A view looking across a farmer’s field outside of Garrettsville, Ohio.
We traveled to Garrettsville, Ohio just to get out and decompress a bit. Whereas yesterday was overcast and gray (though beautiful in its own way), today sun-spotted autumn landscape views were all around. The breeze was brisk and colored leaves rained from the trees. Autumn was well-along. It was that kind of a day.
Sunrise over the antenna farm.
Thursday’s sunrise, ushering in a rainy morning, was spectacular! Low-angle, warm sunlight illuminated bands of clouds high overhead — the bands and swirls actually reminded me of the cloud bands of planet Jupiter, though ours were a different color. I had high-tailed it to the closest vantage point where my camera could get a halfway decent view. In the few minutes as I watched, the sunrise colors changed from hot pink, through red-orange, to a faded yellow. This is what I got: Before the storm – sunrise over the antenna farm.
Skittish Great Blue Heron as seen from the reservoir wall.
During my visit to the places of my childhood earlier this month, I stopped by Delta (Ohio) Reservoir. Well, actually, now there are a couple of them… maybe even three but I don’t know the full history. There was a small pond that had pretty much gone back to nature when I was a kid; a great place for spotting turtles and trying to catch frogs. That pond may have been the village’s first reservoir. Then there was the big, deep-water reservoir where the town’s water came from. Today there is a third, much larger, reservoir immediately adjacent to the “middle” one and that middle one now is looking a bit more like a wildlife refuge than water storage area. During my visit I was pleased to see a couple of Great Blue Herons fishing the edges of the reservoir. Maybe because the surroundings were more open or perhaps these birds just aren’t used to people, whatever the reason they were skittish. I could not get nearly so close to these herons as I often could back home. Still, I caught one stalking the reeds along the eastern rim and got a few shots of a couple flights — all at a distance.
Double-Crested Cormorant landing on Delta Reservoir.
It was grey, windy, and chilly so I was getting ready to continue my car trip when I saw a jet-black silhouette — a pretty good-sized bird was swooping in. What the…. ? As it landed in the cold waters and its body sank mostly beneath the surface I realized it was a cormorant! Now I enjoy watching birds but I don’t call myself a birdwatcher. I thought the sight was pretty rare and for me, it is, though not in the greater scheme of things. Some time ago, water pollution and loss of habitat brought the skilled underwater fisher-birds dangerously low in population. Reportedly in the ’60s, the cormorants had nearly disappeared from Lake Erie (both Lake Erie and Lake Michigan are not distant from my Northwestern Ohio origins). With environmental improvements and protection, however, the cormorants succeeded in their recovery so well they are apparently now something of a nuisance! The black bird’s great numbers are blamed by some for depleted fisheries and damage to forests.
Tight crop of the already-cropped photo seen above showing a Double-Crested Cormorant landing.
That day, however, there were only two on the small lake from which Delta draws its water. Though I was ill-prepared to photograph yet another shy bird keeping its distance so well, I gave it a try. These are my first shots of a Double-Crested Cormorant, heavily-cropped to make up for the measly 200mm telephoto lens I’d packed. I like ’em anyway.
Tranquil Autumn Morning
I love the depth of color a cloudy autumn morning can display. Out and about early, I stopped at a spot in the Cleveland Metroparks System to enjoy the view and capture this image.
At the Strongsville, Ohio Wildlife Area.
Out early, I packed up the camera and big lens and headed for the Strongsville Wildlife area. Because of the changing seasons, I thought this morning might be my last opportunity this year to capture images of the Great Egret and autumn colors. Arriving at the pond I was dismayed to see no wading birds and, in fact, no birds at all … at first. Whether it was my presence or just time to start moving, the Mallard ducks set out from their nighttime moorings, at first two or three, then the entire fleet. Their passage through colorful reflective waters made up for the missing egret.
Sometimes, when you’re out driving, you simply must stop and stare. This scene is in rural Medina County, Ohio.
It wasn’t always like this.
The places of our youth are subject to the same forces of change as everything and everywhere else; nothing truly remains the same. I had the opportunity today to visit the dot on the map that held the first school I attended: Winameg, Ohio and its Pike Township School. The school, I’d heard, was to have been rehabbed into apartments. That never happened. So the place where Mrs. Miller taught First Grade and Mrs. Secrest (my favorite) taught second; the school that hosted the bookmobile and a regular visit from the Scholastic Books salesman; that place is derelict. The windows are sad and dark, paint on the doors is faded and streaking, and the once well-manicured landscape is running wild. The playground is gone. Winameg itself was never much more than the school, a church, a few houses, and a cozy general store. Years ago the store burned down. You can’t go home again, and you can’t go back to school as places and people change. Winameg, however, will remain fixed in my memory as a happy place of my childhood.
A church, a school, and a store: Winameg, Ohio.
The lake at Wellington Reservation on a beautiful autumn day.
We spent a lovely late-morning on a photo-walk around the lake at the Wellington Reservation of Lorain County (Ohio) Metro Parks. Fast-moving clouds at times obscured the sun but between those clouds, bright blue sky showed. The air was brisk, fresh, and carried the light scent of fallen leaves. Yesterday was dark and wet. Today was bright and dry; a day of a different sort.
Some are dressed for fall while others are not.
The Great Blue Heron stood on a sand bar for a long time.
I carried the big camera and the bigger (400mm) lens with me today. I was hoping to catch sight of the Great Egret that has been hanging out at a pond not far from here. I couldn’t stop this morning but I thought that maybe, just maybe if the bird was at the pond this afternoon I could get some nice lighting effects: the early evening sun backlighting that big, white bird might be spectacular! It seems the egret likes to fish that area in the morning. I was treated, however, to a different local… a Great Blue Heron. Fortunately, I happen to love photographing the “Great Blues” so, while I missed my imagined shot, I got something really pretty nice! The big wader stood, for a long time, on a sandbar near my observing blind. Later, at a leisurely pace, the heron waded away from me and along the far shore of the pond, actively fishing. I caught the pause at late day.
PhotonStopper 