Figure 1 – Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, Fresh Pond Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

In New England there are two Avalons. The first, or earliest, refers to Avalonia, which was microcontinent that developed as a volcanic arc on the northern margin of the Paleozoic continent of Gondwana. It eventually rifted off, becoming a drifting micro-continent. Some of the oldest rocks of Western Europe, Atlantic Canada, and parts of the coastal United States, including parts of Maine and the North Shore of Massachusetts, are Avalonian in origin. Most directly, Avalonia is named for the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland. But of course, there is a deeper and much more mythic meaning that derives its origins from the ancient legends of the English speaking peoples.

This is the epic story of King Arthur and the mythic mist enshrouded island referred to as “Avalon.” Avalon was ruled by ” The Lady of the Lake.” There were several Ladies of the Lake. It was the second,  Ninianne, who gave King Arthur the sword Excalibur. But it was the first Lady of the Lake, Viviane, who was taught her magic by the great wizard, Merlin. Merlin became  enamored of Viviane. But virtuously and cleverly she refused to give him her love until he had taught her all his secrets.  Then she used these powers to entrap him forever in the trunk of a tree.  Most significantly, and fatalistically Merlin, who had the power to see the future, knew that this would happen, but he was powerless to prevent it. This, I suppose, means that ultimately she was the more powerful sorceress.

A couple of weeks back, I was walking around Fresh Pond in Cambridge and was thinking first about its geological history as a glacial kettle pond.  But then I was taken by the still dampness of the mist and the way that light, sky, and water interacted.  These are always different. It felt particularly magical on that day, and I was taken (Figure 1) by a tree branch, perhaps a stick figure, protruding through the calm surface of the pond and I thought of the Lady of the Lake, of Viviane. And nearby there was an ancient tree (Figure 2) that was damp from rain and there were strange roots that enabled it to cling to the slope of the hill and seemed to indicate that there was something magical and other worldly about this particular tree. This made me think of Merlin’s tree. All of this lasted only a few minutes, as most moments of mythic awareness do, before I was drawn inevitably back to the realities of the present, to ISO, f-settings, and exposure times and to the need to return to work.

Figure 2 – Merlin’s tree, Fresh Pond, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens hand-held at 70 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture-Priority AE mode at 1/800th sec at f/10.0 with + 1 exposure compensation.

Figure 2 – Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens hand-held at 70 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture-Priority AE mode at 1/200th sec at f/10.0 with + 1 exposure compensation.

Pied-eye grebe, Little Fresh Pond, Fresh Pond Reserve, April 2015. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

I have been chasing the little fellow in Figure 1 for the last couple of weeks in hopes of getting a decent photograph of what I thought was an American Coot.  He is in fact a pied-eye glebe. The give away was the fact that his eyes were not red like those of a coot, and his bill, while white, had that little black band. But what of pied-eye and what does it have to do with the pied piper? Pie comes from the black and white magpie, and pied appears to means blotchy.  As for the piper, that medieval pedophile, who lured children into the woods, he is described and depicted in clothes of many colors.

The image of Figure 1 is the best that I have been able to manage so far, as I have yet to get very close to the little fellow.  I think that the grebe falls under the category as to be so ugly or plain as to be beautiful.  Certainly the eyes and face are appealing, as is the modesty of his tail.

As for identification of birds, I’d like to suggest for those of you interested in such things a clever, a free cell phone App from my alma mater, Cornell University, called the Merlin Bird ID App. It asks for the date, your location, and a few questions about the bird and then gives you pictures of the most likely candidates.  You then confirm which one is correct and this feeds back to the folks at the Sapsucker Woods Ornithology lab to improve the App’s accuracy.  It nailed the grebe immediately. I think that it is also worth mentioning that even when you get a Bad” or “failed” photograph of a bird that your not sure of, the photograph is a tool onto itself in providing details that you might otherwise have not seen or not recorded in your mental note.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM Lens hand-held at 200 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture-Priority AE mode at 1/1600th sec at f/10.0 with + 1 exposure compensation and center auto focus.

