Bedford County River Otters-Another Page

After much thought I have decided that my condition has improved to the extent that I will return to updating The Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer Blog on at least a limited basis. If I continue long term will depend to a certain extent on whether upcoming eye surgeries are successful. The first is scheduled for December 11^th, and the second sometime later.

Since several of you like to photograph the River Otter for today I am featuring “Bedford County River Otters-Another Page”. This is a 21 minute film, which begins with an overview of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's efforts to manage the wildlife of Pennsylvania and to re-establish species that were extirpated such as the elk, eagle, and river otter. of an otter release in the Juniata River near Everett, Pennsylvania on February 19, 2002.

This was back when standard definition 4:3 aspect-ratio mini-dv camcorders were what most small video production companies used. Two of the favorites with wildlife film-makers were the Canon XL-1 and the Canon XL-1s, which had recently replaced it. From 1997 until early 2002 my front line video camera was a Canon L2, which recorded to Hi-8 video tape. This camera was a powerful tool for wildlife as one could mount any Canon EF mount lens on it by means of an adapter. If I recall correctly this camera had a 1/2” sensor which gave a crop factor of about 5.4X. As an example a 500mm lens attached to it gave an equivalent focal length of 2,700mm. The XL-1s had an even smaller sensor which increased the crop factor to 7.2X. Since the XL1-s was a new camera it was used to document the events of the day, but the wildlife footage that is used was mostly taken with the L2 and the old Canon 35-350L zoom lens.. The video was edited on a Casablanca Avio stand-alone video editor, which looked much like a VCR. Its' main selling point was that it was guaranteed to work as it came and one did not have to configure it like one does a computer. I used this from about 2000 until 2005 or a bit later when I began using computers. The video features several speakers beginning about 3 min. 35 sec. Into the video. Some of the speeches are lengthy so if you want to skip them and continue on to footage of the release, drag the slider under the video to about 15 minutes.

I hope you enjoy the film.

Willard Hill

Camera Critters: Photos From Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area

Here are a few photos from a trip to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area near Klinefeltersville, Pennsylvania, which were taken recently on a beautiful autumn morning.

The first two photos are of a Great Blue Heron, which was taken at long range with the 500mmF4 and the 2x extender.

Great Blue Heron Fishing

The heron alternated between periods of standing still looking for fish swimming nearby, and stalking slowly along the pond bank.  At time he tried to spear his prey with his long bill.   I was able to film this activity, but did not get a still photograph of him attacking.

Wading In Search Of Prey

It was a special treat to sight three River Otters, but unfortunately I was not able to get close-up photographs of them.  Still, I was thrilled as this is the first I have photographed or filmed them except I did film the release of River Otters when they were re-introduced into the Juniata River near Everett, Pennsylvania in 2002, whileI was working for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

A Rare Sighting Of River Otters

For more Camera Critters photos, click Here!

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill