Category Archives: Wanderings

Birds, Wanderings

Eagles at Conowingo

5 Comments
I DID NOT TAKE THIS PHOTO!
(pretend to be surprised)
A couple times MevetS walked away
left me to *guard* his camera
let me click the shutter

maybe feel like *one of them*
the people with proper camera equipment
gathered there like paparazzi
(this is only a portion of their number)
I like crooked horizons, btw
so there!
Distorted like the sight of tens of eagles
(closer to hundreds, almost)
soaring over abandoned car parts
and bits of garbage washed ashore
at the foot of a dam
fishing among fishermen
and stray cats
scavenging for prey
looking for life to take
and unequivocally overlooking us
to their honor

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

I mean to make some point, but don’t have the patience with myself tonight to actually get there.

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I’m pretty convinced the Conowingo Dam in Maryland is THE place to go on the East Coast to see bald eagles in winter.

It’s spectacular!  Go there!

(bring your long lens, though)

I’ve never seen so many eagles at one time, in so many plumages… juvenile eagles are gorgeous!

The setting doesn’t befit them, but still it manages to be memorable and goosebump-making.

I’ll remember the people there with me and the sound of their cameras (hundreds of shutters clicking at once like the sound I imagine on the red carpet at a movie premiere) and feeling very, very lucky to have the chance to witness such a thing.

Go!

Birds, Crazy things i do to amuse myself, Snapshots, Wanderings

2/100

7 Comments

This is Otis… he’s a photographer from Virginia. We met today at the Conowingo Dam in Maryland where we were both photographing the bald eagles that congregate there in the winter.

Truth be told, with my little lens, I was mostly photographing the other people that were photographing the eagles…

Talk about camera envy!

I hesitate to call anyone I met today a stranger… there’s a certain camaraderie that exists naturally among birders and others who enjoy the outdoors. I do know, however, that many of us prefer to remain behind the lens. Otis was an exception to that and I was glad for his smile (and to know that much of his set-up, intimidating as it looks, is homemade and affordable.)

More about the eagles in another post.

This photo is #2 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at Flickr 100 Strangers or www.100Strangers.com

Books, Snapshots, Wanderings

Song of the wave

9 Comments

I’m about climbing the walls with it getting dark so early and having so little time outdoors most days.

I’m so bored I’m actually cooking!

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And I’m reading some, which is nice to have the time for again. This evening I re-read my tattered copy of Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet… which I first read back in high school. There’s an essay of his about gardening that I’ve been searching for, and haven’t yet found, but I did come across this beautiful poem by him online and thought I’d share it…

The strong shore is my beloved
And I am his sweetheart.
We are at last united by love, and
Then the moon draws me from him.
I go to him in haste and depart
Reluctantly, with many
Little farewells.

I steal swiftly from behind the
Blue horizon to cast the silver of
My foam upon the gold of his sand, and
We blend in melted brilliance.

I quench his thirst and submerge his
Heart; he softens my voice and subdues
My temper.
At dawn I recite the rules of love upon
His ears, and he embraces me longingly.

At eventide I sing to him the song of
Hope, and then print smooth hisses upon
His face; I am swift and fearful, but he
Is quiet, patient, and thoughtful. His
Broad bosom soothes my restlessness.

As the tide comes we caress each other,
When it withdraws, I drop to his feet in
Prayer.

Many times have I danced around mermaids
As they rose from the depths and rested
Upon my crest to watch the stars;
Many times have I heard lovers complain
Of their smallness, and I helped them to sigh.

Many times have I teased the great rocks
And fondled them with a smile, but never
Have I received laughter from them;
Many times have I lifted drowning souls
And carried them tenderly to my beloved
Shore. He gives them strength as he
Takes mine.

Many times have I stolen gems from the
Depths and presented them to my beloved
Shore. He takes them in silence, but still
I give fro he welcomes me ever.

In the heaviness of night, when all
Creatures seek the ghost of Slumber, I
Sit up, singing at one time and sighing
At another. I am awake always.

Alas! Sleeplessness has weakened me!
But I am a lover, and the truth of love
Is strong.
I may be weary, but I shall never die.

–Khalil Gibran

There’s something that happens about midway through this poem that causes me to laugh quietly… I’m not really sure what it is, but I love the smile it brings to my face.

Birds, Snapshots, Wanderings, Whatever

To a sanderling

7 Comments
by way of explanation…


You’re inescapable here
water comes and goes
hisses like fat
you run straight through it
(mostly ahead)
watching your toes
or the grains of sand that fall between


I love your frantic grace
your controlled panic


That you take the roaring alongside for granted
as if the world
is bound to shake every so often



Your world shimmers
is minute
and vast
your beak focused
preoccupied
looking for something, something, something
a single-minded obsession
(You’re mine.)

OK… fess up! What common birds do you obsess over?

(I also have a thing for skimmers and blue jays. And all manner of ducks.)

šŸ˜‰

Seasons, Snapshots, Wanderings

Comfort food

9 Comments

There’s nothing better on a blistery autumn day than a properly made pot pie.

(or a woolly bear caterpillar)

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Common folklore says the severity of the coming winter can be predicted by the amount of black on a woolly bear. It’s believed that if a woolly bear caterpillar’s brown stripe is thick, the winter weather will be mild and if narrow, the winter will be severe.

I’m guessing none of that mattered to the mantis.

(Click on the pic for a better view of the gory details)

Birds, Snapshots, Wanderings

How to photograph a tern

16 Comments
First find a marshy place

with a dock.
Around the dock, look for some comfortable pilings
where the bird might like to perch.
Then, on the pilings, photograph something for the tern
something beautiful and strange that will make it feel at home.
(I found a couple pelicans.)
Then wait with your camera.
Don’t speak.
Don’t move.
(Hide behind a piling if you have to.)


Sometimes a tern will come quickly
but it can just as well take hours.
Don’t be discouraged if one doesn’t come right away
wait.
Wait years if necessary
it doesn’t mean that your photo won’t be good.


When the bird comes
if it comes,
remain absolutely silent.
Wait until the bird poses for you
then quietly take frame after frame.
Move closer if you like.
Try not to cut off its tail feathers.
If you get too distracted or excited
and forget to show the best angle on the bird
or have too much pelican in the background
don’t worry.
(You can fix most anything in PhotoShop later.)


Just photograph the bird
with the prettiest splash of blue for a background
or green if that’s what you prefer
and remember to have fun.
Photograph the summer breeze, too
and the smell of the sunshine and the ruckus of the boat-tailed grackles.
Then wait for your bird to sing.
(With terns this is an optional step, of course.)
If it doesn’t sing, don’t be sad.
You did your best.


But if the bird sings,
it’s a very good sign.
(Terns seem to spend a lot of time looking at their toes when they should instead be singing.)
It helps to have a great lens when taking photos of birds.

It also helps to have a friend willing to loan you such a lens

be warned tho
you’ll want your own.
Santa
are you listening?
šŸ˜‰

Wanderings, Wildflowers

Too easily forgotten

2 Comments

A lecture and slide presentation yesterday sponsored by SHBO on NJ’s native orchids has me reviewing photos from this place and drooling with the memory of it.

One problem with waiting forever to process photos is the forgetting of details that happens in between.

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I’ve all these photos of drop-dead-gorgeous flowers and can hardly remember the name of one of them!

I’m thinking this one is Ragged Fringed Orchid, as the deeply fringed petals make the flower look pretty tattered.

Am I right? Anyone know? Jim?