Happy Fourth of July!

The night sky lighting up, on the eve of Independence Day:

Photo by NB Hunter (3July2020). All rights reserved.

A Late Winter Blast

A week of bitterly cold and snowy weather has reduced my outdoor activities and wildlife sightings. But, I still have enough images to get the attention of friends in warmer places, especially those who enjoy winter in the snow belt, vicariously!

The snow pack is several inches deep, with powder over a fragile base. Snowshoes aren’t really necessary, but they provide stable footing and easier travel on the crusty base, drifts and uneven terrain.

Red squirrels have mastered winter survival. When not foraging on a cache of spruce cones or at the bird feeders, they scurry in and out of cozy snow tunnels for shelter and predator avoidance.

Bad weather sends critters to backyard feeders, birds and mammals alike. Mourning doves flutter in and explode away often, consuming large amounts of grain during their brief visits.

March is the most challenging time of year for deer, especially when snow cover restricts mobility and buries food. Deer browse woody plants in winter, but it doesn’t take long for this staple to disappear as well. A five to six foot “browse line”, evident on this Northern White-cedar, indicates that deer have eaten just about everything within reach.

The big picture: a late winter landscape in Central New York.

Photos by NB Hunter, 2019. © All rights reserved.

A Winter Wonderland in January, 2019

Snowstorms, wind and bitter cold can greatly reduce wildlife sightings in our winter landscapes. Wildlife numbers reach an annual low, most surface waters freeze, and  animals conserve energy by moving less and living in sheltered habitats. Adding to the difficulty of wildlife viewing in winter is the ethical constraint that demands minimum disturbance of animals that are trying to survive four or five months of resource scarcity.

Sometimes I respond to the challenges of winter by photographing wildlife around backyard feeders, then shifting my focus to landscapes when out and about. Such was the case most of this month.

Wave ice on a partially frozen pond

The peace, quiet and virgin landscape that follow a heavy snow create the illusion of  the isolation and solitude associated with a wildland journey

With the right perspective, blue skies dress up surface waters, adding color to otherwise monochromatic scenes

Over time, spring water seeping and freezing over a limestone rock face takes on a life of its own

A favorite cattail marsh, the tussocks accented with a blanket of deep, fluffy snow

A small, nondescript creek morphs into a thing of beauty when buried in snow

The visual effects of subzero temperatures and morning sun on local waters

Dense vegetation along a fence row, performing double duty: wildlife habitat and wind reduction; these are drifts on the lee side (1 of 2 images)

Powdery snow, blown and drifted across corn stubble on the lee side of a brushy fence row

The sentinel: An old, battered sugar maple tree that refuses to concede to wind, snow, ice, salt and grazing cattle. She still sparkles in a coating of frost.

Photos by NB Hunter (January, 2019). © All rights reserved.

 

 

Holiday Joy

Resident geese on a late evening flight to roost

Photo by NB Hunter. © All rights reserved.

Holiday Greetings from Central New York

Wetland in late evening; 2Nov2018

A mink, busy hunting frogs in a nearby stream and caching them in a den under tree roots; 2Nov2018

Winter arrives early, triggering a frantic search for recently buried red oak acorns; 15Nov2018

A wintry scene on the river; 23Nov2018

Shallow ponds are freezing quickly, leaving little open water for foraging muskrats; 28Nov2018

The main whitetail rut is winding down, but not over;  he’s tending an estrous doe; 29Nov2018

Eagles weathering the storm, with a watchful eye on ice-free surface water; 7Dec2018

After the storm: a red-bellied woodpecker probes dead wood high in the crown of a declining sugar maple; 9Dec2018

Photos by NB Hunter. © All rights reserved.

The Wonderful Month of June

A favorite freestone stream in the mountains, alive with aquatic insects and foraging trout

A massive White Pine with centuries of stories locked within

Tiger Swallowtails “mud-puddling” to ingest nutrients and improve reproductive success

A chatty House Wren, rewarding me for the nest box I hung on a garden post

Taking a grooming timeout while guarding the nearby nest and solitary eaglet.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird incubating 1-3 eggs; they’ll hatch in about 2 weeks

An egg-laying Snapper; she dug her nest in roadside gravel near her swampy habitat 

A month-old whitetail fawn learning about mobility

Wild mustard colonizing a fallow field on a dairy farm

Photos by NB Hunter (June, 2018). © All rights reserved.

A Winter Walk (March, 2018)

Finally, after three storms and several feet of snow, the sun came out. I buckled up my snowshoes and set out to accomplish three things: pack trails for future walking and access to the property; capture some unusual, late winter scenes; and share this lovely late-winter day with friends who might be unable or unwilling to navigate waste-deep snow cover.

My woodland walk started at the house, followed a trail dating back to the construction of a small dairy farm in 1854, then looped back to the house. The adventure covered less than a mile but was nearly two hours in duration.

Home; the “1854 House”

A Wild Apple Tree

164 year-old farm trail with a packed snowshoe path in the center (1 of 3)

Chickadee feeding on White Spruce seeds in a windbreak/wildlife habitat planting (1 of 2)

Return trip down the woodland trail

Wild apple tree in snow and morning light; mission accomplished!

Photos by NB Hunter (15March2018). © All Rights Reserved.

Friends

Real friends, like stone walls, stand the test of time.

Photo by NB Hunter (2/28/2018)

Mid Winter Memories

Frozen rain drops on White Pine needles

A curious White-breasted Nuthatch

Female cardinal

Chickadee

Red Squirrel with piebald coloration (leucism)

Farmland whitetails foraging in a storm

A dairy farm at first light

Snowy Owl gliding toward a late morning perch

Photos by NB Hunter (January, 2018). © All Rights Reserved.

Road Hunting in Winter

I often travel on personal “auto” tours to view and photograph wildlife in winter. More often than not, this is the only practical way to capture wildlife images while minimizing hardship – to photographer and wildlife alike. My loops incorporate secondary roads and parking areas near good wildlife habitat (ideally, a variety of food sources in close proximity to dense evergreen cover; sunny, south-facing slopes are critical winter habitat as well). Specific routes depend on snow depth, time of day, road conditions and so on. Valley farms are the key component of most loops.

Rough-legged Hawk hunting farm fields (my first photo of this stunning species)

Mature Eastern Wild Turkey gobbler searching for wild apple drops in a storm

Wild turkeys foraging for waste grain (corn) during a January thaw (1 of 2)

Snowy Owl at rest in corn stubble (1 of 2)

A failed Snowy Owl search – but a landscape memory for the trip home

Photos by NB Hunter (January 4 – 11, 2018). All Rights Reserved.