This is what I live for. My favorite weekend.
The Ardelle comes in from a tourist sale.
She sails done into the North Channel.
Hold your socks! It’s the Bounty!
Looks like she’s going to be down at the Cruise Port.
The Ellis boys sail the Thomas E Lannon into a headwind out to the harbor.
What a sight as the sun begins to set. I’ve never had such great colors n the Lannon.
Friend Tom in his green and white dory sails through our front yard.
It’s going to be a great weekend.
A year ago, hurricane Irene hit Vermont and dumped 5 to 7 inches of rain in the Green Mountain state. Today, I have some photos from July 2010 that I took of the Taftsville covered bridge in Vermont.
My brother John took pictures of the same bridge in July 2012.
We got about 3 inches of rain here in Gloucester. Another side effect of Irene was that it blew salt water way inland, burning the foliage and deep into New England, up into Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Vermont took quite a beating during the storm, washing out major bridges, whole sections of roads and leaving people stranded in isolated pockets. Sections of rivers and steams were redirected. It was a tough, tough storm. Several covered bridges were lost.
These Eiders are great to have round. They have pleasant dispositions and the never cause a ruckus.
Here she’s doing a power swim to get away from a kayak.
An unusual, but not rare bird here in Gloucester is the Laughing Gull. I spied this second cycle Laughing Gull on Smiths Cove last Saturday. It took me a bit to find a reference that noted the red legs as being one of the features of a not quite fully mature bird, but that hood and beak are undeniably Laughing Gull.
Semipalmated Plover
In other news, the Common Terns have arrived in Gloucester Harbor. This is the time of year that I get caught up in the folly of shooting flying terns.
This year, they are staying over towards the center of the area between Cripple Cove and Smiths Cove, making the shots that much more difficult.
This is the first sequence of shorebirds that I’ve taken with the 300mm F/4. The Semipalmated Plover is about 7.25 inches long…if you grab it by the beak and the tail and pull real hard. I was on an open mud flat and I didn’t have a place to sit down, so I had to stalk the bird. It’s a fine line between pressuring the bird and getting the shot, so these were shot from a bit further than I’d like. But the fact that the Plover is feeding means that I was not stressing my subject, which is the Prime Directive of wildlife photography.
A full crop for now. Birds have a very aggressive digestive track. This little guy will be hungry again soon.
Finally, an art shot.
Food?
Food?
Feed me!
Feed me!
Feed me!
Feed me!
Feed me!
Feed me!
Feed me!
Give it a rest, kid.
Feed yourself.
There are two big gaff-rigged topsail Essex Schooners hauled out at the Gloucester Marine Railways. The Highlander Sea and the Adventure are getting some hull maintenance. Let’s go take a closer look.
The Highlander Sea is on the left, the Adventure on the right.
Scaffolding under the Highlander Sea
Scaffolding under the Adventure
A Herring Gull looking for a snack stands on one of the rails. There is a pair of rails that the boats are hauled out on.
An art shot of the port screw of the Highlander Sea
I do have some images of the Highlander Sea when she came into Gloucester a year ago. If you are nuts about Essex built gaff-rigged topsail schooners like me and just gotta have one, you can! The Highlander Sea is up for sale.
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