"Wilds of Wareham"

Attentive Group Listening to Gina

Hermit Thrush

Saturday's walk explore the Wilds of Wareham took place at the Great Neck Audubon Sanctuary. It was led by the South Coast sanctuary's director Gina. It was an absolutely beautiful day to walk through the woods and learn about the fauna and flora of the area. The sun was shining, there was no wind and temperatures were in the 40s. The group walk from the parking lot out to the Osprey Overlook. For birds, there were Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch and White-breasted Nuthatch along with a great sighting of a Hermit Thrush, that gave us a great view.

Gina expounded on the differences in the variety of pine trees that are present on the property, and how the red pines were planted as a crop since they are not native to the area, native pines of the red pine and pitch pine.

Great Neck Sanctuary

Learning about Lichens

The Forest at Great Neck

View from Osprey Overlook

Pine Cone Differences

Path between New and Old Growth Conifers

Deer Track

There will be a monthly walk the first Saturday of each month at Great Neck. Check online at the programs At the Allens Pond sanctuary site:  http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/Allens_Pond/index.php or on the Allens Pond site on Facebook.

Macro Photography Workshop

On September 22, I will be leading a macro-photography workshop at the Great Neck Sanctuary in Wareham Massachusetts, from 7 AM to 10 AM or longer.  We will meet in the parking lot at Great Neck for a short talk on macro photography, and then hike into the woods to see what we can find to photograph.  There will be mushrooms, berries, plants, tree bark, small creatures and maybe some turtles. 
Equipment needed will include a  DSLR or bridge camera, tripod, macro, or zoom lens, cable release, if you have it, and the willingness to get down and dirty.
You can sign up for this workshop at: https://www.massaudubon.org/catalog/listing.php?program_code=211-AP12SU1
Hope to see you there.
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Friday's Walk at Great Neck

The South Coast Audubon Sanctuaries, which consist of Allens Pond and Great Neck Sanctuaries sponsors at Great Neck, free Friday walks in collaboration with the Wareham Land Trust.  I was proud to lead Friday's walk, which was entitled "Photographing Wildlife with Your Camera."
Great Neck is more than an ecological treasure; it’s testimony of successful land conservation partnerships. Public and private conservation organizations, as well as private land owners, worked together to ensure that this special place will remain a wildlife sanctuary for all to enjoy. Members of this effective collaborative to protect the land include the Wareham Land Trust, Department of Conservation and Recreation, town of Wareham, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Mass Audubon.
We had a good number of attendees, whose cameras ranged from point-and-shoot to DSLS.  After introductions, and passing out some handouts with tips on how to photograph wildlife, I discussed basics of exposure, use of tripods, and the most important fact, "know your camera.".
We traveled down to an Osprey nest and everyone hoped that the Osprey would be present and allow for some nice photography, but as usual, nothing is what you want in wildlife and nature photography.  You take what you can take and make the best of it.
On the walk.  I did not bring my camera, but spent the time helping the participants with their settings, learning about histograms and how to bill exposure compensation, which helped a number of obtain better pictures.  At the end, the number of people told me that they really let the lot on this walk.
All the following pictures, were taken by my grandson Kyle, who was the reporting photographer for this walk.

		Fridays Walk August 10th, 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Friday Forest Walks at Great Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, Wareham Massachusetts

This spring and summer, the Great Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Wareham Massachusetts is offering Friday forest walks.  Because of my traveling schedule.  I have not made any of the previous walks.  But attended the last one, which was on coastal ecology, which was led by the volunteer naturalist Doug Hlousek.





