birds – Page 9 – Rae Spencer

A New Bird for a New Year

January 2, 2014January 2, 2014Rae Spencer6 Comments

The yard’s first bird of 2014 was a new bird for me. She showed up on New Year’s Day, but I was on my way out the door and didn’t have time to stop for a photo. Fortunately, she returned today…

Woodpecker Jan 2

(I believe this is a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I saw a juvenile sapsucker during my last trip to Alabama, but this is the first adult I’ve ever seen. Please comment if you can confirm or correct my identification!)

Woodpecker Jan 2

I followed her with my lens while she hopped from limb to limb in the pear tree, but I didn’t get a clear photo until something startled her and she paused.

Woodpecker Jan 2

She flew away a few minutes later, when a hungry squirrel climbed onto an adjoining branch.

Squirrel Jan 2

Despite gloomy skies and an approaching storm, I can’t think of a better way to start a new year in the yard!

Clouds and Sun at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge

November 14, 2013Rae Spencer12 Comments

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently spent two afternoons in a row at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Both days the refuge was fully in the grip of fall, but the first day felt a few steps closer to winter than the second. (Doesn’t winter always feel closer on cloudy days?)

As I tried to organize my photos into pairs, I found the last set of images impossible to manage. On November 4th I took only one photo of the approaching sunset, but on November 5th I snapped frame after frame, hurrying from one vantage point to the next…

Why do I see beauty in such sunsets? Why do I stop and stare? Why does my breath slow and the noise of necessity fade to a distant murmur?

It is as if the sky stirs something in my memory, something nameless and ageless. Then the sky’s glimmer dies to darkness, and my lungs grow hungry again as the ancient spark inside me dwindles. It’s all so fleeting that, as soon as it’s over, I begin to doubt. Perhaps it was an illusion, or a delusion. Perhaps it was just another sunset, just the end of another November day…

American Bittern

November 6, 2013Rae Spencer6 Comments

Bittern Nov 5

This American Bittern was uncharacteristically exposed when I first saw it, and it seemed a bit embarrassed to be caught in the open. It froze for a few minutes, which made my camera very happy, then began to creep toward cover.

Bittern Nov 5

After a few steps, it paused behind a thin screen of vegetation and practically disappeared. If I hadn’t seen it in the open first, I never would have seen it at all.

Bittern Nov 5

The bittern reminded me how hard it is to see the world. Every day I encounter remarkable, beautiful things, and all too often I fail to see them.

Bittern Nov 5

Hungry Warblers

October 27, 2013Rae Spencer2 Comments

Warbler October 24

Yellow-rumped Warblers began arriving a few weeks ago. Now they are a constant presence in the wax myrtle as they gorge on the small, unappealing berries that other warblers cannot digest.

Warbler October 23

Warbler October 24

Every year I fall in love with the warblers, all over again, and spend hours trying to photograph them.

Warbler October 24

Cloudy days test my patience with low light and grainy images.

Warbler October 23

Sunny days emphasize the warblers’ camouflage, turning photos into abstract riddles of highlight and shadow.

Warbler October 24

Exposures set for the interior of the wax myrtle flare distractingly bright whenever a bird strays into a patch of sunlight.

Warbler October 26

Exposures set for sunlight fail when a bird retreats into shadow.

Warbler October 24

Every so often, sunlight, shadow, and bird merge into a split-second of breathtaking beauty. At those moments I freeze, too captivated to remember my camera. Then the moment passes, and I’m left snapping a photo of perfection’s echo.

Warbler October 24

These photos are the most frustrating of all, teasing reminders of what might have been. They are also my favorites. They are cause and effect. A reason to keep taking photos. Photos worth keeping.

Warbler October 26

I’m finding that photography, like poetry, is a hunger that returns season after season.

Turning Colder (Arachnophobia Alert!)

October 22, 2013Rae Spencer12 Comments

Mantis Sept 30

The yard is getting colder and colder, though it’s not cold enough, yet, to use the word winter. In fact, it’s a stretch to use the word cold.

Finch Oct 2

Maybe brisk is a better word. Except, nothing feels brisk. Instead everything feels sleepy and slow. Spider webs ripple in smoke-tinged drafts, and wasps pause for photographs as if posing.

Spider Sept 30