New Haven: An Oil Tanker

Tanker leaving New Haven Harbor in November

After Toni's moving funeral, I returned to Anna's house before Anna and Aaron returned and took Daisy for a walk. The day was bright and clear after an early snowfall the night before. Daisy and I needed to get outside and see what the birds and ocean were doing. I was delighted to see this oil tanker leaving the harbor. I'd never seen such a large ship there before. There is an oil storage area at the top of the harbor that I seldom photograph, even though it is picturesque in a weird sort of way. Daisy and I continued to walk the shoreline as the tanker left the harbor. We then walked home and cleaned up the house a bit.

I never was able to get the name of the ship.

I wish that I had met the people on the ship and knew where the tanker was going.

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New Haven: Lighthouse Point

When you walk to the corner from Anna's house in City Point, New Haven, you get to New Haven Harbor. Looking across the harbor, you see Lighthouse Point. There is a spit of land on the left of the point that goes into the harbor . . .

. . . and there is another lighthouse! I have been to Lighthouse Point, but not up into the lighthouse. And I've never been out to this other lighthouse. Maybe someday. . .

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The Green Monk Parrots of City Point

Green Monk Parrot (Myiopsitta monachus)-

Whenever I visit Anna, I try to get better photos of the parrots that live in her neighborhood. I didn't do very well on the trip this past November. Anna's second story porch was unavailable so I had to photograph from the street. Click here to view my photographs of the birds, which span several years.

Green Monk parrots are also called Quaker parrots. They are native to South America and were released either accidentally or intentionally. They do fairly well in the colder winters of Connecticut. They have also settled in Japan, Caribbean countries and parts of Europe. While most people coexist well with the parrots, some utility companies have tried to eradicate them. United Illuminating in Connecticut chose to gas them (with the help of the US Department of Agriculture). This action created much protest and the killings stopped in 2005. But I found a November 4, 2010 New Haven Register article that says that the Connecticut Appellate Court has ruled that the parrots are not a  protected species , so they may be killed again. UI says they are going to remove nests.

November, 2010 photograph

At times, the birds do pose a danger. Just as Anna was buying her house in City Point, a nest that the parrots had built on a transformer (which they like to do for warmth in the winter) burst in flames. The transformer was very close to the house, but the fire department prevented the spread of the fire to the house. The burned next was knocked down but the parrots began rebuilding it the next day. The nests are huge, communal affairs made of sticks.

The large tree in front of Anna's house with three parrot nests.

Residents of Anna's neighborhood seem to enjoy the parrots. From my experience, a trip to City Point wouldn't be the same without hearing their loud chatter. Other species of birds use the shelter of the nests. The parrots don't seem to compete for food with native birds, and there is little mess from them. But there are residents who don't want the parrots there. This article from 2007 in the New Haven Register gives a fairly good overview of the problem. It also shows a photo of parrot nests in front of Anna's house (the second photo from the bottom).

I certainly hope that UI does not try to wipe out the parrots. Their population is stable — they are not going to overrun the city. But I don't live there and have no say in their future.

Many parrots in the top of their nesting tree.

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Scenes at Dusk at New Haven Harbor

Looking south.

Ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis)-

Mud flats at low tide.
Looking north.

Long shot across the mud flats to the eternal traffic jam on I-95.

City Point

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The Feral Cats of City Point, New Haven

Whenever I am in New Haven, I photograph City Point's feral cats. There are quite a few in this oceanside neighborhood. The people of City Point care for the cats by building shelters, feeding them and trapping them for altering and then releasing the alters back into the neighborhood. The cats, as you can see, are doing fairly well. The neighborhood always restores my faith in people because of their humane acts. Anna knows the family history of nearly all of the cats.

On this sad trip to New Haven, I was fortified by many kindnesses like this.

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New Haven: The Comfort of Nature

Gray Squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) at McDonald's in Connecticut

November of 2010 was a tragic month. I had to return to Connecticut to try to help Anna and Aaron and to attend the funeral of Aaron's little sister Toni (click here, here, and here).. We had just met Toni seven months earlier when John and I went to New Haven in March. On this November day, I stopped at the McDonald's in Rocky Hill, Connecticut for lunch and thankfully found many sparrows and a squirrel to photograph. Wild animals have always provided me comfort during these tragic times.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?
Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.

But even the hairs of your head are all counted.
Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

“Look at the birds of the air;
they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?”

Too often, we feel as if we are all alone. It feels as if the entire world is indifferent to us. I spent time with the birds and the camera as different verses floating through my mind. After a long while of meditation, I knew I was part of Creation and was able to sadly smile and continue to New Haven.

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A Photography Rant

A couple of years ago, Humanities Magazine (a magazine for the National Endowment for the Humanities) contacted me about publishing my photo of the round barn at Shelburne Museum. They did not offer any payment except crediting me with my name on the photo. I granted permission if they would send me a few copies of the issue. They did, and I was thrilled.

Green Mountain Farm to School has often used my photographs in their calendars and annual reports. Each time they use a photo, they send me multiple copies of the publication. I am thrilled with the recognition and with the ability I have to help them in illustrating their good works.

In a Toyota 4Runner web advertisement, my photo was used without permission. It was called to my attention, but Toyota contacted me and paid me, and other photographers, $500 for each photo used.

BUT

Our Water, Not Broadwater asked for permission to use this photograph I took in New Haven Harbor in a brochure they were planning to publish. They were a non-profit organization that said they could not afford to pay me, and again I said yes they can use my photo if they give me credit and send me some of the brochures. Nothing has ever showed up in the mailbox from these people.

John and I did my annual sugarhouse visit in 2009 to Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock, Vermont. The farm owners saw the photos on Flickr and asked permission to use them in an upcoming cook book they were writing. I gave conditional permission: if they would give me a cookbook for each photo they used, and credit, I would give permission. I never heard a thing from them.

A librarian asked to use this photo from Westlook Cemetery in Glover for a commemorative publication they were planning for the bicentennial celebration for Runaway Pond. I gladly gave permission. No money expected. No response has been received.

I was asked by a northwestern state environmental agency to allow permission of my garden loosestrife photos for their invasive species page. I granted permission if they gave me credit and the final link. I never heard a thing from them.

The list of unresponsive organizations goes on. These are the ones that come quickly to mind.

My son-in-law, Aaron, the professional art and commercial photographer, has told me again and again to stop giving photos away, and I have (I will give photos to non-profits, though). I naively assumed that when I gave non-profits permission to use my photos for free in exchange for links or copies of the publication in which they would be printed, that I would be eagerly accommodated in appreciation of my generosity.

I don’t see why I should allow somebody to benefit monetarily or in any other way when they use my photos and I get nothing in return. Is it greed, laziness or inconsideration that motivates people to behave so carelessly with others?

Rant over.

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Daisy

See? I can do better than I did with Daisy's other photos.

      Daisy's Set

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Going Professional Soon

Aaron is a professional photographer. Even his family "snapshots" are stunning. He shot Daisy the Chihuahua in midair playing at home on the beach (click this link to see the photographs). My goal in life? To be as good as Aaron. So when we were in New Haven a couple of weeks ago, I forced everybody to play with Daisy while I lay on the floor to get photographs of her in midair that are as good as Aaron's. Everybody laughed at me! Even John! Well, Anna just rolled her eyes at me and muttered something like, "As if."

So I'm letting you be the judges. My photos are above this text. Aaron's are below. (Perhaps you couldn't even tell the difference in quality.) Whose photographs do you think are better?



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Big Birds in New Haven

Mute Swan in New Haven Harbor
Note the water dripping from it's mouth after it ate a water plant.

Green Monk Parrots

For years I have tried to successfully photograph swans and parrots in New Haven. I finally got decent shots! We had gone to visit Anna & Aaron and the weather was perfect. Now I want an 800mm lens! I hope you click the links under each photograph to go to the complete blog post on each bird. There are different views of the birds there.

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