Headed south from Cong Village, past the Abby at Saint Mary’s Church of Ireland, the road enters Ashford Castle estate.
I do not recall passing a guard box, though today there it is manned.
Here the road is named Ashford Castle where it comes to this spot with views across Cong River to the castle buildings.
Scenes from the film “The Quiet Man” feature the main characters, played by John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara walking the opposite bank of Cong River.
The River Cong emerges from the same Carboniferous limestone that forms County Clare’s Burren, buffering and further purifying the gorgeous water of Lough Mask.
Each of the 603 steps between the Skellig Michael dock and the monastery evoked contemplation, caution, wonder and gratitude.
Contemplation: how did the monks manage to survive while placing the steps? It can only be by a careful division of labor once a survival tripod was build. By tripod I mean the basics food, shelter, warmth.
Caution: as with any steps, for a 60+ person I have learned the hard way falls take a long time to recover from.
Gratitude: for the opportunity, growth and knowledge afforded by travel.
Wonder: every step offered a new vantage and discovery.
Puffins were on my mind for most of the lower steps being immediately at hand, almost underfoot, constantly. Underfoot, not in a obnoxious way. Underfoot in being right there, unabashed, going about the business of life. Pam and I were lucky, Puffin wise, for the weather. Sensible birds, when the visibility is low Puffins stay close to the burrow, making improvements and socialize with neighbors.
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Bad News: Atlantic Puffin populations are on a precipitous decline across Ireland and British Islands. There are talks of a population collapse. Researchers enlisted assistance from wildlife photography enthusiasts with outstanding results released in 2017. The photographs showed parents returning with less nutritious fish. The stress on Puffin populations follows the decline of fish stocks from over fishing. I listed two references at the end of this post.
The disturbing element to our experience was not one of the birds flew in with a catch. On second thought, this is not unexpected. Late May the eggs are laid and under incubation. The individuals in these photographs were feeding only themselves. If we returned mid-June there would be chicks to feed.
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Puffin with an inquisitive attitude
Why do we love Puffins? We see reminders of ourselves. The expressive large eyes, over a striking beak and there is something expressive about the birds’ body movements. Don’t you almost know what’s on the mind of this fellow? “What’s going on, over there?”
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A colony of nesting puffins on a flowering cliff of green.
Puffins are small birds, the size of a human hand. This colony returned in late March or early April, each breeding pair claiming a nesting site. The coloring of the beak happens during breeding. The bird molts while at sea during the winter, the beak and other brightly colored facial characteristics are lost.
Michael Skellig puffins in social setting on cliff with burrows and flowers.
Puffin sexual differentiation is unique among birds. The coloring and markings are identical between males and females. Males are somewhat larger than females is all.
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Soft soil covering the flanks of Skellig Michael is the site of age old Puffin colonies.
Here is Puffin nesting behavior up close. I did some research on the flowering plants surrounding the burrows and am not sure. I believe the white flowers are a mixture of Sea Campion and Sea Mayweed.
As far as my photographic technique. There are two sets of Puffin shots from Skellig Michael. For the the walk to the top, the monastery site, I used the lighter Sony Alpha A700 dslr with a Sony variable lens, DT 18-200 mm F3.5 – 6.3. On top, I switched to the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III and, for the descent, fitted a Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L USM lens.
The shot above and following are the Canon, taken on descent. Prior shots are the Sony, taken on ascent.
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Puffin Entering Burrow
Puffins have striking black and white plumage and leg color some describe as “tangerine.” Tangerine? I guess. Here an individual ducks into the burrow.
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A grouping of Michael Skellig puffins, the foremost with an attitude of regard.
I did not spend a great deal of time in any one spot, being time limited and needing to get back to the boat. Don’t recall very much social interactions between individuals, other than this perching together on the rocks. The foreground Puffin seems to take the behavior of another bird to task.
The Catskill Mountains are not mountains. The Catskills started as a high plateau. Over eons, before the first humans, water, the sun, and wind carved high steep peaks: rounded, forested and teeming with life.
October 2008, on a return trip from family on Long Island, we traveled the winding road called “Route 17”, through the high autumn hillsides.
As the sun passed over the western hills we stopped to explore a place called “Fishs Eddy”, a town on the banks of the Delaware River.
On the east side, facing sunset is a formation that would be a cliff if it was not for the hardwood trees growing from every available nook, crevice. Everywhere a root could be sunk, roots fed trees that, one late October afternoon, made a hill bright with autumn.
Turkey Habitat
Turkeys live in this type of habitat. We took a trail, barely a road that climbed past failed farms and hunting shacks.
On a level place, in front of a ruined home, we came upon a Tom (male) turkey and his four hens. The hens fled at the sight of us.
With barely time to raise the camera I caught Tom and the last hen as she fled into the bushes.
Tom Turkey Defiant
I say she, because Tom stayed behind. He stood erect, all three feet of him, defiant and strutting in a direction opposite from the hens.
This is the bird Benjamin Franklin proposed as the national emblem of the new United State of America (the bald eagle won that competition).
Hunted into almost oblivion, across the United States the wild turkey is making a dramatic come back in many places, including the forests and farmland of rural New York State.
This fellow made no noise. His strutting posture and head bobbing said it all.
We left Tom Turkey in peace to his domain and hens.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, my friends.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
A parent swan and cygnet feeding on the River Cong outside the front door of Ashford Castle in County Mayo, in the west of Ireland. Click this link to read the photograph’s story in my online gallery. Click this link to read another Ireland story “The Cloigtheach of Glendalough.” Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All […]
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