catching up...

Yeah, yeah, I know, but I've been busy. I went kayaking again, and hiking to the alpine zone in the White Mountains. The mountains were foggy and rainy, unfortunately - we never made the peaks.
Yesterday I had two great hawk sightings. First, on a morning walk, I got to watch a Cooper's hawk preening, and then later, out on the Concord River, I had a Red-tail circling over me for quite some time - I guess he/she didn't like me in that territory!

Here's something I've been watching grow all over my area for the past couple of weeks, and finally got the camera out. Indian pipes are one of the weirdest plants around. The have no chlorophyll, so rely on certain trees and fungi to parasitize, though not fatally. They are really cool looking imho, and pretty as well - very delicate and sort of secretive, somehow.






And here is an update on that robin's nest on my outside light. Look, two babies! They have fledged now, and are gone into the wide world.


And lastly, a yellow jacket nest that I came across this afternoon. Fortunately it was off the path, so I didn't step on it. I've done that before, and it is no fun! Anyway, I didn't hang around for too long, for obvious reasons, but I did watch for a few minutes, and snapped a couple of photos. The nest was more on the ground than in, and you can see that it is partially buried under the leaves. Pretty sneaky, if you ask me!