Photo at Stony Brook also from Monday. This swan had just finished chasing 3 geese out of the water and was now chasing the forth it had cornered. Eventually the goose flew off, but the three that had climbed out kept calling for it.
Some kind of vole maybe? Whatever it's eating was good. I was less than 5 feet away taking pictures with a flash and it kept coming back.
I'm digging through all my old images and deleting everything that is completely out of focus. I keep finding folders full of out of focus and unlabeled pictures. At least part of this is because my backup drive just started complaining about not being big enough, and I don't want to upgrade to 1 tb yet.
Since Saturday dawned quite nicely I decided to go out and about. I went to Stony Brook after making sure there were not any attractions at Gillette Stadium to make returning impossible. I spent some time stalking the Ebony Jewelwings (Calopteryx maculata) and annoying a female Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) before deciding I'd had enough.
I then wandered around Moose Hill for about an hour, though most of my photos were of a Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa) in the parking lot. The Saturday Daily Photo was also from Moose Hill.
After staring at maps for a bit I decided to go somewhere new and decided on Wachusett Meadow in Princeton MA. After only one major wrong turn I got there, even though I found Audubon's directions overly complicated. It wasn't bad, even though I only walked around the North and South meadows due to lots of deer flies. I actually left early due to the flies too, so maybe it wasn't that great. So far this year though it is the only place I've seen Twelve Spotted Skimmers (Libellula pulchella), which are dragonflies with alternating black and white patches on their wings. Unfortunately the wanted to perch in an inaccessible part of the pond, and would periodically come out and perch where I could see them, but I'd get attacked by a deer fly each time and scare them, so I gave up getting a better pic.
The pond in the north meadow also has some of the tamest frogs I've seen anywhere but Garden in the Woods. You could also see just about every step in the metamorphosis with tadpoles, legged tadpoles and frogs with tails all in addition to some HUGE adults.
I also saw a bunch of these, though I'm not quite sure what they are my brain screamed leech. Not sure how well anyone can see, but they also have a red belly I didn't manage to photograph.
There was also this interesting little spider. I went by it twice, and the first time it seemed to just be walking along. The next time I went by I switched lenses to take more pics and it ballooned away. Apparently it had been making a wind catching web because it didn't like it's location.
This was my prey. Ebony Jewelwing - Calopteryx maculata. It has been almost a year since I saw them last. I've only seen this critter in two locations yet, Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA, and Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Norfolk MA. They're worth the search, though I still haven't managed a great picture yet. They like hiding in the darkest areas. Basically sunlit trails. Easiest place to find them is on the Curtis Trail in Framingham, but bring the mosquito spray. I found a dozen or so but paid for each one with a bite.
Other dragonflies were less shy, the meadowhawks in particular. I convinced several to sit on my fingers by slowly moving it up behind them and they just moved their feet to perch on me instead. They'll even stay still with a camera less than an inch from their faces. Makes for an easy subject.
Curious chipmunk.
More leaf veins. I'm a little nuts about the patterns in the fall.
Cormorant. I had to switch lenses, and this is still a heavily cropped view.
Surprise turtle, I spotted this guy trundling along under the duckweed. He was not happy spotting me, so I only got one photo.
I have a few comparison pics now.
Swans from the end of July. The babies were maybe 80% adult size.
One of the babies now. They're the same size as the adults now.
I noticed some bugs on the lily pads.
They've been multiplying, and seem to like patterns. A fast google search didn't turn up much.
Curious chipmunk.
More leaf veins. I'm a little nuts about the patterns in the fall.
Cormorant. I had to switch lenses, and this is still a heavily cropped view.
Surprise turtle, I spotted this guy trundling along under the duckweed. He was not happy spotting me, so I only got one photo.
I have a few comparison pics now.
Swans from the end of July. The babies were maybe 80% adult size.
One of the babies now. They're the same size as the adults now.
I noticed some bugs on the lily pads.
They've been multiplying, and seem to like patterns. A fast google search didn't turn up much.
