A Morning At Middle Creek-Part 2

During our recent visit to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area we found several species feeding in potholes in the meadows, which are bisected by Kleinfeltersville Road.  This is a highly restricted area, with plenty of signs warning one to stay out.  This means that one has to photograph the waterfowl at whatever range it presents itself.

I used the 500mmF4 and 2x extender for the following shot of a male Ring Necked Duck.  One must use manual focus with this combination on the Canon 7D as auto-focus will not work at f8.  The images taken with this setup were not tack sharp either because I missed the focus point, because of subject motion, or because the 500mmF4 and the 2x extender are not compatible. Some report excellent results with this combination while others are unhappy.  Based on discussion with other Canon prime lens  users, I do think that the 2x extender is a much more viable accessory for the 300 f2.8, and I have seen a lot of outstanding results with this combination, but I have gotten unacceptable results more often than not with a wide range of Canon models, including the 10-D, 30-D, 40-D, and now the 7D when using the 500mm with this extender.

Male Ring Necked Duck-Pothole Directly Across Road From Middle Creek Lake

Later in the morning we found a few isolated snow geese and a male and female Northern Shoveler feeding in another pothole.

 I used the 1.4 extender and 500mmF4 for these photos, which yielded somewhat better results, but one still needed to be closer so the photographs would not require as much cropping to obtain satisfactory subject size.

Snow Geese And Northern Shoveler Drake

Male And Female Norther Shoveler

Black Ducks, and Ruddy Ducks were also seen today, but I did not get acceptable photographs of them.  In past years I have photographed or filmed numerous other species in these potholes such as Pintail, Gadwall and Scaup.

I leave you with another thought on extenders.  While I find the 1.4X to be satisfactory with the 500F4, nothing can replace  being close enough to shoot without an extender or severely cropping the image, but sometimes we do not have that choice and the extender can save the day.

A New Tool Arrives-The Canon 7d

It was basically a given with me that I was going to upgrade my DSLR battery when Canon introduced a camera in the class of the 40D that had the option to record HD video. This happened recently and I pre-ordered one so that hopefully it would ship soon after B&H re-opened from the Holidays. They were out of stock for a short time, but they got a new shipment over the weekend of Oct. 17th, and the camera shipped on Tuesday.

I am somewhat conflicted about getting a new piece of equipment as in many cases, it forces one to address a lot of issues until everything is working properly and one can actually settle down to using the equipment as a new tool for wildlife photography without having to dwell on the nuts and bolts aspect of the situation.

That being said, it was still a great thrill to receive the package from B&H last Thursday, but I restrained myself long enough to take it to my favorite photographic area for the ritual of pressing a new camera into service.

The New Arrival

I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On It!

Pristine Canon 7D-It Won't Look That Way Long With Heavy Field Use

While I do not expect this to replace the XL-H1 as my primary video acquisition camera, I do have hopes that it will enable me to shoot video clips at times I am primarily concentrating on still photography and am not carrying the camcorder. As a result some of my first tests of the camera were mounting it on a video tripod and shooting a few video clips.

Mounted On Bogen Video Tripod With Homemade Adapter

7D In Video Mode

It actually works reasonably well as a camcorder and I hope to post some clips, or a short film soon, but for today we will settle for a still image taken with it and the 300mm F4 Canon L.

Mature Easter Wild Turkey Gobblers

On the plus side, while this camera does feel slightly larger than the 40D, it has a "better" feel in the hand (I know that is entirely subjective-some may prefer the 40D). The viewfinder is brighter and overall more pleasing to look through, while the LCD is much sharper enabling one to evaluate the quality of a photograph much more readily. The camera is 18 mp, vs the 10.5 mp of the 40D.

I previously hinted at a downside and there always is one-at least from a financial standpoint. In this case there where three problems, some of which have easy work arounds. I shoot in Raw and there is no upgrade to CS3 to handle the 7D files. There is a method to convert them to DNG by the free DNG converter, but this creates an extra step and raises some concerns, so suffice it to say I did upgrade to CS4, which was another $200.oo.

