Furry Critters

So, flowers are pretty easy to take pictures of. Sure, it takes some practice to get pleasing angles, but they can't run away from you. Birds are harder. To get 'a' bird isn't so tough, to get THAT bird may be very challenging.

Then come four legged animals ... it depends on where you live. You may have some in your backyard that will eat out of your hand, while those out in the woods can be quite elusive.

 I just happened to catch this mink late in the morning at a nearby pond late one morning. A few people come here to fish, but other than that, it's a pretty quiet area.

I was a good 50 meters away from him, yet he did not like me being in his yard and when I looked away for just an instant, he was gone. It sure was a treat finding him though. Maybe our paths will cross again one day.

 I found this pair of coy-wolves just a mile from home in a park that's so small, I usually forget that it's there. It was a cold morning (-5F) just after a light snowfall.  What caught my eye was all the tracks in the fresh snow that had just fallen only a few hours before.




They were laying in those reeds at the edge of this pond and I didn't see them until one got up to stretch, then wandered off. Shortly followed by the second one who has something going on with her fur! I went back a number of times, but no new tracks, never saw them again.

Deer are always fun. Found these two right along a very busy walking trail at the local nature center.  Person after person walked right by this pair, oblivious to their presence. They were quite accommodating to me and when I left them, I met a group of 3rd graders and their teacher. I showed them where this pair was, and to be very quiet. Oh were they happy to see this pair of deer on their nature walk.

Farm animals can be fun.
These I found just while out driving.

Of course pets are a great subject as well.

Just remember, where ever you are, keep shooting!

Voila! ... Irises in Bloom!

This morning the irises bloomed! A few had been trying for the past few days, but late this morning we had a spring rain shower, followed by bright sun and VOILA! You can still see the rain drops on the pedals.

 

Grobschmidt Park (part 2)

Seeing that the weather will be turning stormy for next few days, I decided to take one more advantage of the good weather and headed over to Grobschmidt Park, just 3 miles from home, about an hour before sunset on Saturday evening.

I briefly saw a Baltimore Oriole, but other than that, it was the usual suspects.
 I could hear this bird, but could not see him to get an identification.

Walking closer to the lake, I got a quick glimpse of these 

Great Egrets heading out for the night.

Great Egrets land in a tree.

Other than them, I didn't see much else outside of normal.
Red Winged Black Birds, Canada Geese and such, 

so that was about it I thought.

As I learned when I used to go out metal detecting, however,

you keep swinging until you get to the car, because you never
know what you'll find. That is so true, I once found a gold ring
just feet from my car as I walked back to it!

So it goes with nature photography as well.
The sun is setting, but I stay alert as I hike back out.

Sunset on Grobschmidt Park.

Walking the trail, I caught glimpse of this Green Heron

perched high, checking out the scene.
This turned out to be the highlight of the evening;
 my first Green Heron of the year.

Green Heron perched at sunset.

... and another 15 minutes, as it's a bit darker.

Green Heron perched at sunset.

Keeping my short window of nice weather in mind,
I went back the very next morning arriving around 6am which
was about 45 minutes after sunrise, but clouds kept it dark.

Coming off the walking trail, getting first sight of the lake,
I see that the pair of Great Egrets are back. One is in a tree,
the other on the small island.

Great Egret at dawn.

 A Mallard Duck family at first light.

Mallards in early light.

Then scanning the opposite shore, I spotted this deer
out for an early morning swim accompanied by
a couple of Canada Geese. They were not swimming by,
but staying next to the deer. They must be one big happy 'Framly'.

A deer takes a dip in the lake.

Not too long after, a pair of Wood Ducks appear.

Wood Ducks at dawn.

Then suddenly "SPA-LOOSH!" A Caspian Tern
dove head first into the water. Missing his breakfast
he came up empty, but gracefully shook it off. 

Caspian Tern shakes his head.

It's been some 30 minutes now, the sun has finally
broken through the clouds and I noticed that the deer
was not alone, but had a fawn out there too.
Was the fawn stuck in the mud?
Was the mother comforting
the stuck fawn? OH NO!

Deer and fawn take a dip.

No no, 10 more minutes and suddenly both had disappeared,
so it must have just been a pleasant early morning dip.

So, here's the scene as I left, followed by he sound of a
Marsh Wren who is nesting just a few paces away from
where I was standing when I took this photo.