Figure 1 – Canadian Goose (Branta canadensis), Black’s Nook, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA, April 2015, (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Well, we can all relax now, the espresso machine has made it to the International Space Station.  No really! Nobody is more sympathetic than I to the need for strong coffee in the morning.  I don’t know what it cost to design and make this machine, but I do know that if it was say about a pound it probably cost about $1,000 to get it there. Anyway, such are the necessities of manned and womanned space travel.

As for me I have been enjoying the onset of spring, finally, and have been furiously, perhaps obsessively,  photographing the birds at Fresh Pond.  I am still trying to figure out the vagaries of taking photographs at 640 mm.  This is really not a game for sissies! So the other day around noon, I am taking photographs of the courting Canadian geese on Black’s Nook, when one of the geese makes a v-line towards me.  I took this photograph at a meter or two at full 400 mm (which is 640 mm effective) on my zoom.  I finally figured out why he came so close.  Black’s Nook is a favorite nature spot for school children as well as pre-schoolers, and some of them when the park rangers aren’t around feed them bread. Or, more likely, the rangers look the other way. So this guy saw me as a meal provider not as a threat.

But I was pleased by how the photograph came out; so I share it here as Figure 1.  I like this kind of quirky angle and I particularly like the velvety blackness of the goose’s beak as well as the color of the sky reflected off the water.

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens hand-held at 400 mm IS on, ISO 1600, Aperture-Priority AE mode at 1/1000th sec at f/10.0 with no exposure compensation and manual focus.

Figure 1 – Dark eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), Sudbury, MA, April 2015. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

All winter long I have been trying to get a decent photograph of a dark eyed junco (Junco hyemalis).  The problem with him is within his name.  His eye is so dark as to be often invisible, especially when he is photographed against the snow, where the contrast can be overwhelming.  Still this little sparrow is a very appealing little bird.  The males have this dramatic slate color to them, that is truly anything but drab.

On Sunday I continued experimenting with by big lens.  I have discovered it works a lot better when manually focused.  This actually proved not be as difficult as I thought.  I had positioned myself in a lawn chair in front of my feeder.  I had read that birds are not as wary of you when you are seated as opposed to standing.  Well so much for that theory.  Still this littel guy was gregarious enough to pose for a photograph.  The lack of snow enabled me to eliminate the need for overexposure, and remarkably the image of Figure 1 was taken hand-held. I used every post=processing trick that I know of to get the image to come out right, that is with a clearly visible eye.

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens hand-held at 400 mm IS on, ISO 1600, Aperture-Priority AE mode at 1/500th sec at f/10.0 with no exposure compensation and manual focus.

Figure 1 – Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos. Fresh Pond Reserve, April, (c) DE Wolf 2015.

The mockingbird of Figure 1 was a very obliging fellow. Usually the birds keep their social distance, but this one came surprisingly close, although he did prefer the cover of the bush. He did fool me for a very long time.  One of the photographs that I took of him showed a red cap on his head, and I kept searching the bird guides for a red-capped bird that resembles a mockingbird.  Finally, I realized that the red was due to an out of focus tree bud.  I guess that in fooling me he lived up to his name – in sight if not song.

When I was in grade school we did a school play about Abraham Lincoln and this made a big deal over the fact that “listen to the Mockingbird,” a ballad at the time of the American Civil War was a favorite of Lincoln’s. So I kept that with me and was delighted when I moved to Maryland years ago by all the mockingbirds there.  They do often fool you with their mimicry – the mime of many languages.

That play was my great stage debut.  I had one line “No comment,” which I said with great emphasis.  The part at least was speaking.  A friend Scott S. got to play a statue of Lincoln, and passed out with a great crash to the floor. Grade school was so much fun in those days.

Anyway, just a short time after photographing frazil and pancake ice on Fresh Pond, I am delighted to be photographing equally delighted spring birds.  They are all a flutter, well obviously.  It is spring and the great press to mate and have chicks is upon them. Yesterday, I posted on my Facebook page a photograph of the last of winter’s ice on my back patio.  And it is amusing to examine all the detritus scrapped up by the snow plow and deposited on my lawn this winter into what was once a huge mountain of packed snow.  I finally found the Fitbit cover that I lost while snow-blowing in January.  Unfortunately, it had been crushed by the plow as well.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 126 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture-priority AE mode, 1/500th sec at f/10.0, with no exposure compensation.