Eleanor Templeton, photographer

A roundup of other birds in Pelham Bay Park on our April 4...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 02:11:00 -0400

A roundup of other birds in Pelham Bay Park on our April 4 hike:

Great Blue Heron, in flight. We’ve seen them before in other areas, but didn’t see any last year in Pelham Bay, so this was a nice treat.

Double-Crested Cormorant - threatened in the early part of the 20th century, and after rebounding, threatened again by pesticides in the 1950s and ’60s, double-crested cormorants have come back so strongly in some areas of the United States that U.S. Fisheries & Wildlife is now exercising population control.

Turkey Vulture - I’ve written before about carrion birds and the service they do us. And no matter the revulsion we might feel when we see them eating, vultures are majestic in flight.

Field Sparrow - dainty Field Sparrows have a sweet, trilling song.

Common Grackle - “Common Grackles are abundant and widespread. They have grown in numbers and extended their range westward, following the spread of agriculture. Their tendency to form large flocks has them suspected of causing immense damage to crops, and this has made them the target of eradication campaigns, though their numbers remain strong.”

Northern Flicker - these pretty brown woodpeckers mostly forage on the ground, rather than against a tree trunk.

American Robin - ubiquitous, but sometimes one just begs to have his portrait taken.

Aside from gulls, blackbirds, starlings, etc. — also seen but not caught on camera were:

Red-Bellied Woodpecker
American Crow
Numerous Swallows too quick to ID

Egret photoset part 2! After dining on the first eel, our egret...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:50:00 -0400

Egret photoset part 2!

After dining on the first eel, our egret was apparently still hungry, and ferociously captured a second one, before sneaking off behind a rock to finish eating.

We walked around to the northwest point of Two Trees Island and about ten minutes later were treated to the sight of our egret flying from the bay side to the marsh side of the Twin Islands.

(see part 1)

Because it just isn’t a shore hike without some quality...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:30:00 -0400

Because it just isn’t a shore hike without some quality egret time …

(part one of a nice fat egret photoset - you can also see part two!)

This Northern Mockingbird gave us a prolonged concert today in...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:32:00 -0400

This Northern Mockingbird gave us a prolonged concert today in Pelham Bay Park.

These birds are something of a success story; according to the Cornell Ornithology Lab they’ve rebounded from lows in the nineteenth century, when many were trapped or taken from nests and sold as cage birds.

A Glossy Ibis stretches its wings. This is yet another photo...

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

A Glossy Ibis stretches its wings. This is yet another photo from Jamaica Bay - the wildlife preserve there is both accessible and rich with birds.

Glossy Ibis, like many shorebirds, often has mutually beneficial relationships with egrets and other waders. Egrets and herons may have an easier time finding prey that ibis have disturbed.

Ibis are not strictly native to North America, but they voluntarily established their populations in the 20th century.

Trumpet Vines bloom along the trails at Jamaica Bay Wildlife...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Trumpet Vines bloom along the trails at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. These sturdy native plants are resilient and aggressive, but they provide a food source for hummingbirds and bumblebees, as well as shelter for finches and flycatchers.

Trumpet Creeper is also frequently used in gardens, being easy to grow and ornamental. Some people are allergic to the leaves, however, and the plant can be difficult to uproot completely since it grows like ivy with rootlets to help it climb.

Great Mullein looms just inland of the shore at Jamaica Bay....

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Great Mullein looms just inland of the shore at Jamaica Bay. This prehistoric-looking plant has been used for centuries in herbal remedies. The ancient Greeks and Romans even used the flower stalks as torches and candle wicks.

It is not native to the Americas and was introduced by settlers from Europe, possibly (according to the National Park Service) as a bug repellent. Mullein can be invasive in open, sunny areas - those long flower stalks will shed hundreds of seeds.

American Oystercatchers in flight over the Jamaica Bay Wildlife...

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

American Oystercatchers in flight over the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. These birds, once threatened, have made a comeback in the mid-Atlantic states. They are rather shy of humans and vulnerable to gull predation; like Piping Plovers, they are shoreline nesters, and so are also vulnerable to changes in the shore from storms, erosion or development.

This Black Vulture visited us briefly on a trip to Warwick, NY....

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

This Black Vulture visited us briefly on a trip to Warwick, NY. In addition to the usual vulture diet of carrion, these birds eat fish and young animals. They are ground nesters, unusual among raptors in North America.

