Strutting Gobblers and Other Springtime Wildlife

Spring, the wildflowers are blooming, the birds are singing, and the male turkeys are gobbling--what an exciting time to be afield. I have been out every morning this spring and have seen a lot of wildlife, but good close-up encounters with mature gobblers strutting seem to be harder to come by than usual.  When the turkeys are not present it is good to photograph the wildflowers.

Spring flowers add beauty to a day afield

When the turkeys are present and one or more gobblers are strutting and gobbling it makes for an exciting photographic experience.

Mature Gobbler in full strut:Canon 5D MKIII-600mm lens

One of the most desirable and dramatic photos of a bull elk is to capture him bugling and over the years I have tried to duplicate these results with turkeys, but it seems the actual act of gobbling does not look as impressive as the elk bugling.  Maybe someday I will get the perfect photo and change my mind., but for now I would say that capturing them strutting usually yields more impressive photos.  It actually seems to work better to document the actual gobbling with video as you get to see the bird go through the entire process as well as hear the exciting sound of the gobble.

Mature Gobbler in mid-gobble: Canon 5D MKIII-500mm lens

Gobbler pauses from courting to look for danger: Canon 7D MKII-100-400mm IS II

 Of course the reason for all of this excitement is the hens and often some of the best activity occurs when hens are present and the gobblers are performing the courtship display.  They also strut and gobble at times when no hens are present, but it is much more likely to happen when they are there.

Hen pauses from feeding while gobblers strut in adjacent meadow: Canon 7D MKII-100-400mm IS II

If you look closely in the photo below, this hen has a small beard (look just below the first green brier that goes partly across its' chest), but it is a hen nonetheless.  You can tell this by a combination of factors the most important factors being the drab coloration compared to the gobblers and the smaller size.  Few hens grow beards, but they are not exactly rare.  I usually film or photograph at least one each year.

Bearded Hen: Canon 7D MKII-100-400mm IS II

Filming and photographing other species that happen along adds to the enjoyment of the day and I especially like to capture the deer doing something interesting, such as this young buck browsing.

Young deer browsing: Canon 7D MKII-100-400mm IS II

When I was young fox squirrels were seldom seen in my area, but now I am likely to see as many or more of them than the grays.

Fox Squirrel: Canon 7D MKII-100-400mm IS II

With the arrival of May the trees will soon be covered with leaves and wildlife movement patterns will change to a certain extent.  Already the peak of the gobbling season is over and birds are not heard or seen as often.  Today is the first day of the spring gobbler season and this will also have a dampening effect on gobbling activity, but there will be periodic upswings in activity until the mating season is over in early to mid-June.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Mid-Summer Wildlife

It seems that most of my recent posts have been about Pennsylvania Elk and the new construction in elk country, but I actually spend most of my time afield observing and photographing whitetail deer so today's post will be mostly about deer and some of the other local wildlife.

Mature Doe

 It is relatively easy for me to get good still photographs of does, fawns, and small bucks as I am around an extended family group of deer almost every day and they have come to tolerate my presence quite well. It is always a special treat to get a close-up look at a fawn or to see a doe and fawn nursing.

Fawn In Late June

Nursing

Currently no mature bucks are using this area as summer range so I must travel to other areas to look for rack bucks. The ones I see are extremely skittish so it is hard to get close enough for good still photos.  As a result, I concentrate on taking video with the Panasonic GH4 and long lenses. With this rig it is possible to take acceptable video at very long range and it is common to get usable footage at ranges such as 300--400 yards--although it is still better to be close if possible.  At times I also carry a still camera if I am not walking too far and fire a few frames even if the range is long. 

8-Point Buck At Long Range

The photo above was taken with the Canon 5D MK III and the new 100-400mm lens.  I didn't have my range finder along that day, but the buck was somewhere between 150-200 yards away.  This was taken hand-held from sitting position and then cropped at  a 4x5 aspect ratio in Adobe Camera Raw to 2MP., which yields a file capable of printing a 4x5 print at 300 d.p.i.  Of course this is not enough resolution for a large print, but it does make a usable photo for internet purposes.

It adds a lot of interest to an outing to encounter other species of wildlife as well. I frequently see a lot of interesting things that are impossible to get the camera in action to photograph, but sometimes things do work out.  I got the photo below as I was fording a back country stream with the Bronco and noticed a flock of Mergansers perched on rocks in the stream. Fortunately they did not become alarmed and I photographed them with the 7D MK II and the 100-400mm.

