Category Archives: Birds

Marton Road Area Birds

By jimblock | Published May 19, 2013

Here is a slide show of photos taken yesterday morning in the old orchard east of Marton Road and in the brush just to the west, in Windsor, Vermont. Species represented are: Blue-winged Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, Veery, Indigo Bunting, and Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Tagged Blue-winged Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Magnolia Warbler, Veery, Vermont, White-throated Sparrow, Windsor | Comments Off

Birding Boston Lot

By jimblock | Published May 15, 2013

On a cold clear morning in Lebanon, NH today, a group of hardy birders explored Boston Lot, finding 46 or so species. I only saw a few of these well, but captured some in my lens. The trophy bird for me was a Wood Thrush. It sang constantly hidden in the forest. It was when I left the group and waited at the edge of the woods for it to show itself that I got some photos. I feel this is the most handsome of our local thrushes.

Wood Thrush at Boston Lot

Here is a slide show of a few of the photos I took this morning at Boston Lot.

Tagged Boston Lot, Lebanon, Wood Thrush | Comments Off

King Bird Sanctuary Trail

By jimblock | Published May 14, 2013

The trees are in glorious bloom right now at the King Bird Sanctuary in Etna, NH. The birds are arriving with some passing through and some settling in to raise a family. I just posted some photos from this great spot on a new Trails of the Upper Valley page HERE. The next week or maybe two will probably be the best time of the year to visit. Directions are on the Trails page.

Black-and-White Warbler

Also posted in Outdoors | Tagged birds, Black-and-White, cherry, Chestnut-sided, Chipping Sparrow, Common Yellowthroat, crabapples, Eastern Bluebird, Etna, Gray Catbird, Hanover, House Wren, King Bird Sanctuary, King Sanctuary, Least Flycatcher, malus, Nashville Warbler, NH, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Wilson's warbler, Yellow-rumped Warblers | Comments Off

Great Gray Owl encounter

By jimblock | Published February 7, 2013

Great Gray Owl

Only a Great Gray Owl and I enjoyed the early morning light in the frozen marsh along the AT on the trail to Velvet Rocks in Hanover this morning. I was privileged to spend from 7:54 to 8:32 AM alone with this magnificent owl. The sun was at its back pretty much the whole time, and while I love photographing with back light, I generally prefer birds with front light. But I sure wasn’t complaining. This was going to be better than the 7 seconds I spent with the owl Sunday morning.

I bushwhacked in to the marsh taking the shorter but more challenging route. As I emerged from the woods there it was right in front of me. I shot this at ISO 1600 with EC=+2.67 for those of you who understand what these numbers mean. Since the owl was strongly backlit I needed to add light to keep it from being a silhouette. This is a full-frame image—no cropping applied.

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To the right is the tree where I first found it, photographed three days earlier. There were a number of photographers and birders hoping to catch sight of the owl that day.

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Meanwhile out on Trescott Road the cars were piling up Monday morning.

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The owl mainly ignored me while seemingly scanning for game. It eventually moved to a snag and then to another snag making its way to the boardwalk. From there it flew into a small corner of the wetland to the east of the boardwalk. Below is an uncropped photo taken with a 300mm lens with a “1.5 magnification” camera.

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The pair of photos below may give you a feel for the scene. You can see the boardwalk with the owl in the tree nearby. And you can see where it stopped to the east of the boardwalk before leaving the wetland.

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