So begins another great day at Grobschmidt Park!

Sunrise on Grobschmidt Park.

Grobschmidt Park

Grobschmidt Park's Mud Lake.

Grobschmidt Park in Franklin (map) has become one of my favorites. It's 155 acres of mostly unimproved natural area including a 4 acre "Mud Lake", 2 marshes, two wooded areas, and two prairies. The county parks department has put out a few (3) benches to sit on, a single trash can, and a sign, but other than that, it's pretty much wild.

Walking trail.

 A half mile gravel path goes around the lake and once in a while you will actually see someone walking on it. If you Google the park, you'll find only a few photos, and a little bit of history. It used to be farmland belonging to the former mayor of South Milwaukee, William Grobschmidt, and his grandson Chester was also a South Milwaukee mayor. Looking at old aerial photos, the lake used to be half as big, but development in the area changed the water drainage and enlarged it. I think it's better now than back in 1963 when the only aerial photo was taken. A small plane crashed here back in the '70s and a few children drowned in the lake back in the 50's.

Mud Lake.

For me, it's a photographic playground teaming with wildlife. Officially (per eBird), we've identified 112 species of birds (just 45 for me so far), and I've also seen muskrat, turtles, and snakes. I know there's more, just gotta find 'em! Others say they have seen some big deer early in the mornings. I've seen terns, gulls, and herons pull out some nice fish, but few people fish here.

So, today I spent most of my time poking around the larger marsh. My point and shoot was giving me trouble, so no new audio clips today, however I did see this Swamp Sparrow who was making quite the racket. Others could be heard as well, but they were staying well hidden.

Swamp Sparrow

Along the walking path, this American Goldfinch 

was happily showing off his colors.

American Goldfinch

... and back by the lake, I just caught this Wood Duck flying away (they spook so easily), but I was so focused on getting a shot of him, I didn't even see this Great Blue Heron perched on this bird house! Another heron was hanging out with the geese out on the island, along with a bunch of turtles and a single sandpiper (not seen here).

Wood Duck and Great Blue Heron

Canada Geese and Great Blue Heron.

Overall , it was a quiet day, but the Swamp Sparrow was a new bird for me, so that made it all worth while. Hopefully, I'll get my point and shoot working again and get some more audio clips and who knows what all. Happy shooting!

Let's Go!

Despite the lack of postings here, I have been quite active shooting nature. Some get posted to Facebook, and a few to Flicker and eBird, but I can't post all the good stuff in those places, so HERE will be the main showcase of what I'm up to. My official eBird list has me at 66 bird species, which isn't even a spit into the wind for a real birder. Many people see more than that in one day! Part of the task is being able to recognize songs, which isn't necessarily impossible to learn, it does take some effort, and that's what I've been doing this past week.

I figured I'd start right in my backyard. Initially, I tried sticking a microphone out the window and recorded on my laptop. Works, but the songs are too quiet and the street noises are too loud. Then I got a brain storm and tried recording with my video camera. Eureka! It has a super sensitive microphone, no hum, and I can take it anywhere.


The back yard is a great place to practice, but there's the neighbor's air conditioning going on and off, kids hollering next door, dogs barking, and the eternal freeway noise. So, today I took it to the park and placed it on the ground, right on the edge of a marsh, walked away for an hour, and came back. Being mostly interested in the audio, I never even gave a thought of what video it might capture, so imagine my surprise when I played it back and saw 2 slugs and 3 snails slowly crawling up and down the leaves and twigs in front of the camera! Plenty of bird food available! I'll share video of that at a later date, but here's some bird song's I got today. Sounds like two birds, actually, and there still is some freeway noise (3 miles away!) but it's not bad. I haven't figured out what they are yet.



Here's the 'sonogram' of that clip which is simply how the audio looks on the software I use for editing (Cool Edit 2000):

Here's another clip of a Marsh Wren taken right next to "Mud Lake" at Grobschmidt Park in Franklin, WI

I have also found out that the little Sony camera makes great macro shots because the focal distance is so short, and there is a setting for automatic flash.
Check out this cool 'toad stool'. Not bad!

So, stay tuned, I've still got 9,000+ species of birds to photograph, 5,000 species of mammals, 16,000 species of mushrooms .....

August Update

I've been quite active shooting, so I better update before September begins!

They've been shooting a movie in town, and much to my surprise, I just happened to come across them.