Cowan Lake and Spring Valley Wildlife Area – 3/22/2009

When I arrived at 7:45, it was chilly, but not in a bad way, and the birds were out in full force.  It was going to be a good day.  I could tell by looking at the lake that there were plenty of waterfowl, which was nice, and by the trees – a lot, and I do mean a LOT, of Vultures.

As I was heading over to the far end of the lake, I noticed a head bobbing.  It looked like a loon, posture-wise, but it was about 100 yards out, or so.  So, the photo I got was good enough for diagnostics, but that’s about it.  That said, it was still my first Common Loon of the year.  That made me happy – especially since I had heard one a couple of days prior.  I felt less crazy, in a way.

My first real photographic stop was in the back path along the far end of the lake where the Vultures were roosting.  I don’t think I  realized exactly how much they scat upon each other.  It’s really rather foul.  Anyway, when I arrived in the marsh, there were about 5 Black Vultures foraging in the mud.  Several more came to visit, then left back up to the trees, and it was a revolving door of mud- dabbling Vultures.  I’d never seen anything like it, but it was definitely interesting to watch!  Occasionally, one would pull a fish carcass out from under several inches of much, while others were just pecking off the surface.  I’m not sure what all they were finding, but it kept them busy for quite a while.  I also noticed things about feather patterns in the neck area that I had never been close enough t o see, before.  It was kind of surreal, in a way.  I was able to get, I would say, 30 feet away to observe.  I also observed that the last actual kill in that marsh area was a skunk, in which I was standing, I noted.  I couldn’t decide who smelled worse, at that point, them or me.

As I headed back towards the shore of the lake, I noticed some birds that always help me welcome spring, Eastern Bluebirds.  They were cavorting around a tree trying to avoid being photographed at all costs.  The male was better at this, as is evidenced by only photographs I have being of the female.  Still, she was a cutie and held still as long as she could before the pressure of potentially being eaten by a photographer 20 feet away was too much to bear.

I was also graced by several Great Blue Heron flyovers, which leads me to believe that the rookery is in full operations mode, now.  This  particular group headed due east – straight into the sun – so I didn’t get as many good shots as I wanted, but still came away with some pretty solid shots.

Snipes appear to use some mystical tow-cable technology.  There were four, foraging in the mud and then something spooked them (probably me).  Did they all take off at once?  No.  Did the bird in the front take off to be followed by the others?  No.  The bird in back takes off, and once about 5 feet above and past the next one, that one took off.  This happened the next time, too, as the third bird didn’t take off until the second bird was 5 feet above and out from it.  It was very odd.  Of course, I was grateful for this behavior, since it gave bird #4 enough time to think and figure that they were just all … loony … and didn’t take off, at all, allowing me to get very close and get some very nice photographs.  I had never seen  them “tall,” before, either, which was one of my parting shots I got as it trotted out to the ends of the mudflat, blending in ever so well…

Also on the mudflats were some Yellowlegs, both Lesser and Greater.  They were having fun dunking their heads into the mud up to their eyeballs and then doing the same in the water.  It was amusing to watch and really made me think how different our lives would be if we only had wings for our upper appendages.  At any rate, they gave me some decent looks, though it was over a couple little mini-sessions, as they felt the need to flush every so often and regroup.  They’re cute, though.  They stuck around quite a bit and were closer than the  other waders that flushed.  The Snipes (not technically waders…) flushed to the far end of the lake, as did the Kildeer and the Pectoral Sandpiper, who managed to stay as far away from me as possible, but when the next fellow showed up with binocs and a camera, he was  very 
accommodating.   I’ll remember  this…and I carry grudges. Seriously, though, this was on my way out of Cowan Lake as I headed back to Spring Valley Nature Preserve/Wildlife Area (depending to whom you speak…).

So, I made it over to Spring Valley WA just in time to see a whole lot of fisher-folk.  Usually, I don’t like a lot of people, but with the number of birds that were still around, it felt good – it’s the most alive this place has felt in several years.  I hope that it’s a sign of how things are going to be, there, because it’s felt so dead around there for a while, it would be nice to reclaim some of what I remember from about 5 years ago when I routinely saw 5+ life birds a visit.  With that in mind, what did I see?