The video editing program cannot handle the video files without converting them to an intermediate codec, so I had to upgrade this aspect of my editing software, which was actually quite reasonable at $70.00.

This is not the major problem, however. My Photoshop computer is an old Dell 2400 with Windows XP, which can only handle 1 GD of RAM. This worked very well with CS2 and The Canon 10D files, which were only 6.3 mp. Things really slowed down when I went to the 40D, but the system was still usable. I installed a trial version of CS4 soon after it came out and found that it slowed things down even further, so I did not purchase it.

The bottom line is that I need a much more powerful desktop. As a short term solution, I installed the CS4 on my Toshiba laptop, which has the Vista 64 Bit operating system, 4GB of memory and a 2.3 GHz AMD Turion Dual Core Processor. This system handles the 7D files and CS4 quite well, but I really don't like using a laptop for my serious photo editing.

Look for more photos and some video clips, hopefully in the near future as I explore the features of the 7D under field conditions. At this point in time, I am very impressed.

Middle Creek Trip: A Modest Success

Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area is located near Kleinfelter'sville in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Game Commission manages it primarily for waterfowl, although numerous other types of wildlife may be found.

Deputy Wildlife Conservation Officer, Anthony Carbaugh and I traveled there on Tuesday morning of this week in hopes of seeing the vast flocks of snow geese that visit here during the spring migration, but few of the birds were to be found. It seems most had moved on in the yearly journey to nesting grounds on the arctic tundra.

We did find several other species of waterfowl, but most were too far for good close-ups, even with the powerful telephotos. In a few cases, birds did come close enough for decent photography.

Male Ring Neck Duck

The ring neck duck is a common late winter, early spring visitor to Pennsylvania, but they are ordinarily not seen in large numbers. It seems that ring-billed duck would be a more appropriate name because of the prominent white ring behind the tip of the bill, but there is a narrow band of slightly different colored plumage near the base of the neck, from which the name is taken. The band is not visible in the above photo

Female Scaup

Scaup also pass through Pennsylvania in the same period and look somewhat like the Ring Neck Duck, when one compares males to males and females to females, but notice how the Scaup has a broader beak with no ring near the tip. There are other differences as well, but these are the most prominent.

More Winter Wildlife: Conditions Improve

Treacherous Walking Conditions

In the last post, we found the ground covered with a layer of snow, with a very hard crust that made walking extremely difficult for wildlife. Here, an adult whitetail doe gingerly walks across the glassy surface. The tracks in the snow were made when it was soft, but later there was a heavy rainstorm, which created the treacherous conditions when the temperatures plummeted below freezing.

For a time living conditions were difficult for wildlife, but we were fortunate enough to have a few days with temperatures in the 40s F, and the snow and ice melted through to the bare ground in certain spots.

The first areas to melt are usually ones shielded from the wind and facing to the southwest. These are the areas that receive the longest period of sunlight during the day.

Eastern Wild Turkey And Deer Feeding Where The Snow Has Melted

Once the underlying grass or leaves is exposed, life becomes much easier for wildlife and they often spend much of the day feeding and resting in these areas.


The squirrels are still coming to the bird feeding station. This is the best photograph of one that I have been able to get so far this winter.

Close Encounter With A Grey Squirrel

Stay tuned for more winter wildlife photos and a detailed account of the road hunting incident, which was discussed in the post of Dec. 13, 2008.

Of Bucks and Birds

Here in Pennsylvania, the mating season for whitetail deer is well under way and it is at this time that the bucks are most easily seen as they often throw caution to the winds in their search for receptive does. The rut has not yet peaked as many of the does are not yet receptive, but still few days go by without a decent sized buck being spotted.

Canon 30-D: 500mm F4

Even though I am primarily a big game photographer, I do enjoy photographing most anything nature related. I generally view birds as a subject that I should devote more time to, but I seldom succeed in doing so, as I am mostly in spots that are less than ideal bird habitat. That being said, for the last few years I have established a bird feeding station in a rock break at my favorite deer observation post. It seems that only a few species of birds are frequent visitors. At present the Tufted Titmouse, and Nuthatch are most commonly seen. It is especially hard to photograph the Nuthatches as they are really hyperactive, but last Saturday evening I succeed in getting what I regard as my best Nuthatch shot to date.

