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.
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| 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.
