These may not be the prettiest of photos but they are part of the cycle of life. These turkey vulture's were feasting on a dead mule deer near the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. When you spend enough time following and photographing wildlife sooner or later you find animals eating other animals and occasionally you even get to witness the kill. It is not a pleasant sight but it is part of nature and occurs many times every day.
This is another early morning whitetail buck from SNP taken this past June. While out in the big meadows I had numerous opportunities to photograph these bucks in great back lit situations. The problem was when it came time to post process them, I was not sure how to do it. This is my attempt right or wrong.
These are not the best of photographs, taken around noon in bright sun and 100+ degree heat but with my track record when it comes to big horn sheep I snapped away. I have gone many places where big horn sheep exist, Glacier, Yellowstone, Alaska and just don't have the luck. I have photographed a few before but never a large ram. These were taken during our recent vacation out west. We found these three near the visitors center at the Valley of Fire State park in Nevada. I think Shane got some better ones as I gave him my bigger lens to use when the ram approached us closer and seemed to pose for photogrpahs.
The one neat thing about the Eisenhower event is that it draws groups of people that portray the Russians (second photo), Polish (first photo), Canadian, French and other troops that fought in the war. These living historians are a wealth of knowledge and I always enjoying learning from them. Looking at the first photo you will see that the Polish soldier is using a Thompson and we found out at this event that the Russians also had some Thompson's. I think they are some of the coolest guns around but I do not think it would have been my weapon of choice in the war.
On the past two post I mentioned that Shane and I attended the World War 2 weekend at the Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg on Saturday. This years event was as good as last years but for some reason I was just not into taking photographs like I usually am. I did record a few and here is two of American GI's. It was still a good day as we spoke to numerous people we have gotten to know from attending so many of these of the last few years. Shane also got the application and information needed to join a venture crew that takes part as the 45Th infantry division. Now we are hoping to have him outfitted and in action by the Battle of the Buldge in January.
When I left you yesterday the bird had been retrieved from the side of the road and we were awaiting trained help. It was decided to take the bird across the road and place it in a covered shaded area. The gentleman that picked the bird up moved on and Shane, the Franklintown fire chief Mike Whitzel and myself waited for the game commission to arrive. At about 4:50 p.m. a deputy arrived and placed the hawk in a cage to be transported to York County and a woman that deals with injured birds.
This Saturday Shane and I attended to World War II weekend at the Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg (more from that later). On the way home while traveling the Williams Grove Road in Monroe Twp. Cumberland County we noticed a redtailed hawk standing alongside of the road looking very out of place (around 3:41 p.m.). About that time I noticed the Franklintown fire chief walking along side the road to check on the bird. After a quick check of is the bird injured I decided to pull over to see what I could go. As he began to make phone call we learned that the game commission had already been called but no estimate of arrival time was given. We both felt the hawk was either flying into pick up prey or had dropped his prey and was attempting to retrieve it when it was struck by an auto mobile. With in a few feet of the bird was a smashed rat on the road that was probably the meal in question. As we observed the bird most of the time he kept his eyes shut and appeared to be labored in his breathing occasionally loosing his balance when a larger auto drove by.
From accounts I am reading on the net the Elk rut is beginning, now lets just hope it waits to reach its peak later in the month. I wanted to make a pre-rut post but reading my regular blog list I have found that everyone else has already beat me to it. Willard Hill recently reported that from accounts he is getting that the rut is starting here in Pennsylvania. His brother Coy recently made a post on the upcoming rut and so has Haney. I also read that Bob Shank and his son are making a day trip there this weekend to see what activity is occurring. I will be looking forward to Bob's post to find out what is happening up north. By the time I arrive Willard and Coy will already be in the area and have things scouted out, hopefully they will be able to send me in the right direction when I get there. Bob is also scheduled to be there the same week and I am looking forward to meeting up with these guys along with Steve and Buckwheat for some great sites, sounds and photography. Sadly Haney will not be making the trip this year, now I do not know who to stand behind when a bull Elk is bearing down on us. I must say the best part of the trip this year may be no phone, sirens or Harrisburg.
