Merrimack River Eagle Festival, Feb. 12, 2011 in Newburyport, MA

Each winter, bald eagles congregate in areas of New England where there's reliably open water on rivers.

The Merrimack River in Amesbury and Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA is a great place to watch bald eagles in February.


To make it even simpler, the Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge sponsor a free eagle festival. (If you google, you may find an eagle festival near you as well.)


Last year, we printed their eagle viewing map, and headed down for the day. We saw eagles perched in trees, doing aerial acrobatics together, and successfully fishing then eating the fish on an ice flow.


It's so helpful to have a group of people to help you spot the eagles, even though many eagles can be seen with the naked eye. Plus, you can ask other eagle watchers where they've seen eagles to know which viewing spots are best that day.


Definitely take binoculars and a spotting scope if you have them. Many people stop by without even binoculars, and people let them borrow a pair. Plus, the sponsoring groups usually have a few spotting scopes at each viewing stop.

There's plenty of space for photographers (although with this year's deep snow it might be a little tougher.)


The photos in this post were taken by Jim (Mr. LifeLoomsLarge) in February 2010 at the Merrimack River Eagle Festival.

For more info, visit the Audubon Society's webpage about the event.

Cool Upholstery

Perhaps I was a little too interested in the upholstery at Blue Moon Evolution in Exeter, NH when I had lunch there on Monday.

The Blue Moon Cafe has evolved into a restaurant open for lunch and dinner. The market is no more.



You can check it out yourself if you go to the Winter Fuzz Fest in Exeter on Saturday, January 29. (Unfortunately, I can't make it to the Fuzz Fest this time.)

Concord, Massachusetts

We visited Concord, MA on a cold but sunny day this week.




Snowbanks and icicles were among the wintry delights of Concord.


The excuse for our visit was the Quilts from the Concord Museum exhibit at the Concord Museum. The exhibit consisted of two rooms with quilts hanging on the walls. The quilts all tied into Concord history in one way or another.

For me, the two most memorable things were:

• The first crazy quilt I've ever seen that looked beautiful instead of like a mishmash.
• How modern some of the fabrics looked, even though they were part of quilts that were over 100 years old.

Unfortunately, photos were not permitted inside the museum, so I can't show you any of the quilts, or the fearsome icicles along the courtyard roof.

We had a great lunch afterward at the Colonial Inn.

A gazebo!!!

I definitely want to return to Concord in the summer. There are lots of historic houses, including Louisa May Alcott's, Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Ralph Waldo Emerson's....plus the Minute Man National Historic Park.

Squirrel Appreciation Day

Really? There's a special day for squirrels?



How did you celebrate it?

Bailey appreciates squirrels every day. He loves to chase them or just watch them out the window!

Lights

This month's photo mission: Lights

On Christmas Eve, we photographed Christmas lights. It does take a tripod to make night photos come out unblurry....which is sad because I feel weird out in the dark photographing other people's lights. It would be more fun for me to just point and shoot without a tripod.


The Edgewood Centre, in Portsmouth, had beautiful displays, ample parking....so I captured this photograph of a gazebo that's one of my favorites. (I have a long-standing love affair with gazebos...and would love to have one, or even regular access to one. I think they are so cool!)


I'm happy that I walked around some during this photo shoot. When I use a tripod, I often just plunk myself and my camera in one spot and fire away. Since I'm not really good at imagining what the photos will look like, I benefit from moving around and trying different angles. I need to remember that next time I use my tripod!

Masonic Temple, Portsmouth, NH

Jim's photo of the Masonic Temple came out much nicer than mine because he went across the street for this photo. I was too close to the building, so my shot came out weirdly diagonal and obscured by tree branches. Even if I can't see things as well at night, it seems like my camera can.

Cornucopia Wine & Cheese Shop

Monday night was the last clear evening for this week, so we went out for an early evening photo shoot even though it was 12 F (-11.11 C). I had spotted a few interesting lights in Exeter, NH that I wanted to photograph.


These cool stars were in the window of Trends Gift Gallery. I photographed them from across the street, with my tripod stuck in a snowbank. I didn't even notice until I got home that there was writing on the window in front of the stars. Plus I didn't zoom in from enough angles to photograph my favorites....Lessons learned!

Finally I took a few photos of the stained glass window at First Baptist Church of Exeter built in 1876. How did I get the artistic slant of this photo? The front leg of my tripod was stuck in a snowbank.


If it weren't for the monthly photo assignment, I wouldn't have taken any of these light photos. I'm glad I did because it helped me appreciate beautiful things around me more, and I used the gazebo photo for a Christmas e-card. (Plus, for my Christmas greeting on this blog.)

I wonder what the assignment will be next month!

DPS:Brand New

This week's theme at Digital Photography School is "Brand New".

DPS: Best of 2010

That was so last year!

This week at Digital Photography School, we're challenged to choose our favorite photos of 2010. At first I thought I might have to look through trip photos and other unblogged photos.

But, being efficient (or lazy), I chose photos from my blog entries for 2010. To my surprise, I found some favorites, often chosen from the Colors of the Month posts.

Tree in Winter at Odiorne State Park

Red Velvet Curtain Gauntlets

Island reflection

I'm surprised this was shot in the winter, although I guess the snow should give me a clue. It would be a better photo if I could have avoided that chain link fence. Or used photoshop to clean it up.

Iris

Even though I shot this photo in too much sunlight, it still reminds me of summer. Maybe next year I'll time it better so I have softer light. (I'm still learning to pay attention to light when I take photos. Other photographers are way ahead of me on that!)

Hydrangea

Every year, one of my favorite photos is of the hydrangea in our back yard.

Clements Mountain, Glacier National Park, Montana

Clements Mountain is a "horn" formed by 3 or more glaciers eroding different sides of the mountain. The Grand Teton, the Matterhorn and Mt. Blanc are other famous horns.

Milkweed pod

In 2011, I hope to include more favorite photos so that my year end wrap-up gives me even tougher choices!

I'm also mulling over the idea of a Glimpses of the Month feature, similar to the Colors of the Month from last year so that I'll be sure to take and share photos of beautiful or interesting things each month. I've already taken some January shots for it, so it will probably pop up within a week or so.

Snow Note: Yesterday I speculated that we'd get big snow today, and sure enough, we're at 16 inches and counting. Fortunately, yesterday I got to feel the crunch of pine needles and frozen dirt trails under my boots on our daily walk. I may have to wait a few months to feel that again. Meanwhile, it's great snowshoe weather!