On the way to the office today –yes, I worked yesterday and today– I spotted a great blue heron flying high overhead; the first heron I've seen this year. I also saw several male robins chasing each other around as they define their territories. One pair of robins nearly met their end as they eyed each other and hopped bit by bit, ever farther out into the road ahead of me! They seemed completely oblivious to the oncoming metal Bringer of Doom descending upon them. Or they may have been robins playing "chicken." This time of year many robins die on the roads as they get involved in their aerial territorial disputes that take them across roads and highways. I'm happy I didn't thin out their gene pool this morning!
great blue heron
All posts tagged great blue heron
Not long after She Who Must Be Obeyed set off for work, I headed down to Hinckley Lake. It was a hazy morning and not too late for some wonderful visual effects caused by the low angle Sun shining through. I saw some quiet and moody sights, shot many photos and, as I was doubling back on the hiking trail I'd taken out, encountered a Great Blue Heron in the lake's nearby shallows. I got a couple of nice close-ups before it warily waded farther out. Then it stopped, lowered its head, raised its right leg, and started scratching! A mundane task, perhaps, but the still photos give it a different character. This quick-pick is (so far) my favorite photo of the morning, both at the lake and at home. I had a nice quiet hike in the morning air, saw some beautiful sights, and captured some good images. It was a fine morning at Hinckley Lake.
It's my day off (lucky me, I get to work Saturday) so around midday I headed over to the Cleveland Metroparks' Mill Stream Run Reservation in Berea. Recently I'd seen a great egret wading the shallow waters of the Rocky River and I thought I'd see if I could catch a photo. Well, I saw the bird perched high in a tree across the water too far to photograph. Other sites caught my eye, however, including a beautiful feather caught on a stick — the only thing keeping it from floating over a nearby water fall. There was flowing water, rock and water, shade and trees, all-in-all a restful place. The ones that got away: 1) Two great blue herons swooped in together for a landing, low over my head before I'd even removed my camera from its bag. 2) As I stepped stones adjacent to a shallow dam, I spooked a black water snake — it quickly slipped into the water before I even had a chance to lift the camera (now out of its bag). 3) I hope that wide-angle lens gets back, well-tuned, soon…. could have used it! Time for late lunch so I headed home. It happens my little outing was well timed. It had been dark and gloomy all morning, skies brightened a bit while I was out, and not long after I arrived home a noisy thunderstorm rolled in and dropped plentiful rain. Tasha and I sat on the floor at the open patio door listening to and watching the storm. The day provided a much-needed quiet interlude.
Expecting not-very-nice weather for Sunday, we skipped our Saturday morning errands and headed for Hinckley Lake to rent a canoe. It had been a while since we last paddled around the quiet waters of the park but we set out confidently, She in front with a canoe paddle, I in the back of the boat with a kayak paddle. We actually did fairly well, pretty accurately controlling the boat and maintaining good speed when desired. Of course wildlife, most especially water fowl, are a big attraction for me at Hinckley so I carried the little Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC43 — I did not want to risk getting the Canon SLR or its expensive lenses wet. Of course there are risks of another sort to not carrying one's best at all times!
Cruising along the shoreline (and trying to avoid morning fishermen) She spotted a smallish great blue heron nabbing minnows from water's edge. Judging by its size and its failure to flee it was a young bird we approached close enough to bean with a well-placed toss of a stone! So we circled out, I retrieved the little Panasonic from my pocket, and we passed by the youngster repeatedly as I shot photos. It's actually not a bad little digital snapshot camera but I have grown used to SLR speed and quality. I missed several shots due to shutter lag, got blurry results from others, and had very little telephoto reach. Still, in all, it was quite an experience to observe a truly wild bird in the open at such proximity. One of the barely-acceptable photos was kind of fun… young heron is apparently wet and all ruffled up, seen nearly straight-on. Kind of comical, in fact!
We left the bird in peace and continued our travel paralleling the shore. I'd wanted to get a nice on-water opportunity to photograph a water lily and finally got one. Just one. The only water lily we could reach (due to shallow water boating restrictions) was all by itself, floating in dark water amongst the lily pads — no other blooms anywhere. We took the boat in very close, nearly floating over the flower, I made my shots (three, one fairly good), and headed back out.
