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Some Creatures Great And Small. June 8, 2011

Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.
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Looking over my photos of the last few days, I realized I had several animal (or animal-related) shots which might work as one post, so… here goes!

A beaver lodge up in Windsor, taken the day of the big storms (sorry, no beaver today!):

Mallards on a bit of open water nearby:

While we’re in a fowl mood, a family of geese in Williamstown:

That one was taken from atop my car, with the wind gusting so hard it very nearly blew me and my tripod off!

Here’s a doe in a field in Charlemont at day’s end:

…and a sweet little guy who plopped onto the hood of my car as I was bulling through low branches on a seldom-traveled old woods road:

Surprised me, I must say!  🙂

And lastly, a digression from the “wildlife” theme but kind of a nice photo without another place to be, here’s a horse in a pasture of buttercups in Williamstown:

It sometimes seems that image-worthy scenes present themselves in thematic clusters, but I suppose it’s more a mater of keying into one aspect of my surroundings and going with that flow.

Anyway, that’s all for now.

G’night.

Ducks (Nearly) Unlimited. February 14, 2011

Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.
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After chasing a non-existent (well, perhaps “cloud-obscured” would be more accurate) moonrise this afternoon, I headed home through the back roads of Montague.  It’s pastoral and fairly open there, with views of the Connecticut River.  I figured if the light was right I might get lucky with a landscape photograph.

Crossing the much smaller Mill River I noticed movement off to my right – birds coming own through the trees to roost!  I turned around at the next crossroad and went back, and sure enough, there were hundreds of ducks landing in the water and climbing out on the banks:

…with dozens more landing every few minutes.  The clouds were thick but occasionally broken, and I waited for breaks of light – Gizmo likes a lot of light.

These birds were fun to watch, with their flashes of color and their ungainly walk:

Perhaps it’s the anthropomorphism prevalent in the advertising world, but they seemed to me to be talking to each other.

Here a passing Hen flipps off three too-cool-to-look Malards:

…And always, more birds coming in:

They looked like they were settling in for the night, huddling in pairs and little groups, tucking their heads under their wings; it wasn’t dusk yet, but perhaps they felt the weather coming in.

I headed for home, and it was raining before I got there.

Smart birds.