Mergansers Resting

While I do not see Eastern Wild Turkey as often in the summer as at other times of year, sometimes a good encounter does occur.

Mature Gobbler Looks For Danger

I have seen several flocks of hens and young turkeys--or perhaps I have seen one or two flocks several times--but I have not been able to get either good video or stills of them.  This usually changes once the farmers have harvested the grain and hay fields which makes the birds much more visible when they are feeding in them.  I did get a photo of a hen with a lone poult one summer evening.

Eastern Wild Turkey Hen With Young

I suspect that she had a larger flock, but the others stayed a bit further away and were hidden in the taller grass.

Soon my attention will be shifting to recording the bull elk and whitetail bucks losing their velvet and the onset of the pre-rut and rut.  Bull elk are shedding their velvet now and the elk  rut will get underway in early September and peak toward the end of the month, while the whitetails will not lose their velvet until late August through mid-September and the whitetail rut will not peak until about mid-November.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Widlfie Sightings Abound As June Arrives

Whitetail Buck In Velvet

Here in southcentral Pennsylvania late May and early June is an interesting time to be afield as the fawns are  born and the bucks grow velvet covered antlers.

Velvet Covered Antlers Grow Rapidly

 With that being said, it is not the easiest to see either at this time.  Most of the larger bucks are traveling in bachelor groups and are seldom seen, but it makes for great photography when they do appear.

Fawns are often seen soon after birth, but then they are seldom seen for a few weeks as the doe hides them in the woods or tall grass and leaves them while she  feeds elsewhere.  Sometimes fawns will come into the meadows after them, but this is not commonplace until they are a few weeks old and it is sometime in July or August before the fawns are almost always with the does.  I have seen fawns as early as mid-May, but it was the 24th this year before I saw the first one.  I was driving a back road and saw a doe and fawn cross the road.  I got off a few quick frames with the still camera and then set the video camera up and got much better material with it.

First Fawn

I got the first good still photos of a doe nursing a fawn this year on the evening of May 29th when a fawn stood up from the edge of a meadow where it was hiding in the grass and began feeding.

Doe and Fawn Nursing

The mating season of the Eastern Wild Turkey is really winding down by the end of May and one seldom sees them strutting by mid-June.  Now it is more common to see them feeding or moving through the countryside.

Mature Eastern Wild Turkey Gobbler

 I seldom see rattlesnakes in this area, but I have probably seen more in late May and early June than at any other time. This year I photographed one that was hanging out at an old back country barn over a period of two days.  In the first instance he was lying on a pile of posts outside the barn while in the second he was lying on the barn floor and peering out of a hole in the siding of the barn. The 5D MK III with 100-400mm IS II was used for the first two photos, while the 7D MK II and 600mm F4 was used for the last one.

Eastern Timber Rattle Snake: Coiled For Action

Eastern Timber Rattle Snake Peers From Barn

Eastern Timber Rattle Snake

While opportunities such as the rattlesnake encounter are always welcome, most of my spring and summer photography is of whitetail deer, wild turkeys and Pennsylvania elk.and I look forward to filming and photographing them as summer nears.

Pregnant Whitetail Doe

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

More May Wildlife Encounters

May is a month of transition as the leaves seem to come out more each day and wildlife activity patterns change.  It is still possible to see Eastern Wild Turkey Gobblers strutting and performing the courtship display for hens, but this is not as commonly seen as a few weeks ago.

Mature Gobblers Display For Hens

Mature Gobblers Strut On Distant Hillside

On May 2nd, while waiting for gobblers to appear I had a special encounter with a Pileated Woodpecker.  I have seen these birds frequently throughout the years and have a modest amount of good video of them, but I had never gotten good still photos of them until this encounter.  The bird was very close and I had the 7D MK II with 600mm sitting on the tripod in front of me so I took several vertical photos with it, the best of which is posted here today.

Pileated Woodpecker-7D MK II-600mm F 4.0

 After taking several photos with this rig I switched to the 5D MK III and the new Canon 100-400mm.  The combination of the full frame sensor and 200mm less in focal length combined to make the bird much less frame filling so I cropped the image  to a 4:5 aspect ratio at 300 dpi in Adobe Camera Raw. This gives a 4.6 megapixel  image which is sized to approximately 6x8 inches at 300 dpi or 240 dpi at the more standard 8x10 size.