Canon 30-D: 500mmF4

Stay tuned for more Pennsylvania and Virginia Whitetail photographs, and more writing and photographs about Pennsylvania's Elk Herd.

The Canon Brigade In Action: More Pennsylvania Elk Photos

Photographers who shoot similar equipment and share a passion for elk photography often strike up an acquaintance while discussing the craft of nature photography, which in turn often leads to long-term friendships.

Each year several of us spend large amounts of time discussing the merits of different cameras and lenses, and the mysteries of Photoshop. This in turn has led to us going on shooting expeditions together.

Ron Saffer, better known as "Buckwheat" is the unofficial leader of our group and is highly respected because of his meticulous craftsmanship with his cameras, and his extensive knowledge of the natural history of elk. He, along with Billie Cromwell provided much appreciated input when I was writing portions of the script for "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd".

He consistently has photographs published in "Bugle "-the official magazine of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and several of his photos are featured in their calendar.

"Buckwheat"-A true craftsman

Randy Quinn and Odie Swartz

Randy Quinn is an outstanding photographer who has spent a lot of time in Cades Cove in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He has amassed an amazing collection of superb photographs of bears and whitetails while working there. He is a super bird photographer and has been published in Birds and Blooms magazine. He also has a fine collection of Pennsylvania Elk Photographs.

Odie Swartz, loves photography and is an all around great guy and excellent photographer. He has built several computers and as best as I can determine was the first of us to work with Photoshop and print photos with a computer and printer.

I am the oddball in that outfit, in that while I own and frequently use an excellent battery of still photography equipment, when it comes down to the crucial moment, I usually opt to carry the video camera on the tripod for the serious work and carry a DSLR with a lens that is image stabilized and rest this rig over top of the video camera in hopes of getting sharp shots.

This violates Buckwheat's statement that the three most important things in photography are: tripod, tripod, tripod, but he understands my addiction to video and excuses my malfeasance in this instance. (After all I always use a tripod with the video camera)

Coy Hill "Salty" of Country Captures

My brother Salty has been published in The Game Commission Calendar and writes the popular rural interest blog "Country Captures". This is his second year of photographing elk.

Salty and Odie photograph while Gary Willow looks on

The bull they were photographing

He has amazing potential if he reaches maturity

This is an up and coming young bull which many call Crazy Legs, Jr. because he has the same rack configuration as that famous bull had in his early years.

Camera Critters: A Look At Eastern Wood Chucks

The Eastern Woodchuck is an animal, which shares many physical characteristics with the Marmot, which inhabits the western states. This animal likely derived its' name from originally being a woodland species. It adapted well to the presence of man and developed a preference for crops. They are notorious for damaging hayfields and gardens. Their place of abode is holes, which they dig into the earth. Livestock sometimes breaks legs by stepping in these holes and they can damage farming equipment. The animals also dig the holes along foundations of buildings. It is common to find them in close proximity to humans where an aggressive extermination program is not implemented.

Hunting these animals is termed "varmint hunting" and some pursue them throughout the warm weather months, often killing large numbers of them.

If they are in an area where they do not cause the above problems, they are beneficial animals with the holes providing escape routes for other species of wildlife such as rabbits, to elude predators.

Adult Woodchuck: Canon 10-D 500mmF4

This animal is pictured in a clover field which was planted solely as a wildlife feeding area, so its' presence was not a problem and the animals are not culled in this area. This is one of my favorite woodchuck shots because of the animal rubbing its' eye. The animals ordinarily travel and feed in a horizontal position with all four feet on the ground, but they repeatedly stand erect to survey the countryside for danger.

A unique opportunity occurred today when friends were loading fence posts from the lower story of a backcountry barn and uncovered a nest of young chucks. There was no opportunity for photos there due to it being too dark, so one of the chucks was carried into the open for a photographic session.

