Winter Photography

If you’re thinking of putting your camera away for the winter - don’t!  It’s one of the best times to get out and shoot photos. Cameras are far more tolerant of the cold than they used to be, and especially if you live in the northern latitudes where there is snow and ice, winter offers an entirely different perspective on the world around you.

In many areas up north, we often get “hoar frost”.  Simply put, hoar frost is caused by fog combined with freezing temperatures. According to weather.com, “with more moisture in the air, the interlocking crystal patterns of frost become more intricate and much larger, building up to a greater depth on tree branches, signs, fences, anything. This is hoarfrost.”

This frost clings to anything and everything: trees, blades of grass, wire fences - anything exposed to the air is a target. Anytime I can, I head out with my camera in the dead of winter, to get photos of hoar frost.

The photo of the pine tree was taken on top of a hill that overlooks the river near my house. This tree was naturally "flocked" with a thick layer of hoar frost. No need for a Christmas tree when there's a forest full of them practically in your own backyard! 

 

The second photo was a strand of barbed fence wire that enclosed a pasture. Talk about frost!  This is a great example of what hoar frost can look like when conditions are ideal.

The last photo was taken along the river near my house. It was taken on a whim, with no special results expected. But as often happens, the photo I expected to be a “throw away”: ended up being my favorite of the day.

So now that winter is here, bundle yourself up, grab your camera, and start shooting - the results can be amazing! 

Cranes, Cranes & More Cranes

The Cranes have returned, and finally I've been able to get some good shots of them!  Two of them were in the cattails right next to the road, until some woman walking her dog came by and they flew away. I was able to get one shot of them beginning to "dance" before she scared them off. Caught a pair of them across the pond calling and bowing to each other as well. Their calls sound so prehistoric, and I imagine it's what pterodactyls must have sounded like. Maybe next year I'll take my video camera as well, and try to record them - IF I can catch them at the right time!

Let the dance begin!

Moose on the Loose!

Off early from work today, and with the weather forecast being favorable, I packed up my camera gear and a change of clothes to change into at precisely 4:00 pm. I don’t have many chances to photograph at the refuge in the evenings, so I decided to head down there after work. A 40 minute drive was worth the trip on such an unseasonably pleasant afternoon.

As I headed out the parking lot after work, the traffic on Reserve Street was horrendous, so I opted for the back road over Blue Mountain.  Longer in distance, but far less traffic and a much nicer drive.  As I hit Blue Mountain Road the river was high and fast; the snow melt was sadly in full swing - at least a month early - and the water was even seeping into the overflow ditches already.

No leaves budding out yet, so everything was still pretty brown, and very few songbirds had come in. It appeared as if the ones that did had already continued on their journey north. I rounded the bend just before McClay Flats to see a fair amount of cars in the parking area. No surprise with the warm spring-like weather we’ve been having. But the big surprise was around the next bend, where I came upon about a dozen cars parked along both sides of the road. That only meant one thing…  MOOSE! 

In the twists of the road between McClay Flats and the recreation area, there is a small, seasonal pond that fills in from the rising ground water when the snow melts. With a good rainy Spring, it sometimes stays full long into the summer and typically dries out by mid to late August.

As I pulled up, sure enough, there it was. At first I thought it was a bull, but it turned out to be a very large cow. I turned around and parked on the same side of the road as the pond, using my car as a safety net. I do not want to find myself having to scramble away from the drivers’ side door, should the moose decide it didn’t want an audience and I needed to make a quick escape. With the drivers’ side facing away from the moose, I was able to get my equipment out of the car and set it up safely.

She had wintered well, and was fat and sleek - and most likely pregnant, as a few of my photos revealed a rather swollen belly.  The calves are usually born around mid to late April, so I made a mental note to keep checking the pond in the next few months. I was so very fortunate to photograph a cow and calf in this same pond several years ago, and while I doubt this is the same cow, it could be one of her calves, returning to her home waters. 

I started with the 75-300 lens, which offered just the right amount of telephoto for some nice shots.  Other spectators came and went, shot off a few frames of photos and drove away. Others stopped only long enough to grab a few photos with their cell phones, and a few - like me - hung out for a while, but I stayed the longest. Almost exactly two hours, in fact. How could I not, with this opportunity, literally sometimes, staring me right in the face?

It’s almost as interesting to watch other humans observing wildlife, as it is the wildlife itself. Most of the just don’t stop to think that this is a wild animal, not something at a zoo.  A few of them kept creeping further down the slope toward the pond, getting about half way down and then, hopefully feeling a sense of not being safe there, went back up to the edge of the road. One young man however, ignored everyone’s warnings not to get too close, and made his way all the way down to the edge of the pond. The moose was non reactive at first, but then decided she did not want him there, and charged at him. I bet that guy had no idea he could move that fast! She spooked him so bad that he dropped his phone at the edge of the water and was afraid to go back and get it. For all I know it’s still there. The moose didn’t intend any harm and only ran toward him as a bluff. She could have easily killed him if she had a mind to. As soon as he was back up to the top of the slope she turned her back on him and began grazing again - guess she told him. The guy was either so scared or so embarrassed that he got in his car and left, to a round of jeers, applauds and scolding from a bunch of the other people.

A little later, another guy stopped with his kids; two about ten or twelve, and one around two or three. He stood at the top of the hill and let the toddler run about, squealing and yelling. The moose was obviously a bit annoyed by the commotion; I watched her lay her ears back more than once while she watched this little tyke race around. I held my breath each time, wondering if she was going to charge again. If so, it could be disastrous - and the moose would be the one to suffer for it. Fortunately, the dad picked the kid up and walked away with him. Thank goodness.

