Sunday in the Park

I got up extra early this morning to get down to Gooseneck Cove to meet up with the usual early morning birders. There wasn't much to see; we're kind of in a transition period between the Summer waders and shore birds leaving and the Winter waterfowl arriving. I ended up chasing rumors of a Black Skimmer with my friend Mark, but we never did see it.

In the end, I went to Ballard Park, set the camera to Super Macro mode, and went snooping. This is what I found.

White Wood Aster

Foragers on some late-blooming Canada Thistle.

Some leaves doing their autumnal show a little early.

A Bumblebee doing her gathering thing on some Goldenrod.

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Here and There, Around and About

Some shots taken on Thursday and today while out and about.

Swamp Aster by Hazard Rd.; another sure sign that Autumn is on the way. Taken Thursday.

A baby Snapping Turtle by Gooseneck Cove. From Thursday.

A Mute Swan on Easton's Pond this morning.

Left - A Great Blue Heron on Easton's Pond. Right - 12 US 17, the 12-metre racing yacht Weatherly, now doing tours out of Newport Harbor in its post-America's Cup career.

The sunken garden on the campus of Salve Regina University.

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Theme Thursday - Reason

Some of the reasons why I love living here in Newport:

The ocean along the Cliff Walk

Foggy days at the beach

Walking the trails in Ballard Park

Gooseneck Cove's salt marsh at Hazard Rd.

When it came to music videos for this week's Theme Thursday, the first thing that popped into my mind was Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe". I chose the original version with Tim singing over Rod Stewart's admittedly better selling one because (a) I can't stand Rod Stewart, and (b) because I think what Stewart did to this beautiful song was an abomination. I know, I'm a heretic. Then again, I've made a career of heresy.

The other song that occurred to me was another old favorite - Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason". No need for choosing between original or cover versions of this one; nobody could ever do this song like Tracy. Enjoy!

Photos & text © 2009 & 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

On the Way to Here and There

Seen while out doing errands.

A roadside garden at Eustis Ave. and Old Beach Rd.

The Chinese Tea House on the grounds of the Marble House mansion.

Another shot of the wall around Vernon Court.

West St. in patriotic mode.

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Labor Day - A Walk Down Bellevue Ave.

Bellevue Ave. here in Newport, especially south of Memorial Blvd., is "Millionaire Row". It was on the land between Bellevue Ave. and the ocean that the industrial/financial robber barons of the late 19th Century built their "summer cottages". Nowadays most of them have been bought up and turned into museums of Gilded Age memorabilia, although there are some that remain in private hands. There's a wealth of exquisite craftsmanship associated with these houses, and it was on crafty details that I concentrated on my walk down the Avenue today. This is my Labor Day hommage to the artisans and craftsmen - laborers - who made Bellevue Ave. the beautiful place it is.

Wrought iron and gilt - a gate at The Elms

More wrought iron and gilt, this time the fence in front of Vernon Court, now the home of the National Museum of American Illustration.

A fountain at Bellevue and Ruggles Ave.

Gate houses often make great stand-alone residences. This is Summer Wind, formerly the gate house of Beechwood, the summer estate of the Astor family.

Fancy stonework on the driveway of Rock Cliff estate, a private residence.

Ivy, stucco, and terracotta - the wall around Vernon Court

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Earl Looms...

... and provides some entertainment:

Those surfing shots were the rare ones; the sets were very far apart, and most of the waves were no more than knee or waist high. At 5:15 PM the wind still hasn't picked up, and I'm wondering now if it ever will. Technically the height of the storm isn't supposed to pass off Nantucket Island until around midnight tonight, so the storm, even here, isn't expected to intensify until after dark. But it has also weakened considerably, dropping from a Category 4 to a Category 1 in the course of about 18 hours and hanging farther off the coast than originally forecast. I think we dodged a bullet, although I'm disappointed that we didn't get better surfing. Oh well...

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Becalmed

Newport Harbor scenes on a hot, humid, hazy, and flat calm morning. But Hurricane Earl is coming, and this will be a totally different scene on Friday.

Upper harbor looking south from the Van Zandt St. Pier

Upper Harbor looking north from behind Hunter House on Washington St.

Another view of the Upper Harbor looking north from behind Hunter House on Washington St.

The Newport Yacht Club on Long Wharf from Perrotti Park

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Summertime...

...is winding down. And this shot of a guy fishing from his houseboat in the upper end of Newport Harbor sort of sums it all up. As does the song that follows the photo.

