Two Days in May
Greetings and welcome to June! But this blog isn’t about June. I’ve had a hard time getting out, but two days in May provided a wealth of subjects and photos, and I have to say overall I’m pleased with the results.
Of course Spring has arrived and the birds are out yodelling for attention. Here’s one, an American Redstart:
And in a more restful pose:
Resting before another rebel yell…
These were taken towards evening, so the tones are fairly warm as the sun began to drift towards the horizon. Much later on my way back, as I was standing quietly on the trail trying to capture (unsuccessfully) a Chipping Sparrow that kept hiding behind twigs, a skunk came rambling in my direction. My first glimpse was a rather hasty shot, but I kind of like the effect:
I realized I’d never actually been that close to a skunk before and I was kind of amazed how nonchalant it was. I didn’t know they kept their tail up like that, like wearing an ass-wig. It kept scrounging the ground, occasionally chewing and smacking heartily, and slowly zigzagging in my direction. I started to smell it, and wondered if I needed to back off and give it room. I figured it had to have seen me, when finally the sound of the shutter probably alerted it to my presence:
After sniffing and scanning, its right eye finally caught me staring, and after a bit of an eye to eye discussion, it turned and scampered off. Whew! It was only later when I got home I realized from other pictures that its left eye was injured (I won’t post because it’s both sad, and a bit gross) which is why it didn’t notice me. Hardy creature!
The next week I managed to drag myself out of bed at 3:50AM to drive north back to the Shoal Lakes. I’d last been there when it was -30C, I figured things might be a bit different. I arrived not long after dawn, and had probably the most rewarding day of photography I’ve had in ages.
The birds were in full courtship mode, as exemplified by this Red-Winged Blackbird showing off his epaulets:
I also managed to catch one in flight, which is tricky to do:
The colour seems almost too much…but I have done almost nothing in the post-processing.
Here a Common Grackle shows off his shimmer:
I can’t decide whether I like the “rabbit ears” out of the grackle’s head…and I guess if I describe them like that, I don’t. 😀
The courtship interest definitely went both ways. Here is a female Yellow-headed Blackbird who kept calling and staking out territory:
Meanwhile, a female Killdeer settled near me, then started chirping oddly, shaking her tail, and settling her chest into the sandy gravel. I thought maybe I was disturbing her nest and she was trying to drive me off somehow:
What are YOU looking at?
But the story became clear in a moment as a male arrived and jumped on for a ride:
Really, dude, what ARE you looking at?
After a few minutes, while I shamelessly snapped away, he just kind of fell off and they retreated into the rushes:
Sheesh…
There were also ducks a plenty. This female Blue-winged Teal blends so well into the background, B&W is a natural choice to emphasize this camouflage. I love the textures both in her feathers and last year’s dried plant life:
I kept running into this pair over the course of the morning (or maybe there was more than one…who can tell?) and they obliged me by swimming near interesting terrain features, nuzzling bills, and sharing whatever treasures they seemed to find. I have stuck with the B&W treatment since that’s how I envisioned it out there:
And probably my favourite of this series:
There were also plenty of pelicans and gulls out, but they were more shy. This tern, however, decided to fish almost right over me. When they spot a fish they hover over the spot before diving. Unfortunately no diving shots worked out, but I do like this hover-shot, like a silver angel:
Let’s transition from birds to landscapes with this bird-in-a-landscape shot, a Brown-headed Cowbird on an old fence post. It’s the same shot as the title, but B&W with a sepia tone.
I’m honestly conflicted about which I prefer. When I took the above shot it was “meant” to be in B&W because of the simplicity; and the contrast between the structured lines of the fence posts (made more organic by the bird) and the chaos of the grasses. But they feel vastly different to me and convey a completely different mood. I guess it’s okay to like them both. Anyway…
The sky was in constant motion that morning, and continually afforded new opportunities. A thin blanket of broken clouds created great reflections, especially contrasting with the transition of the jumbled limestone of the road to the water:
It’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. I also appreciate the circular ripples of constant underwater bug action.
Lifting our gaze a little higher, the blanket expands across the horizon:
Occasionally the remnants of rain the night before would skim past, like balloons:
The above shot appears a bit “dirty” as if my camera sensor needed cleaning. But there were tons of bugs, and many of the ones in the sky are geese far off. I can often clean these up during post-processing, but there were so many I figured I’d just leave it…it’s more real that way anyway.
I’ll end on a panoramic shot. Manitoba in early spring, as the weather turns warmer, the ice is gone, the clouds become summery, before the full greening has begun:
I’ve been away from Shoal Lakes for two weeks now. I need to get back there because if the waterfowl in the city is any guide, all those parental birds will be leading their little ones out of the nest by now. That’s the upcoming task for this weekend, and maybe the next, so I hope I’ll have some pictures to post about it.
Cheers!
