My wildlife photography is primarily focused on photographing the
Eastern Wild Turkey mating season from the time it begins in late March
until it dies down in late May. This has been the poorest year in
recent memory with many mornings being brutally cold, and windy, which
is very poor conditions in which to see turkeys. So far, turkey
sightings have been very sporadic, and gobbling activity is even more
difficult to find. I often photography deer or song birds while waiting
for the gobblers to appear and the other evening I had a good encounter
with a Carolina Wren while doing so.
 |
| Carolina Wren: Panasonic GH3 Lumix G 100-300mm f4-5.6 -ISO 200 1/60 sec.@ f5.6 |
One gets to see some mature gobblers if they put in
the time and I lucked out one evening when a monster gobbler came to the
edge of the meadow I was watching and surveyed the countryside before
going back in the woods.
 |
| Mature Gobbler: Panasonic GH3-Canon 500mm f4.0 IS -ISO 200 1/200 sec. Unknown f stop |
You will note that I do not give the f stop
information above. When using regular MFT lenses one can read the
complete exposure metadata in Photoshop, but when using the Canon
lenses, which require an adapter, the ability to record lens settings to
metadata is lost and only the in-camera settings are preserved.
Mornings
are usually the best time to photograph wild turkeys, when the birds
come to the meadows to feed and engage in courtship activity after
spending the night roosting in the woodlands.
 |
| Gobblers Strut For Hens: Panasonic GH3 Lumix G 100-300mm f4-5.6 -ISO 200 1/320 sec.@ f7.1 |
If one is lucky the birds may come close and give an
opportunity to capture dramatic images of gobblers strutting, but one
must be well hidden for this to happen as turkeys are among the most
wary wildlife.
 |
| Mature Gobbler Struts: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 300mm f2.8-1.4x estender-ISO 400 1/400 sec. f5.0 |
|
|
I hope that activity improves, but today's post
serves to illustrate that even though things may be slow, if you put in
the time, you will get some satisfactory images and in time you forget
how long you had to wait between encounters.
Originally posted at
Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.
