The Butterfly Place

Posted on July 28, 2013July 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

The Butterfly Place in Westford, MA is located at 120 Tyngsboro Rd. It’d been a long, long time since I’d been there. From where I live in Taunton it’s about 70 miles and should take about an hour and 30 minutes to get there, depending on traffic.

I was making good time until an RV and an SUV decided to mix it up at the junction of RT 90 (Mass Pike) I was about 2 miles from the “Pike” when traffic stopped. The WB ‘copter floated overhead so I had an up to the minute report. According to them we weren’t going anywhere soon.

I shut off the car and open the windows and doors. Soon everyone was doing the same. People wandered around at the side of the road or up and down between the cars. Several ambulances and tow trucks went by but I didn’t see any Med flights so that was a good sign.

The hour we waited actually passed pretty quickly and I arrived at The Butterfly Place at 2:30 instead of 1:30.

The rules are simple, No Touch, No Talk, No Eye Contact..no wait, that’ the Dog Whisperer but it was similar. To protect the fragile inmates there was a no touch policy. If you are caught trying to attract a butterfly to your hands you are asked to leave.

It’s smaller than the Magic Wings venue in Deerfield but the principle is the same. There’s a coi pond, paths through greenery and little benches. Butterflies are everywhere. This is a family owned business so I don’t know if the staff was family or “hired help” but they were very nice and quite knowledgeable. They laughed when I told them I wanted to take pictures (Turns out so did everyone else) and challenged me to get a picture of one of the blue butterflies showing the blue. When they land they close their wings and look like a drab , brown butterfly.

They were the challenge, for sure. When they lit on the ground they did spread their wings…for a second and in spite of trying forever I couldn’t time it right so imagine my surprise when one landed right next to me and spread its wings as if to say “take it now, you only have one chance.”

Although we finally had a pleasant day outside, it was 80+ and humid inside. Just the temps the butterflies love.

You’ve already seen my favorite pictures on Wordless Wednesday.

Like Magic Wings, there were little Quail running every where. You had to be careful not to step on the tiny birds. The attendant called them Chinese Painted Quail.

Don’t let the small size fool you. They are fully mature. More than one pair were intent on making little quail. I got a chuckle when I heard a small voice ask his mother “What’s Mating?”.

I also spotted a pretty little bird. I couldn’t place it but something was tugging at the corner of my mind so I asked. It’s a Zebra Finch. I must have seen them at a pet store as they are domestic birds. She said there are 3 but the most I saw at once were 2 and I couldn’t tell them apart.

Butterfly wings closes at 5pm so about 4:30 I picked up the camera and headed home. The timing would put me right in rush hour traffic but it was worth it. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Perishing Puffins

Posted on July 27, 2013July 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Ah Puffins, those cute, colorful and comical sea birds , full of character and playfully known as “sea parrots” or even “clowns of the sea”.

I chased them last year in Maine on 2 different occasions. It was an educational experience. Before Maine my exposure to these funny little birds had been National Geographic photos, close ups of the colorful beaks loaded with herring or eels.

With their bright colored beak, white breast and black back, these birds look like a cross between a parrot and a penguin. They are a major tourist attraction since being brought back to the northern Maine Islands about 40 years ago.

I was surprised about how small they are. It makes getting an iconic photo like Nat Geo’s almost impossible. You need access to the islands, not a rolling deck on a tour boat. You need a large telephoto lens and a tripod but I don’t think you need a lot of luck. I saw many puffins and many had the fish hanging from their beaks but they were tiny and distance made capturing that “money shot” a long shot.

Fast forward to this year and a cruise to Alaska. On the maps showing our cruise route were places marked with Puffins. I was hoping that I’d get to see some of the little birds here, maybe sitting on an iceberg or two but if any were in the area they got by without fanfare and I missed them.

Puffins have been on my mind lately. I still want to find a way to get that special photo. The Mass Audubon Society (of which I am a member) had an overnight excursion with special access to the Puffin Colony but the cost was too rich for me at the moment so I let the idea pass so it was with some concern that I watched a news clip today on the state of the Puffins in Maine.

According to the release young puffins died at an alarming rate last season because of a shortage of herring, leaving adults to try to feed them another type of fish that was too big to swallow. Some chicks died surrounded by piles of uneaten fish.

I didn’t hear any of this last year. Maybe it wasn’t shared with the tourists as we tried to line up the perfect shot.

This summer, the chicks are getting plenty of hake and herring, said Steve Kress, director of the National Audubon Society’s seabird restoration program and professor at Cornell University but the report went on to say that researchers are still concerned because occupancy rates in the nest burrows are down this year. Puffins were nearly wiped out in Maine about a century ago. Reintroduction was begun only about 40 years ago.

