Dancing with the Turkey Vultures

As the climate warms, species that one might customarily see rarely sometimes become more visible.  Turkey vultures are now very common in central New England, whereas before, they were more common on Cape Cod.  Further south, they are quite common.  On our recent visit to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, we happened to encounter a flock of turkey vultures, hanging about in some wonderfully abstract looking trees.

I know, everyone really wants to know if we saw the ponies.  Yes, we did, but they were, shall we say, working.  They hang out in the marsh and they eat.  My lens, though long, wasn’t long enough but more frustratingly, not once did they look up from their work so that I could get a shot with them looking at me.  Pictures of ponies with their heads in the marsh grass are, at least in my opinion, rather boring. So, not  wanting to be a turkey (sorry), we decided to hang with the turkey vultures.

I’ve been told on good authority (by my daughter, who really is a great authority) that when we think we’re seeing hawks in the sky, we may well be seeing turkey vultures.  They are about the same size (the turkey vultures appearing to be just a bit bigger), but they are far more social it seems to me.

However, social, on this day it wasn’t clear how well they were getting along.  They seemed very restless.

Of course, spring was in the air, and you know what that means.

Leaving us with much to consider.

Tech note:  All images shot with a Nikon D700 and 28 – 300 lens.  That lens is supposed to be mediocre at best according to “the internet.”  ”The internet” is wrong on that score.  Converted to black and white in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Happy Holidays

(Don’t eat too much!)  Seriously, enjoy.

The Delicate Balance

OK, so what is wrong with this picture?

Actually, if you’re from New England, this is a softball question to be sure.  The answer is now burned indelibly on your mind. Pretty fall foliage, just past peak, leaves falling onto the fresh white snow…. This is a really really bad combination. The night before, the scene looked more like this.

Just three weeks later and this collision would not have occurred.  Eight inches of snow in New England?  Water off a ducks back.  (Frozen water, but still.)  No big deal. Nobody gets hurt unless they are driving crazy.  And fall foliage?  We love it.  But the two just don’t mix.  We are reminded by such events of the very delicate balance that exists in nature.  Trouble can be far closer than we imagine.  A minor adjustment in climate here, an accident there and the results can make life very difficult for us.  Perhaps we should be cautious about tipping the balance.

A New Portfolio – The Last Witnesses

I’m happy to announce the creation of a new portfolio at my web site, The Last Witnesses.  You can find it by clicking here, and then going to the portfolio drop down box.

All the residents of the four towns taken to create the Quabbin Reservoir, Enfield, Greenwich, Prescott and Dana, were off the land by late in 1938.  Their dwellings were removed to ground level, and most of the locations of their homes and farms were subsequently flooded.  You can still see signs of what was, however, at a number of the 55 gates that surround the Reservoir.  Probably the most famous site is at Dana Common, a two mile walk in at Gate 40.  There you can see the town Common with its roads and cellar holes.  You feel like you’re in a small New England town, except of course for the fact that you only see cellar holes.  No buildings, and no people.

There is another sign of life, however.  Along many of the paths and roads inside the gates, you will find trees that had obviously been planted, and cared for, by the residents.  You find them along the sides of roads, in meadows and at Dana Common.  These trees are now of course very old.  I’m guessing that some are over 150 years old.  But, amazingly, many are still open for business.  They seem to show their age in the winter, and the many twists, turns and gnarls of their branches suggests that they have seen much.  In the spring, however, most of these obviously quite tough maples and oaks seem to make a come back. Of course, there are many former residents of the four towns who are still very much alive.  These trees though still stand in the same locations as representations of the lives of those residents. They’ve been watching over the land, day in and day out, since 1938.  It seems likely that they will continue to be the last witnesses for many years to come.

A New E-Book: Boston’s Water Now Available

I’m proud to make available a new collection of imagery from the Quabbin in PDF format.  This is available for download at no charge.  If you are interested in prints, please contact me.  Thanks.  Update: Iphone and ipad users, I’m sorry what you’re seeing doesn’t look right!  please go to this link, where things should look a bit better.  

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