We have had little snow or ice in my portion of southcentral
Pennsylvania until very recently , while other parts of the state and
nation have not been as lucky. This changed in the last two weeks and
today we are in the middle of the largest snowstorm of the season so
far.
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| Wildlife Struggles To Survive: Canon 7D-Canon 17-40mm@40mm ISO 400-1/400 sec. f 8.0 |
It is not an especially severe snowstorm, but it is
still somewhat problematic for wildlife as the ground is covered with a
few inches of snow from a previous storm that was saturated by rainfall
and then froze. This formed a hard crust, which makes it difficult for
wildlife to dig through the snow to find food in the meadows or on the
forest floor.
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| Mature Gobbler in Falling Snow: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 5000mm f 4.0 ISO 400-1/1000 sec. f 4.5 |
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| Mature Gobbler Close-up: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 5000mm f 4.0 ISO 400-1/500 sec. f 4.5 |
Winter is difficult for all wildlife, but it is
especially hard on the whitetail fawns. While we can go in warm houses
to escape the bitter cold and snow, they cannot do so. The fawn in the
photo below tried to find what shelter it could by the side of a round
hay bale.
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| Fawn Seeks Shelter:Canon 7D-Canon 17-40mm@31mm ISO 400-1/400 sec. f 8.0 |
I fully expect this animal to survive the winter.
Although it is small it is extremely healthy. In spite of this, I can"t
help but feel pity for the animal that it has to face this type of
weather with no where to escape.
Hopefully conditions will improve soon and life will be easier for the creatures of the great outdoors.
Originally published at
Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.
5 comments:
That last photo is so sad Willard. I too feel pity for the animals in a long or especially cold winter. That first shot is pretty cool to have all that wildlife in one spot. I know from experience you cannot plan that!
One can almost see the looks of disgust on the birds and animals faces.
Timely post with some interesting pics. I love those turkey close ups!
Hi!
Is it normal that the fawns are so small this time of year? Our are bigger.
We have very mild wheather. Normally we have lots of snow and very Cold. Now its + degrees and no snow.
We feed our roes at our hunting ground. This year they dont eat as much as last year. They find food in the forrest.
M//
Willard: Wonderful captures in this rough weather. I'm certainly ready to have it melt and get ready to go out on the boat. We have had the coldest winter in a lot of years.
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