Category Archives: Photography

Say “Cheese”!

Creature Feature 2023 #2

I know, it’s been a while…
I was going to ride my road bike this morning, but the atmosphere was threatening rain, and the radar suggested the rain might get here ahead of forecast. I don’t like to be on the road in the rain, so instead I took the kayak out on the lake. It’s not like a little rain falling from the sky will make much difference with all the water splashed around from the lake.

And I had the mountain bike on the trails at the Lake Rabon Park yesterday, so I got in some peddling. It was a chilly morning, enough so to raise some steam fog.


When mountain biking, it’s important to keep an eye out for other trail users and give them their space.

A little catch up from around the neighborhood: this tree is one that just wouldn’t give up. It got bent over 90 degrees and put up 4 more trunks on top of the bent portion.

This lead plant was starting to bloom and attracting the pollinators (bon appétit!):

I think this must be where I’ve seen the vultures going to roost every night (N.B. that’s not snow on the ground):

I have Eastern Bluebirds using the nest boxes in my front yard:

Back to the lake this morning… The Osprey are making good use of the platform by the dam. I saw a head pop up from the nest several times while I was watching, while the alert parent watched me.

This Osprey in flight was giving a good demonstration of wing design. Those splayed feathers at the tips recover energy from the wingtip vortices, just like the “winglets” on human airplanes (note: the Osprey thought of it first).

I’ve mentioned before how difficult is is to get a good picture of the (relatively) small and fast-moving Belted Kingfishers. Here’s a difficult photo:

This group of Canada Geese included some young’uns. They grow up so fast….

At the other end of the cycle, I came across this lone goose, who was obviously in difficulty, continuously turning around in one spot with his head off to one side.

I thought maybe he got caught up in some fishing line or something a sloppy human left laying around, so I approached carefully. He didn’t seem to notice me, and I got close enought to sweep my paddle under him to see if there was anything hanging. I found nothing, and as I watched he was clearly running out of energy. I tried calling the local wildlife rehab to see if I could get someone quickly, but that didn’t happen and with little option, I reluctantly left the situation to the natural processes. A little while later I came by and found only a feathery debris field in that area.

sigh.

On a more solid footing, this rock gave an idea of the historical lake levels:

And finally, we have the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture:

and this is what that long pointy beak looks like when it’s pointed right at you (yes, I’ll leave you alone):

Creature Feature 2021 #2

Spring is defintely happening here! For those of you in more northern latitudes, if you haven’t seen those first Robins of spring, rest assured they’re on the way. I don’t have any tracking, but I suspect they’ll be more reliable than some of our package delivery services lately.

It was a really good day today to get out on the lake, and I couldn’t let it slide by. The camera was going full speed within 10 minutes of launching, but I’m going to back up just a bit to a couple of shots right in my own back yard, a relatively rare sighting:


I’ve seen Pileated Woodpeckers on occasion, but this was the first time I’ve gotten one on camera.

Out on the lake, the Cormorants were having a bit of a dust-up (can you have a dust-up on the water?):

Geting one of these airborne off the water takes some work. Ready…..

Launch!

And a few more hops to get fully weight-on-wings:

There’s a new nesting platform for the Osprey near the lake dam, being checked out:

and these guys were cavorting in the air nearby:

Turtles! Everywhere there was something sticking out of the water, there were turtles!

Follow the leader…

A few Crows gathered before crossing the lake:

Of course, the Geese are still here, but seem to be more dispersed, probably out nesting. This was was doing a little “airframe maintenance”:

I’m please to report that the Bald Eagles are still around too. I saw this one high above the lake:

And, of course, the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture:

As usual, you can click on the pictures to get to a full-resolution version. Enjoy!

Another season-cusp at Croft

I keep thinking I’d like to go visit Croft State Park in the summer time, but before I know it, here it is the end of Autumn. Oh well, I’ll take what I can get.

I got off to a nice early start, taking full advantage of my favorite time of day. First stop, Fairforest Creek:

Yup, sunrise in the forest. It’s a beautiful thing.

Even if a tree is laying down, it still looks tall.

Last time I crossed the creek here on the Johnson Lake Fairforest Creek Connector trail, things were dryer and I was able to just hop across on the rocks.

This time it was a bit different, with some recent rains. I didn’t want to get my shoes wet. It’s interesting that with a nice diverse mix of trees, the leaves on the ground are similarly diverse.

Last time I went through here I missed where the trail turned to cross the creek and ended up following an unmapped trail for a ways. This time I was wary, but there were also much clearer markings. I’d like to think that was in response to my report last time.

I had stopped along side Lake Johnson to get some pictures of the geese out on the lake. I was thinking, gee, I don’t see any Herons, I might not get my “obligatory Great Blue Heron” picture. Then I moved a little to one side, and, Holy Zarquon’s Singing Fish! There was a Heron right there on a tree that had fallen into the water.

