Inscapes and Outbacks

White-tailed spike buck
Goose Pond FWA
near Linton, Indiana
29 September 2020

Maybe the hardest thing about shooting inside a woods this time of year is that the tree canopy still blocks a huge amount of light. That's a particularly bad thing for a long lens that needs a lot of light to do its job.

But sometimes luck is on your side.

This young buck silently materialized out of thin air -- as white-tailed deer so often do -- about 30 yards away from me yesterday morning while I was set up mainly in hopes of seeing bobcats. Two very knowledgeable local sources told me that this woods is the best place to find bobcats in all of Goose Pond's 9,000+ acres. Still haven't seen any bobcats, and this isn't the best season for trying to track bobcats, either.

That's why it was especially good to catch a glimpse of this guy out of the corner of my right eye yesterday morning, when I had a strong sense that I was being watched -- and that was just a few minutes after I'd looked precisely where this deer now stood. The early shots in this series were much darker, with the deer mostly in shadows. Eventually he turned completely around and gave me this one last look before, without stomping the ground or snorting, he quietly sauntered away.

Today: a little farther into the same woods at what looks like a better spot for my purposes. Finding bobcats seems to be a long-odds crap shoot in the best of times. Right now, that project seems to be about as reliable as putting a wet finger to the wind and just guesstimating about which direction to go. At a minimum, though, I'll keep getting better acquainted with this woods for visits in better conditions this winter.

Jeff

GP 5N (pic)
MPE 2 (“Main Pool East”) (pano)
Goose Pond FWA
near Linton, Indiana

Wetlands. Gorgeous, glorious . More of this, please.

Yesterday morning’s rain (a hard mist, really) gave way to a beautiful early-fall afternoon that was a little cooler than expected every time the sun ducked behind some clouds.

Jeff

American white pelicans
Goose Pond FWA
near Linton, Indiana
26 September 2020

In January 2015, an excellent Indiana birder suggested that my enjoyment of trumpeter swans probably meant that I'd enjoy seeing and photographing American white pelicans too. Having grown up about 45 miles due west of Goose Pond, I found it hard to believe that pelicans would ever be in this part of the world. Anymore, though, Goose Pond is a standard stop on their spring and fall migration routes. If you're in the area at the right times, do stop in and give them a look.

Jeff

Sunset at Goose Pond FWA
near Linton, Indiana
27 September 2020

After hiking 4.6 miles yesterday in the field, gear and all, I walked only about 1/3 as far today. Yesterday’s priority was general scouting, particularly for bobcats, but today’s was taking a good look at a particular ditch that should have been promising — and it was. Hoping for good time there with a mink, or at least a beaver or muskrat, before the week is out.

Highlights so far, all first of season and all reminders that the seasons are changing:

150-200 American white pelicans

~12 Northern harriers

11 sandhill cranes + 2 others (heard only) in a nearby marsh when the 11 flew over

Tomorrow (Monday 9/28) is supposed to be a rain day pretty much all day. The good news: Conditions for tracking bobcats on Tuesday and Wednesday are about to improve dramatically over the bone-dry conditions that are here right now.

Jeff

Goose Pond Fish & Wildlife Area
near Linton, Indiana

Here, two pics and a pano of the same lake in the “Thousand Islands” area, a ~1,000-acre area added to Goose Pond since I was last here a few years ago.

Without hesitation, two knowledgeable local sources identified this area as the best place around here to have a chance of seeing bobcats, which are relatively common anymore in southwestern Indiana. There’s a hint of a lane behind the lone snag on the right side of the second photo. Planning to see where it might lead over the next few days.

Today’s view from the office:

Looking south (downstream) on the White River
South side of Indianapolis

Saw three adult bald eagles here a few months ago, when any new eagles still would have been in the nest. Thought I’d see if any youngsters are patrolling the river now, as they should be doing after fledging a couple of months ago.

I wasn’t disappointed. Temp was a delightful early-fall 55F, good sweater weather, when I arrived and hiked in. Before I even got situated, I caught a glimpse of an adult’s white tail slipping away behind trees on the opposite bank downstream. When I’d been situated only 6-7 minutes, an adult and a juvenile, surely this year’s eaglet, lumbered upstream to check me out with a close flyby. A few minutes later, a youngster, very likely the same one, came back even slower and closer than before. Since I’ve heard of juvenile balds landing 5 yards from photographers to check them out, I have to wonder how interesting this session might get.

Also today: four deer, one surely this year’s fawn, goofballing for quite a while on a sandbar 250 yards or so downstream; a great blue heron; two red-shouldered hawks talking to each other on the opposite bank before they took up in the same sycamore almost directly across from me; at least one belted kingfisher (heard only); and a pileated woodpecker that landed in the woods behind me before yapping its way across the river and beyond.

Already a good day here, and it’s still early.

Jeff

White River
Kootewi Park
near Cicero, Indiana
14 September 2020

Midday scouting at a nice local place that I’ve thought should hold some good wildlife moments if you’re patient enough to look for them and wait for them

Jeff

Female wood duck and her brood
Henry County, Indiana
14 June 2020

14 of them

This was one of those times when I was mighty glad that my long lens is a zoom. It soon became clear that I'd have to go as wide as possible to have any hope of getting all of these little guys in the same frame. That's exactly what I did here, though I did crop the image a bit in post.

There's an obvious cuteness factor with so many ducklings working to keep up with their protective mom, but remember why wild ducks have evolved to be able to have such large broods. The third of the three broods of woodies I saw in the half-mile stretch of creek that I was on today -- farther upstream and noticeably larger individuals -- had only three ducklings. The next few weeks will be a dangerous time for the fourteen ducklings in this image.

Jeff

Graffiti abstract
Blickman Trail Park
Indianapolis, Indiana
25 March 2018

Excellent recent long piece in the real-estate section of the Washington Post on why and how to hang art -- including framed photography prints -- in your home. Go beyond works that have personal or sentimental value, and your home becomes not just a living space, but your own private art gallery, a place that enhances both the aesthetics and the value of your home.

h/t Indianapolis's Amy Ward studio for sharing this article

Jeff

Enhancing the value of a house with art Art embellishes a home, adds color and rhythm and adds value, experts say. Here's how to properly display it.

Three views of a Common raccoon
Henry County, Indiana
16 February 2020

Between mid-July 2014 and the last week of March 2019, my goal of "one good shoot per week" pushed me so effectively that I actually averaged two shoots per week in that period (after averaging in extra shoots and the number of shoots on week-long vacations). As in so many things, the value of "just showing up" is essential in photography, particularly wildlife photography, when you're either there when the subjects are going about their days or you're not.

After one less-than-satisfying trip in May 2019 back to my hot spot for a female American mink in Henry County, I had not shot at all until yesterday's trip back to the mink spot. The mink didn't make an appearance yesterday -- I'm hoping that she or at least one of her relatives still claims that territory -- but this average-sized raccoon eventually lumbered into the scene about 2 1/2 hours into my shoot.

On a crisp, calm, fairly warm (temps around 40F), mostly sunny morning yesterday, it was good to be back in the field.

Jeff