Posts in Category: Ohio
Goosey, Goosey! Happy Sunday!
Canada Geese have gotten so numerous in New England, all year around were there is enough food and some water they can keep open with their coming and going, and so tame in some locations, that, if you stand relatively still, they will feed within yards of you. These are big birds to have at your feet, but, except when defending young, they are the most peaceable of aquaintances…far less agressive, in fact, than your average barnyard goose. This specimen was on the grounds of the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus Ohio. I was there early yesterday for the Birding Optics and Gear Expo, while the promised sunny day was still well cloaked in clouds, the temperature was way too low in the steady wind, and the light was just barely adequate for photography…but I could not resist a few close-ups of the feeding Geese when they offered to pose.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. I had to crank the shutter speed down to 1/500th to keep the ISO within range (6400) at the maximum aperture of 6.7 on the zoom. Shooting off my bean-bag head monopod gave me a sharp shot…and with this amount of detail in the frame, the E-M10 did just fine at ISO 6400.
And for the Sunday Thought: The sound and the sight of huge skeins of Geese headed North used to be one of the joys of spring, one of the first signs of the changing season. With climate change, and, more significantly, changes in goose behavior and food availability in the winter, those skeins are pretty much a thing of the past in many parts of North America. The Geese, like the poor in Jesus’ parable, are, today, always with us. We can make a good thing of it, or a bad thing (especially as a sign of changing climate), and it has certainly changed the ecology of many New England lakes (and not, so far, for the better) but it is certainly a fact…a development…a major change in the way the natural world works that we have seen, those of us in our 60s, in our lifetime. And that has to be, no matter what we think about the causes, a bit disconcerting. There should have been something eternal in the skeins of Geese headed North in the spring, and, as it turns out, there wasn’t. Or maybe it is just that it is too easy for us brief creatures to confuse eternal with static…unchanging…when in reality whatever is truly eternal must change…certainly if we are talking eternal life. All that is living changes…and changes the living world. True whether we are talking Geese or humans…days or years or centuries. The difference is that we humans have the burden (and the priviledge) of thinking we can, or even that we have to, do something about it. We have the feeling that if we had only managed better the skeins of Geese would still stream North in spring. I am, honestly, not sure that the Geese would agree. But then, what do they know? (Or what do I know for that matter?) Questions. No answers. But that will have do to for this Happy Sunday!
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Someone (and I am embarrassed to say I can’t remember who) posted on Facebook last week that they were tired of showing New England winter birds and needed to plan a trip to somewhere more exoitc. I replied that I was in the same boat with Maine birds (especially now that our winter Eagles have dispersed for spring, and our resident Snowy Owl has headed north) but, luckily, I already had a trip planned to Columbus Ohio for the weekend 🙂
Little did I know. I got out yesterday for about an hour between rain storms at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus to see what I could see. There is always a good variety of whatever is happening in Ohio at the moment at the feeders, and along the river walk and through the meadows, of the GIAC. And, really, what could be more exotic (at least exotic looking) than a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker? There was evidently a sap seep on the trunk of this maple, and the Yellow-bellieds returned frequently enough to feed there so that I could get set up for a few photos. What a truly stunning bird! I guess you could call it a backyard exotic if you are luckly enough to live where they live. According to the range maps, I should be able to see them in Southern Maine in the summer, but I have not seen one in years. And it looks like they are only in Ohio during migration, so they might be considered just slightly exotic at the GIAC.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent with digital 2x extender for 1200mm equivalent field of view. ISO 1000 @ 1/1250th @ f6.7. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Unconventional Black and White (Warbler)
Working the Magee Marsh Boardwalk in fall is far different than working it in spring. There are fewer birds…not in total species…but in total individuals; the birds are, in general, higher in the trees; the trees are fully leafed out so the birds are much harder to see; and there are way fewer birders…which translates to easier movement on the boardwalk, but also to far fewer eyes looking…which means you can’t, most of the time, just sidle up to the bird-jams and ask the massed birders what they are looking at.
Still, you do find rapidly moving mixed feeding flocks of warblers, chickadees, nuthatches, and titmice. Warblers, of course, of several different species, and occasionally they are working low enough for some good photography.
This Black and White Warbler, caught in an odd pose (but hardly atypical, if you know B&Ws at all) was along the east end of the walk not far above eye-level, feeding with Blackpoles, Mornings, and a few Magnolias, along with the usual Chickadees and Titmice.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 640. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Leaf for Thursday
I love to look at what the bark of trees, especially mature trees, gets up to. The textures are fascinating, and never more so than in the burles, galls, and other “infections” that tree-kind is heir to. Somehow I suppress the knowledge that I am looking at disease, and I just enjoy the feast of form and texture. Here the single leaf, growing from the section of affected bark, adds the element of contrast that completes the composition, and the fact that the bark is wet from a recent shower deepens the texture.
Taken on the grounds of Lakeside Chautauqua in OH.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in macro mode. 28mm equivalent field of view. f2.8 @ 1/20th @ ISO 400. Program. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.
