Uncaptured Photos

This morning after I dropped Beth off at school I went home by a circuitous route through the back roads of Canterbury. I had solved a geocache puzzle some time ago (maybe a year ago) and decided it was high time I picked it up.

Before I got there, a white tailed deer sprung out from the woods and crossed the road in front of me. Since this was a country road with no traffic whatsoever, I stopped and looked at the deer for a minute. She had another deer with her, and I expect it was last year’s fawn. They were too far off in the woods to even think about photography, so I left my camera in the bag.

Then I went off to collect the geocache. It was in a guardrail next to this pretty little stream.

A stream in Canterbury, NH

Having found the cache, I got back in the car and looked for a place to turn around. Not finding one, the road took me to a farm (Hackleboro Apple Orchard), so I turned around there. I don’t like turning around where a road ends basically in someone’s driveway, but sometimes, that’s what happens.

As I made my way back through Canterbury, I saw a very large cat bound across the road in front of me. It was a bobcat! I had never seen one in the wild before, so this was a first for me. It stopped about 100 yards into the forest, turned around and looked back at me. I didn’t have a clear view, so I back up ten or twelve feet, thinking I might be able to go for a photo. But the bobcat thought otherwise. As soon as I began backing up, it took off running again and was gone in less than two seconds. Sigh.

I drove slowly trying to remember exactly where it crossed the road so I could look at its tracks, but I didn’t find them. Instead, I saw a pair of farm dogs galloping down the fence row on the side of the road from whence the bobcat had come. Maybe that’s what it was running from.

I am almost ready for warmer weather now, not because I don’t like winter (I do very much), but because I need some temperatures more conducive to canoe repair. I can’t use epoxy until the temp is at least 60, and 70 would be much, much better. I thought I might be able to heat the garage up some with a space heater if it was 40 outside, so I brought one home from church and plugged it in. It only raised the temperature to about 50 in the garage – not nearly warm enough. So I returned the space heater on Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, while I was at church, one of the kids in my Sabbath School class noticed a bird outside our classroom window and wanted to know what it was. I took a quick glance and erroneously pronounced it a mourning dove. Upon further inspection, I knew that it was most certainly not a mourning dove. I had no idea what it was. We observed the bird through the window for about five minutes from less than 10 feet away. It had a very long bill and would use it to probe holes in the ground, presumably for snacks of the invertebrate variety. It would bob up and down rather comically. What a day for me to have decided to leave the camera at home! I always take my camera to church with me, but when I saw it that morning, I inexplicably decided… nah.

When I left the room it was still out there. I sought out one of our church members who is a wildlife biologist. He has done some birding, but even though that was not his expertise, he came down straight away. He thought it might be an American Woodcock, but wasn’t sure. When I got home I looked that up, and I have to say, he nailed it.

So three rare (for me) wildlife sightings in as many days, and exactly zero photos of them. Still, just seeing them was a treat for me, and perhaps not being able to take pictures made me observe them more carefully in person.

 

Pipsissewa & Indian Pipe

Tonight I went walking in the woods and found some pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata) in bloom. I liked this shot the best, even though there’s some blow-out in the sky. The brilliance of the blossom overcomes that problem in my mind.

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata)

I also found several Indian pipes (Monotropa uniflora) in bloom. These seem to flower as soon as they sprout.

Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

This plant does not photosynthesize, but rather, is parasitic on a fungus which in turn is parasitic on trees. The first time I ever saw one, I was convinced it was a fungus itself, but that is not the case. This is a flower, and it does make seeds.

Later, as I was putting Beth to bed, Penny started barking her fool head off. Va looked out the sliding glass door to see what the fuss was about and saw a white-tailed doe in the neighbor’s yard. I have about convinced myself that this is the very same individual I saw last week. I took this very unsatisfying shot through the window.

Hungry doe

Yeah, it’s the neighbor’s yard, but it’s Beth’s upturned wagon. Our yard doesn’t look any neater. But yard-grooming aside. I slipped out the front door and waited 30 seconds for the doe to settle down. Va says that as soon as I closed the door, the doe raised her head and stared towards the front yard. I quietly walked towards the garage and peeked around the corner. The deer was screened from me by a clump of trees. I slowly stepped into the yard, and she jerked her head up again. I froze. After thirty seconds, she went back to eating clover. I took a slow step, and she jerked up again and stared in my direction. I froze. A mosquito landed on my forehead. I slowly raised my hand to squash it, and the doe bolted off, taking the same route she did when she escaped through the woods last week. I did not get a second photograph, which is why you get to see the awful one above.

I guess I would make a terrible hunter. But putting aside my stalking skills (or lack thereof), take a look at that deer. Her ribs are showing. I can’t imagine that that would be a good thing for her, since the forest and fields around here are lush with vegetation, and we’re just coming off a mast year for the acorns. She must be sick.

And now Penny’s barking and growling into the darkness out the glass door again. Maybe the doe is back.