He seemed OK with my being there, but then a couple humans came walking along the trail and that was probably a bit too much, and off she went. I don’t think the wings were actually touching the water, the ripples trailing back are probably from the downwash.

Oh yeah, here’s a couple of those Canada Geese:

Interesting how most of my wildlife pictures show the wildlife heading away.

I had one little misadventure. I was following the Lake Johnson trail south along the east side of the lake, looking for the Lake Johnson Loop trail where I would turn east. Somehow I missed that. I remember crossing a path, but nothing triggered me to say “ah, trail”, and the trail I was following kept going south. So I kept going. As long as I had Lake Johnson on the right and I was going south, I about had to get where I was going.

Now that’s what you call Erosion. Not sure what caused this, as there wasn’t really any indication of water flow.

After a while, I was really wondering where that loop trail was. It was a good spot to stop for another lunch, and, sigh, I decided to see what my phone could tell me. I was now just east of Lake Craig, a good mile+ south of where I should have turned. I considered backtracking, but according to the trail map, the Foster Mill Loop trail should be just a proverbial stone’s throw to the east, and the trail was turning in that direction anyway. I figured it’d be worth 15 minutes or so to see if that would play out, so I continued on (“The best way out is always through” – Robert Frost).

As soon as I set off, I passed a sign on a tree facing the other way. I turned to see that it said “this isn’t a real trail, you really really should go back” (or words to that effect). Ok, I did a 360 [degree turn] to go back the way I was already heading. That sign was actually encouraging, since if people might wander there from the opposite direction, I was probably close to a published trail. Turns out I was right, it wasn’t but 5 minutes before I met up with the Foster Mill Loop and Beech Tree trails.

I spoke with a Park Ranger about it since, even though I’m no master woodsman, if I could miss the turn, someone else could, and she took the report so the signage at that intersection could be improved. She said there are a lot of these “rogue” trails around the park, and added that they were expecting the Army Corps of Engineers to be out there next year to clear some of the western end (the park used to be an army training base during WWII, so there could be Dangerous Things laying around) and maybe open up some of the “rogue” trails in that area.

From my somewhat-abused and highlighted-after-the-fact trail map:

I didn’t bother trying to create a GPS track, due to power requirements and with all the twists and turns, a GPS distance wouldn’t be terribly accurate. I’d guess, however, from published trail lengths, that was about 12-13 miles.

Creature Feature 2019 #1

I know, what took me so long to get the first Creature Feature of 2019 posted? I’ve been busy, and the screwy weather hasn’t helped. Anyway, on with the show…
With the light being what it was, all I can say about this guy is “Bird”:

On a nice warm day like this, Turtles were out all over the place:

Plus some other creatures:

Yes, Dragonflies are coming out now. Give ’em another month and they’ll be everywhere:

The Ducks are, of course, here year-round (a bit surprising I didn’t see a female in this group):

The Osprey were out and about too:

They always have a nest on top of the water-system intake structure. I wasn’t sure, but upon a close look there is a head in there amongst the branches, towards the left side.

The calling made it clear, though, that someone was home. As luck would have at, after I came ashore I was sitting on the dock taking in the view and the breeze when I spotted an Osprey overhead. I watched as he almost stopped in mid-air, hovered a bit, then tucked into a dive right straight down into the water. I didn’t see if he came up with anything, but it was neat to watch. Unfortunately, I was sitting on the dock and my camera was in the boat over by the ramp. Oh well.
One inlet I went up turned out to be where the meeting must have been being held. A whole bunch of Double-crested Cormorants and Herons decided to head the other way (I hope the meeting was just breaking up, not that I broke it up):

Of course, we have the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture:

As usual, click on the pictures for a full-res version.

Creature Feature 2017 #5

Been a while since I had time for the camera, so here’s some catch-up.
The seasons have been changing while I was busy, but there’s still a lot going on out there, or even right here. This Red Fox visited my back yard the other day:

This morning started out foggy. And then it got a bit thicker (I was navigating by ear at one point):

I think these conditions meet most of the criteria to be called absolutely atrocious for photography, but I did manage to get a picture of our Bald Eagle flying in the fog (apparently flying VFR, but this is class G airspace):

The Spiders have been eating up other insects all summer, and fall is their time (looks like this area is decorated for Halloween, but I’m sure the Spiders don’t care about that):


This Killdeer was just across the water from the Spider enclave, and was being very vocal:

A few Turtles were out taking in some late-season sun:

Speaking about late-season, some fall flowers are out now:

Heading back down the lake, I spotted someone in the water:

Oh! Otters (don’t miss the two under the bank to the left)!

