Blue Hen Falls at last

Posted by Photonstopper on September 2, 2015
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Photo: Blue Hen Falls of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. August 2015. Photo by James Guilford.

Blue Hen Falls, August 2015

A Favorite Spot for local photographers is Blue Hen Falls in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I’d never been there so I checked it out Monday afternoon. I found an open parking spot in the three-car lot (more space across the road) and made the all-downhill, 1/6-mile hike to the falls observation spot. The view from the park bench was all right but, of course, I couldn’t stop there. As have many folks before me, even a few just before I arrived, I found my way down to the rocky riverbed and set up shop. With little recent rain, the falls were down to a trickle but fallen rocks, green mosses and trees, and subdued light made for a restful scene.

Beach flag

Posted by Photonstopper on August 18, 2015
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Photo: Women on beach with jet ski passing on lake. Photo by James Guilford.

Beach Flag

On an errand, I paid a quick visit to the beach today, really to see the lake and not swim or sun! The skies were mostly hazy and cloudy when I arrived but, as I walked a breakwall, some clearing happened. I got a very few interesting shots out on the wall: water rushing over gull-perched submerged stones, open water beyond. The most interesting image of the day, to my eye, was a grab shot taken at the top of the long climb from beach to parking lot: a jet ski bobbed along on the lake under cloud-decorated blue sky as a beach-goer shook sand from her towel. It was almost as though the woman was using her beach towel as a signal flag for the speeding boat.

Herons of green and blue

Posted by Photonstopper on August 17, 2015
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Photo: Green Heron (Butorides virescens) Watching the Water Below. Photo by James Guilford.

Green Heron (Butorides virescens) Watching the Water Below

I spent some quiet time along the Ohio & Erie Canal in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park late Sunday morning watching the herons. I was surprised at how many Green Herons I spotted — at least four — and how close I was able to approach two of them. The first of the greens was perched on the trunk of a tree that had long ago fallen into the canal. From the wooden perch the smallish bird watched for prey, preened, and even messed with a twig it picked off the trunk! A little farther down the canal I watched a Great Blue Heron as it struck a typically statuesque pose studying the water for signs of fish. After a while the blue struck and caught a small, wriggling fish. I shot a good number of photos whilst standing or sitting and watching the green and blue herons but the best part was just quietly being there.

Photo:Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) with Fish. Photo by James Guilford.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) with Fish

Not very photogenic

Posted by Photonstopper on August 15, 2015
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Photo: Nighttime thunderstorm over a house and trees. Photo by James Guilford.

Peek-a-Boo Lightning

The storm showed promise… on radar the approaching line was preceded by a gust front and followed by storms with plenty of wind and rain and LIGHTNING! So, despite suffering from a head cold, I headed outdoors after 11 PM and into the heavy summer air. Making a long story short, I shot many images hoping to catch a lightning bolt before the arrival of rain. I heard thunder alright and saw soft-edged clouds lit by internal cloud-to-cloud sparks. The one bolt I did see during my hour’s efforts arced between clouds and between snaps of the shutter … perfectly bad timing! I muttered to myself quite a bit about that. The lightning petered out and sprinkles of rain began to fall. A disappointing night. So here is the one halfway decent shot from a not very photogenic storm.

What you lookin’ at?

Posted by Photonstopper on August 10, 2015
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Photo: Juvenile Northern Cardinal. Photo by James Guilford.

“What you lookin’ at?” – Juvenile Northern Cardinal

This disheveled-looking creature is a young male Northern Cardinal. I was waiting for a chickadee to show up on a sign post beside a trail in the Summit Metro Parks’ F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm. I heard a light rustling of wings nearby and to my left. What should I see but a bright red cardinal perched on branches only a yard away! I slowly turned and aimed my lens at the bird as he looked around, then preened, and looked around some more, allowing me an extended photographic opportunity before he apparently figured I had no food for him and he flitted off into the brush! This is my favorite shot of the bunch … the youngster briefly interrupted his preening to, it seemed, look right at me. The chickadee? Yes, it showed up too!

Photo: Black Capped Chickadee. Photo by James Guilford.

Trail Post Chickadee

Hubbub Moon

Posted by Photonstopper on July 31, 2015
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With all the hubbub over the “blue moon” lately, I popped out late last night to shoot a very bright and beautiful Moon. I decided to give the Canon 2X focal length doubler another go so attached it between the camera body and my 400mm lens; that gave me 800mm of telephoto goodness. Add to the 800 another approximately 50% due to the camera’s “crop factor” and I was shooting through a 1,200mm scope! The doubler does soften the image slightly but, with a larger image falling upon the camera sensor, I crop less to achieve a nice-sized Moon. At any rate, it was a beautiful sight to behold, I captured a pretty fair image, and, if you were wondering, no, the Blue Moon isn’t really blue! Next night, however, I was intrigued by the just-past-full Moon shining through clouds. Wouldn’t you know… refraction of moonlight by those clouds gave the scene a bluish tone! And that’s the last Blue Moon hubbub ’til 2018.

  

Time to come in….

Posted by Photonstopper on July 29, 2015
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Photo: Man wading in lake as a storm approaches. Photo by James Guilford.

Time To Come In

My timing worked out perfectly again this evening! I had been watching on radar as an approaching line of storms ran  along a cold front hoping for another opportunity for dramatic weather photography. On a hunch I climbed into the car after dinner and headed to the Lake Erie shoreline at Bay Village, Ohio. No sooner did I arrive at the parking lot and start the short hike to the shore than I spotted it… an amazing, thin line of clouds known as a gust front approaching from the west. I shot a good number of photos of the clouds but adding to the image was a man standing nearly waist-deep in the water as the weather approached. Yes, there was a little lightning and thunder and yes, he should have gotten out of the lake as his relative urged from the shore. Time to come in! Fortunately the wader escaped harm. Behind the gust front I could see the effects of the, well, gusts: the lake water was darkening as wind-driven waves formed. The rain, this time, did not drive me from my perch but had the courtesy to begin after I was safely back in my car.

Great Egret walking

Posted by Photonstopper on July 25, 2015
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Photo: Great Egret walking on fallen tree trunk. Photo by James Guilford.

Great Egret Walking

We made a quick visit to the Old Woman Creek State Nature Preserve in Huron. Watching for bird activity at the estuary we were treated to sights of a Great Egret fishing from the trunk of a fallen tree. The big bird, one of five we could see from our vantage, caught only a few small fish before taking flight; this shot was made only a few moments before takeoff. As you can see in this tightly-cropped image, the egret had been banded. From the Ohio Division of Natural Resources website: “Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve is part of a network of 28 coastal reserves connected nationally through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address state and regional coastal management needs through research, education, and stewardship. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System uses its network of living laboratories to help understand and find solutions to crucial issues facing America’s coastal communities.”