The Biggest Week in American Birding

At mid-day, we arrived at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory for the Biggest Week in American Birding. The parking lot was full, and I gotta say, these Ohio folks take their birding seriously even with their license plates! One guy even likes the Water Ouzel, as his plate is H2O Ouzl! Even before finding the hotel, we checked in for the week, then drove next door to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. As always, we want to do everything, and will have to pick and choose our activities. Fortunately, there is time built into our schedule for independent birding, and we have lots of maps to use. A boardwalk beckoned us into the marshes while we waited for the shore bird walk to begin. A couple sat along the edge watching for an Oriole that chased a Crow around. "Are you looking for the Owls?" they asked? What owls? "There are some baby owls in a tree down the trail a bit." Whoopee! Let's go! Sure enough, the cluster of birders directed our attention to a branch where two Great Horned Owl babies peered back down at us. Everyone was amazed at the size of these owlets. The guide led a convoy of cars to shallow water along the road. As we piled out of the cars and set up spotting scopes, there were more birders than birds, I think. Well, there were lots of small mud-colored shore birds, so maybe the birds out-numbered the people after all. I don't know where my mind was when we packed this morning, but I did not bring a spotting scope. Somehow, my mind was expecting warblers, and I can't find warblers in the scope, so I didn't put it in the car. Duh! Didn't think about stationary shore birds at all. I wonder if those Zeica people would be willing to rent me a scope for the week... If they did, I would probably love it so much, I'd want to buy it and take it home, for mucho dineros.

I recognized the Semi-palmate plover with only one neck-band. The guide showed us some Dunlin, which I'd never seen in breeding plumage before. We also saw some Pectoral Sandpipers and a White-Rumped Sandpiper, a true lifer for us, since I'd never even heard of it at all. This Solitary Sandpiper showed off his nice eye ring, but the Yellowlegs were too busy to stop for pictures. Someday, I'll have enough practice with shorebirds to recognize more than 3 or 4 of them on my own. Several immature Bald Eagles soared overhead. I like BIG birds! The temps will be in the 50's and 60's all week, according to the Weather Channel, and we pulled warmer jackets out of our suitcases right away. The wind will make the difference I think, although the chance of rain tomorrow is 100 percent. Not to worry! I survived a week of birding in the rain last year at the New River festival, so I can handle this.

Not only birds live at the NWR. A muskrat swam busily about, while some gray snake sunned on a mound of reeds. Look at his head next to that green leaf. Think he'd found any eggs to eat? When we arrived at the hotel, I almost had heart failure. When questioned, the clerk said that in the Vintage Suite you had to plug into the bottom of the phone jack! ACK - I just got a new laptop, and it doesn't even have a dial-up modem!!! I was ready to start calling around town to see if there were any other rooms available, and saw that this place advertises wireless Internet. Call down, take a few deep breaths. Just give it a try, maybe the clerk is clueless. Yes, I picked up the wireless for a good connection. Whew! The week is saved!

Walk on the Wildflower Side

"Does anyone know where I can go to see Lady's Slippers? I've never seen them, and would like to," I asked in the lunchroom at the Falls of the Ohio. "Sure," Richard replied, "I'm taking a trip there next week. Want to come?" I jumped at the opportunity to go flowering with some of the best naturalists I know at the Park.

We drove to Washington County, Indiana, where we explored Cave River Valley and Henderson Park, neither of which I had ever heard of before. The day was long but definitely worth the trip, as we saw lots of firsts!

Sometimes there was a trail, but otherwise we just tramped up and down steep muddy hills. "Do you know the way back to the car?" I asked Richard.

Oh, yes, we found lovely Lady's Slippers, and I was so excited! This one was glad to see us too. See her smiling? And the fragrence... magnificent!

"What does this look like?" Richard asked. "Well, the leaves look like a dogwood to me," I replied hesitantly, expecting it to be something exotic. It turns out to be a Gray Dogwood. Notice that the flower looks nothing like we expect in a Dogwood.

"Here's a Hoary Puccoon..." A what?? Spell that for me please. The name was given by Native Americans to plants that made a yellow or red dye. We saw no Trilliums until the end of the day. After we waded through the creek, we found a Prairie Trillium and this lovely Drooping Trillium.

At one point the air was filled with happy birdsong, coming from a Rose Breasted Grosbeak, and this Scarlet Tanager. The Tanager was interested in the bugs on a branch, and chowed down while I took a few pictures. Wood Thrushes serenaded us all morning.

From our position deep in the valley, we had a terrific view of the blue blue sky, framed by lighted green and shadowed green trees along the hills.

