#WildlifeWednesday Red-Tailed Hawk

As cool and fun as it would be to accept the vocation of wildlife photographer, I don’t know if I would have the patience. Most of the pictures I have taken have been of animals indigenous to my home in Pennsylvania. I think it would be great to visit Yellowstone to photograph moose, elk, bear, wolves and whatever else wandered into view, but I think it’s seldom like that. Photographing wildlife requires learning about animal behavior. What habits species emote, what patterns emerge, what makes critters who they are. My hat goes off to those shutterbugs who brave freezing arctic temperatures to photograph polar bears, penguins, and other creatures whose habitat is deadly to humans. I have tons of respect for people who camp out and wait for a herd of bison to cross the focal point of their camera for hours or even days. I can’t do that right now. I haven't mastered that side of my personality. I have problems with patience. Fortunately for me this Red-Tailed hawk decided to have his dinner perched atop a telephone pole visible from the front door of my office, and a camera was close by.

Nikon D7100 Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 @ f/3.2-4 ISO 100 a/1000 sec

Rolling Hay

I’m not a farmer, and I have no idea why I often see hay in this form. I’m supposing it’s stored that way for future use, but for all I know the Jolly Green Giant wanted to make some fruit roll ups. I was glad they were there when I pulled up to this scene a few weeks ago. The sky was on fire and the hay rolls made a good foreground subject. Of course with a sky like that I was in awe, and scrambled to grab a camera and think about the process of making a picture. All in all, I think it came out pretty nicely.

Nikon D800  Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 36mm f/7.1 ISO 200 1/40 sec

Aftermath

We had an ice storm, which usually makes for slippery roads and nice pictures of glazed trees, but this condition went on far too long. It rained from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning and ice collected on the trees. Often when this happens the temperature is warming so the ice that collects on the branches melts within a few hours. Sunshine helps this process and the crystal world disappears in a brief time. Yesterday the Sun never came out, and temperatures barely reached above freezing. The increasing weight of ice on the evergreen giants became unbearable. Every quarter hour or so, one of the coniferous titans would yield to the strain and erupt in a deafening crack. Part of the ice encased behemoth would fall from its great height and shatter against the ground, or a power line, or a house, or a car. Today, blue has returned to the skies and the Sun’s rays will hopefully ease the weight still clinging to the remaining tall trees of the Northeast. I’m ready for Spring.

Nikon D800 Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 82mm f/5.6 ISO 100 1/250 sec

The Cold Walk

It’s Winter, but I venture out. By February the ache of the frigid air has affixed itself to the inner linings of my knees and hips. It breaks away with forced movements, like a layer of ice after hours of sleep. There’s a dark numbing solitude that has laid claim to the back of my skull, like a pack of frozen peas on the back of my head, but I trudge onward. Like a zombie through a dead frozen world I walk. Nature is perplexed by my life force trespassing in Her world of slumber and death, but I walk on. The wind bites my lungs and dries my eyes. Its bone chilling movements slip inside my flesh and hold my organs in a frozen embrace. It’s cold, very cold. Dangerous ice beneath my feet becomes translucent, and the muck of the road stares up at me in twisted impressions suspended in time. I walk on, but more cautiously. I breathe, but not too deeply. I fixate on the steps before me. I curl my toes and I can feel them scrape the inner linings of my soles. “I’m ok, it’s not that cold.” I chant in my head. But it is that cold. A minor misstep, a small oversight, a slight miscalculation could have dire effects, in this season of bleakness. Fear grips its fingers around my psyche while I entertain various complications of my walk, but I beat it down with false confidence and years of experience. I keep moving, but slowed by gusts which push me back and steal my strength. I battle onwards. I walk.

Nikon D800 Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm f/13 ISO 100 1/500 sec

Nikon D800 Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm f/13 ISO 100 1/500 sec