The walks meet at the great neck parking lot on Stockton Shortcut at 10 AM.  The remaining schedule is as follows:
July 13          Natural History of Great Neck.
July 20          Wild Forests Edibles.
August 10     Capturing Wildlife with Your Camera - led by yours truly.
August 24     Eastern Box Turtles


Even little ones can come on the walks

Located in Wareham, Great Neck is truly a sanctuary for wildlife. Here you might spot an Eastern box turtle ambling along the trail or an osprey hovering over Bass Cove. The open forest provides shelter for ovenbirds and great horned owls while the salt marsh feeds wading herons and egrets. And, nearly the entire property is designated as priority habitat of state-listed rare species.
The 2.5 miles of trails follow old carriage roads and deer paths. As you walk along them, you’ll encounter native plants including blueberry, huckleberry and sassafras trees; pass by stone walls built by hand by the early settlers; and discover a large glacial erratic (a massive boulder deposited here by glaciers in the distant past) once used for quarrying.
Great Neck is more than an ecological treasure; it’s testimony of successful land conservation partnerships. Public and private conservation organizations, as well as private land owners, worked together to ensure that this special place will remain a wildlife sanctuary for all to enjoy. Members of this effective collaborative to protect the land include the Wareham Land Trust, Department of Conservation and Recreation, town of Wareham, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Mass Audubon.

Directions:
From Exit 21 off Rte. 195, go southeast on Rte. 28. Stay right before light onto Tremont Road and follow as it merges with Main Street, curves right, and becomes Rte. 6 through downtown. Stay left on Rte. 6 over bridge to light. Turn right onto Narrows Road. Take 3rd right onto Indian Neck Road, which becomes RD Stillman Memorial Drive. At the T-intersection, turn right onto Great Neck Road and follow for 1.4 miles. Turn right onto Stockton Shortcut (becomes unpaved after Little Harbor Country Club) to parking lot on right.

Bird Feather

Fowlers Toad

Indian Pipes

Osprey

Pine Seedling Growing in a crack in a Granite Boulder

Indian Pipes Revisited

On my recent macro workshop, I found an interesting group of plants.  I photograph them and have been trying to identify what they were, but was unable to.  I sent the picture to my good friend Lauren, who identified them as last year's Indian Pipe.  Previously last year I did a blog about the Indian Pipe http://photobee1.blogspot.com/2011/07/indian-pipe.html. 
Most of the Indian Pipes that I observed last year as they grew older, just turn black and dried up, then disappeared.  The natural history of Indian Pipes is, once they are pollinated, the flowers will turn up right and the plants turn brown.  How these plants are pollinated is not well-known, but both bees in skipper butterflies to visit the flowers.  The ovary.  All the flower will develop a wooden capsule with five slits in it, through which the tiny seeds are shaken out.  The seeds will germinate when the proper fungus is available in the soil, since they rely on the fungus for obtaining the nutrients necessary for growth.  So, as you walk through the woods, keep your eyes open because there are interesting sites to see, and you always will learn something.

Macro Workshop

I held a macro workshop for The South Coast Sanctuaries, Allens Pond and Great Neck, this weekend.  I only had one participant, who really enjoyed it and is ready to participate in another workshop, and will try to bring some friends along.
The workshop started on Friday night with a presentation at the field station at Allens Pond about macro photography, equipment, ideas, and other helpful hints to help the participants enable their work.

The woods

We met on Saturday morning in the parking lot of the Great Neck sanctuary in Wareham Massachusetts. 

Eckla Beach Rolly can be purchased at Outdoor Photo Gear click info at right

after placing the equipment in my Eckla Beach Rolly Gear Cart (great for carrying gear and will travel over uneven surfaces with ease) and setting up, we went off to photograph. We mainly concentrated on Tree bark, moss and fungi. The morning was overcast and it rained the night before, which added to the color of the subjects

Using a hand-held LED Light to illuminate the subject

Susan, my participant, produce a number of interesting photographs.Here is Susan taking pictures and using equipment
These are Susan's pictures. 

 

I also did take a few pictures .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am planning to hold additional macro workshops, one in the summer and one in the fall, so stay tuned for the information or check the program guide at Allens Pond Sanctuary webpage: http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/Allens_Pond/catalog.php