December 3, 2007 by OrientSee.

An accidental arrangement. The leaves were simply laying on this wet log when I noticed the bright mold. It was the mold and not the leaves that caught my attention. Today’s weather has been abysmal. It is what our local climate does best. Wind, mixed precipitation and constantly changing temperatures crowned with a precipitous fall. Tomorrow morning will be full of slips and falls for all. It’s not the big snowstorms but this raw chafing weather that actually hurts the worst. I am totally amazed that the smaller birds and mammals survive the cold wet at all. Their metabolisms are usually higher and they need more food (proportionately) to maintain their core temperatures. Some of them can go into torpor (metabolic slowdown) till the sun comes out but even still it must be a trial. I will just lie back beneath the comforter tonight and listen to the wind howl.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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December 1, 2007 by OrientSee.

The last cold promise of summer still hangs on the tree. Taunting us with delight gone past, this apple tree reminds us of the warmth and fullness of an earlier season. Today the cold northwest wind has blown down and across the marsh. There is no doubt that winter is here in its full majestic fury. The end of the year is here and the cold will brook no argument. I’m wearing more clothes and am enjoying the bundled snugness of warmth defying the wind and the cold. It is good time to be out doing things and better to be in bed at night listening to the roar against the house.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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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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