Ordinarily one is told not to handle the young of wildlife, but in this case the animal was immediately released back into the wild and I have no reason to believe that the brief human contact will cause the mother to abandon the young animal. It is not as though we were searching for a nest to photograph, but rather the nest was inadvertently disturbed in removing the posts and we seized the opportunity to photograph one of the young animals.

Juvenile Eastern Woodchuck: Canon 40D: 17-40mmF4L

It is likely that this animal was born within the last week or so and is quite young indeed!

Major natural predators that keep woodchuck populations under control in many cases are coyotes, and foxes.

Visit Misty Dawn to view more Camera Critters posts!

An Ordinary Day Has An Exciting Conclusion!

A Rewarding Encounter

Ordinarily it is only a five minute drive to my favorite photography spot, but there is a stream crossing or "fording" and after heavy rains it is often too high for the Chevy Blazer. To reach the spot without fording the stream involves a 20 minute drive over a mountainous back road. If one makes this drive to photograph both the morning and evenings activity, gasoline consumption skyrockets. While the Blazer can give 20-21 mpg. on interstate driving, it drops to 10mpg. or slightly more on this type of road.

I drove this morning and set up both the video and still cameras. I saw several turkeys, but there was no exciting action. Since it was a pleasant evening, staying home was not an option.With the price of gasoline at record levels it was time for drastic action!

It is only one mile from my home to our farm, so I drove there and then commandeered our old International 584 farm tractor. The big problem was transporting the equipment safely. I had to choose between still or video equipment and I decided to take the DSLR with 500mm lens.

Crossing Licking Creek

I arrived at my blind without incident, and soon a large gobbler came from the woods and fed in a newly planted food plot. This continued for over an hour and then he became excited about something, ran into a grass strip near the food plot, puffed his feathers out, and strutted.

Canon 40-D 500mmF4 1/750 sec. f4.5 ISO 200

He began running along the edge of the woods and I was surprised to see another mature gobbler running toward him as there had been no gobbling whatsoever. They came together, circled briefly and then a short terrific fight ensued.

Canon 40-D 500mmF4 1/750 sec. f4.5 ISO 200

The victor returned to the meadow while the vanquished bird stood nearby in the woodland.

Canon 40-D 500mmF4 1.4x extender 1/125 sec. f5.6 ISO 400

Like so many days afield, much of the time was uneventful, but that all changed in a few minutes and a beautiful spring day ended in a rewarding encounter.

Hopefully the stream will drop enough in a day or so, that I can return to using the Blazer full time!

Canon RAW saves the Day!

I admit that this still isn't all that great of an image, but it was an outstanding opportunity!

I saw this turkey getting ready to fly across a stream. It happened so quickly that I was barely able to get the camera to my eye and fire before it was all over. Unfortunately the meter was influenced by the dark area in the center and left portion of the picture and the resulting image was grossly overexposed. It was too bright to salvage had I shot it in jpeg. Since it was shot in RAW I was able to get detail in the highlights, but no part of the turkey is completely sharp. I should have had the camera set in burst mode, then I would have had several frames to choose from. It would have been nice to have captured him just a few feet further to the left so that none of the body was obscured.

Canon 40-D: 300mmF4@f4.5-1/350 sec. ISO 400

Bee On Peach Blossom-Canon 40-D: 100mmF2.8 Macro
f11@1/125 sec. ISO 200

In this instance the subject was static and I was able to use a tripod to steady the camera and a reflector to assist in lighting the subject. It was windy, so I had to shoot between the gusts of wind.

Eastern Wild Turkey Gobbling

Early April usually brings a lot of gobbling activity in our area, but things have been slow this year. I usually encounter turkeys each day, but I have not gotten any good still shots of them gobbling or strutting. I am mostly seeing young gobblers also known as "Jakes". Two large gobblers showed up frequently until lately, but they are elsewhere now. I did record one gobbling with the Canon XL-H1 as it passed through a nearby meadow and have recorded some spectacular footage of turkeys fighting which I hope to post as video clips in the near future.