Well, my I headed up the bike path, first, as it tends to have some fun things in the periphe ry, and this time was no different…  Right off the bat, I got a fabulous look at a White-throated Sparrow.  He sat very still in very good light.  That was much appreciated, and I thanked him for his time.  This was in start contrast to the White-throated Sparrow from the day before, who played a really fun game of “Peek-a-boo,” allowing some cute shots, but nothing earth-shattering.  For the most part, though, I didn’t get a lot of good shots on this trip, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t see good birds.  I saw a Swainson’s Thrush, who was delightfully coy and camera-shy, along with my first Eastern Phoebe of the year, too.  I got a few good looks at the Phoebe, but it was close to 50 yards away, and they’re not large birds.  Finally, along the back path coming towards the path the goes along the back of the lake, I saw my first Warbler of the season.  It was a lone Yellow-rumped Warbler who, like most Warblers, didn’t hold still for any posterity shots, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

It was a good outing and I enjoyed myself.  I’ve not been on a 4.5 mile hike for a long time and it felt really good.  When I pulled into the homestead almost 6 full hours after I left that morning, I felt calm and confident I had some pretty good shots, even though, to me, those shots were secondary to the time I got to clear my mind and enjoy the fantastic weather. 

Long Distance Shooting

I love getting close to the birds.  There are reasons for this, not the least of which is that it’s a heck of a lot easier to get crisp, full-crop photographs of said birds.  Another reason is that I just love birds and their little neuroses, idiosyncrasies and behaviors.  Mainly, though, I love being able to at least have the opportunity to capture the “money shot” of these birds.  I have a large collection of bird photographs, but I am always trying to get better, sharper, more detailed photos that capture behavior and let the personality of the subject come through.  Sometimes, however, this isn’t possible.

Last Tuesday, Alex and I were buzzed by a Red-shouldered Hawk.  I wasn’t able to train the lens on it quickly enough (since it took off from about 20 feet in front of us and flew over our heads and out of sight in roughly 2 seconds…), so was a little disappointed.  When we were out on the boardwalk at Spring Valley Wildlife Area heading  back towards the car when out of my third eye, I spy a Red-shouldered Hawk rising from behind the tree line.  It was at this point that I was a little sad that it was, probably, a half mile out.  I was able to fire off a few shots – at 500mm x 2x-tele x 1.5x crop factor (that would be ~1500mm) @ f/6.3 – and a couple of them came out … usably.  I will not be using these as my definitive photographs of the bird, but they were more than adequate for identification.  I was just amazed that I even got those usable shots as I was staring at a silhouette from a LONG way away with a stiff cross breeze making looking through the viewfinder a chore – eyeballs drying out is never a happy feeling.  As a result, most of the shots that I got were “on spec” having simply decided that it looked in-focus-ish enough and hoping that they were, indeed, in focus.  I though to myself, “I really need to get closer to these birds…”  In my defense, I usually do, but not always.

So, it was with chagrin and amusement that the following day’s trip to Eastwood Metropark’s Hydrobowl to see what waterfowl were present featured a slew of Goldeneyes hanging out in the very center of the lake.  Those that were close enough for decent looks would zoom out to the center as soon as I was within, probably, 100 yards.  Ugh.  These photos didn’t come out nearly as well, and I was unhappy about that.  I would post the photos, but they’re a little embarrassing inasmuch as they’re good enough to ID, but little else.

Yesterday, I headed to Buck Creek to see the Glaucous Gulls.  I saw them from a LONG distance away and wasn’t able to get any decent photographs as a result of the “bunching” the gulls were demonstrating.  Despite the Glaucous Gulls being much larger than the Ring-billed Gulls, it doesn’t make any difference if they’re sitting on the ice.  So, I have a couple of photos that are inconclusive (this is why we take the binoculars, kiddies) at best, but the majority of the time I was attempting to photograph other birds at a distance.  The flock of American Wigeons that kept crisscrossing the lake, even though they were close to 300 yards out on the lake, provided some decent looks and I got a decent photograph or two.

This is taking me too long to write, so I will end it here, for now.