Welcome to my Blog... After taking photographs of wildlife and or nature for these past several years I found more likely than not there was a interesting story behind the photograph, so I decided to redo my website and add a blog spot so I could share these interested stories as they unfold.
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November 2009 trip to Jasper Pulaski
On Friday November 27, I went on a short trip up to Jasper Pulaski in Indiana with Allen Claybon to see and photograph Sandhill Cranes. I checked the Jasper Pulaski website before leaving and they had more than 13,000 birds currently hanging in the fields. The weather was a little cold and cl
oudy when we left and it was supposed to clear by the evening. We had blue skies by the time we reached our destination on Friday at 3:00pm. That left us a few hours to shoot some pictures, although the sun was in our face which is not the best for detailed pictures. We had a couple opportunities for some shots that evening but most of them came as the sun was setting and we got some nice silhouettes pictures in the orange sky.
The next day, Saturday was going the best day because the sun would be at our backs and expectations were high that we would get some good opportunities for some nice flight shots and we were not disappointed. After Saturday morning breakfast we were on the road again heading back to the staging area of the Sandhill Cranes in anticipation for lots of activity from these magnificent birds. It was very cold that morning without the clouds to hold in the heat and as we got closer to our destination I could feel the excitement of seeing this spectacle and the expectations of ob
taining some excellent shots. When we reached the parking area it was obvious that lots of other people were there and I hoped we would get a good spot to set up. We stood behind a four foot high fence waiting and watching for any opportunity for any good shots and as some of the birds took fight and left, others came in and landed. This made it good for capturing some good shots and the sound of shutters clicking were all around me. In just a few hours we had captured plenty digital pictures and, at least for me, I thought it was a highly productive trip and I had a great time as well. By 11:00am the sun was getting a little to high and bright so we decided to head back home to Cincinnati and start the process of going through the many hundreds of pictures. To see so many birds in one place like this, made me stop and think of what the pioneers saw during their time and what we have lost. We must do everything we can to see that these and all the other creatures will be around for generations to come. To see the rest of my Sandhill Crane pictures please follow this link.
May 2009 Trip to Magee Marsh and Michigan
On Friday May 15, I made my way north and stayed in Port Clinton hoping for good weather and a good migration day at Magee Marsh that Saturday. I have been to Magee Marsh several times and although there have been migrant warblers I always miss what is described as a large fall out day. People I would meet would say” you should have been here two days ago the number of migrants birds here was really high”. I had heard that too many times and I was hoping to witness this first hand. I was in luck because right from the start on Saturday birds seemed to be in higher numbers than I had ever had. The boardwalk of course had so many people that carrying my 600 mm lens with the tripod is not any fun so I and many other photographers ended up along the road hoping to get great shots of these beautiful migrating birds. You always know where the birds are based on the number of people and photographers grouped up and all the flashes going off. It still amazes me how wave after wave these birds would just appear and the excitement builds in anticipation on getting great shots. I felt like I did very well considering all. I got my first pictures of a Bay-breasted Warbler and the one is a beautiful pose. I have looked at some other photographer’s pictures and I have not seen many that compares to my shot. I also ended up with one really nice shot of the Black-throated Green Warbler and one Black-throated blue Warbler as well. After a long day I headed back to my hotel to go through my pictures to see what I wanted to keep and discarding the rest. I went there Sunday morning and found it nothing like Saturday so around eleven o’clock I headed west to I -75 then north into Michigan. I spent two days in Lower Michigan exploring for birds to photograph before heading to the Upper Peninsula where I stayed until I headed home. I stayed in the town of Newberry and explored the many roads in the Hiawatha National Forest for potential wildlife to photograph. I barely scratched the surface of potential areas to explore in the Upper Peninsula and hope to get back again real soon to this beautiful state. I left for home on Thursday morning May 28 and made it all the way home that evening and surprised my wife Carol. The weather was rainy that morning and the forecast for the next couple days were also calling for rain as well so I figured I would head home a few day’s early and start going through my picture and posting them on my website. While I got to see some beautiful country I also picked up some nice warblers pictures too. I saw and heard quite a number of species and picked up some pictures of Black-and-white, Canada, Magnolia, Kirtland’s, Pine, Palm and Nashville Warblers. I picked up Evening and Rose-breasted Grosbeak as well as other species. All in all I had a great trip and look forward to going back to some day and exploring more of Michigan’s wild places.
