Spring At Last

Golden May Dummerston Vermont

West Guilford Valley Vermont

It was a long, cold and snowy winter, but happily spring has arrived with its spectacular explosion of wildly varied color. It always seems unfair that the best seasons for natural beauty in New England are the shortest. The period of maximal color in both spring and fall last for only a couple of weeks. In autumn the vibrant leaves crash to the ground burdening photographers with the torment of the long dull “stick season”. During spring, the leaves hang on, but the wonderful variety of colors that explode as the foliage arrives quickly transforms to the monochromatic shade of deep green that predominates for most of its photosynthetic life span. 

Black Mountain Cascade Brattleboro Vt

Spring Flow Dummerston Vermont

Ferns Uncoil Brattleboro Vermont

I love the colors of early spring that vary from glowing yellows to rich browns. The hillsides always take on a patchwork array of hues that I think rival the more garish colors of fall foliage. Also, as the fresh buds first open there are often bizarre forms of unfolding greenery to study with macro photography. It all pushes me to get out as often as possible to capture the brief sublime symphony of color. Included here are several of the images that I was able to collect during this year's special season. 

 

Spring Bloom Brattleboro Vt

This year my ability explore was limited by the fact that I was committed to participation in the spring concert of Keene Choral. We performed Mozart’s Requiem, a challenging piece that required intensive rehearsal and time taken up by practice at home. It was painful watching colors evolve from my studio, but I did get out shooting several times over the course of the season. We had I great concert on May first supported by a wonderful orchestra and soloist and since then I have had more time to devote to the remainder of the fresh color. 

Country Club Rainbow Keene NH

Partridge Brook Dam Spofford NH

 

Westmoreland NH

Early in the season I spent time exploring my local area, checking out some of my favorite locations including one of my favorite hilltop barns and the cascades of Partridge Brook as it flow through my village. I also was able to catch a lovely rainbow that predictably appeared as a spring storm passed over as we were having dinner at the Country Club in Keene NH. The shot shows again that, with care, great images can be obtained with the improved cameras in today’s iPhones. 

Against the Drop Brattleboro Vt

Stickney Drop Brattleboro Vt

Hillside spring Dummerston Vermont

Later in the season I was able to spend much of a day exploring many of my favorite spots in Southwestern Vermont, accompanied by Benji our very patient Golden Doodle. Benjamin loves to go for drives and on many of the quiet back roads I was ale to let him loose to explore, sniff and collect his allotment of ticks. We wandered through Dummerston, Brattleboro and Guilford. The weather varied from overcast to bright sun as I found views including overlooking the West River Valley, Stickney Brook Falls, and Guilford's Green River. Truly, even though it was a bit late, the colors were spectacular every where I looked.

Green River Bridge Guilford Vt

Green River Falls Guilford Vt

Miniwawa Gold Roxbury NH

Although the colors are calming down, just the other day when I had some time to kill in Keene, I was able to catch some nice sparkling backlit views along the upper Miniwawa Brook in Roxbury and finally the obligatory vista of Monadnock still framed by the spring gold. 

 

Monadnock in Shadow Keene NH

Ancient Cemetery Granite Spofford NH

Bonnyvale Vista Brattleboro Vt

The foliage is now rapidly settling into its mature hues, but I still have many images to work on and I must reconcile myself to enjoying the building warmth. Of course the spring rains are still filling the local waterfalls. That should keep me busy for awhile and I’m sure I’ll find something to shoot throughout the summer. Autumn will be here before you know it. 

Spring Home Spofford NH

Jeff Newcomer

 www.partridgebrookreflections.com

Bear-be-Gone

Bluebird Glance

Downy Woodpecker

We are avid winter bird feeders, blowing through pounds of Black Oil Sunflower seeds every winter and being rewarded with a wide variety of feathered visitors throughout the snowy months.   We love helping our birds survive the sparse winters and it is always with reluctance that we decide to pull in our feeders as the weather warms and the snow melts away.  

Hungry Visitor (Summer 2020)

We would gladly keep the feeders up
all year round, but too often over the years our feeders and shepard’s hooks have been demolished by the spring arrival of ravenous bears.  We try to delay the inevitable for as long as possible, but with the halting arrival of April’s warmth, we had to accept that we needed to protect our feeders for next season, trusting that our friends will be able to forage the newly exposed ground.  

Titmouse at the Feeder

Over the years I have taken advantage of the visitors to our feeders to grab some nice and easily obtained bird photographs.  I am far from a dedicated bird photographer, but when I can grab images from a chair in my comfortably warm sunroom, even I can’t resist.  This year, as I prepared to remove the feeders, it suddenly occurred to me that I had neglected to capture any images of our glutinous visitors. Before the removal, I grabbed my chair and settled in behind a newly cleaned window overlooking the feeders.  I rested my camera with its 400mm lens on my lap and waited for the action.   

Black Capped Chickadee

House Finch

The birds are frequent attackers of the seeds coming from my feeder as well as the suet hanging from its cage, but I prefer to capture the birds in a more natural environment.  For this I attach random branches near the feeder and find a location with an uncluttered view of the birds as they perch, awaiting their turn to settle on the feeder.  I have discussed this approach in a couple of more detailed previous blogs.

• Bird Feeder Photography
• Backyard Birding
  
  

Bluebird Perch

The trouble with zip tying branches to my deck railing is that in the course of a harsh New England winter the twigs got progressively pruned, to the point that my marvelous cluster of perches were reduced to a single blunt stick pointing skyward.  

Fresh Perch

Fortunately, the spring melt yielded an abundance of sticks cluttering the lawn and I was able to graft an fresh set of branches to the old structure. 

Gold Finch (Early Color)

In a short time, I was able to capture many of my feeders ”greatest hits”, including the Tufted Titmouse, House Sparrows, Nuthatch, Black Capped Chickadees, Gold Finch, and Downy Woodpecker.  I only missed the brilliant Cardinals and the fluffy Juncos.  

Of course, I couldn’t avoid our ubiquitous intruders, but hell, they didn’t ask to be Squirrels and Squirrels deserve to eat as well.  Besides who else can my dog fruitlessly chase up the trees.  

Nuthatch Hanging On

I was very pleased with the performance of my relatively new Canon R5 mirrorless camera.  With the adapter, I was able to shoot, handheld, using my old 400mm lens. Even with significant cropping, I was able to capture clear and sharp images at ISO 1600.

Gold Finch Takes Wing

Sadly, the feeders are now stored away awaiting another “birding” season.  It is amazing how quickly all my fickled feathered friends have deserted me. About all I have left are the barn swallows nesting above my car and pooping on my hood.  It’s time to enjoy the gathering warmth and await the bursting glories of spring.  Benji and I can’t wait.

Benjamin, Always Patient

Jeff Newcomer
www.partridgebrookreflections.com