Posts Tagged: turtles

Spring Brings Everyone Back to the Upper Valley

On April 18, 2026 - Herons, Loons, Turtles, Wildlife Photography

I’ve managed to get out a couple of times this spring, finding mixed success. Let’s see who’s out and about.

It is that time of year again where I ask for help finding critters. I’m always looking for mammals bigger than squirrels. I’m still looking for a fox den and would love to find coyote or bobcat dens. If you get a bear showing up daily when they get fully up and around, I’d love to know. Owls and a woodpecker nest are on my list too. If you’ve any of them showing up regularly where I can come and go without disturbing them or you, I’d love to know.

I’ll be giving my slideshow An Uncommon Look at the Common Loon at the Rockingham, Vermont, Library Saturday May 2, at 11 am. Free and everyone welcome. And I have prints of some of my favorite loon photos hanging in the Library now. Stop in and have a look.

Regular readers will know that I’ve been trying to get a good shot of the long-eared owls down on the coast. There have been three of them wintering there for the last several years. They hang out in what can’t be more than half an acre of trees. I’ve made several trips down to try to catch them where they can be seen. To make things worse, every photographer east of the Mississippi seems to have a nice shot of all three posing nicely together in the clear – and they all stop by to show you their shot on their phone….. I tried again in March.

Success again eludes me… One owl was visible through a tiny gap in the trees. The queue of photographers were actually polite about sharing the one spot where you could see the owl. I waited for him to open his eyes…. no luck.

One of the projects I’d like to try is to follow a family of swans through the season. Yes, yes, I know they’re invasive. And aggressive. But they’re here. We either have to live with them or hunt them all down.

I went searching for a likely couple. I ventured down to the Fannie Stebbins Memorial Wildlife Refuge. They’ve hosted families the last few years. There were two swans to be found – and apparently not a couple.

The first swan I found was looking for handouts and wouldn’t back up far enough to get a photo of all of him?

The other swan spent the afternoon swimming slowly around his pond, doing swan things.

Fannie Stebbins may not be where I find the family, I’ve got some other spots to check out.

There was a good-sized flock of ring-necked ducks relaxing on the pond.

The male wood ducks were out paddling their stuff to impress the ladies.

And there were several hooded mergansers, mostly swimming in pairs – but too far apart to get both in a shot.

On the way home, I found two loons on the Connecticut River, a hopeful sign.

My next outing was to check on our local peregrine falcons. They spent most of their time away from the nest on my first visit.

The next time I had a chance to visit, there was a falcon sitting on the nest. And one supervising.

This gives a good idea of where falcons like to nest. Can I name this guy Cliff?

The bolts in the rocks are rock bolts drilled into the cliff to keep rocks from falling.

My next outing was to visit a great blue heron rookery. It is on the small side for a great blue heron rookery – only seven nests. The good news is they’re relatively low for heron nests, we should be able to see the chicks from the ground when the time comes.

The nests are all in dead trees over a small pond.

Most of the herons spent their morning standing in the trees near the nests.

Sometimes they seemed to be chatting with the neighbors.

The heron on the right has just returned to the nest. The herons did some head bobbing and weaving in a quick courtship display.

One bird found time to make some nest improvements.

While the mate sat nearby pretending to be busy.

I’ve been checking on the Middleton’s pond – usually the first to ice out in the spring. Last Saturday afternoon there was a loon snoozing on the pond. I went home and got the boat ready to go.

Dawn on Sunday found me on the pond. But no loon. It was probably on a scouting mission to see if his pond was open and he’d just stopped off to rest a bit. Other pond residents were out and about.

The morning started off foggy, but pleasantly warm for an April paddle – 28° when I launched. A wood duck posed as I headed down the pond.

I did find several ring-necked ducks promenading on the pond.

There was a pair of eagles that sat watching the pond. I suspect they were thinking that duck would make a good breakfast.

A loon showed up again on the Middleton’s pond on Wednesday. I made it out this morning.

I soon found a lone loon on the pond. I think I saw a flash of color from his bands, but never got a really clear look at his legs. My guess is Mr. Middleton is back.

Hank the great blue heron was working the reeds for breakfast.

There seem to be fewer Canada geese on the pond this year. But the ones that were around were happy to make noise and fly around.

The red-winged black birds seem fewer also. There were several males and the first female I’ve seen this year out foraging.

And as the fog lifted, painted turtles started appearing on every handy log along the shore.

Back on the home front, Charles, our resident whistle pig has reported for pillaging duty.