Puffins raise only 1 chick, known as a Puffling, in an underground burrow. Puffins are less adaptable than many other seabirds so the health of a puffin colony is a good indication of the health of the sea and certain fish stocks.

I hope the colonies recover fully and continue to grow. After all, like so many tourists to Maine, I haven’t got my perfect photo yet!

(The wonderful close ups came from the web. I can’t offer credit for them as the photographer wasn’t Identified nor were the photos watermarked. But these are exactly what I want to take!)

Baby Alpacas

Posted on July 25, 2013July 25, 2013 by Dusty Roads

If you have been following my posts for awhile you may remember a post from last November about a “Teeny, Tiny, Farm-ette”. In that post I introduced a friend’s little farm where he tends to Silky Chickens, alpacas, pygmy goats and horses along with dogs, cats and a parrot or two.

About a week ago he called me to ask if I still liked taking pictures of baby “critters”. Of course I said yes. At the time of the call he had a 2 day old Alpaca baby. I couldn’t go visit right away so the baby was about a week old when I got there.

The baby had a friend, another baby Alpaca that was 2 weeks old and an”older” friend that was about a month old.

I was surprised how big they were for so young but as grazing animals they would have to be able to get around quickly if they were in the wild to escape predators. I had a chance to pet one, not just take pictures and I understand why they are so valued for their wool. They are so soft and fluffy. They are softer than they look.

Mama didn’t like too much attention being showered on her young one but she behaved, no spitting but she did stick out her tongue once to show her displeasure.

They had more baby pygmy goats but when I went into the pen they crowded around me so much I couldn’t get any pictures. They were funny as they tried to chew on my jeans and nibble on my sneakers.

As I was preparing to leave I found out that some baby “silkies” had just hatched so a quick stop by the nest box yielded a picture of this tiny chick.

It’s easy to see how Animal Planet can make a series called “Too Cute” about baby animals because they are just that…too cute!

Hot, Humid and Hazy At Gristmill Pond

Posted on July 22, 2013July 22, 2013 by Dusty Roads

One of the things that fell by the wayside as I made adjustments to my new life in Real Estate was my photography. I was so caught up in studying for my test and getting trained in my new duties that I stopped going out to shoot. After I passed my test I realized I hadn’t even had the camera in hand for a month! The last time was while I was in Seattle the beginning of June. That is unheard of for me! Since I bought the camera I have tried to take a least a few pictures every day.

I had a photo shoot scheduled to take senior pictures in Brewster Gardens in Plymouth July 8 so I dusted off the camera and lenses and headed to the Gristmill Pond in Plymouth to shake off the rust before the shoot.

When I got there it was sunny and the sky was blue, a beautiful day. The breeze off the ocean was keeping the temperatures down so I was expecting great light by the time of the appointment at 6 pm.

I pulled into the pond to see Mr & Mrs Majestic (your remember them, the swan couple) escorting one juvenile swan. I don’t know if they are still cygnets if they have their white feathers, but they were putting on a parade up and down the pond…a perfect photo op.

I hopped out of the air conditioned car, pulled out the camera and started taking pictures. It felt great to have the camera back in hand. I noticed the lenses kept fogging up. I expected that when I first stepped out of the car but after awhile the temps should have equalized. That’s when I noticed the blue sky was gone and the fog was rolling in off the ocean.

I wandered back to the car to remove the UV filter and of course the swans came swimming back again the minute I walked away.

I slammed the trunk of the car and ran back for more pictures when it hit me…where were my car keys?….I’d just had them. I used them to open the trunk.

I looked under the car. I checked my pockets. I looked in the car windows…nothing. Then it hit me. I must have dropped them in the trunk while I was rummaging in the camera bag!

Oh boy, I’m really stuck. I have AAA but my cell phone is also locked in the car. Where’s a thief when you need one. I started asking anyone in the area who had a truck if they had any wire or anything I could use to unlock the car. No luck or maybe no one was willing to admit they could break in.

Meanwhile the clock was ticking down to my appointment.

Finally I walked to the Old Grist Mill and begged a phone call. AAA agreed to send someone but gave an ETA of 6:30. I couldn’t even call my appointment to tell them I’d be late because the phone # was on my cell phone which was locked in the car!

I know I was looking like a crazy woman. I was sweating and red faced because of the humidity. If it’s one thing that makes me crazy , it’s being late!

Well as they saying goes, all is well that ends well. AAA arrived early and had me into the car and trunk in minutes. They were awesome. I made it to Brewster Gardens 10 minutes early and the photo shoot went off without a hitch.

This is an example of the beautiful results. 🙂