Late April and early-May. The meadows and woodlands explode with
beauty and wildlife sightings abound as the Eastern Wild Turkey mating
season continues. Gobblers are often seen strutting in the
meadows--especially in the mornings and evenings. It is one of my
favorite times of year to be afield.
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| Mature Gobbler Struts: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 600mm F4.0-ISO 200-1/250 sec.-F 5.0 |
Even though turkeys are often seen in meadows they
are also woodland birds and one often thinks of the lonely, high
mountain ridges when they think of them. It is a special thrill to lie
in wait and capture a mature gobbler in full strut in a woodland
setting.
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| Mature Gobbler Struts: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 600mm F4.0-ISO 400-1/000 sec.-F 5.0 |
Many times one also gets other excellent photographic
opportunities while waiting for the turkey s to appear, and this
encounter with an Eastern Towhee was especially rewarding.
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| Eastern Towhee: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 100-400mm IS L II@400mm -ISO 800-1/700 sec.-F 5.6 |
The whitetail bucks are growing the new racks and it is always exciting to encounter a mature buck.
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| Antlers Developing : Canon 5D MK III-Canon 100-400mm IS L II&300mm -ISO 400-1/250 sec.-F 8.0 |
Antler growth is very
slow through March and early April--at least in this area, but it
accelerates greatly during May and within two weeks many of the mature
bucks will have developed the beginnings of points.
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| Buck In Velvet: Canon 7D MK II-Canon 600mm F4.0-ISO 400-1/640 sec.-F 5.0 |
This is the third year
this buck has grown antlers. Last year he had a thin-narrow 8-point
rack. It will be interesting to see what he grows this year, but I can
predict that the rack will be relatively narrow, although he should gain
a lot of mass and perhaps grow more points.