Photo © 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Busy Sunday Afternoon on Sunny Newport Harbor

I ended up at King park on the south end of the harbor after a long hike. It was nice to sit on a shady bench and watch the busy Summer crowd on the water - lots of boats, and lots of people (and dogs) playing in the water - including the rather large cruise ship Caribbean Princess docked just outside. I decided to just post the photos; you don't really need captions for this. Enjoy!

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Saturday at Sachuest Point

I got up and out the door early this morning to go hit Easton's Pond and Green End (aka North) Pond; there had been reports of interesting sightings, including some Wood Ducks, and I wanted to go see, too. Unfortunately there was nothing unusual this morning when I was there, just some big old Canada Geese lounging around. Oh well... At that point I decided to head over to the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge because now is when the Tree Swallows gather in the thousands there, "staging", i.e. feeding up for the migration south for the Winter.

Of course, one of the iconic sights on the way to Sachuest Point is Hanging Rock, so I just had to get a shot. It's part of the Norman Bird Sanctuary and overlooks Sachuest Point, Sachuest Beach, and Easton's Point, offering beautiful views from the top. I call it "iconic" because it's come to stand for Middletown, RI, and they've even used it on the town seal.

Past Hanging Rock and out on Sachuest Point I was greeted by the staging clouds of Tree Swallows. They choose this place in particular because there are plenty of Bayberries and insects (I was getting eaten alive by the 'skeeters - mosquitoes for those who insist on proper English!); they fall on the Bayberry bushes to gorge on the berries and then they rise into the air and fling themselves about with open beaks scooping up the bugs. When they get fat and happy enough, they head south.

Along the trails in the Refuge I came across other photogenic sights. For instance, this baby Eastern Cottontail cropping grass beside the southern loop trail. It let me get fairly close and seemed more curious than fearful.

There were lots of butterflies out today - Monarchs, Cabbage Whites, American Painted Ladies, and Clouded Sulphurs mostly. I waited patiently while this Cabbage White fluttered around choosing a Spotted Knapweed bloom to settle on.

Since I started with an icon, I might as well end with one. This female Red-tailed Hawk has been hanging around the visitors' center since October and has become the unofficial mascot of the Refuge. Whenever I've been over there she's either been perched on the roof playing Queen of All She Surveys or over on some piles of dirt dug up while they make a new leachfield down the hill from the center. Today she was up on the peak of the roof looking down on all us peons!

© 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Hoory! The Sun's Back!

Yup, it rained from Sunday through Wednesday, and there was even one shower yesterday (Thursday) morning, but by the afternoon the sun finally returned. I celebrated by walking down to Gooseneck Cove to see who was hanging out, and ended up out at Brenton Point as well, before making my way back to Ballard Park.

There wasn't anything interesting off Hazard Rd. on the Cove, but down on the Ocean Drive end at the Green Bridge it was feeding frenzy time - about 2 dozen Double-Crested Cormorants, a dozen Great Egrets, a dozen Snowy Egrets, 2 Great Blue Herons, and about 10 Common Terns. It was near high tide and the Cormorants were corralling the fish while the rest of the birds waded (the Egrets and Herons) or dove (the Terns) into the fray. Unfortunately most of this happened well outside camera range for me, although it was fun to watch in the binoculars. But I did manage to get a shot of an immature Bonaparte's Gull across the road on the ocean side.

On the way to Brenton Point I stopped at King's Beach, a state-designated fishing area on a rocky point into the ocean (not to be confused with King Park on the south end of Newport Harbor). This pair of Herring Gulls were taking their ease in the sunlight.

On Brenton Point the small shore birds were all over the place. I estimate that there were at least 3 dozen Ruddy Turnstones (top photo), including several immature birds (middle photo), and another 3 dozen or so Semipalmated Plovers (bottom photo).

Eventually I wandered back to Ballard Park, where I found not a bird, but this Whitetail Deer fawn crashing around in the underbrush in the (seasonally) dry end of the vernal pond on the Quarry floor.

That was yesterday. Today was even sunnier, and much drier and cooler, and I went ambling down on the Cliff Walk. Unfortunately there were too many people there for me to enjoy the walk, but I did manage to get a shot of this male American Goldfinch having a feast on the Bull Thistle he was perched on. Goldfinches just loooooove Thistle!

Yes indeed, it's so nice when the sun comes back after a long rainy stretch!

Photos & text © 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger