Category: Wildlife

The story behind the photo: This was taken a few weeks ago down at Hardings Beach in Chatham as the sun was setting. A dowitcher kept running back and forth into and from the surf. I was really trying to capture the movement of the waves, their undulating flow was hypnotic to me in a sense that night.

Got my RealID coming finally. This time I made sure to have all my ducks in a row by having more documents than were needed, just in case. Had to wait over an hour in line because one of the machines apparently broke down, so that sucked (going to a AAA location is still better than the RMV in my opinion), but finally getting the thing is good. Glad that’s over with. Now I’ll be able to enter federal buildings as well as get on a airplane after Sept. 2021, not that I plan on ever possibly doing those things, but good to have just in case. Naturally you have to wear your mask and be socially distant as you wait your turn. I wear glasses when I drive so I had to take the eye test (which is really easy – basically just tests to make sure you’re not blind IMO) but they ask if you wear your glasses while driving which means it needs to be checked. (So I thought to myself, if I didn’t wear glasses I wouldn’t need an eye test? And wouldn’t that actually be worse?)

I took two pictures. I didn’t like how the first one came out and the 2nd one wasn’t too swift either but everyone knows that nobody looks good in these ID photos. Why is that?

More on today’s adventure to come… stay tuned!

The story behind the photo: Not sure if I ever posted this one before from a time I explored Monomoy Island off the coast of Chatham. Got really lucky to catch this scene! As the boat neared the spit I happened the catch this instant of a mom and her cub sharing a moment. It didn’t last long for sure. Just after this all these other seals showed up and alit on the spit as well and I’ve uploaded that picture previously. I actually have a lot of pics from that day, but this has to be one of the best, to my mind. I wish I had had a better camera when I took this but it still came out pretty good. Apparently foggy cloudy days might be the best time to see them? I don’t remember if the tide was coming in or out but as I recall this was quite a ways out from shore. I should see if I can dig out the GPS data I took that day.

It was very hot today, the car thermometer read 105 degrees at one point when I needed to run an errand this afternoon. Later in the evening, I spent a good 30-45 minutes watering all the various plants outside in the garden. Keeping up this stuff is a lot of work, but I find it rewarding.

Time to give an update since the last entry. After the hike over at Kent’s Point we hit a couple of little libraries in the area but I still came up empty on any good books that I might want to read. Will keep trying though – usually get some good stuff down here. Hit the Hole-In-One for lunch and chocolate glazed donuts.

Later in the afternoon we went down to the pool and cooled off a bit with a little dip. During this time we learned back at home that the baby bunnies (of which there appear to be two) are hopping around on the back deck and hiding under pots! I hope we’ll get a chance to see them before they take off but if not, I hope they lead a safe and productive life. Figures they would pick this week to decide to get out of their mother’s home and explore!

We decided to head down to Paine’s Creek for tonight’s sunset shots. It’s actually one of my favorite places to shoot down here – I’ve gotten lots of great shots from here over the years and every sunset is completely different. All the times I’ve been here though I had never been when it was low tide (go figure). So I was able to get some interesting shots further out into the bay than I normally do. So I walked out there quite a ways to get some shots, including the one above, which I think came out okay. I should have paid a little more attention to my surroundings however because when I turned to head back, some of the water had come in and I needed to wade through the water to get back to the parking lot, so my sneakers and pant legs were soaked and caked in some mud. Hopefully those will dry out by tomorrow. Finished with a quick takeout dinner of fish tacos from a place called Guapo’s.

Every day so far down here we’ve been able to fill up pretty well, considering in the weird times we’re currently living through. Tomorrow morning I think we’re going to try to hike over at a place called Mill’s Pond.

I’ve been getting some love on my seal pictures on the Cape Cod Photography page from folks so I decided to put one up for purchase. Nice thing I like about this particular shot is the little baby in the background center. I’d like to get out to this spot again someday. On this particular day I shot this, all the planets aligned and the seals all wanted to rest and came up on this spit that was exposed from being underwater. The weather this particular day was cloudy with a chance of rain and a little windy. Maybe that’s a good time to go see them?

I am currently on the Cape now. It’s definitely different than other times though – wearing the mask, being socially distant. it’s just so weird. More later…

The story behind the photo: I really like this one. Reminds me I need to get back into birding more. Anyways, we had taken a boat cruise around the harbor in one of the Cape towns last year, I think it might have been in Dennis or somewhere around there. And we just happened to pass by this osprey nest. Thankfully I had the foresight to bring my complement of lenses so I switched to one where I could get a closer shot of them. I actually have a bunch of different shots from this but I felt this was one of the better ones. I remember having to try to brace myself as the boat kept wobbling over the waves. I assume they were waiting for their parent although they looked like they were just about ready to head out on their own. The fact that their eyes are still brown rather than yellow also signifies them as juveniles. I like how the two on the right appear to looking directly at me.

They would also leave the nest every so often, maybe just getting the feel of flight. This guy up above decided to perch right next to this gull, who doesn’t seem that concerned, although I think I might be if I were him. They do prefer to eat fish rather than birds but if it got hungry enough…

Thanks to the Guidebook of Cape Cod for featuring one of my photos!

I am one hurting puppy today. Spent the day down in Fairhaven again at the Ladydoc’s friend’s beach house. We swam in the bay – it was somewhat choppy today – the waves actually seemed pretty tall at some points, but it’s so much fun to jump over the waves – plus since it’s a private area nobody else was there – it was pretty amazing. There are rocks there toward the shore though so you have to be careful at high tide. I did scrape my legs a little bit, the front of my left knee, and the back of my right knee, but not really all that bad. Hard to believe we were out there for an hour and a half! After we came in we saw that two guys in a canoe had capsized so everyone got help and called the authorities but they were alright. Really not the place for a canoe. A lot of folks kayak there, which seems a more appropriate vessel, especially for the way the wind was churning up the waves today. Hopefully a lesson was learned. It’s usually pretty calm but I guess the remnants of Fay passing through might have stirred it up a bit more than usual. Then I dried in the sun, and now I feel like a tired potato. Really spent, but feels good in way. Plus it’s much cooler and more bearable there then up here in the heat of the valley where temperatures reached 90 degrees.

We also spent a little time visiting a shop there that sells these Adirondack chairs, really nice ones, made out of composite. Bit on the expensive side, but they last forever. Seems to be in these days with everyone being home now I guess.