Remember this guy, shouting out ” Carriage Rides Carriage Rides ” in historic downtown Plymouth.
“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.”
Browning Trail Camera
Night time activity is in full swing in the back yard. The animals seem to gravitate around my back shed. Lots of worms and grubs available. Browning Trail Camera catches the view in North Dighton, MA
Another use for trail cameras is security. It is an inexpensive way to keep an eye on your property. Most trail cameras provide a time stamp on the photo and video so you know exactly when the image was taken. A friend of mine, Michael Panarelli, of Dighton, Ma, builds, or should I say, ‘creates” beautiful bird houses. One of which I hide a trail camera inside after a mailbox thief in Dighton was caught taking my mail items. My cameras were in plain sight, but not anymore. The bird house was perfect. I have other bird houses from Mike, doing their intended duties for our backyard birds.
Mike Panarelli (pictured below) for more on Mike, visit HERE
Humming Birds back in North Dighton
The male ruby-throated hummingbird is unmistakable, with glossy green feathers above and a stunning gorget that glitters like its namesake. Even the females are easily identified, for this species is the only hummingbird that commonly appears in Massachusetts although other humming birds such as the green-and-orange female Rufous Hummingbird will visit your garden or feeders as well. Did you know, hummingbirds can enter a special state called torpor, similar to what we term hibernation in mammals, in which their metabolism slows down tremendously. A hummingbird in torpor is almost impossible to awaken! This can be beneficial during times food is scarce. Ruby-throated hummingbird is the only hummingbird that nests in the eastern United States.
Below, using GoPro Hero to film at 240 fps
below: A bit of fun with Topaz filters
Gray Tree Frog
Watch Here
Remodeling has to wait as a gray tree frog makes a temporary home on the work site. I spend days in the forest looking for them, without success. So they come to me this week. Apparently it enjoys the comfort of a roof slate and funnel. This is nothing unique for my deck, they visit often as seen here, Flower Container
When I see this frog on my deck or flower pot or garden, I cant help but wonder about chapter 1 of The Sixth Extinction. ( Elizabeth Kolbert) Wildlife preservation and the vanishing natural world surly grabs our attention.
Amphibians survived the dinosaur extinction just fine. Are they in peril now?
“Life is not a substance, like water or rock; it’s a process, like fire or a wave crashing on the shore. It’s a process that begins, lasts for a while, and ultimately ends. Long or short, our moments are brief against the expanse of eternity.”
― Sean Carroll, The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
― Sean Carroll, The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.
–Margaret Atwood
Cormorants
Once used as living fish hooks.
There’s scarcely a bird in the world as unfairly maligned, deemed the world over as a dreadful seed due to its awkward proportions and reportedly ravenous appetite for bait fish. But this discomfited family is of an ancient lineage, one of the oldest of all the birds and with similar ancestors reaching all the way back to the dinosaurs. Below, Plymouth Waterfront.
“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
nature’s sanitation engineer
Turkey Vultures, without them, your neighborhood just might be more foul smelling. Highly territorial, (below) red wing black birds are aggressive to almost anything that comes too close to their nesting. Including much larger creatures.
My Choice
Photoshop CS6 (wont pay for monthly CC) 99.9% of time, this is my first option for workflow.
Lightroom (my choice for white balance and noise correction)
On1 Photo Raw (I need to run this on my i7 – 5960 computer for best performance. But will run I7 920 with a bit of patience.)
Luminar (windows) and Luminar Creative Kit (mac only) (verdict is still out, but so far, I like it.
Topaz (best all around plugin for filters)
Nic Color Collection (never count this collection out)
Gimp (when on Linux)
Imagenomic (not as often as once, but still has it’s place)
Earth, still going strong
Recently, I came across some splendid nature videos on YouTube. It was here I found NaturesFairy’s channel. One such video titled, ( My favorite thing to do every spring is to go out searching for Wood Frogs) is something we often do in our area as well . Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There’s been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years. Today, a telephone pole was knocked down by a motorist in my neighborhood. The consequence, no electricity. Accordingly, I opened the shades to bring a full spectrum and dynamic light into the room to read by. I have read The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert, (Massachusetts) several times. NaturesFairy video, directs me to reference it once again on the topic of Frogs. Amphibians in general. (read the first chapter) Helen Keller has said that modern life has removed us too far from a direct contact with nature. A quotation I happen to be in agreement with. Are we are witnessing a similar mass extinction event happening in the geologic blink of an eye as Kolbert writes in The Sixth Extinction? I judge we will be ok, or at least the planet will. It’s nice to see someone be concerned about our natural world and our diverse natural science and NaturesFairy’s videos are up to the task.
Wood Frog
Gray treefrog?
Our thoughts, visions and fantasies have a physical reality. A thought is made of hundreds of electrochemical impulses.
Carl Sagan, 1934 to 1996
Oliver Mill Park Herring (Click Here)
it’s not spring unless the herring are swimming up local rivers, en route to their summer spawning areas. So put down those cell phones, pack up your young explorers and scientists, and experience nature at its finest in Middleboro Massachusetts, at Oliver Mill Park. Enjoy local history and a whole lot more.
Chloe at Oliver Mill Park With GoPro Hero 6
Six Minutes Of One Of The Greatest Shows On Earth
Click Here For Our Video
Check back for more videos including April 8th videos.
Northern Water Snakes, Oliver Mill Park
News Alert News Alert News Alert
“A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to
sea and do new things.”
Water Snakes at Oliver Mill Park
I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least – and it is commonly more than that – sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.–Henry David Thoreau
A Mouse’s Worst Nightmare
Out The Window
