot, but am not crazy about the glare.** Good practice though and I'll know what to work on next time. Again, fun to biggify.



I'd just been wondering what animal(s) used the paths all along the river when I spotted this fox. Interesting markings with the black legs and white on his or her face. Wish this were sharper, but still glad to have it. A fox is always a good catch.



A reflective turtle.



A coot? Again, not a great background (could I complain any more about my pictures?!?), but a bird we'd like to remember. And how could you really complain about such a nice way to start a day.

For more Sunday Stills...

** When I showed these pictures to Tim he popped off with "That's my saintly glow, not often captured in photographs."

See what I have to live with???

Ice Capades

Saturday afternoon Saint Tim and I headed to the river. There is an otter family over there and I was hoping they'd be out and willing to work a photo shoot. No such luck, but it was a nice afternoon regardless.



Yes, he's wearing waders, but apparently it was still pretty cold.



I tried to catch some interesting pictures. I like the "conflict" between the still water and where it turns to riffles.



Little fairy houses?









Hobbit houses?



And a little good news for those of you jonesing for spring. These geese were actually flying north. They've been flying east (?). I'm trying not to think about it.