Jim Block Photography

Red-headed Woodpecker in Norwich

jimblock — Sun, 17 May 2026 20:38:33 +0000

A simple, one-subject, dozen-image post to commemorate the visit of a very rare Red-headed Woodpecker to Betsy and Bill’s Norwich, VT yard. This species is almost never seen outside the Champlain Valley in Vermont and very rarely seen in New Hampshire. But this species was “the” woodpecker Jann remembers from growing up in Illinois. This […]

The post Red-headed Woodpecker in Norwich first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Red Foxes in WRJ

jimblock — Sun, 03 May 2026 20:30:19 +0000

The red fox vixen stands watch over her “kit pile” — five young sleeping in a ball on the grass in the early morning dappled sun. My fascination with, and great affection for, red foxes traces to seven years ago when we had a den very close to our home for two seasons. Unfortunately, […]

The post Red Foxes in WRJ first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Birds of Early Spring 2026

jimblock — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 20:25:17 +0000

This has been an early spring of ducks, flying eagles, and variable weather — some very warm days, but as I am typing this it is snowing. Broad-winged Hawks have returned as well as our smallest raptor, the American Kestrel in Lebanon shown above. Ducks and Geese American Black Duck I often seem to have […]

The post Birds of Early Spring 2026 first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Water, Ice, Ducks, and Eagles

jimblock — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 20:05:59 +0000

On the rivers and streams of New Hampshire and Vermont, ice and ducks coexisted as winter slowly lost its grip on the Upper Valley. I saw the very rare Eurasian Wigeon and also quite common but very beautiful wood ducks, mallards, common goldeneyes, and both merganser species. Overhead in both states, eagles flew while performing […]

The post Water, Ice, Ducks, and Eagles first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Waxwings and the Vanishing Moon

jimblock — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:52:40 +0000

I finally photographed Bohemian Waxwings this winter. Also a total lunar eclipse — the last one until June 26, 2029 for the Upper Valley — featured a vanishing Blood Moon. Wandering the Upper Valley photographing structures, patterns, colors, skaters, and sledders provided some late winter joy. Bohemian Waxwings Bohemian Waxwings in Etna no less. Out […]

The post Waxwings and the Vanishing Moon first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Carnival, Finch Flying, and Owl

jimblock — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 20:20:44 +0000

Barred Owl named George. Ted Levin named this owl of indeterminate gender, George. It visits his yard in White River Junction often. I was fortunate to be able to spend several hours early this Sunday morning photographing it. We believed it was listening for prey under the deep snow when these three photos […]

The post Carnival, Finch Flying, and Owl first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Early Winter 2025-26

jimblock — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 16:30:29 +0000

It was the first time I photographed the Northern Lights on purpose. I had captured them accidently in several photos when photographing the Milky Way in Sunapee and on the Yampa River in Utah, exactly one year apart. I learned viewing might be possible from NH on January 20, so I headed down the road […]

The post Early Winter 2025-26 first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

A four-year saga — Bald Eagles in Lyme

jimblock — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 20:50:54 +0000

I spent many hours observing, studying, and photographing a pair of bald eagles in Lyme over the last four years. Most of the time that I was watching the nest nothing happened; there were hours of boring downtime. But then my patience was rewarded by seconds or minutes of high excitement and drama. I have […]

The post A four-year saga — Bald Eagles in Lyme first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Birds in Flight – November 2025

jimblock — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 12:39:21 +0000

The leaves are down, the summer birds have left, and the winter birds are just starting to arrive. The sky is a drab gray. There is no new snow to attack with xc-skis or snowshoes. The perfect time to try to photograph birds flying around our yard. These are from the last two weeks. Photography […]

The post Birds in Flight – November 2025 first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Fall turns to Stick Season

jimblock — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 20:35:46 +0000

Stick season is that interlude between colorful fall foliage and snow. Trees are mostly bare — leaving behind stems and branches that look like sticks — fields are dead and frosty, hunters are in the woods, kayaks are stowed, snowshoes have not yet been pulled from storage, and days are short, cool, mostly cloudy, and […]

The post Fall turns to Stick Season first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Birds, Foliage, and Birds in Foliage

jimblock — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 20:55:30 +0000

This time of year the birds have molted to mostly drab colors, but the trees are presenting their colorful fall spectacular. Earlier in the season the birds were plentiful but hard to see in the lush green leaves. Soon the trees will be bare and the birds will be easier to see, but there will […]

The post Birds, Foliage, and Birds in Foliage first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Summer turns to Fall

jimblock — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 17:52:40 +0000

The big story the second half of summer and the first two weeks of fall was the drought. Fields were brown and dry and the beginning of foliage season showed much brown, some trees already devoid of leaves, and some not yet turning. We received over an inch of rain on September 25, but that […]

The post Summer turns to Fall first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Birds of the Second Half of Summer 2025

jimblock — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 17:26:57 +0000

I made a special effort to try to photograph birds in flight during the second half of summer. I’ll start with those and then show you Common Mergansers fighting over a huge brown trout, two wren species that posed nicely for me, many warblers, and a few migrating sparrows. Birds in Flight American Kestrels I […]

The post Birds of the Second Half of Summer 2025 first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Costa Rica 2025 second half

jimblock — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 16:00:32 +0000

Ted and Gil guided us on an amazing adventure in Costa Rica. We experienced many environments from sea level (southwest and northeast) to almost 12,000 feet. Unlike the visit Jann and I made in 1992, we did not peer into any volcanos nor walk a trail filled with White-faced Capuchin monkeys. But we did almost […]

The post Costa Rica 2025 second half first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Summer 2025 — First Half

jimblock — Sun, 10 Aug 2025 21:28:07 +0000

It has been an excellent summer so far. I’ve been surprised and pleased with some of the birds I have seen and been able to photograph. The best was a Yellow Warbler that had just bathed in the Lane River or perhaps was just saturated by morning dew as it worked the brush. I had […]

The post Summer 2025 — First Half first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Costa Rica 2025 first half

jimblock — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 22:54:27 +0000

The post Costa Rica 2025 first half first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Cooper’s Hawk Nest

jimblock — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 20:52:05 +0000

Jody showed me a Cooper’s Hawk nest in Cornish. I travelled twice to photograph the family. It was amazing how much the chicks had grown in one week. And their breasts got darker and streakier. I saw three chicks the first visit. Two were clearly visible the second visit, but I think there might have […]

The post Cooper’s Hawk Nest first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Birds of Late Spring 2025

jimblock — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 21:21:17 +0000

Late Spring continued the cool and rainy trend, but there were still opportunities to photograph birds, though some in light drizzle like the eagle that follows. The photos here were taken between May 27 and June 19 on the NH side of the Upper Valley. Eagle and Blue Jay I found a Bald […]

The post Birds of Late Spring 2025 first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Nepal — People and Places

jimblock — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 18:39:05 +0000

The photos I took during the first of my four trips to Nepal will be on display in the Ledyard Gallery of the Howe Library in Hanover, NH during June and July. We flew into Lukla at 9200 feet, often cited as the most dangerous airport in the world. But instead of heading north toward […]

The post Nepal — People and Places first appeared on Jim Block Photography.

Birds of Mid-Spring 2025

jimblock — Tue, 27 May 2025 15:57:54 +0000

Smack dab in the middle of spring and at the peak of warbler migration, I left the Upper Valley for 15 days of adventure in Costa Rica. Thus, these photos have a significant gap in the species I would normally see. No beautiful Palm Warblers that apparently timed their passage through our region so they […]

The post Birds of Mid-Spring 2025 first appeared on Jim Block Photography.