This seems to be the year of broken equipment. Now my macro lens is in the shop. Guess I can’t complain because I’ve pushed that baby to its limits, it’s at least 10 years old, and I haven’t had a problem with it. It’s a workhorse. Sharp as a tack. My favorite lens. Hopefully fixable.
No macro photos for a while. 
That’s ok. I’m sure you were getting tired of seeing plants anyway.
A few years ago, I did some photography for Natural Lands Trust and visited a good number of their preserves. Since then, they’ve added some new ones to the southeastern PA region and southern New Jersey. I’ve always liked to visit the Hildacy Farm Preserve in Media because it’s a short drive and a nice escape. I’ve always managed to capture photos of some really interesting insects there.
It was such a lovely day outside yesterday so I decided to go for a drive and visit the site since I haven’t been there yet this year. It was quite buggy, but that’s why we wear bug spray.
I saw some really interesting species that I’ve never seen before. However, I’ve concluded that I don’t have the steady hand like I did in the past and as a result, a good number of my hand held macro photos come out blurry now. Quite a bummer. It’s difficult to photograph insects and photographing them with a tripod is pretty much impossible depending on the species. With dragonflies, butterflies, and damselflies, you’re lucky if you can be stealthy enough to get a shot at all. So maybe I gained stealth and lost my steady hand.
Pennsylvania firefly (Photuris pennsylvanicus)
Ladybug pupa (species unknown)
Green bottle fly (Phaenicia sericata)
Monday pretty much sucked. My second night of camping was not the greatest. I finally managed to fall asleep after the tick fear incident, but then I woke up at 1 am to what I thought was some large scary animal making noise not so far from my tent. That large scary animal eventually became the noises of a man and a woman having loud sex in the campground. And yes, there were other people camping in the campground, too.
Just as I had fallen back to sleep, I woke up to a torrential downpour and thunder. Water was slowly beading and running down the inside walls of my tent. Whatever. If I was going to get wet, I might as well sleep until that happens. When I woke up, it wasn’t raining, but there were small pools in the corners of the tent and the outside of my sleeping bag was wet from what I think was just a lot of moisture accumulation. The inside of my sleeping bag was still pretty cozy warm and dry. A hot shower felt so great.
I got word that there was a pink lady’s slipper blooming in one of the sites, but I didn’t get to see it. There were beautiful wildflowers throughout the campground.
After hearing that the weather forecast was rain and thunderstorms for the next two days, I figured that it might be in my best interest to stay somewhere warm and dry for the night. It wasn’t raining yet, but still gloomy, gray, and cold. I headed out to get some food, but got a call informing me with the latest news on my car that is in the shop. What was initially a small air conditioning problem had turned into a huge air conditioning problem that pretty much involved overhauling my whole A/C system and replacing most of the parts….now costing me a LOT more that originally told. Great. That put a damper on my day and thought I should stay overnight outside of Mt. Desert Island where it was cheaper. But since it wasn’t raining, I decided to take a drive around to some of the recommended areas of Acadia while I could.
My first stop was the Wild Gardens of Acadia, which is located in Acadia. I love plants and this was like going to a botanical garden, but strictly the native flora of Acadia separated into the various ecosystems that can be found throughout the park. As always, the bog flora was my favorite, but the mosquitoes were quite active as they are in all bogs. Fortunately, a lot of the other insects were pretty inanimate due to the cold weather so I was able to snap off some shots. I probably could have spent the whole day there just taking photos of the insects that I saw, but I wanted to get on to see other areas before it rained.
And for those who don’t know, I’ve had an interest in ethnobotany for a while and sphagnum moss is one of my favorite plants for that very reason. It’s a common ground cover in the wetter areas of wetlands and bogs and is a staple for the micro ecosystems that thrive in those environments because it retains water really well. If you ever see some when you’re out hiking, you should pick some away from the ground and squeeze it. You’d be amazed by the amount of the water that these plants can hold! For this very reason, the native Americans actually used sphagnum moss as diapers for their babies.
I drove to Thunder Hole. Located along the southeastern cliffs of the island, Thunder Hole is a small, naturally created cavern that creates a loud thunder sound and large splash when the waves rush in and force air out. However, during low tide, it’s not as dramatic so I didn’t get to see or hear “Thunder Hole” at its best. Nevertheless, the coast is still quite beautiful.
I took some time to explore the rocks and check out the nearby tidepools.
The plants in the tidepools were amazing, but there wasn’t a whole lot of marine life. I imagine that I would have seen more if I had the chance to check out the other nearby areas, but it started to rain and my equipment was getting wet.
I headed off of Mt. Desert Island and drove a good distance to Portland, Maine where I stayed for the night. I was excited to see moose crossing signs along the drive. And I saw a huge eagle nest on some electric pylons.
And here’s a suggestion for future traveler’s: I’ve always seen those little discount hotel coupon books at the highway rest areas, but never really looked at them or used them until this trip. The coupons are generally only good for one night and walk-ins only, but if you decide to take a last minute road trip and you want to stay at a hotel, there are some really good deals in there!
First of all, I finally added some photos to the Day 2 post.
My first night of camping on Saturday night was awesome. It was cold, but I loved it and slept like a log for the most part. I woke up a couple of times because my sleeping bag was so warm that I was sweating. I showered and the prepared to leave. The showers and bathrooms at the campground were awesome and so clean. I don’t think I’ve ever been at such a clean campground before, but then again, the peak season really hasn’t begun yet.
I knew that the forecast was showing rain, but I was preparing to go explore Mt. Desert Island and Acadia…and take some photos. Well, right as I was about to leave the campground, I got to chatting with some of the guys from the campground. The one man, Scott, was hosting the 10th annual Acadia Birding Festival. I had heard that the birding festival was happening, but didn’t know exactly when. Just so happens that it was happening while I was in town and yesterday was the last day of it. They were going on a whale/bird cruise yesterday and Scott had taken me under his wing to take me along on the cruise. Thanks, Scott!
I had to be in Bar Harbor for the cruise so I decided to grab some breakfast before heading over. I had pancakes with Maine wild blueberries. yum!
There was a group of about 8 of us who were going on the cruise that was being led by Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company. It was a pretty large boat for a whale watch. This was the fifth whale watch I had been on (3 in California and 2 in Alaska), but the first one I’d been on here on the east coast. In the past, I’d seen an amazing Humpback whale display in California that probably no whale watch could top. And I’d seen Orcas (killer whales) in Alaska, which is supposedly pretty rare. But I was really excited to see other possible whales and sea birds that I hadn’t seen before….with a group of Maine birders who knew what they were looking at.
We no sooner go on the water and saw a bald eagle. We saw a humpback that has been identified as Gemini who has been spotted in the area every year since 1977. He hung around our boat for a while so we saw some tail displays. We also saw a North Atlantic right whale in the distance, which was really cool, and I guess also rare. We also saw a bunch of seals and porpoises.
We passed Egg Rock and lighthouse, which is supposedly a good breeding ground for pelagic birds.
We reached Petit Manan, which is a famous breeding ground for puffins and other sea birds. And yes, I finally saw a puffin. There were hundreds of them and it was amazing! We couldn’t get too close, but close enough that you could spot them and they’d fly right by the boat. So cool! I was so excited about seeing the birds that I forgot to take a photo of the really cool lighthouse at Petit Manan.
I’ve been keeping track of the birds I see and here is a list of many of the birds that we saw on the trip yesterday:
On the way back from the watch, it started to rain and it was so incredibly cold. I’m glad that I brought my rain gear along because it definitely came in handy yesterday. I knew that camping was not going to be fun.
I ate some lunch food and then went to meet up with the bird festival folks for a social gathering at the Museum of Natural History that’s located at College of the Atlantic. I met a few of the other people who were organizers for the festival and also Maine birders. Everyone was so nice and though the weather was crappy, I had a fun day.
I had some time to kill before it got dark so I decided to take a quick drive around the Acadia park loop, which I hadn’t done yet. Although it had stopped raining, it was still really cloudy and cold. I took a drive up Cadillac Mountain, which offered some lovely views of the Island. Took some photos of some plants along the way, too. The day was capped off by seeing a Pileated woodpecker fly right in front of my car and land on a rock outcrop right next to it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to stop the car, grab the camera and get a shot…but I was really thrilled because I had never seen one before. Some things are best left captured in the memory than in the camera. Unfortunately, my memory is like a sieve these days.
As it got dark, I headed back to the campground. It had stopped raining, but everything was wet and cold. I had wanted to have a campfire until I realized that there were little tiny bugs all over EVERYTHING. I freaked myself out thinking that they were ticks (not deer ticks, though), but I now believe that they were just spiders. Still, I hate ticks and I hate spiders so the thought of having either all over everything forced me to go inside my clean, dry tent and warm sleeping bag.
And speaking of ticks…I forgot to mention that the other day I heard two people talking after a hike. The girl says to the guy, “So we saw a snake and a tick. Maybe the snake ate the tick? If the snake ate the tick, I’d feel so much better.” …and while that whole statement is rather silly, I have to say that I can’t disagree. I’d feel better, too. Did I mention that I hate ticks? yeah. But other than the little spiders last night, the bugs haven’t been bad at all. There were mosquitoes every once in a while, but I wouldn’t say that they were bad.
Last week when I felt like making an escape, I went to Bartram’s Gardens for a quick visit. I had only been there for a very short walk-through once in the past. When I went last week, the weather was overcast when I had left and just perfect for doing macro photography. But by the time I got there, it was full-on sun and full-on humidity and full-on hotness. The kind where you felt like you took a shower from being outside. I was there long enough to take a stroll around and check out the plants that were there, snap a few mediocre photos, get a quick glimpse of a garter snake, sit and ponder for a while, and realize that the weather in Pennsylvania just stinks. Of course, this is nothing that I didn’t know before; I’m just reaffirming the fact right here, right now.
The pollinators are out! Pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) on Larkspur (Delphinium exaltatum).
Some photos from my recent California trip that I never posted….
Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve - New Hope, Pennsylvania
Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander)
Aristolochia macrophylla (Dutchman’s Pipe)
Galium sp.
Calycanthus floridus (Carolina allspice)
Rhododendron calendulaceum (Flame Azalea)
Rhododendron calendulaceum (Flame Azalea)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) - (through Zizia aurea)
Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander)
Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander)
Species unknown
Possible Lupine species?
Arisaema tripyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Daucus carota L. (Queen Ann’s Lace)
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