Category Archives: Wildlife Photography

Wet Groundhog

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Staying with my theme that you never know what  you might see out in the wild, here is a photograph of a very wet groundhog I saw last month in Elk County. I was photographing the turkey when I happened to see this little dude looking for some food. It was comical to me. He was running around and looked almost like a drenched rat. He found plenty to eat though!

Groundhogs were a nuisance back where I grew up in Lancaster County. They like to burrow and they make large holes in the fields. Farmers do not readily see these large holes and can damage a hay wagon or other machinery when  a wheel drops down in one. A broken wheel or axle and an angry farmer is not a pretty sight for a groundhog!

This little guy was not creating much damage, at least on this day. He was just out in the rain looking for food. Again, I wish I had a larger zoom lens to fill the frame more, but at least this shot reminds me of that day and the wet groundhog!

Turkey

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I photographed this wild turkey last month when I was in Elk County during the Elk rut. It was my first day on the elk range and it was raining. You can see the rain in this photo and the rain made it difficult to get a clear image as  you can see in this photo. But since I do not have many turkey photos yet, I spent some time getting a little wet and clicking the shutter release. This was one of the best ones of the shoot.

All this to say that when we keep our eyes open in the wild outdoors we never know what we are going to see or experience!

I love walking through the mountains. There is nothing better or more exhilarating than walking through the wilderness. I love the mountains and the time I get to spend in them is precious to me. The wild animals are all around and when we get the opportunity to see one we should be thankful. There is so much to see and experience outdoors. Believe me, I would much rather take a walk in the wild rather than play a video game or surf the internet. It just isn’t the same!

This turkey was with a flock of 13 other turkeys. The flock was feeding in the grass as the rain fell. It was a very special few moments for me and I only wish I had a longer lens to reach out and get closer photos of these beautiful birds.

Time for a Drink

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Do you ever need a break and think yourself, it’s time for a drink?

Wild animals need water to survive as all mammals do. We often concentrate on what they prefer and need to eat and neglect to think about the amount of water they need to drink to survive. Where do they get water to drink? How do they know it’s safe? What do they do in a drought?

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to watch a small herd of elk cross the Bennett Branch of the Sinnamahoning Creek. It was something I waited a long time to see but when it happened it was like time stood still. To witness the magnificent creatures navigating the creek carefully aware of the rocks was a sight I will never forget. It was astounding!

The last elk to enter the water was a nice bull. He was in no hurry and was merely interested in keeping close to his harem of cows. When he was in the middle of the creek he looked around and then began to take a drink. His non-anxious and relaxed manner was surprising to me, but then I realized that he probably did this many times before. Now, on this day, he was just repeating what he did before but I was just seeing it for the first time. It was a nature highlight for me!

If He Could Only Talk…

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I remember Perk Nye who used to be a fixture in the elk culture on Winslow Hill. He named many of the bulls and cows and was more than happy to talk to anyone about the elk. He also captured some good video footage back in the days before HD and digital formats were even invented. It was a dream of Perk’s to one day ride on the back of a bull elk! It was an outlandish dream, of course, and yet I could identify with Perk’s dream. There is just something magical about the incredible creatures.

My question is: what could we learn if a bull elk could talk to us?

Imagine the possibilities! What could we discover about the patterns of elk if they could talk to us? What do they think about all these people viewing and photographing them? What do they think about the new Elk County Visitor Center? Would the elk have anything to say about the changing of the seasons or the elk hunt? What about the lack of food in the old growth forests? Just what would the elk talk about and what would they say? Can you imagine?

Here is a photo I captured this past month. When I see it, I sit back in my chair and imagine that this is talking to me.

If he could only talk, what would he say?

Foggy Mornings

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Trying to photograph elk in foggy mornings is not easy but it sure is fun!

I enjoy being around the elk whenever I can, even when the weather conditions are not conducive to photography. We all know that photography literally means “painting with light” so light is definitely required! Photographers are notorious complainers when the light is not so good like in the middle of the day or when it’s raining. If we had our druthers (what are druthers anyway?) we would prefer soft, quality light all the time on each and every shoot. Unfortunately, this is not always possible and if we wait for perfect lighting we will not capture many photos.

Added to this is the fact that I have limited time on the elk range. So the days I am there I have to deal with whatever conditions the good Lord provides. I always prefer to see the cup as half-full. Besides, a bad day of elk photography is better than most other days away from the elk!

One particular morning in September, we came onto a nice bull. His rack was impressive and he was a very nice animal to photograph. The lighting conditions were not so good. It was foggy and the amount of light was limited. I decided to shoot some shots anyway and see what I might be able to accomplish. This next photo was one that I liked. What do you think?

By the way, “druthers” is a noun which means “free choice” or “would rather.” It is used especially in the phrase “if one had one’s druthers.” For example, if I had my druthers, I’d be photographing elk today!”

Elk Creek Crossing

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Do you have a photograph you dream of capturing?

If you do, then you can identify with my feelings of anticipation, disappointment, and eventual success. I wanted desperately to capture a photograph of an elk crossing a body of moving water, preferably a bull crossing a creek. I came very close to accomplishing my photographic goal two years ago, but  it just didn’t work out for me that day. Never give up is one of my mottos, so I was determined to keep trying. Besides, I was getting some incredible photographs of the elk in other poses.