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heron, loon, swan, turtles, woodchuck

Along the Connecticut Shore

On July 13, 2025 - Shorebirds, Turtles, Wildlife Photography

Back on July 3, Chris Roberts, who runs the great Vermont birding – PLUS Facebook group, offered to show me some of his favorite spots along the Connecticut Shore. They were all well west of what little Connecticut Shore I’d explored.

Chris is a serious, hardcore birder. Meaning he’s nuts. I offered to drive and asked how early we’d have to leave to get to the shore for sunrise. He was game for me to pick him up at 0300. That’s cool, unfortunately I was going to pick him up some 80 miles south of me. Hitting the road at 0130 to be on location for sunrise isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Along the way to pick him up, I got my closest ever look at a black bear. I didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I’d have liked, I was too busy standing up on the brake pedal. The bear sauntered onto route 91 and stopped in my lane to see what was coming. I managed to stop with 20 or 25 feet to spare. The bear had a good look at me and continued on his errand.

We arrived at the beach as the sun rose and set out to see what we could find.

There were a number of piping plovers with chicks ranging from just a few days old to near-adult sized juveniles. There is already at least one chick under this parent as two more tuck under.

We found seven northern diamondback terrapins out on the beach looking for a spot to lay their eggs or already laying eggs. They come ashore at high tide to make sure their nests will be well above water level. They’re listed as a vulnerable species and this was my first sighting of them. They live in the brackish tidal marshes along the east coast.

Another northern diamondback terrapin along the shore. I didn’t get close enough to tell if she was laying eggs or just sitting.

American oystercatchers were on my to-see list. I haven’t seen any since I got serious about wildlife photography, these are the first photos I’ve gotten of them.

Oystercatchers are cool looking birds. Their orange eye adds some pop to the photos. Whoever is in charge of banding Connecticut’s oystercatchers is doing an outstanding job. Almost all of the oystercatchers we saw were banded. Likely recently, we found several breeding pairs with consecutively numbered bands. Here’s ole N51 who, along with N52, had a nest on the beach.

As you’d guess from their name, they feed on oysters, along with mussels, clams and other invertebrates. They search for shellfish with their shells partly open. When they find one, they stick their bill inside and severe the muscle that lets the shellfish close their shell. (I had to go look up the difference between clams, muscles and oysters. They’re all ‘bivalves,’ meaning they have two half shells they can close to protect themselves. Learning maybe more than I needed, bivalve comes from the Latin “bis” – meaning two – and “valvae” from the leaves of a door. The differences are their shapes, their type of habitat and their flavor, which I didn’t take time to compare.

Watching the piping plovers, we saw a parent doing the ‘broken-wing’ display. They’re like killdeer and when they sense a threat to their chicks, they feign injury and make a big deal about it. The idea is to get the predator to chase them and lure the predator away from the chicks.

A small flock of gulls had landed on the beach near this bird’s chicks. The chicks had frozen in place and were hard to spot. The parent tried to draw the gulls’ attention away from the chicks. It worked this time.

This section of beach was covered in a few feet of abandoned shells. This proved to be very good camouflage for the plovers. When I’ve seen plover chicks on the sandy beaches in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, I’ve often wondered how any of the chicks survive, they seem to stand out clearly on the sand. They’re much, much harder to see against the shells.

The shells are several feet deep along the beach.

A parent and chick blending in nicely against the shells.

The plover chicks scoot along in short bursts, constantly changing direction.

Another chick, this time on a sandier spot.

This chick went right down to the water’s edge before heading back up the beach.

Our buddy N51 reappeared and started down to the water.

N51’s mate, N52, showed up and went foraging along side. I’ve reported the bands and when I get the confirmation, we may be able to tell who is who from that. There’s no way for people to tell by looking at them.

It was time to head on to the next location and we headed back to the parking lot. There were several horseshoe crabs in the shallow water. A flock of gulls had dragged this on up on the beach and were trying to flip it over as we approached. We spooked the gulls and the crab headed back to the water.

At the next spot, we found a pool with several herons and egrets. Chris spotted a tricolored heron, I saw a clump of brush. We moved on.

Next up was another oystercatcher. Meet N00. We soon found N99 and I suspect they were banded in relatively quick succession.

There were a few willets foraging in the shallow water.

Our timing was right to watch the Atlantic sand fiddler crabs emerge from their burrows. They live in colonies with each male claiming a territory. When the tide recedes, they come out of their burrows. And display their large claw – both to warn off neighboring males and to attract females. Only the males have the size difference between their claws, females have two similarly sized claws. There were several dozen males waiving their claws around.

