End of the Weekend

(January 3rd) For my last weekend day, I didn't have too much time since I also had to make the 6 hour drive back. I headed out to where the waxwings were yesterday but they were not there when I arrived. Instead I found a flock of Wild Turkey. They are great looking birds in the snow. Fortunately today it was white and snowy so the contrast was low enough to capture them in the snow.

As I waited around for the waxwings, I saw this barge go through the lake. I was flabbergasted both at the long size of the barge, but more so that somehow it found an extremely narrow channel of open water through the ice. If the weather stays as it was for this weekend it will be impassable very soon.

The waxwings never showed up in the time I could wait. I did see this White-breasted Nuthatch. It paused to look around for a little bit before heading to a feeder at a house nearby.

I headed down to my last stop of the trip. Throughout the Upper Peninsula I had seen many fields that had these rolls of hay gathered up. They usually were left to stand in the fields throughout the winter. With the snowy conditions, I thought it made for an interesting scene.

The Snowy Owls were out as normal. Most of them were quite inaccessible to photograph, but I was able to get a couple of flight shots of one individual. It wasn't the shot I had imagined, so I guess I'll have to come back to the snow and cold to try again another time!

Owls and Waxwings

(January 2nd) Over the last few days, I became quite good at spotting owls and knowing where they would be. This morning I got off to a great start finding this Northern Hawk Owl perched close to the roadside. It was a lot warmer today (-5) and sunny as well. The best part about it being sunny is that it is so much easier to spot the owls with the better visibility.

I continued on to where the Snowy Owls were, and boy were there owls. I found a total of five different owls. This owl was the only individual I found who was perched on a natural perch - all the rest were on utility poles. The owls spend pretty much all the time sitting still and constantly scanning for prey. I was a bit surprised to see just how much they move their head around. And of course like all owls they can rotate their head more than 360 degrees!

Interesting tidbit out there for any Harry Potter fans. The owl in the movies is supposedly a male character. Well the pictures you see here are of male owls. The problem with male owls is that they have a lot of black barring on them. So for the movie, they used a female owl since the females are much more white. I hope male owls don't start developing an image complex out there and want to become more white!

After a great morning with the owls, I headed to the next location. When I got here at first it was pretty dead and I started to enjoy the landscape. But I was in for a surprise as a big flock of Bohemian Waxwings descended on the spot. It was my first time seeing these birds (we have Cedar Waxwings in southern Michigan) and I love their plumage.

The waxwings were there for a reason. There were several crab apple tree and the birds were there to go to town. They were ravenous eating the apples at a furious pace. Preoccupied with food, they basically ignored me and came quite close.

I couldn't believe how fast they were eating. In a few minutes they would completely denude a tree of all apples. I was having a great time, starting to get into a groove and improve on the quality of the images. Of course that's when I should have been worried. Soon a bunch of snowmobiles came down the road. For some reason birds seem to hate the noise of snowmobiles and took off as soon as they could hear it. Strange, birds don't usually mind the noise of airplanes. Today I got the best bird photographs of the long weekend.

The Meaning of Cold

(January 1st) Everyone else in the hotel was out late partying, but I was able to get to sleep early and wake up well before sunrise. I was expecting the Upper Peninsula to be cold and had brought loads of clothing for the occasion. I was wearing two layers of gloves, six layers of clothes including a thick down jacket. Yesterday I actually felt toasty in the temperatures around 0F. Today was a different story altogether. There is a big difference between 0 or -5 and the -20 it was today. Today was just downright cold and I spent most of it standing still in the full wind. It was great though! For the morning I headed out to check out a place called Hulbert Bog. On the road out there I saw a Grey Wolf - a complete surprise. Of course no pictures came from it, and I didn't see any other wildlife all morning, but I was glad to know that there is now a small population of wolves once again in Michigan (outside of Isle Royale). This shot will show you a little of the wintery conditions of the morning.

Next I headed to the spot where Snowy Owls were supposed to frequent. On the way I ran into a large group of ravens with three Bald Eagles mixed in, all feeding off a deer carcass some hunters had left on the roadside. They flew when my car approached, but I continued on and returned on foot, trying to wait in the snow for the birds to return. It seems the carcass was pretty much picked clean and only a single raven came back in an hours worth of waiting. But I was successful in finding a Snowy Owl when I continued on. A gorgeous and large bird. Next time I just have to convince him to find a better perch than the utility lines!

The rest of the cold day I didn't have much wildlife luck, but I took advantage of the scenery when the skies cleared late in the afternoon. I passed by this frozen river that I liked the look of.

