Nature & Wildlife

A few mornings ago, I was in the kitchen making applesauce. After I had quartered and sliced the necessary apples, I walked their cores and scraps outside. We always throw our fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells and coffee grounds out into the garden. During this time of year, most of this stuff that we throw […]

This past Saturday, we decided it was a good day for a nice hike. It can be difficult sometimes to find a healthy physical and mental balance between the time I spend on photography and the time I spend on writing. There are days when I don’t want to sit in front of the computer […]

Lighting can either be a photographer’s friend or foe. Ideal lighting is essential for photographing wildlife in its natural environment. The word photography comes from the Greek words phos “light,” and graphis “representation by means of lines” or “drawing,” or graphí, together they mean “drawing with light.” Ideally, the best times for photography are sometimes […]

Winter doesn’t technically start until next month, but Mother Nature sure has another plan for Northern New England. In other posts, I have mentioned that we have been in Maine for five years this November. We have never had snow on the ground for Thanksgiving. Maybe some ice, but never any snow. It feels more […]

A few days before today, we had some snowfall followed by freezing rain, wind and bitter cold. We are expecting a pretty significant amount of snow and I wanted to get outside to photograph a few spots around the yard before they are covered under a blanket of snow. I always enjoy these times, because […]

Many of our migratory species of birds have left Maine for the winter. We have seen many species of resident and varying-distance migratory birds making their way back to the area. October is also a wonderful month to observe migratory birds on their journeys back to their winter destinations. This fall has been especially wonderful […]

The black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), is a common sight in the woods and at backyard feeders here throughout the state of Maine. Even though the black-capped chickadee is a non-migratory bird, I have found that they do leave the property and feeders for a short time during the late summer. These birds will leave around […]

The weather here in Maine has been around the mid-50s to 60s and we have even experienced a few enjoyable nights in the 30s. The humidity hasn’t left us though and this past Wednesday was especially hot and humid. We had a bit of rain the day before and it felt as though summer had […]

Late August through October is a perfect time to observe new birds as they migrate to their winter homes. A couple of days ago, I spotted a pair of common yellowthroats in one of the front gardens and was able to take a few photographs. I believe this male is pretty young, as his black […]

Whether out in the field or at feeders, it can be quite difficult to tell the difference between the female purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus) and female rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus). The purple finch is often mistaken for the rose-breasted grosbeak. Perhaps this is due to their sharing similar coloring as they do not share the […]