September 25, 2015

A predawn trip to Delaware this morning with a promise of clear skies from the Weather Channel. I was in the marsh set up with my tripod in a clump of cattails. My ass was just 3 inches over the water when sitting on my camp stool; I like to get close to the water to achieve a low camera angle in the event I have ducks swimming close by. I had a couple wood ducks (hens) land very close at two different times that quickly figured out I was there and flew into the timber.

My intention this morning was to concentrate on the wood ducks which just did not work out. As is normally the case there is something interesting that comes along; this morning several cool things! I saw some commotion in the woods and saw two birds in aerial combat, I was sure one of them was a crow and the other turned out to be a coopers hawk. The fight only lasted seconds but was thrilling to witness.

There was a large flock of northern flickers around which I really enjoy seeing I think they are really neat. Flickers are one of the few migratory woodpeckers and I suspect I ran into a migrating flock. Another cool variety of wood pecker hanging out was the red headed woodpecker. There were a nice bunch of eastern bluebirds around and I photographed some bullfrogs just for fun.

The grand finally was looking up and seeing a golden eagle fly into a dead tree just 50 yards in front of me. I was surprised to see one yesterday and shocked to see them twice in just two days. A very nice morning in the swamp; absolutely worth getting up early to see!

September 24, 2015

I made a predawn trip to the marsh at Deer Creek early this morning. As I walked back to the marsh from the road the moon and stars were out and I thought there would be great light; wrong. As the sun came up the clouds rolled in and the sky quickly became completely overcast. I set up on the east side of the marsh with my tripod and folding stool to wait for first light. In the predawn gloom I could see some large white birds out in the marsh which turned out to be egrets. I have not seen many egrets since spring so they were a welcome site. shortly after having enough light an egret flew in and landed in the shallow water just 25 feet in front of me. As I started to move in behind the viewfinder i was caught and the egret was gone! I never had any others come in close. There were some wood ducks pretty close but none of the fully plumed drakes that are so beautiful just immature birds which I passed on shooting.

Also close by were a pair of grebes that I just could not get good shots of in the overcast conditions. Interesting thing, as I sat watching the marsh I heard heavy wing beats directly over my head that were being pended out by a golden eagle! I have now seen two variety's of eagle on this marsh; a few weeks ago I saw a bald eagle. It is always exciting to see these magnificent birds of prey. Not great shots on the eagle; better than nothing so that's life I guess.


This guy was all in after something!

September 11, 2016

I was back in the marsh at Delaware Wildlife Area at 6:30 this morning. I put on waders and set up my camera on the tripod in about a foot of water inside a cluster of head high cattails with the rising sun behind me. As always I immediately began questioning my location and wondering if I had set up in the right place. Shortly my mind was put at ease as a beautiful green heron flew in and roosted in a tree just 30 yards away. It was still quite dark and I thought I would wait a bit for the sun to come and cast a wonderful glow on this greenie. As always the plan changed when a blue heron came in and chased my subject away; not really a fair trade in my mind but the blue roosted on the very branch from which he had chased his smaller cousin.

If I have learned anything over the past few years of pursing wildlife photos it's that one must take what one gets and make the best of it. While I do like the blue heron it is a very common sight, I have photographed many of them, they move slowly, and it sometimes requires long waits to catch them doing something interesting. Over the summer I have figured out the blue heron game; they fly into a tree near a hunting spot, survey the area for as much as an hour moving very little, and finally they fly down to hunt provided they have not seen anything they don't like e.g. photographers!  They are extremely skittish and impossible to approach. The only chance one has of getting close to them is to anticipate where they want to be and be there ahead of them, before daylight is best.

I like the feel of the third and fourth shots; I think they really convey the late summer season with the light, all the green, and low water level.

I was able to get some captures of the green heron later in shoot, not exactly what I had wanted as the background is plain blue sky, but he did perform a bit. I would have preferred to have the bird on a partially submerged log, nice green marsh grass background, about 30 feet in front of me, but once again take the shots you get and be happy.

bout it.

September 9, 2016

A few weeks ago I entered one of my pictures in the Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp contest. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources prints a collectible stamp and uses proceeds from the sale of the stamp for wildlife conservation and educational programs; learn more by clicking here.

I am extremely excited and humbled to announce my entry won the contest and will be featured on the 2017 Ohio Legacy Wildlife Stamp.This is a tremendous honor and I could not be happier! The folks who have followed my blog for awhile may remember seeing the winning shot back in May of this year.

I want to express my appreciation to Hollie McFadden who's advice I wisely took at the last minute and cropped the photo a bit more making it more suitable for use on a stamp. Thanks Hollie!!!

September 5, 2016

I was out doing a bit of macro work on some bugs over the holiday weekend. Macro is something I have been interested in for sometime; best part is the ease of finding cool subjects with which to work. Enjoy them!