In a few places some of last year's dead vegetation popped up through the snow-covered landscape. I worked some with depth of field to create a little bit of a less traditional landscape shot.

As the light just kept getting better, it brought out more and more texture in the snow. Shadows started to creep out here and there, giving the contours folds and curves. It was those little details that drew me to a photo like this.

The cold day ended in a sunset in new clouds. I had great fun today, especially when I was able to ignore the cold in my hands and feet. I also had a good feel for all the locations in around a 60 mile radius, so I had a good game plan for tomorrow if luck was with me.

What Would You Do for New Year's?

(December 31st) After Christmas I returned to Michigan for a week of work, but New Year's came quickly. What would most sane people do for the break? Maybe head to Florida or California. Instead, after I got off from work I headed for a 6 hour drive north to the coldest place I could get to, the Upper Peninsula in the hopes of seeing some winter animals that just don't make it down further south. By the time I crossed the Mackinac Bridge, the land was covered in at least a foot of snow. The morning I woke up early and headed out to see what I could find. Sure enough, the snow was coming down steadily. Ironically I spent most of the morning photographing a species that I could have stayed in bed for. But I really like the look of the snow coming down in this shot of a Black-capped Chickadee.

Most of my trips I do extensive research for to find out the best spots. The Upper Peninsula was no different, but there just wasn't much information to be found. Also, unlike other places where I could find information from photographers, this time I only had the advice of birders. So that meant that the first two days I would spend a lot of time scouting out locations and determining just what places are good for photography. The landscape was gorgeous as I drove around and I stopped for this high-key, minimalist shot of the snow-covered views.

While driving around, I stopped after a flock of Wild Turkeys crossed the road in front of me. I was busy photographing the turkeys when I heard a sound at my feet. Turned out I was practically on top of a Ruffed Grouse. This bird didn't seem to mind me at all and was busy foraging on the buds close enough to the ground to reach. I was quite lucky for this find, these birds are difficult to find normally.

The Ruffed Grouse was content to spend all of its time deep inside the brush at the base of thick tree and brush growth. This meant it was very difficult to get line of sight to it. Also I was lying down in the snow with my tripod, impaling myself on the branches hidden under the snow. Crawling with all the branches and trees was pretty hard. Flash was out of the picture since there were too many branches in the way that it would flare off of, and light was nearly gone. The grouse never came into the open, but I like the mood of the shots with it back in the cover.

Holiday Cheer

(December 25th) A belated holiday greetings to all since I'm a bit behind in my posting. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I had a great time with spending time with my family in Connecticut. Unfortunately it is the only occasion that we get everyone together during the year. It is a great time and this time we welcomed a new dog in attendance. This bear is one of the many decorations my family had up for the holiday.

A New Place

(December 20th) I sometimes feel like I've been to every good place near where I live and it's just a matter of keep going to these places. Today after hearing more about a place nearby, I decided to visit Kensington Metropark. It's a 'metropark', so I'd figured it would like most parks, full of people and not much wildlife outside of your tame Mallards and House Sparrows. Boy was I wrong and I'm glad I went. It's about 30 minutes away, but it's huge. It's also quite pristine with lots of great trails throughout the hills, streams, and lakes that cover the land. There also is a nice little nature center that has a bunch of very active bird feeders. I didn't have much time since I had to be in to work early in the morning, but it was good to explore and shoot for a little bit in the snow. I just can't believe I didn't bother to visit this gem earlier. Here's a Tufted Titmouse that I saw. I can't wait to come back.

Further Refinement Needed

(December 19th) Once again I was out in the cold snow lugging around a feeder, bird seed, and a heavy camera on a tripod. This time I wanted to position the feeder somewhere else in order to improve backgrounds and light. I learned an important lesson though. Just because there is food, does not mean the birds will come. I picked a great place to shoot from, but unlike last time almost no birds found the feeder even though it was only a couple of minutes walk from my last spot. Next time I'll have to use a place that is both good for the birds as well as good for photos - trickier than it sounds. This Black-capped Chickadee was one of the few chickadees that did come. After all the setup care, somehow it seemed to find the one spot where the background was terrible :)

Proof of Concept

(December 12th) Today my intention was not so much to photograph, but to test out an idea I had from my south Texas trip. When the rain and cold hit hard there, I knew I wouldn't find many animals out on the trails. So I had to find a way to have them come to me. I spent a bit of time in front of the feeders and blinds there and had some great results. So I wanted to see if I could use this technique in other situations. Armed with a freshly bought bird feeder and some bird seed, I headed out to Barton Pond and setup half a mile in. After about half an hour a bunch of birds had found the feeder and were starting to use it. This Tufted Titmouse was one of the visitors. I need to refine this approach some to get better backgrounds and light, but it has a lot of promise.