They have interesting markings on their backs.

And they look like they mean business if you try to interfere with them.

There was also a colony of least terns along the beach. A small flock came down to the shallows to preen. And to have the guys carry fish around to impress the ladies.

Turning around from the last photo, I discovered a piping plover had crept up to me while my back was turned.

There were more piping plover chicks that couldn’t have been more than a week old out foraging on the beach.

Another plover chick that stopped briefly to look around.

Well above water level, the beach is roped off to protect the plovers and terns nesting spots.

This guy is a little late in the game. He was still looking for a lady to commit his entire season to. He was industriously displaying his fish to the passing ladies.

Here’s a tern stretching. I think. He might be showing off his disco moves to attract a lady.

We were able to spot a couple of young chicks. They were well hidden chicks hiding under some plants.

There were three juvenile oyster catchers foraging on the beach just above the waves.

And a parent delivering a meal to one of the juveniles.

Lots of interesting critters to watch and photograph. I’m looking forward to getting down there again for a longer stay.

birds, fiddler crabs, piping plovers, terns, turtles

Painted Turtle Snack – The Story Behind The Shot

On October 25, 2024 - Wildlife Photography

Trying something different today; a story with some background on one of my favorite shots.

Since my last post, I’ve had more excitement than I need. The circus-style tent at the Stowe Foliage Art show came down and destroyed my booth. Thankfully, it collapsed early in the morning and no one was injured. I’ll be doing the Celebrate Vermont show at the Doubletree in Burlington November 22-24 2024 using a booth borrowed from one of my competitors, Jonathan Hart. Thanks Jonathan!

The circus-style tent in Stowe at the start of the show.

What we found when we came back for the second day of the show.

The remains of my set up. It will take awhile to figure out who’s insurance is going to cover what. I was luckier than many of the artists.

In happier news, my 2025 New England Wildlife Calendar is now available.

The calendars are large – 9″x12″ with 13 of my favorite wildlife images. They’re $25 and $3 shipping per order. You can get one on my site: www.IanClark.com/

Let’s go way back to 2013, the year after I met the loons. On a visit to the Middleton’s pond, I was exploring a cove where they like to breakfast. They were still off in the main part of the pond and I settled in to wait for them. While I waited, I noticed a painted turtle in the lily pads.

The turtle was cruising along with his head out of the water. He? must have seen me, but wasn’t concerned.

He swam over to one of the lilies. I missed the shot, but he took one – just one – bite out of the flower.

He continued on to another lily….. and again took one – just one – bite out of the flower.

He move on again. This lily was too high and he examined it for a bit before moving on to the next lily.

This one took a stretch, but up he went. And took a bite – just one bite – out of the flower.

The next lily was low to the water. He grabbed hold….

And moved around the flower before he took one – just one – bite out of the flower. Was it too hot? Was it too cold? I looked over my shoulder to make sure there weren’t three bears in the neighborhood.

Off he went to the next lily. Looks like his buddy already took his bite out of this one.

Could this be the one that’s just right? Nope, he took one – just one – bite out of the flower.

And here’s the shot I love. He’s found the lily that is just right! And I got the shot.

I’ve never seen a turtle take a bite out of a lily before or since. I’ve seen a couple that have taken insects from the flowers or lily pads, but never the flower.

Looking back at the files from this morning, I didn’t get any remarkable shots of the Middletons. But, I did photograph a cow moose and her calf, several turtles and eastern kingbird nestlings getting fed. But, I remember the turtle.

painted turtle, reptiles, turtles, wildlife

common loon doing the 'penguin dance' during a territory dispute with another loon

Catching Up with Life on the Ponds

On May 27, 2024 - Loons, Moose, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography

With all the nice weather, I’ve had lots of time to shoot – but that leaves little for posting. One set of fox kits has moved on, the other den is surrounded by grass tall enough that the kits appear only at the top of their pounces. Let’s check in on our three loon families and their neighbors.

I’ll be giving my slideshow, An Uncommon Look at the Common Loon, locally a couple times in the near future. First is Thursday May 30 at 7:00 p.m. at the Lyme, NH, School. Then again on Sunday June 23 at 2:00 p.m. at the Tenney Memorial Library in Newbury, VT.

The Westons are sitting on at least one egg. Their nest is deep in the marsh, updates will have to wait until the chicks appear. (If you’re new to my blog, to protect the loons’ privacy, the families are the Eastons, Middletons and Westons, by the location of their ponds.)