Winter New Hampshire Trip, Days 3 & 4
After a few slow days in New Hampshire, things finally picked up. Yesterday Chris and I explored Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge and then headed west to Vermont in hopes of finding some new bird species to photograph. We spotted a couple of Black-backed Woodpeckers way way off in the distance at Pondicherry and found a flock of uncooperative Bohemian Waxwings in Vermont, but otherwise the day was pretty slow. Today, however, our luck turned around.
We woke up early this morning to drive to Lake Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge in northern New Hampshire in hopes of seeing some moose. We found some fresh tracks in the area but didn’t see any moose, so we drove into nearby Maine to continue our search. There, we found a flock of Common Redpoll, Pine Grosbeaks, and Evening Grosbeaks feeding on some sunflower seed left on the ground near a couple of feeders. We parked the car nearby, using it as a blind, and photographed the birds from the vehicle as they perched in a nearby spruce tree. After shooting for about an hour or so, when the birds were used to our presence, we set up a perch for the birds to land on so we could get some different shots. All in all, Chris and I both got some awesome shots of Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpoll, a new species for me.
This shot, of a female Pine Grosbeak, is probably one of my best from today. I processed it quickly from my laptop, so please forgive me if it looks a little off. Last winter, I was able to photograph Pine Grosbeaks feeding on crab apple trees in upstate New York, but it was very difficult to compose a clean shot of them in the tangled branches. All of my shots of the females from last year had very busy backgrounds, so I’m more than happy to get a shot of one in these ideal conditions.
After shooting at the feeder, we drove north up Route 16 past Errol, NH to search for moose, Boreal Chickadee, and whatever other cool species we could find before heading back to the motel. As we we driving, Chris spotted a bobcat about 10 feet off the road trotting belly deep through the snow in a boggy meadow. We quickly pulled over and Chris made a mouse squeaking noise to get the cat’s attention. The bobcat stopped for a second and looked straight at us before continuing to the edge of the woods and vanishing in a tangle of spruce trees. I have never seen a wild bobcat before. We were pretty close and although the interaction lasted only a couple of seconds, the experience was just awesome!
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In: Recent and Random Photos, Trip Reports
on February 5, 2009 at 2:33 pm
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Awesome stuff Kari. Keep the new images coming!
on February 5, 2009 at 11:30 pm
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Cool stuff. You guys are getting some awesome bird images. I wish I could have heard Chris squeaking. Any plans to shoot landscapes or anything?