Just a Touch of Sun

(December 5th) I haven't mentioned it on the blog, but last time I was in Texas, I was dying to see a Bobcat. I never did though. This time as well, it was one of the species I was targetting. It seemed like everyone else was seeing them. Yesterday I set out in the last couple of hours before dusk to try and find one that some people reported seeing at Estero Llano State Park. Several miles of wet trails later, nothing. I was quite surprised to see one in my first few minutes of Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. It was before the sun had come up, and it was strolling down the road between two lakes. It noticed my car and walked away before disappearing into some cover even though I remained at big distance. I may not have gotten the nice close shot I was hoping for, but I was excited to see the animal and I kind of like the mood of the only photograph I took of it as it walked away in the dim light. The picture breaks many of the "rules" I usually go for - animal small in the frame, animal looking away, human-built objects in the shot - but somehow it still works for me.

Brazoria NWR like many refuges that have been established to protect waterfowl is a big complex of marshes and ponds. One of the reason I came here was to see the large flocks of Snow Geese which winter here. I found out since Hurricane Ike pushed saltwater into the normally freshwater system miles inalnd, the wetlands haven't recovered yet. So the Snow Geese winter somewhere slightly off the refuge these days. So instead I saw them flying overhead at a distance. The marshes are quite pretty though and I suspect they will be back to full form in a few more years.

Today started out quite cold with a thick frost over everything, but for the first time in many days the sun broke through in a mostly sunny day. The light was gorgeous too. Pied-billed Grebes are in most of the freshwater ecosystems you go, but these little birds always have great poses. That fact combined with the wonderful light is an automatic picture in my book.

Today I achieved a photograph I have been trying to get for quite some time. Meadowlarks are beautiful birds, often perching up on fence posts to sing. I've seen them quite a few times, but they have always flown off their perches anytime I am around. I was fortunate enough to find a cooperative bird in Brazoria. Standing behind my car and using it as a blind, I was able to wait until one landed close and gave me some good poses. I'm still waiting for that perfect shot when it sings with its melodious voice, but for now I'm quite happy to have some good shots of an Eastern Meadowlark.

Brazoria had a lot of raptors. Texas as a whole seems to have a lot of raptors. Many of the ones I saw today were flying overhead or perched far from a road or trail. I saw an adult Red-tailed Hawk try to get a Turkey Vulture drop whatever it was holding - strange to see a hawk doing the mobbing rather than the one being mobbed. The best raptor photographs I got were of this perched American Kestrel. This bird barely gave me a glance and most of the time was scouring the land looking for prey. I was joined by a friend who is living in Texas for my last few hours in Brazoria. I hope I didn't bore him too much circling through the refuge, but it was great to see him. With the bizarre weather, my Texas trip was far from the great possibilities that I know south Texas usually has, but I still had a great time and saw some fascinating wildlife. I look forward to returning sometime, hopefully with better weather!

The Lesser Pain

(December 4th) For a wildlife photographer I think there are two kinds of pain. The first is when you see a great subject but you know you can't make a picture because of light/position/lens/etc. The second of pain is when the light is perfect but for the life of you, you can't find a subject. The second is definitely the worse kind. With the first, at least you can enjoy the subject even if there is no image to record it. Today was filled with this kind of pain. I went to Estero Llano Grande State Park, a place I had never been before. The weather called for temperatures in the 30s and constant rain. So I spent all day freezing with virtually no light. It feels like that's kind of been the story of this whole trip. This park is a series of trails around ponds. The ponds were full of ducks, grebes, and other water birds. I wanted the greater reach of shooting DX, so shot most of the day with the D300 instead of the D700. Big mistake. One thing I learned from reviewing the folders later is that the D700 dealt much better with the terrible light than the D300. I guess it was a good day to learn that lesson. Perhaps there's nothing worse than bad light on water - it makes the water look so ugly. It was hard to find any shot that I'd not mind sharing from today, but this Neotropic Cormorant is an example of a shot that would have had potential in decent light.

Estero Llano really was a great place. If I get the chance again, I definitely want to go back there. Also in retrospect I have a few ideas about how to make photographing in such conditions a lot better. In any case it was fun and I saw some great animals. The place even has some Nutria. I'll leave you with one more photo from my visit, that of a Mottled Duck. They may not be the most colorful of ducks, but still a fine bird.