We hiked to the mouth of a cave with a stream flowing forth, then down the stream and up to the top of the ridge. I've never seen so many Green Violets in one place before. From the same spot atop the ridge we could hear water flowing from caves on each side forming two different creeks. Not too surprising since Washington County is in karst (or cave) country. The fields along the road were dotted by sink holes. Another area was called the Glade. Because of the particularly poor and rocky soil, Indiana forest plants don't do well, but prairie flowers and grasses thrive. Shooting Stars popped up everywhere, as well as this Star Grass and one called Blue-eyed Grass. We'll have to come back later in the summer when the prairie flower are all blooming.

A hillside of oak trees were home for Squaw Root, which parasitize oak trees. Richard also specializes in tree identification, and he stumped us all with different examples of white and black oak leaves. Apparently oak leaves change shapes and sizes as the tree matures. Sounds like trying to keep track of gulls that change colors each year until maturity. He said that some large oaks in another park we know can produce ten thousand times more acorns than the good sized trees we saw today.

Little critters lived in the creeks and leaf litter. I think someone stepped on this salamander, as his tail looks wounded. When we reached out to check, he scurried into the leaves again, so I guess he'll recover. Once we saw the fuzzy ear tips of a fox kit, spying on us from behind a log. When he noticed we'd seen him, he scurried back into his burrow.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we asked Gabby (our GPS) to take us to an Amish business nearby to order a new porch swing, and enjoyed the rolling countryside, often filled with Butter Weed in the fields. On the way home, we stopped at Huber Winery to stock up. Altogether, this has been a terrific day. A little raccoon was in our backyard this week, eating sunflower seeds below the bird feeders, and I couldn't resist adding him to this post. Next Monday we are heading to NW Ohio for warblers at Crane Creek. Yippee! Hope I get great photos and actually see the warblers, unlike the guy singing Trees, Trees, Murmuring Trees in our backyard this morning.

Smoky Mountain Rain

A gentle rain fell most of Monday morning in the Smoky Mountains, so we slept in for all of 30 minutes, and got to eat breakfast sitting down before heading out to Cades Cove. The Cove is one of the most photographed locations in the Park, without a doubt, so I was eager to see if my shots would look as good as others. The light qualified as both "soft" and "wet", and the mountaintops were often hidden behind the low clouds.

The Oliver Cabin is the first structure on the 11 mile driving loop. We had to watch carefully to avoid taking pictures of other photographers taking pictures of the cabin.

I liked the end of this log on a cabin. You can still see the ax marks made when the tree was felled almost 200 years ago.

We practiced the elements of composition in our photos this weekend. A curve or diagonal line to draw the viewer's eye into the shot is always a plus. The Rule of Thirds says to avoid putting the subject of the shot into the middle of the frame, but offset it a bit. My camera has a tic-tac-toe grid to display in the view finder to help line things up. When composing the shot, always consider the background as well. Avoid any distractions, such as twigs or seeds where they don't belong. Move some sticks out of the way, if necessary. Give the subject's "face" room to look into, and yes, even flowers "face" in some direction. If there is a tip of something else protruding, decide whether to include more of it, or to eliminate it all together. If you pay attention, you can do this on site, otherwise Photoshop comes to the rescue.

Some photographers spend a lot of money on macro lenses to get close-ups. I often use my zoom lens for the same purpose, but have to back away more than six feet for the zoom to focus. I love the delicate details in a flower.

Maindenhair ferns grow along the roadsides, and fortunately the Park leaves lots of pull-offs so you don't get run over when going back for a shot you saw in passing. The low clouds and rain required special attention when setting the camera for a shot. Automatic programs might have compensated, but we were trying to do everything with manual settings as much as possible. (Get ready, I'm going to explain the technical side of photography. If you already know this, feel free to jump down.) Three settings can be adjusted to allow just the amount of light you need into the camera lens. The first is the Aperture - the hole that allows light to enter the lens. The Shutter controls how long that hole is open, and thus the amount of light entering the lens. The third item is the ISO setting. In film days, the ISO was a part of the film, and controlled how sensitive the film was to light. In digital photography, this is a setting that can be changed as desired. The darker the light, the higher your ISO goes to compensate. The first turkey picture was taken with ISO 200, and the second with ISO 400. No other settings were changed, but look at the difference this makes. I was proud of myself for remembering it!

Landscapes and flowers make terrific non-moving subjects for a photograph, but I love animals, especially birds. Somehow, the park rangers have trained all the animals on how to avoid having your photo taken, or at least a good photo. Number one lesson, stand between two trees so that your whole body cannot be seen. Extra points are awarded to animals that keep their head hidden, showing only the side or rump.