Everything came together for me on Tuesday, September 28th. I saw a bull cross the Route 555 toward the creek. I thought to myself, “he might actually cross the creek.” I waited, and watched, and waited some more. But all this bull did was eat acorns! He must have been hungry because after he ate a whole bunch of acorns, he lay down only to get up some time later to continue eating acorns!

I eventually felt I had photographed this bull enough and traveled upstream to meet my photo buddies. They were onto some cows and a nice bull. I decided to set up near the creek even though they thought the action was over. It wasn’t long until we saw some movement and the cows starting to move toward and then into the creek. One by one they carefully crossed the creek while we clicked away. It was so exciting to see my dream shots coming true but I silently worried that somehow I had missed the shots, had some camera settings wrong, or didn’t have my focus set right. I had to wait to see my photos later to be sure I got these water-crossing shots. Here are just a couple.

A Beautiful Rainy Morning

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Last Tuesday morning greeted us with dark, cloudy skies and rain. What are we to do when leading a photo trip and the sky is leaking rain? Dick and I were leading our Pennsylvania Elk Photography Experience and decided to endure the weather and look for elk. We were not disappointed. In fact, we saw numerous elk even though it was raining hard at times. We stumbled upon two bulls near the Hick Run Viewing Area and began to photograph them.

It wasn’t long before the one bull disappeared into the woods. But another one was making his way toward the creek. I’ve been wanting to get a photograph of an elk in the water for a long time, so I followed this bull hoping he would cross the creek. This never happened, but I spent over two hours photographing this bull as he ate acorn after acorn and then even laid down to chew his cud. It always amazes me how gentle and accommodating these large animals can be at times.

This bull did not cross the creek, but some nearby cows and another bull did. But that is a story for another day.

A Bull Fight & a Fight with Noise

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Tuesday evening produced an invigorating scene for over a hundred spectators who happened to be at the Elk County Visitor Center. It was getting close to dusk and a herd of cows and at least 7 bulls were in the field to the left of the Visitor Center. The rut was in the air and the tension was thick with the anticipation of two elk battling it out for the cows. The tension turned to realization as two bulls met head-to-head. Cows quickly ran in the opposite direction as these two big boys fought it out. And fight they did! It was absolutely amazing to witness these large bulls push each other as they locked antlers. It was a fight that rivaled any other fight I ever witnessed between two comparable bulls.

The fight lasted over six minutes. Many witnesses to these elk battles often exaggerate the actual time because it does appear that time stands still during these bullish fights. But we checked the metadata in our cameras after the conflict and verified the length of this battle to be over six minutes! There was not a lot of clashing of antlers in this fight–it was more of a brutal pushing match. Other bulls were close by to witness the end result and all of us bystanders were amazed at the sheer strength of these amazing animals. It was a fight worthy of two royal bulls. In the end, one was the victor and the other walked the other way.

Photographers who shoot digitally face fights with noise especially as we increase the ISO settings in our cameras. This was necessary the night these two bulls fought because it was very close to dusk and light was fading fast. I actually shot this image at an ISO setting of 1,600 in my Nikon D300. I knew noise was going to be an issue with these images. Fortunately, the newer cameras handle noise better than the old ones ever did. I would never have thought about shooting at this ISO setting with my old Nikon D70. But the D300 handles noise much better. In addition, Lightroom 3.0 does a great job of noise reduction.

Here is one of the images I captured of the bull-fight that Tuesday night. It was shot at ISO 1,600 and edited in Lightroom 3.0. What do you think of this image? Did the newer equipment and software win the battle against noise?

What a Week!

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There is no place like the mountains, especially when the rut is in! I love Elk County, Pennsylvania and just spent the last week there. It was nothing short of awesome!

Unfortunately, we had quite a bit of rain which tried to put a damper on things, but it didn’t work. Being with friends and fellow photographers and photographing the elk even in the rain made the week an exciting experience. I  had a blast and cannot wait to be back on the elk range again.

My friend and photographer, Dick McCreight, and I led our fifth Pennsylvania Elk Photography Experience and we sure saw a lot of elk throughout the week. Even when it did rain we still saw elk. In fact, they seemed much less bothered by the precipitation than we did. I find it amazing how well these beautiful creatures weather the storms literally! God made them special to be sure!

Here is one photograph of a bull elk standing the rain. It is a close-up shot of his face and antlers. You can see how wet he is from the rain but he was not bothered by it in the least. It all reminds me that many of us complain and complain to no avail. Life is what we make it. These elk live each day in both sunshine and rain, and so should we! Let it rain because it sure doesn’t seem to bother the elk!

Writing My Own Book was Great Fun!

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I earned a journalism degree from Temple University and enjoy writing. Recently I was motivated to self-publish my very own book. It actually was a thought in the back of my head for a number of years. I had some concrete ideas on what I wanted to write about and even pursued the idea seriously about three years ago. A lot has changed in three short years! Just a few months ago I listened to a podcast that introduced me to Blurb.com.

The podcast was an interview with Dave Black and he shared his process of how he self-published a photo book entitled, “The Way I See It.” Well, I was motivated enough to check out the Blurb.com website and it didn’t take me long to view the information online and decided that I was sold on this idea! Blurb.com makes the process very easy. So, I downloaded the software and began to write my own book.

It was an invigorating process and I enjoyed every step of the way. As I said, much of what I wanted to write was already somewhere in the my head, so I just had to discipline myself to sit down and get the words out. Of course, I made sure to include photographs of the PA elk in the book, too!

The book actually describes tips and techniques that are applicable to any wildlife photographer. You can see a more detailed description of the book and preview it here.