Since I have had such poor luck lately, I decided to dip into the archives and post two shots from a close encounter with mature gobblers from April 8, 2007. Turkeys are more likely to gobble in early morning or in late afternoon and evening.

In this instance a flock of two or more mature gobblers, Jakes, and hens came in front of my blind at 8:37 in the morning. Since the birds were in the woods I was only able to get an exposure of 1/90 sec. F4 at ISO 200.

I had stated in an earlier post or comment that I have never been able to actually capture a gobbler in full gobble, but I later recalled this shot. I still am not happy with it. For a picture such as this to be successful, it has to make one literally "see the sound" which is difficult to do and I am not sure that this is entirely successful from this standpoint.

Canon 10-D 500mmF4

Canon 10-D 500mmF4

Canon 10-D 70-200mmF2.8 L

I was hidden in the blind shown above and used the 500mm F4 which may be seen attached to the Canon XL-H1 camcorder in this instance-although the photos in the post were taken with the 10-D.

Antler Growth Begins: Whitetail Deer

Another Sign of Spring

As the days grow longer and warmer, the whitetail bucks antlers start to develop. Progress varies from area to area and also depends on the age and physical condition of the deer. Many deer in Fulton County are much smaller than animals of the same age in Shenandoah Park.

This is a typical Fulton County button buck in excellent condition. Although new growth is not yet visible past the end of the hair which encloses the bases, I can tell that the bumps are much more prominent than they were a short time ago. Within a few weeks, the new growth should be plainly visible. Mature bucks should have plainly visible growth by now, but these animals are difficult to see in this area in the spring. In some cases they still have not shed last years antlers, although most do lose them in early February.

Canon 40D: 300mmF4

He should grow antlers ranging from two individual points per side, known as spikes, to a maximum of six points. Six points is the exception and not the rule, with most being spikes or four-points. In the east we count total points when describing an animal.

More Waterfowl At Middle Creek

Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area is truly a haven for Pennsylvania waterfowl, most of them migratory birds on their way north to their summer range. Many if not most of the Canadian Geese are resident populations, but the Tundra Swans and Snow Geese are not and they are only there for a short time before they continue their journey to their nesting areas in the arctic tundra. A large flock of Canadian Geese and Tundra Swans were on the lake during our visit of last Monday, but the light was not the best for photographic purposes and I got no good flock shots of the swans.

Canadian Geese and Tundra Swans: Canon 40-D 500mmF4
(the white spots on the water is feathers or down from the birds)

Mallard Drakes and Hen: Canon 40D 500mmF4

It is easy to confuse female Mallards with Black Ducks as the coloration is quite close, but the Black Duck is, as the name implies, darker, or black appearing.

Black Ducks: Canon 40-D 500mmF4

Much of the land at the management area is off limits to public entry. This makes good photography difficult at times, as the birds are often too far away, but it is essential to keep overly enthusiastic viewers and photographers from frightening the birds, and causing them to leave the area. There are a few small ponds or "potholes" close to the roadway and photography is possible in these areas.

Here is a link to the PGC website that explains the reason for their restricted entry policy along with other information on the waterfowl.

One-Legged Turkey Gobbler!

No- Not Really!

Mature Gobbler: Canon 40-D: 500mm F4

The Eastern Wild Turkey is one of the most skittish wildlife species. They ordinarily react immediately to any perceived threat, and vanish at the slightest motion or unusual object in their territory.

It is truly a pleasure to record and photograph these magnificent birds. While the head may be less than attractive in certain poses, it can be quite impressive during the mating season as it changes colors in rapid succession.

Their feathers have an iridescent hue when the sunlight strikes them at the correct angle. All in all they are a magnificent bird and worthy of the utmost respect. Benjamin Franklin, recommended that this bird be adopted as the national symbol, but the Eagle was selected instead.

Someone who truly understands these birds does not use the slang phrase, "(he,she, it, etc.) was a real turkey" to describe something or someone in derogatory terms.

This particular bird does have two legs, but has the one drawn against his body for some reason-possibly to warm it as it was a cold morning.