By the time you read this column I will probably be attempting to play through the grim aftereffects of Thanksgiving. Late nights with family, the inevitable turkey-stuffing-gravy indulgence, big breakfasts, more late nights and a general surrender to fun are all great at the time, but the following Monday can be particularly brutal. Questions about one’s own sanity are sure to be asked while getting behind the wheel and heading off to work.
And as I start my recovery I will also be starting a big push of my own design: the push to reach 21,000 photos for the year. I quietly hit my annual 20,000 mark back in September, but September was also the month that I had to return to my indoor confinement as a teacher. Time has simply slipped by and I have gone weeks without picking up my camera. An odd turn of events when compared to the remarkably productive summer that I had.
The first photo that I will review today is number 10,000 for the year. This photo was taken on one of my daily forays down to the Thinking Chair. It was Tuesday, Aug. 3 and the journal entry for that day starts off with, “57 degrees, sunny and gorgeous at 7AM.” I was down to the Thinking Chair by 7:30 a.m. and I remained there for over two hours as the sun and temperature both rose.
All sorts of birds were seen that day, but I was delighted when I heard that familiar hum of a hummingbird’s wings and I looked over to see a tiny flash of movement near some of the dead limbs that I had piled up so birds could perch on them. It took me a moment to lock in on the little bird, but a quick move of its head betrayed its location. It was close, but it wasn’t until I raised my camera that I truly appreciated what I was seeing.
This was a young male who had just begun to show the speckling on his throat that wold eventually become the gorgeous ruby-red gorget for which the species is named. This little guy was zipping around the meadow and visiting all sorts of flowers hidden among the tall grasses and he apparently needed to take a moment to relax in the sun.
I particularly like the details that we can see on the bird’s face and the fact that we can see all of the barbules on each of his tiny feathers. I also like the fact that the bird’s extremely small size is highlighted by the scale of the lichen that he is perched next to. Despite the fact that the lichen takes up an entire corner of the photo, it is still obvious that everything we are looking at is very small. Not bad for a photo that has such a large number.
Photo 20,000 was taken two months later on Oct. 9 and it was taken by accident. Once again I had risen early to head down to the Thinking Chair. This time the temperature was 53 degrees at 7:05 a.m., which isn’t really a big difference from Aug. 3. However, the sky was full of clouds that day and I was definitely dressed for cooler weather.
Another wonderful morning was spent watching birds and convincing black-capped chickadees that it was alright to land on my head and take some birdseed off of my hat. Birds of note that morning were yellow-rumped warblers, ruby-crowned kinglets and a swamp sparrow. I left the chair after two hours and twenty minutes and as I headed up the hill I decided that I should probably document all of the flowers that were still blooming in my yard.
I stopped for hawkweeds, asters and even dandelions as I walked up the hill toward the house. Then I did something quite atypical. Rather than simply going into the house I decided to take a little extra walk up to the mailbox. There were some colorful leaves in the hedge by my driveway and after snapping a couple photos I turned and found myself looking at a lovely patch of flowers that I wouldn’t otherwise have noticed.
Hidden among the tall grasses that had escaped any attention from the mower was a large cluster of plants called butter-and-eggs. These flowers really look a lot like snapdragons, but they are wildflowers and they can be found blooming all throughout the summer. October had been unusually warm and there were many flowers still in bloom, but I was still delighted to find these beauties right by the side of the road; hiding in plain view. I didn’t realize that I had reached 20,000 photos until I finally went inside and reviewed my morning’s work.
So, Thanksgiving will have given me an opportunity to sit by the kitchen window and take photos while attempting to shake off the effects of a gravy hangover, but December is the month that I am really looking forward to. The arrival of snow will increase the number of birds coming to my feeders and if I’m really lucky I might see something unusual, like a shrike or an evening grosbeak. Whoever it is, I’ll be sure to let you know the identity of the bird in photo 21,000.
Bill Danielson has worked for the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Massachusetts State Parks. He has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 19 years and also teaches high school biology and physics. For more information, visit: www.speakingofnature.com or go to Speaking of Nature on Facebook.