Snake in a bush…
Now here is something you rarely see in North America: a snake in a bush. I believe this is a common Garter Snake, and I am certain I have never seen one in a bush or tree of any kind. It was well distended at the mid-point with its last meal, and I am sure it crawled up into the bush (just about eye level) to digest its food in peace. And then we came along: an avid group of birders and nature lovers on a field trip at East Harbor State Park on the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio for the Midwest Birding Symposium, and all had to have a look at the snake. And take pictures. I was a little concerned when folks attempted to fill the screen of their smartphones with snake…I thought they were a tad close for the snake’s comfort, but he/she took it all in stride and we left it digesting where we found it in its bush.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F at 481mm equivalent field of view. Program and Macro. f5.9 @ 1/30th @ ISO 400. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7 2013.
The Glory of Death by Vine
I have photographed this tree before…or attempted to. It is a challenge to capture anything like the effect of this totally vine shrouded tree. Sweep panorama on the Samsung Smart Camera WB800F comes as close as I have come. And the distortions are certainly interesting 🙂
The Vine Tree is across the street from the Hoover Auditorium at Lakeside Ohio, and is somewhat of a tourist attraction. As I was taking the picture, two ladies walked out of the cabin next door. “Don’t be fooled by its beauty,” one said. “It is killing the tree!”
And of course she is right. The vine will eventually suck the life out of the tree…but this is not a Strangler Fig Vine…it is some kind of Ivy…and I suspect it and the tree will have long season of coexistence. And it is beautiful in its way. Glorious even.
Processed in Lightroom. Click the image for a larger version.
Cleared for take off. Trumpeter Swan.
We did a loop around the Auto Tour at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Ohio yesterday during our last day at the Midwest Birding Symposium. The Tundra Swans have not arrived but there are increasing numbers of Trumpeter Swans. This one was attempting to get airborn. And with Swans every take-off does appear to be an attempt. A close fought battle with water and gravity. I have never seen one fail, but it always looks like it could happen this time 🙂
Canon SX50HS at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Program with iContrast and -1/3 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Snapseed on the Google nexus 7.
Milkweed Beatle and John Acorn. Happy Sunday!
The Friday night keynote at the Midwest Bidding Symposium was given by John Acorn, the Canadian naturalist who for 7 years was “The Nature Nut” on the Canadian Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in the US. This was, as John says, in the days before animal wrestling shows displaced real programing on Animal Planet. John also used to a regular at the Rio Grande Birding Festival and we have had several brief conversations over the years. He has been off the lecture circuit for several years, raising a family and working a real job, teaching natural history at the college level, but Bill Thompson invited him to this year’s MBS, where he told us about the challenges of teaching kids to appreciate nature in the digital age.
We bumped into each other several times after his lecture, the final time (so far) in front of the Lakeside Hotel where he was poking around in the milkweed pods. I asked him what he was doing and he told me there was an Earwig in there somewhere and, since they don’t have earwigs in Alberta, he wanted a picture. So of course I joined him in his poking. We found the earwig and both took our pictures but while looking I spotted this Milkweed Beatle, a far more colorful creature than an earwig ever thought of being, and of course we both had to photograph that.
We discussed cameras and I showed him my Samsung Smart Camera with its macro mode and WiFi connection, and I told him about processing the images on my Nexus tablet.
Somewhere after the Milkweed Beatle and before we found the earwig a lady walked by on the sidewalk, probably on her way onto the hotel. “What are you doing?” she asked (or words to that effect).
John said again, “There’s an Earwig in here somewhere.” but strangely enough she just kept on walking…as did several others who did not even bother to ask. Clearly John’s celebrity has taken a hit since he got a real job, but that was not what struck me at the time. I turned to John and said…”You see, that’s what normal people do. You tell them there is an Earwig in here and they just walk on by…”
“Yes,” he said, “odd isn’t it.”
And of course, to both he and I, and to you probably as you are reading this, it is indeed odd. How can anyone not stop and look at the Earwig in the milkweed? If that is normal then I don’t want to be it. I mean you run the risk of not seeing the Milkweed Beatle either…and who knows what else.
There is no pleasure greater, I my humble opinion, than going through life with your eyes open to the wonder of creation. John Acorn has always had it right. Go ahead and call me a nature nut. Proud and happy to be one.
And that, in a nutshell, so to speak, is the Sunday Thought. And let the unexpected Milkweed Beatles be your just reward!
Wild Harvest
Wild grapes and crabapples along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on the Lake Erie shore in OH, waiting for migrating birds to harvest them.
As an image it is all about form, color, and light. The apples and the gapes at the rule of thirds power-points anchor the otherwise somewhat chaotic composition. And I like the way the light wraps the round shape of the grapes and apples.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in macro mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Google Nexus 7.
Cabbage White on Aster
They have really huge Asters in Ohio! Especially compared to our New England asters. And I managed to catch a well worn Cabbage White in a rare moment of rest.Â
This is at the Midwest Birding Symposium near Lakeside OH. Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in macro mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.