Since I have some late-blooming coneflower thanks to a clearance sale at a nearby big-box hardware store, I may as well milk the blooms when it comes to photographing birds. Here’s a shot I took today (Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018) of an American goldfinch eating seeds from one of the dead heads.
More shots featuring the flowers coming soon, I’m sure. Best $2 flowers I ever bought!
Two weeks ago I had a post on this site about mushrooms and last week I made a few posts during my trip to Pittsburg, N.H.
By way of revisiting both of those topics, here’s a photo of interesting looking fungi we spotted during a walk through the boreal forest. There’s so much cool stuff to see out there — whether it’s southern, central or northern New England — but you have to get out there to see it.
Scenes like this are quickly fading as winter starts to creep into New England. These coneflowers have lingered into late fall because I purchased them at a box hardware store on clearance a few weeks ago. I’m hoping the flowers return next year, but until then I’m enjoying their later-than-usual blooms. The birds are, too, of course.
The gray jays are so entertaining I figured I’d add a few more photos of the beautiful and charismatic birds.
Here’s me feeding one of the bolder birds. I pulled out my phone to record another jay when this one landed on my hand.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that there is snow in November in the Great North Woods, the area of extreme northern Vermont and New Hampshire. We were surprised, however, to see snow when we arrived on Sunday only because it has been so warm this fall in southern New England.
I hadn’t even given snow a thought yet, to be honest. Heck, wasn’t it in the 70s in Connecticut just last week? But, sure enough, a beautiful blanket of the white stuff covered Pittsburg, N.H. It was only an inch or two, just enough to make it beautiful and remind us that snow is coming soon enough for the rest of New England. (Update: Now it’s Tuesday and a steady rain has melted all the snow.)
With the moose population continuing to dwindle in northern New Hampshire, the wildlife highlight was a trio of gray jays we came across just south of Deer Mountain Campground, which itself is just south of the Canadian border.
I’ve seen gray jays before in Pittsburg, N.H, but never during the “winter.” They were extra bold and landed on our hands as we offered sunflower seeds. I’ve had black-capped chickadees land on my hands for sunflower seeds before, but I could tell the tiny birds were unsure of themselves as they landed quickly and flew off. These gray jays, however, were not shy at all and landed on our finger tips and dug through the seeds to find just the right one.
About half an hour later we found a pair of gray jays, which also ate from our hands and showed little fear. At one point, an evening grosbeak flew in and landed in a nearby tree. I hadn’t seen an evening grosbeak in years and years, so the large yellow, black and white bird was a welcomed, if not fleeting, sighting.
Aside from gray jays, blue jays, ruffed grouse, chickadees, and red squirrels, the wildlife sightings have been rather scarce. But we’ll keep looking and I’ll let you know what we find.
Here’s the latest For the Birds column, which runs in several New England newspapers.
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The fall drawdown on large New England lakes can make it a challenge to launch a canoe. The shoreline is often soupy and mucky, making it a dirty and dicey proposition to get in a quick paddle.
A little dirt and muck have never deterred me, however, especially when the possibility of good duck watching lies ahead. Such was the case last week when I braved the Lake Lillinonah shoreline in southwestern Connecticut to launch my canoe. Lillinonah is considered a lake because of its width, but it is really part of the Housatonic River.
Thankfully, it hadn’t rained in a few days so much of the shoreline was hardened mud. It got muckier the closer I got to the water, but I was able to leave the tail end of the canoe out far enough that my feet only sunk down about 2 or 3 inches before jumping in.
The bottom of the canoe’s interior was smeared with mud, but what the heck; it’s a canoe, a little dirt won’t hurt it. I lifted up my butt, dug in the paddle and pushed off hard. I was on my way and instantly felt the cares of the world disappear as I glided over the glassy water, surrounded by New England’s famous fall colors.
I admittedly do not know a whole lot about the mushrooms found in New England woods. I do know that some mushrooms can kill you, so I basically just avoid them all, other than admiring the ones that catch my eye. These mushrooms found in the woods behind my house stood out so I grabbed a few iPhone photos.
Speaking of mushrooms, I’d love to someday learn to forage for them. They are plentiful in our woods and would be a great addition to many recipes. The risks, however, are cause for concern and mushroom foraging should only be done by those who are certain of what they are doing. Eating the wrong mushrooms will usually cause stomach pain and perhaps vomiting, but the symptoms can be much more severe.
Here’s some information from the Northern New England Poison Center: “Every year the Northern New England Poison Center helps patients who have become sick after misidentifying mushrooms they picked to eat. Among NNEPC cases, mistakes made while foraging are the second most common cause of serious mushroom poisonings, behind only people who become sick after taking psychedelic mushrooms on purpose.”
The Center points out that many safe mushrooms have multiple poisonous lookalikes in the woods, too. Someday I’ll learn to forage wild mushrooms, but until I’m 100 percent sure of what I’m doing, I’ll stick to admiring and photographing them.
Are you a mushroom forager or have a story or tip about foraging mushrooms? Leave a comment below and share your story.
The warm start to November has made for some surprising nature sightings. I’ve seen and heard many insects that are usually silent by this time of year. A recent walk in the woods behind my house yielded several eft sightings underfoot. Efts are the terrestrial stage of a newt, a common aquatic salamander. By November, eft sightings are usually a thing of the past – or the future, depending on how you look at it.
Here’s the Gyrfalcon hoodie in action.
Refer to my last post for more information about Wunderbird and how the company makes life easier for birders.
https://birdsofnewengland.com/2018/10/30/wunderbird-makes-the-trek-easier-more-efficient/
Birds of New England.com 