Lesson two, always stand behind brush, sticks or leaves, so that at least one of these prevents a clear shot of the animal without resorting to Photoshop to clone out the impediment. Lesson three, keep your head to the ground as much as possible. Do not look up so the photographer can see your eyes, or you will be followed around for a much longer time. Lesson four, no many how many people point cameras at you, stay cool and just ignore them. This bear had at least 25-30 people with cameras pointed at him, but he just continued grazing. This tactic teaches the photographers patience. Lesson five, keep moving. The turkeys are great at this. If the photographer doesn't know how to change settings quickly, all their photos will be blurred. Extra points also are awarded to the animals who created blurry photos. Just think how silly photographers look running down a road, tripod legs fully extended, splashing in puddles because they aren't watching where they step. These three Toms walked down the field together, stretching out their head in unison every time they gobbled. It looks like a Turkey Lake ballet!

Let There Be Light!

It's 5:00 am at the Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont, and alarms ring in the darkness, awakening the women asleep in the dormitory. We struggle into clothes and stagger to get on the van. Stars shine by the billions in the black sky. By 6:30 we are at the pull-off on the Foothills Parkway, yawning as we set up tripods and wait for the dawn. "Coffee is ready!" calls Josh, and we all rush for a cup, followed by breakfast from the back of the van.

Finally, someone shouts, "Here comes the sun! Get ready for some great shots!" Click, click, click, click, click echo the shutters. Oh, wow! After yesterday morning's clouds and flat light, I am jumping up and down in excitement. Yesterday, the sunrise was covered by clouds, which cleared up later in the morning, but it stormed most of the afternoon and all night. Today, we reap the photographic benefit of the passing storm front. Now I understand why people worshipped the Sun God.

This is the Photography Workshop at the Institute, attended by photographers varying in skill from beginning through intermediate to professionals. We all expressed interest in learning about light and composition. The leaders encouraged us wimps to get off the built-in program, and use manual settings and a tripod, neither of which I usually do of course.

We learned that there is soft light and hard light, wet light and dry light, adjectives that I normally would not apply to light. But it makes sense the way the instructor explained it. He likes light on an angle, at sunrise or sunset, backlighting, and wet light during a fog or rain. Well, we certainly had plenty of that wet light! He further recommends that we learn to interpret the weather forcast for ourselves, to know whether it will be worthwhile to get up at 5:00 in the morning or not. I didn't think there was enough light at all, under the trees, and had little to no luck focusing because it was too dark. But aha! I later learned that I can crank the ISO up to 400 to make a difference in all the settings. Full of despair, I donned my raincoat, put a shower cap over my camera, and with tripod over my shoulder, headed up the Waterfall Trail behind the Institute. As I puff and pant towards the top of the ridge, the wind blows at gale force, or so it sounds to me. Ford those creeks! A tripod also makes a pretty good hiking stick, and can be used as a monopod on a narrow trail. At one point, the Park Service stretched a log with small steps carved in it across a steep part in the trail. Gulp! There's a lot of down on this trail! Be brave, I tell myself, you can do this, and I forge on. The waterfall is worth the effort, and a Northern Water Thrush sings his congratulations for my courage.

Today, the sun and clouds are perfect! After last night's storms, everything is saturated, so fog and mist rise as the sun warms the earth. The spring trees have color too. You don't have to wait till fall in the Smokies to see color.

It's just like all the photos our instructors showed us last night! The birds are excited too, singing from trees and brush along the road. A Whippoorwill starts, joined by a Brown Thrush, Northern Cardinal and Carolina Wren. A Black and White Warbler sings a high weesa, weesa, weesa, to counter the deep gobble, gobble, gobble of Turkeys down the hill from us. It is just too cool!

The last of the clouds speed away over distant ridges, made clear and distinct by the low angle of the sunlight. By golly, he's right when he talks about soft light!

Spring in the Smoky Mountains is full of wildflowers, of course. Yellow Trilliums bloom in abundance right outside the dining hall. Dwarf Crested Iris carpet the hillsides.

As the sun rises, and the shadows move, I glance behind to see a small flash of pink among the trees. What's that? Pink Azaleas! How wonderful, since the Rhododendrons haven't even started to bud yet.

I spend the late morning sorting through about 300 photos from the morning's shoot, trying to edit and choose only THREE for the class critique this afternoon. Then I hope we will go out again. Cades Cove? Haven't been there for years and years. Tomorrow before I leave, I want to take another trail with Trilliums. Then Gabby the GPS will direct me home again.