Spring Wildflower trip 2009
In search of the Lady’s Slippers
It has been a while since I have written anything but I have been busy taking photographs and planning trips and working my normal job. I have a back log of things I could write about but I will have to wait until things slow down.
I thought I would take a few minutes though and write about a short trip I had last Sunday May 5th. Last Sunday I picked up Dan Boone and we set of in search of slippers and whatever else we could find. Dan if you do not know him works for a tree company and is an excellent botanist. Our trek for slippers took us to Shawnee State forest as well as Adams County. As always I had a great time searching and photographing with Dan. We got these three species of Slippers, Larger Yellow lady’s Slipper, Pink Lady’s Slipper and the White Lady’s Slipper along with some other non orchid species. The day went by fast and before we new it, we were heading home.
Fall Photography Trip 2008
Wood Ducks
This fall I decided to visit a place that is known to have wood ducks that are some what photographer friendly. If you have ever tried to get close to wood ducks they are very skittish and tough to get close to. I figured some day I would be in the right place at the right time and get some good wood duck pictures. Since I had heard about this place from several different people, I finally decided to go see for myself. The place is North Chagrin Reservation in Cleveland, Ohio and I stopped by one Friday evening on the way to another photography destination and found
it to be very good for Wood Ducks. In fact, the other destination was not as good as I had hoped for on Saturday morning, so I decided to go back and shoot some more wood ducks at North Chagrin. If you have never been their before its worth the trip, they have a wood duck festival in the fall every year to celebrate the wood ducks return to this area. I cant tell you about the festival, as I decided to visit prior to the festival. I figured it would be easier to get photographs without so many people around. Apparently this spot is known all over the country because I met someone that came all the way from Texas to photograph these wood ducks. If you have not checked out my wood duck pictures click in this link to see them. One nice thing that I find almost every time I go on a photography trip is other photographers who are really nice and very helpful. I can only think of one photographer that I have ever run into that was not friendly at all.
2008 Shore bird photography
American Golden Plover
This late summer when the shore birds were coming through I went out to Miami Whitewater Forest in hopes of capturing some good images, and as luck would have it the wetlands were drying up and I found some good habitat as well as birds. I got setup out in the mud and slowly worked my way closer to situate myself close enough to hopefully capture them as close to full frame as possible. If you are a photographer you know how important it is to get the subject in at least one half to three quarter of the frame of the picture for best results anyway. I was being very patient waiting for a good opportunity when I noticed, from a good distance away, a good size plover. The bird was actually an American Golden Plover. The interesting part of the story was as I started photographing other birds much closer than the plover and he must have
found the noise from my shutter interesting because he started running towards me as soon as my shutter started making the clicking noise. He actually got so close to me that I could no longer take his picture with my 600mm lens. He came within several feet on a number of occasions and would just stare at me. After a minute or two he would head back out into the wet mud and standing water in search of a tasty morsel for food. Once he got at a good distance to continue taking his picture, the repetitive sound of my shutter would bring him back within feet of me. This went on and on until I decided I had enough images and left. The next day I actually came back to see if he was still there and if so would he act the same when my shutter started clicking. I got situated again and sure enough he was there and as soon as I started taking images he came over to investigate again. Once I had enough images I wondered if I moved my legs when he was close, would he run off, nope, this did not bother him at all. I even moved my arms out suddenly toward him to see if this would cause him to run away. Not this guy, he only flew off when I stood up to leave. If you are a photographer and find yourself in a situation like this where an harmless animal seems not to be afraid of you, make sure you take advantage of this opportunity because this does not happen very often. While here I also got photos of a Least, Baird's, and Pectoral sandpipers as well as Killdeer and Wilson's snipe.
Spotted Sandpiper
I also heard about a spotted sandpiper hanging around on park property along Kilby road and I headed out to see if I could find and photograph this bird. I surveyed the area look
ing to see where the location might be and immediately located a small pool of water at the bottom of the hill on the eastern side of Kilby road. It matched the description I saw from a posting on the Cincinnati Bird Clubs website. It was here I found myself lying again in the wet mud in search of a close-up of this wonderful bird. It was not long before I was rewarded with this little sandpipers company. This little guy always seemed like he was in a hurry, never pausing for much more than a second or two. I went out to this little pool of water several times in search for a good picture and happy to share for even just a short time a glimpse of this birds life. I did enjoy laying still and watching the behavior of all the birds utilizing this little oasis. While there I saw other wildlife coming to this little pool of water and getting a refreshing bath as well as a drink. I was fortunate to get some nice images of the spotted sandpiper as well. To see all the images of this species click on this link.