A windy day in May, I took a 300 mile wildlife photo junket with my friend Paul. Our first stop was a Red Fox den that had three kits and their parents.
We were pleasantly surprised that mother fox greeted and checked us out.
Evidently we passed the non threat test and she returned to the den and brought out the kits.
We stayed there for an hour or so, watching the kits play and chase each other.
Our next stop was an eagles nest on a lake not too far from the fox den. We spent another hour or so, watching the parent eagles flying in with food for the eaglets. On this nest, we never saw the eaglets.
We had a difficult time finding the heron rookery. When we found it, we had to battle a thirty mile an hour wind taking photos. At least the dreaded black flies were held at bay by the strong wind.
The most interesting shots occurred when a Great Blue Heron got too close to an Osprey nest... the following sequence pretty much sums up the disdain of the Osprey and "interesting" facial expressions of the heron. Who said birds are expressionless.
"Zeroing In"
Another highlight was whistling in a particularly beautiful White-throated Sparrow. He alighted close to me and was not too enamored with my presence in his territory.
Leaving the heron rookery and the dazed Great Blue, we meandered back toward home. Our next stop was a Pileated Woodpecker nest, where mom was sitting on eggs. We managed to snap a few shots when she peeked out of the nest.
The last stop on our whirlwind tour was another eagle's nest, this one on the shore of Lake Superior. We had to set up our blinds, to make our presence non threatening to the parent eagles. The eaglets were at eye level, so we got a few shots of them enjoying the warm sunshine, before we had to leave.
It is not too often each planned stop, yields such a variety of unique photos. It was a day when observing the images were as inspirational as mastering them.
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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