An Eye for Wonder

Capturing nature up close fascinates me as much today as it did when I first started photographing the outdoors years ago.   The nearness amplifies the wonder I have for my subject, whether it’s a wild animal visiting the yard, a flower blooming in the garden or a fungus feeding off an old tree in the forest.

As a photographer, I’m also fascinated by how these small wonders figure into our human environment…

… especially that of children.

As a preschool teacher, I frequently marvel at how a single earthworm, ladybug or salamander can sustain the attention of a group of children. At what point do we lose this curiosity and passion for nature’s small wonders?

Those of us who continue to dig in the dirt or walk among the trees as adults have certainly retained some of this magic.  (Do those adults who don’t get up close and personal with the natural world actually know what they’re missing?)

Opportunities for discovery are all around us.  Even older children will display amazing determination in searching a forest for fungi…

A gorgeous polypore fungus

or animal holes in trees.

Hello in there! Is anybody home?

If children learn more from example than by the written or spoken word, then a few minutes spent outdoors with a child is key to transferring a passion for nature to future generations.  I hope my photographs incite others to go outside and see what they can find out there with their own eyes.

A wild snowshoe hare as seen from the kitchen window

My photographs act as a witness to the wonders around me… both in the natural world and in the young eyes of those who are only just beginning to see it for themselves.

This post is in response to Views Infinitum’s Assignment 25: Your Photography Passion  
Scott’s challenge is open to all.  Submission deadline is Wednesday May 22nd 2013 at midnight (your time zone).

Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2013.

Hare Watching

Wild snowshoe hares are frequently seen in the yard.  They’re present year-round, but most visible during the spring and summer months.

Watching a hare through the window

We often watch them through the window as they munch on the lawn or rest under the trees.

Snowshoe hare resting under fir trees next to driveway

One in particular often lays under some trees next to the driveway. It was looking especially relaxed yesterday afternoon.  If we are quiet as we come up the driveway and walk into the house, it will usually just open its eyes for a moment and then go back to its rest.

Hare with blended coat of brown and white fur in early spring

Unlike most rabbits, hares don’t make underground burrows.  When startled, they either freeze or leap out of sight.  Blending into the landscape is made easier by their varying coat color which is white in winter and brown in summer, a change dictated by daylight hours rather than how much snow is on the ground.  Consequently, a lack of snow cover in winter, or snow on the ground in late spring makes them vulnerable to predators.

Lately I’ve been looking for hare nests in the yard.  Unlike rabbits, hares are born with fur and open eyes, making them more alert to their above-ground surroundings.  In the past, I’ve replaced leverets (baby hares) back into their nest as they’ve jumped out after being startled by my lawnmower.  Leverets are left unattended during the day, visited by their mother only at night.

I haven’t found any nests yet this year, but it’s still early in the season.  Unfortunately, I’m not the only one looking…

Trespassing cat on the prowl

Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2013

The Color of Dune Grass

Behind the shore, where the dune grass grows, that’s where we’re walking today.  The sun is burning off the rest of the morning’s fog and the grass sparkles where its rays manage to shine through holes in the mist.  The golden grass is dried and brittle in springtime.  I can’t believe it’s been a quarter century since I first felt it beneath my feet.

We’ve come to this place so many times, you and I, looking for fox paths and ant hills in the sand. We sit in the same spot and together we look out to the ocean.  I dream of African shores with hot sparkling sand across the Atlantic while you ask one more time if it’s still too cold to go in the water.  What three year old doesn’t come to the beach with a plan to enjoy at least one quick splash in the waves?

The golden grass and the color of your hair remind me how much you’ve tamed me these past few years.  All these twenty five years, the dune grass has been of no use to me.  Until now.

Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold.  Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me!  The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you.  And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . .
~ The Fox to The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2013

Ruffed Grouse

Ruffed grouse are gorgeous ground birds that have eluded me since I was a child. Though I’d frequently hear them in the woods, I seldom caught more than a fleeting glimpse of them. Even the ones that visited my backyard were so skittish and quick to run off, that I had almost given up taking a photograph of one. Until this past week.

The one shown here is in its rufous phase.  Its feathers seem to swirl in a beautiful palette of brown and copper tones, highlighted with white. These birds also have a gray phase.