I know more old stuff, maybe one of these days I will find my cameras and get out and get something new. But for now more whitetail deer from my June trip to SNP. The bucks were photographed in the Big Meadow during the early morning hours when the lighting is very golden. These to played for awhile but never gave me that great photo opportunity, except once and I messed it up. I will post those sometime as crappy photo day.
Another short post today, these are two more SNP bucks in velvet photographed this June.
I almost skipped today's post on both blogs, if you are someone that looks at both sorry about the fire site yesterday I just forgot to post something. I have no problems with the views I have just not had the time and like everything else in life sometimes you just feel like you need a break. With that said I will keep the rest of this short. A week or so a go I posted about Elk and their antlers covered with velvet. The whitetail deer is no different than the Elk so here is a photo of one of this years bucks from SNP covered in velvet.
These whitetail fawns were photographed this June at SNP. I am sure I won't recognize them on my next trip there but I hope to see these and many more again this year. Today's post is short as I am at a loss for words and time.
I will get back to posting other things soon but I have been enjoying looking back over the wildlife files so you get it again today. With the upcoming season I hope to reload the hard drive with many more new whitetail and Elk photos and if I am lucky maybe a bear or two and some small game. These were taken this June in Elk County the two calves were one of the few that turned out well, there was seven in the herd but with the low light the shutter speeds were slow enough that any movement created a blurry photograph. This young bull should do some bugling this year but I doubt he will compete for any cows for another couple of years. Hopefully he will be spared by hunters and grow up to be a major player.
Welcome to the 3RD anniversary post on my photo blog (#803). Instead of coming up with something new I decided to put up photos that have appeared over the last three years. I set out to put up my personal favorites, not knowing how many I would post after going through the file it ended up at 16 photographs. These favorites may not be technically correct or my best but they are my favorites for various reasons. For some of you that have been with me all along you will have seen them before but for the newer viewers some of these will be new to you. Do you have any favorites of mine? Did I post any of them here or did they not make my cut? Here is hoping I stay with it for another three years.
Over the years while out watching and photographing wildlife I have seen all kinds of stupid things that people can do. One of the questions I get asked is why do you wear camo in some of the areas when the animals are acclimated to people. That is simple so the people do not see me. Unfortunately I have not always photographed all the stupid things I have seen but I have started to. These particular two incidents occurred last year at SNP during the whitetail rut. In the first photo this woman walked a distance out through the big meadow with her dog to photograph this deer. That is right she had no concern for the other photographers that were keeping a distance and trying to get a natural photo. In the second one this guy chased this buck down to get the photo he wanted, I guess the bigger lens on his camera was not big enough. I have seen women walk up to sleeping Elk and shoot flash photos in their faces, kids and adults trying to pet the deer and people walking up to Buffalo's. But the worst was when the guy with the disposable camera walked hundreds of yards in front of dozens of photographers to get between two mature male moose during the rut to take a photo and then walk along with them the entire time keeping anyone else from getting a shot. Some people just deserve to get gored and when they do I hope I get the photo. With the approaching season I should see many more stupid things but this time I plan on photographing them.
I started the week dipping into files from earlier this year to post wildlife so I am going to end it the same way. Getting back to deer and Elk made this weeks post fun again. Maybe that means I should stick with wildlife photos. This nine point buck was the largest point wise that I seen last year at SNP. I photographed him on numerous occasions and my son even had the chance to photograph him this trip. I am looking forward to photographing bucks again soon and with any luck some that will make this one look small. I really love summer and being off with my son, swimming in the pool and not working but the coming season sure is allot of fun with the changing colors, the behavior change in wildlife and the time I get to spend in the woods viewing and photographing wildlife.
