Just the last handful of photos from Tennessee and New York, no real theme to be found.
We didn’t do a lot of sightseeing or exploring on this trip, partially because we had to spend a lot of it traveling, partially because it was freaking hot in Tennesee. On Wednesday I believe, we moseyed over to David (Davey) Crockett’s Birthplace State Park, just to poke around a bit, but we had other places to go that day so we didn’t spend a lot of time there, and quite frankly I’m not terribly fascinated with seeing authentic replicas of log cabins and fences (my knowledge of Davey Crockett comes almost entirely from The Wide World of Disney on Sunday evenings, but I can’t recall him accomplishing anything groundbreaking.) Anyway, all I found to photograph there was a cooperative damselfly.
I just tried to pin down what species this was, with no luck – those orange eyes don’t seem to be appearing anywhere, but this may be because this isn’t normal coloration, occurring soon after a molt or something. We need a closer look at this frame:
Not too shabby, especially since I wasn’t using the macro lens, but only the 18-135mm. and this one held still well enough that my brother could slide his hand in underneath and get it to climb aboard:
That adequately expresses scale, I believe.
On the property where we were staying, there were several examples of minor wildlife to be found, including amphibians that had recently departed the tadpole stage in some drainage creeks near the barn – the same ones where bear tracks appeared from time to time. My brother managed to snag one and I took it out into bright sunlight for some detail shots.
This one also defeated my attempts at identification, largely because it’s only recently entered the terrestrial stage and so isn’t adult size or coloration yet. It was no more than 10mm in length, so I’m leaning towards one of the chorus frogs, but none of the identification guides that I checked seemed to match these markings. This has been an ongoing issue because virtually all such guides show only adult specimens, often just one color variation as well, so anything that doesn’t fall into this category raises questions.
I’m a lot surer about this next one, though.
Before there was even the suggestion that I’d be out there myself, I’d told my brother it seemed likely this species would be around, so it seemed fitting that he found one while I was there, and in fact I assisted in its capture. This is an eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus,) but a young one, less than half size. The image is this soft because i was shooting through the acrylic sides of a small aquarium, the best thing that we had to photograph it within while preventing an escape – there was no chance I was going to snag any photos of this without restraint. They can get quite large and with much more distinct markings, up to perhaps 16-20cm in length, though this one was roughly 10 itself – crickets were a big meal for it. But yes, certainly the gnarliest-looking reptiles we have in the area.
And then, on to New York. At the Gatsby mansion, the ospreys were quite active, though initially the skies were pretty crummy since we were there between rains. While I had the camera in hand, I was up near the mansion helping with some maintenance issue when a commotion overhead drew my eyes up, and I just barely snagged the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) cruising low overhead, being harassed by ospreys.
I hadn’t brought along the long lens, which would have been an additional bag not to mention that I wasn’t going to even think about putting it into checked baggage, so this was with the old Canon 100-300 L lens at 300mm – the eagle was close overhead, is what I’m saying. Shame about the lighting.
But we ended up leaving and returning in the evening, closing on sunset, and the light was better then. I kept hearing an osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in a nearby tree, but my attempt at stalking it didn’t quite pan out – it saw me and took flight before I’d spotted its perching area, though I did get several frames as it was departing.
The setting sunlight was more dramatic this time, but you can also see the meal that I’d interrupted. We’d driven past several roadside nests and it was clear that the young had hatched, so this was a meal just for the parent, or perhaps an unwed specimen, because I’m quite sure the osprey did not depart a nest (I was actually standing under an unfinished one, far too close to be allowed near an occupied one.)
A quick peek at this year’s brood of eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus):
Look at those little ears! This guy paused in the driveway and I crept up on it as close as it would allow, which wasn’t half as close as I would have liked, but I was already in plain sight so there was a distinct limit. I also spotted a tiny fawn, little more than terrier size, but it scrambled through a fence before I could bring the camera to bear. I’d just been thinking how odd it was that I hadn’t seen a deer yet on the property…
And finally, sunset. This region of New York produces ten times the number of fascinating sunsets than what I can see around here, so I was taking advantage, and while this one wasn’t stunning, I still appreciate having something on the one day that I was available to shoot it.
And when you have a cooperative osprey, even if it is a little distant, you take advantage of it. But the better one came from going wider.
I closed down the aperture to produce the starburst effect from the bright sun, but the crepuscular rays were produced by the clouds and they complemented each other nicely. Moreover, the temperature was about perfect, the lake quiet and almost devoid of boaters – curiously, since it was Memorial Day weekend, but off and on rain storms had driven most of them back to harbor. The water was still too cold for decent swimming, though, but I got a little wading in anyway. Not too bad for one full day in NY at least.