Unlike ring-necked pheasants, larger ground birds that act like they own the neighborhood in this neck of the woods, ruffed grouse are quiet, unassuming birds with feathered legs.  They keep to the woods where they blend in wonderfully with the ground cover.  Apparently, they prefer woodlands with second growth, which should make my backyard an ideal habitat.  I wonder if there’s a nest nearby…

Spring has finally arrived here on Flandrum Hill, and with all the activity that takes place in nature at this time of year, it’s a great time to get outdoors.  

Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2013

 

Snow Ruins

In the early morning light, seemingly white glowing forms consult with one another on the front lawn.  Are they extra-terrestrial beings, come to gather information about life here around Flandrum Hill?  Or are they displaced apparitions, caught between dimensions due to an anomaly in the space-time continuum?

Upon closer inspection, their true nature is revealed.  Who would have thought the remains of snow could have appeared so other-worldly?

While most of the snow from last week’s snowstorm has melted, the remnants of a large snow tower built on the front lawn have survived.   Warm temperatures weren’t enough to melt such a large heap of snow, especially one placed in the  shadow of the house for most of the day.  Up close, the snow reveals debris acquired both from the lawn when large snowballs were rolled to create it, and from a windstorm days later.

Haunting silhouettes formed in the negative spaces make these ruins more interesting in their decaying form than they ever were as a tower of snow.

Once the sun rises on Sunday, the ruins will be covered with a fresh layer of snow along with the rest of the lawn.  They’ll no longer stand out in the landscape.  One of snow’s most magical qualities is that it is so ephemeral.  Except of course when you’re shoveling it!

Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2013

 

Benefits of Living in a Cold Climate

Even in Canada where winter is so much a part of our lives, it seems like we seldom have anything good to say about our cold climate.  Everyone was complaining of record-breaking cold this week, the harshest in recent memory.  Even the squirrel in the yard seemed to be jumping farther and faster than usual in an attempt to spend as little time as possible out on the snow.

Surprisingly, there are actually some benefits to living in a cold climate.  Our air is fresh, and long cold spells prevent too many insects from surviving through to the next summer, benefits we usually don’t consider until our kitchens are bombarded with ants in the middle of a sticky summer heat wave.  Snow’s insulating properties also keep small rodents dreaming beneath the drifts at this time of year, instead of trying to find shelter in our homes.

A cold climate also has a positive impact on our intelligence, especially our ability to delay gratification. The mental functions required to store food, dress warmly and create adequate shelter are crucial to survival in harsh environments.

Inedible, dried brown mint in winter

It’s no wonder the Vikings were the first Europeans to make a settlement on this side of the Atlantic.  Habitually doing hard things in a harsh environment gave these cold climate dwellers an edge over other cultures.  Their ability to shrug off the cold and wholeheartedly embrace winter survives to this day.  Though polar dipping may not be to everyone’s liking, at the very least, cold winters incite us to practice hope and patience as we wait for the warmer days ahead.

Last year’s pussy willows

Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2013

Vulgar Birds

What makes one creature more vulgar than the next?  Some species, such as sturnus vulgaris, aka European starlings, do a good job of living up to the vulgaris part of their Latin name.  They’ve been an invasive species here in North America since 1890 when 100 of them were released in New York City’s Central Park.  And what could  be more vulgar than guests who’ve overstayed their welcome…

Good grief! You’d think she’d use a bigger mesh. What does she think we are? Chickadees?

… than noisy, complaining, ungrateful ones that can’t seem to get enough of the little you have to offer.

How can I possibly stick to my diet if she keeps serving up suet??

Although vulgarity is often equated with the manners of the masses, it’s certainly not an uncommon trait among the elite, or at least those who think they are…

Of course we’re being watched. Paparazzi follow me everywhere.  I’m a chick magnet.

There is nothing new under the sun, and with time, all things grow old.

Is it just me, or is dining on a swinging fat ball not as glamorous as it used to be?

Every moment of every day we have the opportunity to change the quality of our days by changing our outlook.  Regardless of which flock we fly with, a spirit of thankfulness and reverence is available to us all and a perfect remedy to our ‘common’ and ‘vulgar’ attitudes.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach, originally misattributed to John Milton

Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2013