Pileated Woodpecker- 5D MK III1600-400mm L IS II

I have seen many other species of birds as well, but usually they do not linger long enough to photograph them or the distance is too great, but I did have a good photo session with a  Great Crested Flycatcher on the evening of May 10th.

Great Crested Flycathcer-7D MK II-600mm F 4.0

Great Crested Flycathcer-7D MK II-600mm F 4.0

Perhaps the most memorable experience of the month so far was a Tuesday morning encounter with an immature Bald Eagle.  I was crossing a stream with the old Ford Bronco when the eagle flew from a tree along the edge of the stream and lit in another tree that had branches extending to the center of the stream. It was too far for using the 100-400mm on a still camera with any hopes of success so I decided to try for some video.  This involved slowly opening the door and then setting the tripod up on the stream bed, using the partially opened door as a shield.  I then took quite a bit of video with the Panasonic GH4 with the old 100-400mm attached by means of the speedbooster.  Without going into too much detail the combination of the 2x crop factor of a GH4 sensor combined with additional crop factor from shooting 4K video some of the time or 1080P video with the ETC mode engaged gave very usable video.  After I had quite a bit of video I then switched to an old Canon 500mm f4.5 FD lens which works very well when fitted to the GH4 with a Novoflex FD adapter.  This gives the camera quite a bit more additional reach and I took quite a bit of video with this rig as well as taking a few still photos with it.

Immature Bald Eagle-Panasonic-GH4-Cano 500mm f 4.5 FD Lens-150 Yards

While the video is very good, the stills are usable but they are not in the same league quality wise as stills taken with either a full frame sensor camera or a 1.6 crop sensor such as the 7D, etc., but one must bear in mind the distance involved as the bird was around 150 yards away according to my rangefinder. When one is shooting stills with this camera they do have the advantage of the 2x crop factor of the sensor, but you do not have the extra boost that 4K video gives you or using ETC mode with 1080p so the above image was cropped substantially also and is a 2.4 Megapisel 4.5 x5.7  image at 300 dpi, which works quite well for internet posting when sized to 8x10 at 72 dpi.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Winter Wildlife Sightings Increase

Mature Gobbler: Canon 7D MK II- Canon 500mm  F 4.0 IS L -ISO 800-1/320 Sec. F 5.0

So far there has not been a major snow storm in out area, but the ground is partially snow covered. The temperatures have been unpleasantly cold except for the occasional day that it rebounds to the 40s and makes one long for the days of early spring.  Wildlife sightings have been good lately as the birds and animals move about more searching for food and have calmed down somewhat from the effects of the fall hunting seasons.

Whitetail bucks in this area usually shed their antlers in a time slot of from late December until late February although I have heard of one rack buck sighting as late as early April. Many of the bucks have already shed as the photo below illustrates.

Already Shed:  Canon 70D -Canon 70-200mmf2.8 L II @88mm-ISO 400-1/1000Sec. F 4.0

Others still have their racks or have lost one antler as is the case with the buck shown below.

Partially Shed: Canon 70D -Canon 70-200mmf2.8 L II @80mm-ISO 200-1/1600Sec. F 5.0

Partially Shed: Canon 7D MK II- Canon 500mm  F 4.0 IS L-ISO 200-1/2000 Sec. F 5.0

Most associate the strutting and gobbling of wild turkeys with the spring mating season and that certainly is when it is most common, but it is possible to see it at other times of year as well and I have seen it quite often in the winter.

Mature Gobblers Strut: Canon 5D MK II-Canon 24-105 F 4.0 IS L-ISO 400-1/60 Sec. F 8.0

While it is the dead of winter now and spring seems far away, there will be a noticeable change in a few short weeks as large flocks of Tundra Swans and Snow Geese pass through Pennsylvania on their way to nesting grounds in the arctic tundra.