 

About an hour and a half into shooting, I opted to change lenses, and attached the 150-600 onto my camera, and wow!  Talk about close-ups!  I got full face images of this magnificent moose.  As it became later and later, the clouds rolled in and there were a few sprinkles of rain. Everyone loaded up and left, but I simply slipped the rain sleeve over my lens and kept shooting. Next time I looked up I was the only one there - well, me and the moose. She watched me off and on, and I stayed behind my car, ever vigil for the slightest sign of annoyance or aggression - but she never showed either. When her belly was finally full, she took one last look at me, gave me a snort, turned around and wandered off into the trees. I watched her go, packed up my gear and headed home, the refuge and the Sandhill Cranes the farthest things from my mind.

Escaping Winter

It seems that with each year, I have more and more difficulty dealing with winter.  Less sunlight and more snow and ice are SO depressing! 

This winter was no different, and I’ve had a terrible case of cabin fever!  I realized a few weeks ago that I didn’t take my camera out one single day this winter.  Typically there are at least a few days that are sunny enough - but I just didn’t feel like it.  What’s with that, anyway?  But with spring only a week away, the days are getting warmer and longer, and I have been just itching to get out and shoot pictures!  So today was the day.

I really wanted to get up to the Bison Range, but I figured there wasn’t really much going on right now.  The ruts are over and no babies will be born until at least April, and most of them in May.  No wildflowers yet, and the migratory birds are only just beginning to head this way, so it would be a long trip with very little - if any - results.  Besides, there is most likely still plenty of snow on the ground there - the very thing I want to get away from . So the Bison Range will have to wait. 

I opted for something that might be a little more promising, and headed out to Metcalf at around noon. It was very cloudy and overcast, with a temp of around 40-42°, and a light breeze.  The sun poked out intermittently and it looked to be a pleasant day!

I arrived at the refuge and my first stop was at the trail head along the river. The temp was quite comfortable with my medium weight parka and I attached the 600 mm lens to the camera and headed down the trail.

My first photo op was a Pileated Woodpecker, roughly 20 feet up a cottonwood snag, about 15 feet off the trail.  I heard the slow drumming on the tree before I spotted it.  I had to maneuver around a bit to get a clear shot of it through the tiny branches, but once I did I got several promising shots. 

I walked further along the path; there were very few birds about, not even crows or ravens.  I can usually see muskrats along the slough in the cattails, but even they were in hiding today.  Further down the trail, where the woods begin to open up and the river runs right alongside the path, the wind began to pick up and I wished I would have grabbed my wool hat out of the car.  I took a side trail, which I noticed has recently been paved, and felt a twinge of disappointment for that. I understand the need to make it accessible for everyone, but there’s something so comforting to me about walking a dirt path.

Along this side path I heard a Flicker, and stopped to listen for it’s drumming. I was not disappointed, for it was in a dead snag just a few feet from me, and about 15 feet up.  I moved into a better position to photograph it and was just getting ready to focus in on it when a second Flicker flew in and began fighting with the first bird. I hurried to get some photos, thinking a “fight scene” would make for some great photos, when they both flew off in different directions. Damn!  I waited for several minutes, hoping one or both of them would come back, but no such luck. An opportunity lost.  Such is the life of a wildlife photographer. 

The wind started picking up more and I decided to head back to the car. But as I reached the trail head I opted instead to wander up another trail, this one in a more densely wooded area where the wind was blocked - more or less. Just off the trail head I heard several chickadees, and saw them flitting around in a small shrubby tree, and one of the bold little birds came right out in front of me and perched in clear view. I already had my tripod set down and the lens pointing in that direction, so I quickly focused and landed a few shots before it flew off again. And what a photo I got!  I have to say it’s the most perfect chickadee photo I’ve ever taken! 

Back to my car and off to the levee and the ponds, where there is not - as I expected - much in the way of activity. The main pond is still about half frozen over, and the open water is on the east end.  Canada Geese, Common Goldeneyes and Mallards were the prominent species today, with a few coots and some other ducks that were too far away to identify - mere silhouettes against the brightness of the overcast sky.

I did spot a muskrat feeding on the edge of the ice and got a few shots of it, but they’re not good ones and only for the purpose of seeing and identifying it. I watched it for some time as is dipped in and out of the water, pulling its catch of small fish or pond weeds (I could not tell which), onto the ice and feasting on it.  The wind was blowing so hard by now that I had to drop the tripod down the a lower height and hide in front of my car on my knees to keep the lens steady enough for the photo.

Got a great shot of a Common Goldeneye in the smaller pond to the north of the levee, but that was about it.  I did hear a single Red-winged Blackbird but never saw it. At one point I watched a large flock of the Goldeneyes bolt out of the pond and fly across the levee, circle around and head back to the large pond, and then circle around again. It was curious to me, until I noticed the Marsh Hawk chasing after them. It caught a small duck in mid-air, raking it with its talons, and then following the injured duck to the ground, out of sight of my camera.

By now the wind was blowing constantly, with gusts that almost felt like gale force winds, and I decided to head home.  And of course, as soon as I hit the highway, the wind died down.  Go figure.  It wasn’t what I would call a great day for photography, but then again, even getting one great shot makes the trip well worth it. That being said, it was a good day!