Daniel Wesbster Wildlife Sanctuary in the Spring

I visited the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary located in Marshfield MA one early morning last week. This is a beautiful area with miles of trails that traverse grasslands, woodlands, and wetlands. There are two bird blinds located at each end of a small pond area. Here is a photo of one of the blinds that I took from the blind across the water. Notice the lovely colors of Spring emerging in the tree buds as well:

Here is an image of a Barn Swallow that I shot from inside of the blind.

Here is a White Egret which flew overhead during my walk.

Tree Swallows at the nesting boxes:

This one cracks me up. Looks like it is being shot out of a cannon. :-)

A Red Bellied Woodpecker:

A Pileated Woodpecker:

A Common Grackle:

A lovely Bluebird:

Bluebird in flight:

It was a beautiful morning to be out in Nature. Here is one final image of the beautiful colors of Spring:

Weymouth Herring Run MA

Each year as many as 250,000 river herring come back to Whitmans Pond to mate and lay eggs. Nature amazes me.......these fish travel all the way up from the Carolina Coast, and it's a literal uphill battle as they make their way upstream against the current to reach their final destination.

Here is a resting pool along the run, where I saw thousands of fish the other day.

There is always a large presence of Black Crowned Night Herons along the run, just waiting for a feast.

The Cormorants are also in the area to feed on the Herring.

It was a lovely Spring afternoon for my visit, and will be returning again soon.

Spring Flowers

The weather here in Southern New England has been very rainy. We did have a couple of good days, and on those days I went out shooting wildlife. Those photos will soon be shared on the blog.

One rainy day last week, I had the opportunity to shoot some flowers on a friend's light board. I headed to her house with a plethera of Spring flowers. She commented that her house was looking like a funeral home. :-) I just couldn't decide on what to buy so I went overboard and bought too much. It was all good though, as you will see from the photos.

It was a lot of fun and something different to do. I really enjoyed it. Next up, wildlife. Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday 4/24/2019

Wordless Wednesday 4/17/19

Swan from Weymouth Estuary

In my previous blog post, I told you about a swan that possibly needed some medical attention that I photographed at the Estuary in Weymouth MA.

The swan has an abnormally on it's left cheek. I wasn't sure if this was a "tufting" that was a natural occurring abnormally, or if it was possibly some type of infection that would require medical treatment.

I first contacted the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth, which provides critical veterinary treatment to sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife. The kind woman I spoke with referred me to call The Animal Rescue League of Boston. I called and spoke with another amazing woman and texted her some of the photos I had taken of the swan. She felt this was something that should be looked into and said they wouldn't be able to get out to find it for several days. She in turn referred me to call the Weymouth Animal Control Officer, which I then called and left a voicemail with all of the information.

I texted the Animal rescue League for any updates on this swan this morning. She just returned my text and stated that the ACO of Weymouth has been searching for this swan but can not find it because the swans over there move up and down the waterway, and are not as easy to find as swans who live in one main contained body of water.

As one of my friends and fellow nature photographers pointed out.....this is not a good time of the year for the swans to be separated. IF this swan has a nesting partner it would be very difficult for the partner to be left alone on the nest with no support. So perhaps it's a good thing that this swan hasn't been located and brought in for a medical check and possible treatment. I'm hoping things work out well for this guy (I'm assuming it's a male) and I'm going to go out a few times this week to look for him myself and see how he's looking and behaving. I will let you know if I have any further updates.

Weymouth Estuary Osprey, Weymouth MA

I took a ride down to the Estuary the other day to check out the Ospreys that have returned. Mama was sitting on the nest on the platform way off in the distance and I didn't get any decent photos of her. Dad however, was much closer to me as he was hanging out on a closer platform.

I'll be writing a blog post in the next day or two about a swan that I photographed during this visit. It is a swan with a possible injury that I have been concerned about and have contacted a few different agencies for help. Stay tuned.

Snowdrops in the Spring

You may be thinking that there are going to be more snow photos featured in today's blog post, after seeing all of the recent posts showing the Spring snow in Northern New England.

Today's post is about the plant variety of Snowdrops. I think most of us ( I know I am) are all set with seeing any more snow of the cold wet variety that falls from the sky. On a recent walk with a couple of the Grands, we found some pretty Snowdrops that the kids were interested in investigating.

There's nothing like the feeling of the first walk in Nature in the Spring!

Vermont Maple Open House Weekend 2019

Today I am sharing the final post of my recent snowy weekend to Vermont. Every year I look forward to the annual Vermont Maple Open House Weekend. It's a rite of Spring for me.......as well as a rite of Spring for the Vermonters as well, I would imagine. Some years I go up with my family, and other years I go up with friends. This year I led 11 members of my camera club on a photographic road trip to everything maple......and as Mother Nature had her own plans.....everything snow!!

We woke up Saturday morning to the most brilliant Winter Wonderland. There were still some light flurries in the morning, which quickly ended, and by the afternoon the sun came out. It was as if we were opening the pages of a beautiful story book and stepping into the book itself.

Our first stop of the morning was to visit Three Peaks Maple Syrup in Newark VT

This was my first time here. It's a beautiful sugar house, and much more industrial than any of the other sugar houses I've visited. The workers were friendly and informative.

 There was plenty of food to sample and their syrup was absolutely delicious. We learned this sugaring operation is owned by a couple who spend most of their time over seas. They bought this huge acreage of land, and wanted to do something with it that was eco friendly. (I LOVE that they cared so much about protecting the land) They soon found themselves in the maple syrup business, which they previously knew nothing about. 

Freshly popped Maple popcorn was served.....

As well as freshly made maple cotton candy!

We were on a quest for more maple sweetness. I had read that Jed's Maple up in Derby VT was going to be serving wood fired maple pizza.......so that was the next stop on our itinerary. It was so worth the drive up there on the snowy roads. This is Route 114 in Newark, which is fairly unrecognizable due to the snow.

Here's a few photos taken at Jed's Maple. Again, the workers were friendly, informative, and welcoming. I just love to see the pride of the Vermonters.....It truly warms my heart.  Here is the wood fired maple pizza. Oh my Lord, it was absolutely delicious.

Here is an order of "Sugar on snow" being served up. 

And here are my friends enjoying it....

A few more photos from Jed's Maple....

And believe me when I tell you that everything they served was delicious.

Our final stop of the day was at Monroe's Sugarin' in Barton VT. If you are a regular follower on the blog, you will recognize this place from previous blog posts. My husband and I have become very good friends with the Monroe's and it's also become a favorite place of my camera club friends. The Monroe's are such a warm, generous, and welcoming family. I'm so blessed to have them in my life. Open house day for them is such a special time, and due to the cold temperatures, the other sugar houses we visited weren't boiling as the sap wasn't running. But the Monroe's SAVED some sap from earlier in the week just so they could be doing a boil during the Open House. I told you I loved these people!

As always, my favorite part of their open house......freshly hot boiled maple syrup served with a warmed raised donut to dip in it. Simply divine!!!!!!

Sugar On Snow.......it's the best at Monroes 

The hot dogs have been boiled in Maple Sap and then grilled....

Wow....this has been one long blog post. It was such a fun weekend shared with good friends. I'm already looking forward to next year's Open House Weekend.

Here is a final photo of all of us taken with the moose located in Glover's Market in Glover VT. I set the timer on my point and shoot to get this photo.

Only in Vermont!