Wednesday March 26th and as I left for Middle Creek before dawn it
was snowing lightly, the snow driven by a strong northwest wind. By the
time I reached Mount Joy the snow was so heavy that the reduced
visibility made driving difficult. I briefly considered turning back,
but then pressed on. In Manheim I encountered black ice at some of the
stop lights, but the snow soon stopped and conditions improved a bit as I
neared Middle Creek. I drove the tour loop shortly after daybreak and
even though waterfowl numbers were down substantially from a few days
ago, I still saw quite a few birds leaving the lake and flying north.
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| Waterfowl Leaving Lake In Morning: Canon 70D-Canon 70-200mm f 2.8 IS II -ISO 400-1/640 sec. f 8.0 |
After returning to my favorite spot along Hopeland
Road, I captured a Canada Goose taking off. The skies were mostly clear
by this time, but there were periodic light snow squalls and there were
snow flakes in the air when this photograph was taken.
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| Canada Goose In Flight: Canon 5DMKIII-Canon 600mm f 4.0 IS+1.4 extender -ISO 400-1/800 sec. f 8.0 |
The highlight of the morning was when I noticed three
small birds busily picking away in a ditch between the road and the
pothole. At one time I would have thought they were Woodcock, but now I
believe they are Wilson's Snipe.
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| Wilson's Snipe: Canon 70D-Canon100-400mm f 4.-5.60 IS -ISO 400-1/400 sec. f 8.0 | | |
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| Wilson's Snipe: Canon 70D-Canon100-400mm f 4.-5.60 IS -ISO 400-1/400 sec. f 8.0 |
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| Wilson's Snipe: Canon Canon 5DMKIII-Canon 600mm f 4.0 IS+1.4 extender -ISO 400-1/4000 sec. f 5.0 |
With this the trip was over and it was time to leave
for Fulton County and resume photographing the deer, turkeys, and other
wildlife of that mountainous County.
Originally published at
Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.
