Mid-February Wildlife-Canon 100-400mm L IS II Problems

Whitetail Herd In Snowstorm

 Just a short time ago we were plunged into the depth of winter with deep snow and bitter cold.  This changed quickly; however, as we saw in the Ice-Out post. While snow still remained on the ground in most places, life was much easier for the deer and turkeys as they could now travel about easily looking for food.

Alert Gobbler

Travel Was Easy

Three days later, there was even less snow in the spot the turkeys were photographed  and deer liked to stand there, basking in the rays of the afternoon sun.

Doe Basking In Late Winter Sun

Doe Grooming Fawn

There was even less snow by yesterday morning and I photographed a buck, that was a small spike last fall, and some does feeding in a neighbor's rye field.

Last Year's Spike

Deer Pause From Grazing In Rye

After a chilly start, yesterday turned into a balmy day  that reached the mid 60s.  This made my thoughts turn to the coming spring waterfowl migration and hopefully a trip or two to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area.  If the current weather pattern does not change, the peak of the snow geese and tundra swan migration should be much earlier than in the past two years.

All photos were taken with the Canon 7D MK II.  The 24-105mm IS L lens was used for the first photo and the 70-200mm 2.8 L IS II was used for the remainder. I love the sharpness of the new Canon 100-400mm IS II, and have been using it a lot this winter, but I have had problems with it (or the camera it is mounted on) locking up (auto-focus stops and the IS doesn't work).  Seldom a day goes by without this happening at least once.  Strangely it seems to do it more often with the 7D MK II, but it does it occasionally with the 5D MK III, the 70D, and the original 7D.  Sometimes simply moving the focusing ring a bit will restore function, while other times re-seating the lens will do the trick, but sometimes the battery must be removed and re-inserted.  I returned the lens and the 7D MK II to Canon at the end of December, and they changed the focus assembly and other parts and calibrated the camera with the lens, but the problem was still there.  I sent the lens back at the beginning of the week and Canon is currently servicing it so I could not use it for the photos in today's post and the 70-200mm is filling in as the telephoto lens to use when photographing from the vehicle until it gets back. Hopefully they will find the problem this time

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Blizzard Makes Life Difficult For Wildlife

Gobbler Struts On Frosty Morning: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 500mm F 4

 In Southcentral Pennsylvania we usually have measurable snow fall before the rifle deer season is over and sometimes it is substantial, but this year there has been nothing but light snow squalls until late last week. Living was relatively easy for wildlife as the meadows were bare, deer could graze easily, and turkeys could move about freely. It was even common to see some of the birds strutting and gobbling, but this all changed when weather reports indicated a substantial blizzard was approaching on Friday, January 22nd and light snow began falling late that afternoon.

Snow Arrives: Canon 7D-24-105mm @95

By the time the snow ended on Saturday there was nearly 24 inches on the ground with much deeper drifts in spots.  It was not until Sunday that I was able to reach the area where I normally photograph and I only had the Panasonic FZ 1000 along as I was plowing snow with a tractor and had no way to transport most of my equipment.

Finally on Monday morning I was able to capture some shots of the deer contending with the deep snow.  It was very hard for them to move through it and they moved by a combination walking slowly or dashing for short distances and then pausing to rest.

Whitetails Struggle To Travel: Canon 7D 500mm F4

Only two days before, food was easy to find, but now the grass is covered and the deer mostly rely on browsing to survive.

Doe Pauses To Browse: Canon 7D 500mm F 4

Even though the snow is still very deep it has settled a bit and it seems the deer can move much easier through it now.  This morning I was able to capture a few more photos of deer dealing with the winter conditions.

Doe Browsing: Canon 5D MK III-100-400mm IS II@400mm

Young Doe Pauses From Feeding: Canon 5D MK III-100-400 IS II @263 mm

Most deer will likely survive the brutal weather if we do not get continually hammered with storms like the last one. As of now there are not any in the forecast and the weather has moderated considerably, but with that being said it is still likely that conditions are severe enough that deer with infirmities will perish before the winter is over.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Winter Continues

Most of the snow is gone , but winter continues with a vengeance here in southcentral Pennsylvania and temperatures are often in the single digits at night.. Ordinarily I have already been to Middle Creek at this time in March or planning to go within the next few days, but the PGC website reports that the lake is still mostly covered with ice and only a small number of snow geese are present.  This could change quite quickly, but at this point I am not optimistic about it happening anytime soon.

Snow Geese at Middle Creek-2013: Canon 5D MKIII-Canon 500mm F 4.0L IS-ISO 160-1/1600 sec. f 5.0

I checked on the snowy owls in Franklin County on February 18th, but did not see them.  As a result wildlife photography has been spotty.  I see a lot of whitetail deer and turkeys, but it is difficult to capture exceptional activity or poses. I captured a young doe browsing by shooting from the vehicle with the Panasonic GH3 and the handy Lumix 14-140 lens.  This rig is so small and light compared to the Canons with the L lenses that one hardly knows they are holding it. 

Yearling Doe Browsing: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 14-140mm@75mm-ISO 400-1/320 sec. f 9.0

For awhile the snow was covered by a thick crust, which made it hard for wildlife to survive.  During that period I found a fawn killed by what was apparently coyotes.  I first noticed it because I saw crows landing in an area where they are not usually seen, then I noticed the shape of a deer in the snow and saw they were feeding on it.  I took the following photo after sunrise, when the deer was easily visible.

Fawn Killed By Predator: Canon 70D-Canon 600mm F 4.0L IS+1.4x extender-ISO 200-1/250 sec. f 8.0 

I was in the area at dusk on the day before so this had to happen at night. This rules out an eagle kill, so it almost certainly was a coyote or a pack of them (I found where the fawn was first attacked and the animals fought with it and dragged it for over 100 yards).  At first I feared this was the beginning of a rash of coyote kills, but that proved to not be the case.  Soon there was a break in the weather, the crust softened, and  in no time the snow was mostly gone making it easier for the deer to find food and escape predators.

The snow melts first on the south facing slopes and I found this deer feeding in an area that is sheltered from the winds, but exposed to the rays of the sun for much of the day.

Mature Doe Feeding: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 14-140mm@140mm-ISO 400-1/160 sec. f 9.0

I used the GH3 in this case also as it was on the passenger seat beside me and ready to go.  This type of camera works especially well for filming and photographing wildlife in situations where it is feeding near the roadway and likely to run if one gets out and attempts to set up a tripod.  The 14-140 Lumix has image stabilization and it is possible to shoot  video clips handheld without the annoying jiggle and bounce that is so common in video shot without the use of a tripod.  It is especially effective at the shorter to medium focal lengths.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Winter Wildlife: Camera Critters

Outstanding wildlife photography opportunities have been rare lately, with the bitter cold winter weather making it difficult to stay outdoors for any length of time and the animals being mostly in a survival mode and often not doing anything especially interesting.

I was able to capture this doe grooming one of her fawns from a previous year. Deer are highly social animals. While they may disperse somewhat during summer and autumn, it is common for extended family groups to band together during late autumn, winter, and early spring, with a certain degree of dispersal occurring again in late spring as the new fawns are born. This doe lost her fawn from 2009 during the past hunting season, but she still has a doe and a buck traveling with her which were born in 2008 and are now over 1.5 years old.

All photos were taken with Canon 7D and 500mmF4 L lens.

Deer Grooming In Warm Rays Of Late Afternoon Sun

Sometimes an unusual visitor shows up at the natural bird feeder. Raccoons are mostly nocturnal animals, but this one arrived shortly before sundown to feed on the bird seed.

The Masked Bandit

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