Nesting American Bald Eagles
This afternoon, I was able to make another visit to the American bald eagle nest just North of Brattleboro, VT on the Connecticut River. A few weeks ago during a visit to the same location, I was able to photograph a single adult bald eagle guarding its rather large nest. This time around, a dark-colored juvenile bald eagle was clearly visible standing on the edge of the nest near its parent.
At times, the younger eagle would disappear into the nest, leaving the adult eagle watching carefully from its perch along the rim of the nest. It was intense seeing such a large bird staring down at me from above as we floated by the nest.
Butterfly at Rest
During my morning walk today, I encountered the most wonderful butterfly with black wings and white edges. After initially concluding that it was “just a black and white butterfly,” I noticed traces of iridescent blue color when the light hit the butterfly’s wings just so. The butterfly was flying from branch to branch in a small apple tree near the side of the road, almost at eye level.
Amazingly, when the butterfly lifted its wings, the underside was decorated with the most beautiful orange spots. This was proving to be the most colorful black and white butterfly that I had ever seen.
Morning Walk Along the Ashuelot River
Thanks to a very early morning wake up from my Sheltie Chuck, I was out of the house just after 6am this morning with my camera in hand. I decided to head over to the Ashuelot River near the Cheshire Medical Center here in Keene, which is one of my favorite places to explore.
My first stop was beneath the Route 9 bridge that passes over the Ashuelot River just South of the medical center. Having photographed this spot many times in the past, I pushed myself to find a few new compositions. For the first shot, I positioned myself close to one of the support pillars on my side of the river, using it to create a frame for the supports on the opposite side that were reflected on the surface of the river.
Next, I noticed pair of cattails catching the early morning light in the foreground as I looked South to the footbridge that crosses the river at the North end of the Ashuelot River Park.
Making my way over the the footbridge that denotes the northern part of the Ashuelot River Park, I captured the first rays of early morning light striking the trees along the riverbank. This was taken looking South into the park from the center of the footbridge.
The last photograph shows the wavy grass beneath the water below the bridge. A circular polarizer helped to cut the glass-like reflections on the surface of the river to reveal the color and swirly details below.
Thanks for the nudge to get out of bed early, Chuck 🙂
Great Blue Heron Lunch Break
After eating my lunch today, I headed over to the Ashuelot River Park here in Keene, NH with my camera to see if I could find anything interesting in between rain showers. When I arrived at the overlook for the dam, I could see a Great Blue Heron hunting over by the West Street bridge that passes over the river. After a short walk, I was able to position myself on that bridge, about 20 feet from where the heron was hunting.
At first, the heron was hidden in the foliage along the river bank, but he eventually emerged and began to descend the river bank.
Next, I watched the heron slowly and methodically crossing the river, pausing to look for food along the way.
Finally, the heron stepped up on to a small island within the river to continue his hunt for a lunchtime meal.