Obligatory Great Blue Heron picture:

Creature Feature 2017 #4

It seemed like things were pretty quiet around the lake this morning. We’re coming up on deep summer, the breeding season is winding down, and there’s plenty of food around. A good time to just sit back and relax a bit.

Humans, however, never seem to let up. I suppose if you mow hay on a hillside enough, a roll is bound to get away.

As I was working my way up the lake, I spotted a bird rather high up. From the size, I just assumed he was a Great Blue Heron, and tried to get a picture. A bird high up in the sky is a difficult photo target, because they’re small, and the bright sky can obscure any detail of the bird. Anyway, once I got a look at the picture, I wasn’t so sure about my identification.

A while later, as I was thinking I wasn’t going to see anything special today, I saw a large bird on the side of the lake, apparently well into brunch.

Ah, that’s what I saw up high, and yes, that was no Heron.

Yeah, a Bald Eagle, right here in Laurens County.

Creature Feature 2017 #3

Finally got back out on the lake today.
I’m not sure where the creature was that created this, but I’m sure she’s around somewhere:

The lake itself might not be considered a “creature”, but it does change over time. This area used to have navigable water all the way up into the trees in the background, but over the last few months has accumulated a good bit of silt:

which has formed an almost square sharp shelf where the water runs out of the delta:

Fortunately, these mud flat areas are very productive, and many take advantage of that:

A group of Red-Winged Blackbirds was working the trees along the lake:

Probably taking advantage of all the Mayflies hanging around:

Common Grackles were also getting a piece of the action:

Creature Feature 2017 #2

One of my familiars stops by the back yard (where the food is, of course):

The Ospreys were very active, cavorting in the air and working on their nest on top of the intake structure:

This is kind of interesting because it shows how their tip flight feathers splay and curve up to act as [what human aircraft designers call] winglets:

Of course, Osprey were using winglets long before humans produced the first inkling of aerodynamic lift.

Got a good look at this Heron from across a little inlet, who also got a good look at me, naturally:

A bit later, paddling out of the inlet, I reached for my camera to get a few more pictures of the Ospreys overhead, when I heard a floof floof floof right behind my starboard side. The heron passed within a paddle’s-length of me.

Ducks were hangin’ out:

and it was a good day for the Turtles to be out getting some sun:

Whenever I’ve become very familiar seeing something from one angle, like the spillway from the lake side:

I always find it interesting when I suddenly get a look at it from the other side. I was wandering around the Lake Rabon park below the dam when I suddenly realized “OH… This is where the spillway spills out!”:

It didn’t look like it had been used in a long time. If there were leaves on the trees, you could easily miss it entirely.

Creature Feature 2016 #3

It’s interesting how all the divisiveness among humans contrasts with what goes on in the rest of the world. Sure, there’s competition and predation, but it’s all based on the needs of survival, and nothing more. Nobody is going at each other’s throats or calling each other names just because of an abstract concept, like the color of their plumage.

This Great Blue Heron was just strolling through a whole flock of vultures like it was no big deal, because it wasn’t:

Granted, these two species are very different and their needs don’t really overlap. On the other hand, this Egret and Heron do very much compete, and here they are within a couple wing-beats of each other:

Obligatory Heron action shot; that’s a lot of bird to land up in a tree, but the extreme control they have makes it look easy:

And, from the clouds-as-creatures department, here’s some of those:

Creature Feature 2016 #2

I know, where have I been? I’ve had a lot going on, a lot of which could be the subject of a Caregiving Thoughts post. But, finally, I have some creature material (as usual, click on a picture to get to a higher-resolution version).

The first creature featured is a Beaver, but unfortunately, I didn’t get the camera pointed before he splashed the water and disappeared.

The Osprey were much more visible at their nest on top of the water system’s intake structure. I’m guessing these two are the parents, and they seemed quite intent on what was in the nest.

A third Osprey was hanging out on the other end of the structure, keeping an eye on me. Perhaps he’s a family member helping out?

Now, ordinarily, I wouldn’t think much of encountering a spider web, but this one was on some old tree branches sticking out of the water a good 6 or 7 meters from the nearest shore. Can spiders swim? Or maybe she just ballooned out there and set up shop. Given the insects caught in the web, I’d say, so far, so good.


Of course, the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture. I got a lot of pixels on this one….

…just before he decided to take off and go to warp.

In another encounter, while out cycling, I crossed paths with a little Mockingbird, probably not much older than a fledgling. She was small and more stubby-looking than the normally slender adults, but the wing markings left no question that this was a Mockingbird.
In an encounter of a different kind, while we don’t think of clouds as creatures, the way the move, shift, grow, and change they can seem alive. Taken from high above Laurens County: