A mother Mute Swan and her six cygnets.  The proud father was nearby chasing off geese.  If the family is lucky as many as three youngsters will survive to maturity.

The still water makes for a beautiful reflection of this Canada Goose on the 1860 Reservoir, Wethersfield, CT.

This monument to the Fifth New Hampshire Infantry Regiment was dedicated in June of 1886 and consists of boulders taken from the Gettysburg battlefield joined together by a horizontal, octagonal granite stone faced with eight metal tablets.  The 5th New Hamprshire Infantry Regiment commander, Colonel Edward Cross, was mortally wounded by a Confederate sharpshooter at its location south of Gettysburg.

The 5th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment suffered the most battle deaths of any Union regiment in the Civil War, with 295 men killed in action.  Photo May 2010.

I noticed four young chipmunks hovering around their burrow entrance recently.  By the time I got my camera ready one had ducked down the hole.

When originally built in 1827, salt water was used in the mortar for the lighthouse and over time the structure began to crumble.  It was rebuilt properly in 1835.  Pemaquid Point Light is located in Bristol. Maine.

This Red Fox decided to raise her pups under a neighbor’s shed just across the street.  With all the woods nearby I wonder why she chose someone’s back yard.

The fishway at Rainbow Dam on the Farmington River is the largest in Connecticut and the only vertical slot fishway in the state.

We had two of these large snakes hanging out in our back yard near the water a few years ago.  They are harmless but will bite if provoked.  This adult was about 3′ long.

A vigilant mother mother duck watches over her offspring as they rest on a sunny rock in the Ice Pond on Monhegan Island, Maine (2011).

The beautiful park monument honoring the 34,530 Pennsylvania soldiers who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1-3, 1863.