You will notice that today's post features photos from the 5D MK III, the new 7D MK II and the 70D.  I usually have all of these cameras along with the 500mm on the 7D MK II, and the 70-200mm on the 70D. I have been using the 5D MK III mostly with the 24-105 lens, but that will likely change once my testing mode is over and I will go back to using it a lot on one of the big telephotos.  I have been giving the 600mm a rest, mostly to get some use out of the 500mm and to avoid the hassle of handling the bigger lens. Believe me, there is a big difference in the mobility of these two lenses, but that being said the 600mm f 4.0 is still my favorite prime lens for serious long range work.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Attention Shifts To Whiterails As Turkey Activity Dies

Mid to late May and turkeys may still be seen, but gobbling activity is really dying down.  It is still possible to hear a gobbler or see one strutting, but one is more likely to spend a morning without hearing one and when they do see a mature bird it is most likely to be feeding. 

Leaving The Meadow: Canon 7D-Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM @ 118mm-ISO 400-1/200 sec. f 6.3

Mature Gobbler: Canon 7D-Canon 55-250mm f 4.5-5.6 IS STM @ 250mm -ISO 400-1/400 sec. f8.0

I normally use Canon L lenses for most of my photography, but I have used two non-L lenses quite a bit this spring.  The Canon 70D does an excellent job at shooting video, as it has superb auto-focus in video mode instead of the slow, hunting auto focus that was the norm in previous versions.  This was unusable for wildlife filming so I always filmed in manual focus mode.  The focusing problem was solved with the 70D and in fact may have been solved with the Rebel T4i or 5i, but I never tried those as they did not have the 3x crop mode.

At any rate focusing is now very acceptable with the exception that the built in microphone or a shotgun mike mounted on camera picks up the noise of the focus motor.  There are some work arounds for this including putting the mike off-camera, but the solution with the least hassle is using Canon  STM lenses which were built to give silent operation in video mode.  The downside is there are only a few models of these  lenses and they do not use premium quality glass or construction. They are available only in the EF-S mount and must  be used only on crop-sensor Canons.  I acquired used copies of the  18-135mm f 3.5-5.6 IS STM and  55-250mm 4.5-5.6  IS STM  lenses this spring from KEH in Atlanta, Georgia.

Both lenses perform very well for video and they do a decent job at still photography.  It seems that my copy of the 18-135mm is a bit better built than the 55-250mm, but I really have no complaints about either considering that the 55-250 cost less than $300.00, while the 18-135 was under $350.00.  They do not have the stinging sharpness of the L lenses for still photos and I miss the wider maximum f stop of lens like the 70-200mm f 2.8, but of course when needed one can still use the L lenses when needed in video mode and use work-arounds for the sound.  The STM lenses were instrumental in causing me to use the old 7D quite a bit more this spring for still photograhy than I usually would have,  as it was common to have whichever lens which was not on the 70D mounted on the 7D and lying close at hand.

I take few landscapes, but I used the 18-135mm for many of those that I did take. It compares  well with lenses such as the 28-135mm IS in EF mount on a full frame camera,  as with the 1.6 sensor crop factor of the 7D--70D, etc. this lens has a focal length equivalent of  about 29mm--216m.

Late Evening : Canon 7D-Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM @ 18mm-ISO 400-1/125 sec-. f 8.0

My attention is shifting to the whitetail deer as turkey activity winds down,  the time for the birth of the whitetail fawns is at hand and  bucks with significant antler growth are appearing.

New Growth : Canon 7D-Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM @ 135mm-ISO 400-1/200 sec-. f6.3

The one below is the largest I have seen so far this spring.  In my experience bucks in our area that are this size now usually make bucks of eight points or more by early July.  Both bucks are at least two years old. This photo below is also  the only one shown today that was taken with an L (600mm) lens and the 5D MK III.  At first glance it may not look  as good as those taken with the 7D and STM lenses, but this is a photo that could not have been taken with those lenses.  It was very early and the buck was much farther away than the one above.  In retrospect I should have started at ISO 1600 and tried a lower shutter speed, but I fired a few frames at ISO 3200 first and it had the most pleasing pose so I posted it today, but the frames taken at ISO 1600 showed less grain and better sharpness.

Mature Buck : Canon 5D MK III-Canon 600mm F4 IS L-ISO 3200-1/160 sec-. f5.0

Hopefully I will have some young fawn photos to post soon. Some fawns in this area are born as early as Mid-May, but the bulk are born during the first two weeks of June so I should be seeing them any day now.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

A Quartet Of Gobblers

Just a short time ago it was common, to see gobblers strutting and gobbling while courting the hens, but now it is becoming rare.  Today we will look at a few of my best gobbler photos taken this spring. In most cases I prefer to be very close to the birds, but the gobblers in the photos below are 150 yards away as measured by my Bushnell rangefinder.

