Gobblers, Bucks, and Bluebirds

The Eastern Wild Turkey is one of my favorite subjects to photograph during the spring months and I have spent many hours afield filming and photographing them this year.  I love to capture the gobblers as they perform the courtship display and for a time from mid-April thru mid-May I saw them doing this almost every day.  One thing I love about video is the ability to get dramatic close-ups at very long range, but with that being said I am not happy until I get a good supply of still photos each spring and on a few occasions this year, they came close enough for excellent still portraits.

I also like to document the development of the antlers of the whitetail bucks.  I have seen a few bucks with branch antlers so far.  I was not able to get still photos of them, but I have photographed a few that have not yet branched.  The first buck pictured below was a small rack buck last year with four or five points so he should grow a decent rack this year.

2nd Year Rack Buck

This deer has only partially changed from the winter to the summer coat and looks very ragged, but the buck below has almost completed the shedding process.  He was a small spike last year and should grow a respectable rack this year.

Another Prospective Rack Buck

While waiting for the deer and turkeys to appear I am always looking for other subjects to photograph and one morning a bluebird caught an earthworm in the meadow in front of me and flew to a limb and paused with it before flying on to its' nest with it.

Bluebird With Earthworm

 All photos were taken with the Canon 5D MKIII and the 600mmF4.0 IS L lens.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.