November 30, 2007 by OrientSee.

The bare trees are unmasking all the secrets of summer. The variety and number of nests is amazing. They range from little cup affairs nestled in thorns to large leaf villas. Some of them are quite close to paths that I use daily. These are the nests that are visible now but I am sure that hidden in the tall phragmites reeds and in the chaos of the deep thicket, are many others. All those red wing blackbirds from the summer were certainly nesting some place. It’s a bit of esoterica that I know nothing of. There are almost certainly books on the architecture of bird nests and experts who understand this language of straw, twigs and mud. It is a curious world.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 29, 2007 by OrientSee.

A gray overcast November day is not a day in which you expect to see bright intense color. This twig and cones were laying on moss and without klieg lights or flash, the color just jumped into my eye. I shot this today in Orleans on Cape Cod. No bright leaves on maple trees and no bright blue sky. There was just this burst of color.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 28, 2007 by OrientSee.

We’ve had some cold weather and a hard freeze. There’s even been a few snow flakes. I never expected to see a Monarch Butterfly in the marsh at the end of November. The ones that come by in September and October are migrating south. Usually the first touch of cold weather and that is the end of any butterflies. This small specimen was resting in the sun soaking up some warmth. I wish that I could be optimistic about its journey on but I can’t. It’s one thing to see a bird even a small bird on its way south but these insects are an assault on the usual ideas of strength and resilience. I wish there was a way to have caught this guy and shipped him to the Yucatan.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 27, 2007 by OrientSee.

One image to say it all. Autumn. The leaf is covered with seeds. Death and the promise of rebirth. The day has been strangely warm and very windy. A Cooper’s Hawk sat in a tree above me for a few minutes while teal were splashing down in the muskrat pond. There were two red tail hawks patrolling nearby and one raised the ire of a crow tribe which harassed the hawk for a while. Chickadees were busy throughout the thickets. There were bufflehead ducks swimming and diving in the creek by the Revere side. It hasn’t been the busiest day but there was plenty to see. It was worth putting on the big old rubber boots for a walk on the wet side.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 26, 2007 by OrientSee.

It got cold and there wasn’t much wind. The result meant that all the dust, seeds and pollen settled on the surface of the water were gently pushed by the minimal wind and the freezing process to form these gentle contour lines on the iced surface. The bright sun wasn’t warm enough to melt the ice. Those curves were elegant to behold. Of course, the marsh was quiet as the cold weather muffles everything into inaction. It makes for a great deal of introspection. Quiet can be so immensely satisfying.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 25, 2007 by OrientSee.

As people moved into the Boston Basin and filled up all the empty space, more land was created by fill. Slowly but surely the large marshes were whittled away and broken up into small bits and pieces. Close to Belle Isle Marsh (one lucky survivor), another portion called Wood Island was taken by the airport and nearly disappeared. A very small portion remains right next to the airport and sitting on an old piling, this Great Blue Heron was resting in the bright sun. There were ducks paddling through the wet grass and the active runway was only several hundred yards away. A busy Sunday morning at Logan. Usually I see the planes pass overhead at Belle Isle but here at Wood Island, the planes were taking off with great noise as this old timer with no jet engines was just enjoying a nap.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 23, 2007 by OrientSee.

Full moon means very high tides. These ducks were paddling about in water covered marsh that generally gets barely wet at most high tides. The bright clear weather was better than the fog bound day we had yesterday. Although it was quite windy and cold, there were still plenty of birds in the thickets while a red tailed hawk was lordly presiding over everything that dared to move in the open spaces. That meant that the starlings were nowhere to be seen. It was another great day to wandering through the marsh.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 21, 2007 by OrientSee.

There is weirdness to be found in the marsh. Someone piled up some rocks into a small cairn and then a high tide covered it with reed debris. I had never noticed it before but on this drab wet day, the cairn was very obvious against the grass. Perhaps it was entirely the work of some anonymous artist but it looks more like accident covering planned structure. It is a striking object. It has an air of primitive elegance. Nature isn’t always the only artificer at work in the marsh.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 20, 2007 by OrientSee.

Earlier this year there had been a small fire at the edge of the marsh. It was mostly phragmites reed that burned but the result was a very ugly patch of land. Unexpectedly the reeds burst from their untouched underground rhizomes and quickly covered the site. The reeds grew well but did not reach the same height as the undamaged plants. Now that the frost and snowflakes have come, these same plants have been less affected by the cold. The greens have been largely replaced by an intense gold. There are no foxtail seed heads but the leaves are more colorful than any of the surrounding stands. It is an amazing display of color.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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November 19, 2007 by OrientSee.

This is like wandering upon the scene of a car crash after the tow truck has left. Something has been feeding on a bird, probably a pigeon. I suspect a hawk rather than a coyote since pigeons are wary of feeding off the ground in high grass or reeds. The remains were dropped here. It is a regular sort of event in this particular area. I have come upon this kind of evidence several time before. The actual body isn’t there any more but there are plenty of secondary scavengers that will clean up after the original predator has moved on. No one is interested in eating feathers. I have always been surprised by the few bodies that I find. There are thousands of birds and animals in the marsh and yet death is not an obvious event. The scavengers are efficient of course but unless you look, it seems a quiet peaceful world.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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