I was in NH over the holiday weekend. It was one of my last weekends in NH before I leave for grad school in a few weeks. Above are a few shots of the fireworks display at Sunapee Harbor. The fireworks were launched from the water, with dozens of boaters nearby in the water. It was impressive.
I had the chance to go kayaking twice, to Little Lake Sunapee and also to Coniston Lake on Sunday evening.
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| Ripples and bubbles from a loon diving below while hunting |
It was after 8:30pm when I took most of these photos on Lake Coniston. It was a calm and beautiful evening, and I was the only person on the water. Although campers could be heard from the only development on the lake, a YMCA camp which has a beach and several lodges along part of the shore, it was a quiet and peaceful paddle.
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| Two loons were hunting on the lake. I stopped paddling at one point so I wouldn't disturb them and they swam within 40 feet of my kayak. It was already getting dark, so I took these photos with a very high ISO, causing them to be quite noisy. |
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I paddled into a small cove because there was a small amount of fog beginning to form and it struck my eye. I also enjoy explore vegetated areas along lakes, plenty of plants and animal life to see. Once I was in the cove I noticed a great blue heron perched on a fallen log, hunting for frogs and fish I assume. I let my kayak drift so I could take a few photos but it got spooked and fly off (see photo below). A few minutes later I spotted it again along the shore, below some over-hanging hemlock branches. At this point it was around 9pm and very dark, difficult to get any decent photos. There is a blue heron rookery in a wetland a mile down the road from my house, and about two miles from this lake, I wonder if this heron lives there and this is part of its hunting territory.
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| I tried to get a panning shot of the heron flying off. |
One of my favorite parts of getting home- the dogs!