Whimbrel fly over the salt marsh in Cape May. These birds are...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 08:02:08 -0400

Whimbrel fly over the salt marsh in Cape May. These birds are related to both sandpipers and curlews. They use their curved beaks to hunt insects and small crabs in marshes.

Although their population has recovered since they were over-hunted in the 19th century, Whimbrel, like all shore birds, are constantly at risk as shoreline and salt marsh habitat is endangered by over-development.

Jo Morris, dancer, musician and all-around artist.

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Jo Morris, dancer, musician and all-around artist.

Today’s visual feast is from a hike along the shores of...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:51:19 -0400

Today’s visual feast is from a hike along the shores of the Twin-Former-Islands, in Pelham Bay Park. The remnants of someone’s party, trapped in the rocks, beat themselves against the crags, strange modern ghosts.

Common Terns, showing themselves off. These terns, along with...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:50:55 -0400

Common Terns, showing themselves off. These terns, along with gulls and skimmers, nest in the salt marsh around Cape May. I was charmed by this pair’s belief that they are anything but common.

The photo for the day is the former Cape May Lighthouse lens....

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 09:28:46 -0400

The photo for the day is the former Cape May Lighthouse lens. This DCB-36 beacon served for more than 50 years in Cape May before it became obsolete. The lens now sits at the bottom of the lighthouse staircase, in a window with a view to one of the keeper’s outbuildings.

Today’s picture is a Piping Plover, seen at Cape May,...

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:36:11 -0400

Today’s picture is a Piping Plover, seen at Cape May, NJ.

I was able to capture this image with my zoom lens set at 300mm and a tight crop; these small birds are endangered and very shy, and approaching them is dangerous. Frightened plovers sometimes abandon their nests - so if you ever see a plover, do not approach it, but remain still and quiet until it is far away from you.

It’s also a bad idea to report exact plover locations, to discourage the overenthusiastic bird-watcher. The safest way to see a plover is accidentally, as I did - I noticed something moving further down the shore and used my camera for a closer look.

Today’s image is another from Monday’s hike. Here,...

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 07:40:00 -0400

Today’s image is another from Monday’s hike.

Here, lichen is doing the work of helping this stump decompose. Lichen, a compound organism, is not only important to fertilizing the forest, but is also a source of food for many animals. In winter, deer rely particularly on lichen when other food is scarce.

Lichen is also a signal of air quality - it does not survive when pollution is too high.

The absence of lichen in a forest is one signal that the ecosystem is unhealthy - its presence here is a good sign.

Today’s daily: Portrait of a filmmaker. Leonard Cox works...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 08:07:00 -0400

Today’s daily: Portrait of a filmmaker.

Leonard Cox works on award-winning documentary films. He needed an updated photo, and rather than do something formal, we went with this spontaneous, light-hearted moment.

Leonard is in his office, surrounded by his daily work, laughing. He has a rich sense of the absurd, as anyone who meets him can attest.

Portraiture, for me, is about personality. When I get a shot like this, that gives the viewer a sense of who the subject is, I know I’m doing something right.

Today’s daily is brand-new, shot during a more than...

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 05:45:00 -0400

Today’s daily is brand-new, shot during a more than six-hour hike yesterday at Pelham Bay Park.

Old growth feeds new growth. The forest learns from itself - but not in isolation. Surrounded by urban development, the oldest trees in this park date back to the American Revolution. The woods returned after Dutch and English farmers moved out in the 1700s, and in the 1800s this acreage was officially declared parkland.

That the forest has survived long enough to complete this cycle is a mark of its success. Isolated dead wood is a sign of life - as any gardener knows, compost is the key to healthy new growth.

From my archive: Thirst, 2001. East Lansing, Michigan, on a hot,...

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:54:31 -0400

From my archive:

Thirst, 2001. East Lansing, Michigan, on a hot, bright day. Even the plant life was suffering.

When I was shooting lots of color film, Fuji was (still is) my favorite, but this was Kodak, something-they-no-longer-make, 200 speed.

Approaching storm, seen from the southern end of the High Line,...

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 11:18:08 -0400

Approaching storm, seen from the southern end of the High Line, NYC.

With a friend, I watched this thunderstorm roll in across the Hudson. We saw it hit New Jersey first and stood captivated as the clouds thundered their way over the river toward us, as the raindrops began to fall on the water below us.

This shot was taken just before we fled - the rain was only about 30 yards from us. We made it to a nearby coffee shop as the first few drops were splashing down, and waited out the shower with espresso and pastry.