It was a pleasant morning on Hinckley Lake.
We spent the better part of the day Saturday (in a couple of aspects) hiking around Spencer Lake in the Spencer Lake State Wildlife Area, Spencer, Ohio. It was another photo-walk with many opportunities for wildlife shots. The red-winged blackbirds were out in force, several great blue herons were fishing the lake, and we even encountered a couple of frogs in an adjacent swamp area. One of the frogs was quiet (or stupid) enough to pose for photos including an amazing close-up. The Canon 70 – 200mm "L" lens is simply amazing and I can zoom in on the resultant frog portrait seeing greater and greater detail until it dissolves into pixels — and it was hand-held. We also visited the Medina County Park System's Letha House Park and checked out the work they are doing providing a new entrance drive and parking lot. This will benefit visitors to the new lake there as well as support the Observatory built and operated at Letha House by the Cuyahoga Astronomical Association. A fine day but I didn't wear sun-screen and I'm a bit reddish… tsk! tsk!
I left the house this morning to take a nice pre-work nature photo walk around Hinckley Lake, hoping and expecting to see the low sun shining through morning haze. I also wanted to capture images of herons, imagining them backlit by that golden sunshine. As I left home it was sunny; when I got to the lake a few minutes later, the fog was so thick I couldn't see half a mile! Oh well, perhaps some moody shots. I got those and more.
While I was walking the lakeside path I saw the morning's first heron arrive, searching for breakfast. The big bird swooped down to the lake, alighted, and waded slowly in the shallows, a hundred feet or so away. I watched, shot some photos and moved closer. Herons are every bit as wild as their prehistoric look may suggest. Their call is a raspy "graaakk." They are also amazing to watch. Herons' wings span many feet and a few beats lift the magnificent creatures up and away with amazing grace and speed. That first bird grew wary of the human watching and took off. I began my walk back, photographing plants and flowers along the way. I came around a curve in the path and up popped the heron, springing off the shore and into the air — I'd been distracted and did not notice the bird until it was alarmed. I continued my hike back toward the parking lot, this time watching the lake for the heron I'd spooked twice already. Yes! The bird had found a new hunting spot not far ahead of me and I approached quietly, seeking a clear place from which to photograph. As I watched, the heron stabbed at the water catching a fish. Through the brambles I squeezed off a few shots with my camera, recording the last moments of life for the fish and a life-sustaining meal for the heron. Respectfully waiting for the heron to swallowing its prey, I walked a little closer, stopped, and shot some photos. Walked a bit closer still, stopped, and shot a few more images. Finally I got close enough for a couple of full-frame portraits of our big friend and that was enough… off it went! With a few wing-beats the great blue took off across the lake. I had just enough time to roughly frame the scene, firing off three or four photos and that was it. It was a fine, if brief morning adventure.
Heavy fog transforms the scenery at Hinckley Lake. I have a fine collection of shots from this morning that look like classical Japanese watercolors, even a few images with delicately colored tree blossoms floating before a moody, gray background.
The fog was burning off but still supressed most colors of the lake and trees. Foreground objects, however, retained their character in fine, soft light. A line of boats awaited park visitors and sunshine that really never arrived this day.
I headed home happy, even though I'd next need to head to the office. A lovely, foggy morning this was.
I got several good images from my brief visit to Hinckley Lake yesterday before a very, very long work "day." Some shots were, of course, better than others. Some have been deleted –just no good– and a few got away. I'm pretty happy with this shot of a Great Blue Heron starting its day in the shallows. I watched as it preened its expansive wings, stretched, and then stood as if to begin warming up for a morning of fishing. A hunter of another sort had laid a trap that I found all covered with dew. The droplets and low sun angle combined to create a shimmering rainbow on, what for insects, is a deadly snare but what, for the spider, means life. Needless to say, mornings at Hinckley Lake are my favorite time there and I feel calmed just recalling the scenes and sensations from my visit.
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