Quartet Of Gobblers: Canon 5D MKIII-Canon 600mm F 4.0 IS L- ISO 400-1/250 sec - f 8.0

I began my session with the birds by using the 5D MK III camera body on the 600mm F 4.0 with 1.4X extender, but soon changed to the 7D body to take advantage of the 1.6 crop sensor. I have owned a 5D MK III since 2012 and I am still not certain if there is an advantage to  using the crop sensors for long range work or if one is better off using the full frame and cropping more in post production.  With that being said the photos shown today are not the best for comparison as they are cropped in post and  do not show what frame size and detail each camera captures at that distance. They are also cropped to different aspect ratios with two of them being 3:2 and two 4:5. In addition the sun was not out when I the 5D MK III and  it was in those that I used the 7D. Compared to the 7D, I can get sharp focus more reliably with the 5D MK III and it performs much better at higher ISO settings, but  the bottom line is that the 7D is still capable of excellent results even though it will soon have been out there for five years.

There are actually four gobblers in the photos below, but only three are plainly visible.  If one looks closer  you can see a rear view of the top of the tail of the fourth one in the first photo and a side view of the tail in the second.

Trio Of Gobblers: Canon 7D-Canon 600mm F 4.0 IS L- ISO 400-1/500 sec @ f 8.0

Attaching the 1.4x to the 600mm f 4.0 gives it a maximum aperture of 5.6 and I have found through  that sharpness is improved by stopping down to at least f 8.0.

Trio Of Gobblers-Pose 2: Canon 7D-Canon 600mm F 4.0 IS L- ISO 400-1/500 sec @ f 8.0

These photos were taken in mid-April.  I had an encounter with what I presume is the same four gobblers just eight days later--strutting and gobbling in the same spot and again I used the 7D.

Quartet Of Gobblers: Canon 5D MKIII-Canon 600mm F 4.0 IS L- ISO 400-1/400 sec - f 8.0

I have not seen the quartet for some time now, but the encounters I had with them will provide memories to treasure for years to come.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Turkey Encounters

I have been concentrating on Eastern Wild Turkey photography and filming since returning from my trip to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in late March.  When many think of turkeys strutting and gobbling they think of April and May, but a great deal of this happens in the winter also.  I have seen little strutting strutting or gobbling in summer or fall (except for late June). Below is a flock of turkeys photographed at around 300 yards on January 19th. This is only a portion of  mixed flock of hens, young turkeys born last spring, jakes, and mature gobblers.  It is likely these are the same gobblers featured in the other photos below.

Gobblers Strutting-Mid-January: Canon 7D-Canon 600mm f 4.0 L IS- ISO-400- 1/160 sec. f4.5

Gobblers Strutting-Mid-January: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 500mm f 4.0 L IS- ISO 1000- 1/640 sec. f4.5

It seems that most winter strutting and gobbling is not directed at the hens and is common when two or more flocks of gobblers converge on an area to feed.  The gobblers strut and gobble at each other for a time and then the opposing flocks may pitch into each other and a noisy brawl results with a lot of running about, kick-boxing, and flogging.

Attention shifts to the hens sometime in March and early April and it is common to see one or more mature gobblers putting on an impressive courtship display  for them.

It's All About The Hens: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 600mm f4.0 L  IS+ 1.4x extender-ISO 400- 1/6000 sec. f  8.0

Woodland Hen: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 600mm f4.0 L IS- ISO 640- 1/250 sec. f 5.0

One of the ultimate turkey experiences is  when a mature gobbler comes close in the woodlands. 

Mature Gobbler Approaches: Canon 7D -Canon 55-250 mm f 4-5.6- ISO 400- 1/250 sec. f 5.6

When I was younger, my heart rate increased dramatically in this type of situation and I felt under intense pressure to get the photograph. But since retirement  I have spent so much time afield and photographed so many gobblers- or  the same gobblers so many times- that I no longer get so excited. Instead I feel a deep sense of satisfaction when everything comes together and one captures an exceptional image--not to mention that it is so rewarding just  be afield at daybreak and watch the natural world come to life.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.