Whitetails of Shenandoah

Motherly Love

Nikon D4 Nikon 600f4 @ f7.1 1/400 ISO7200 EC+.67

Joan and I spent Friday and Saturday in Shenandoah Park looking for and photographing deer and butterflies and scenery.  The weather was predicted to be partly cloudy and warm, but it was heavily overcast and we experienced some rain and heavy fog.  I welcomed the overcast skies as it provides even filtered light for photography.  We had fun on Friday with a couple of very large bucks and then in the evening we watched and photographed a number of does and fawns. 

Handsome Dude

Nikon D4 Nikon 300 f2.8 @ f6.3 1/500 ISO2000 EC+.67

The above buck was one of a pair that we found in one of our favorite spots.  I followed the two through the woods for a couple of hundred yards as they fed along. the second one is below and I believe I photographed him last fall in the Meadow.  He has distinctive brow tines.

Photogenic One

Nikon D4 Nikon 300f2.8@ f6.3 1/400 ISO1000 EC+.67

One doe and fawn spent quite a bit of time in front of me and actually almost walked right up to me. 

Curious Deer

Nikon D4 Nikon 600f4 @ f7.1 1/400 ISO1000 EC+.67

Until Next Time

Jim Borden

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2011 in Images

2011 was a year of expanding my boundaries with photography.  I have historically focused on wildlife and birds and once in a while fit in people, scenics and landscapes.  This past year I branched out into doing more scenics and landscapes and added photographing from a kayak as a means to find more interesting subject matter. The time in the outdoors is peaceful and enjoyable and I am looking forward to another enjoyable year in 2012.

A sampling of the 2011 images are shown here.  For a gallery of some of my memorable images from 2011  click here.

Enjoy

Until next time

Jim Borden

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Close Encounters of the Bear Kind

This past weekend Joan and I spent in Blackwell Pa which is in the center of Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon. Jim Jr and Joyce and Joan's mother and my mother joined us for the weekend.  The mountainous area between Blackwell and English Center Pa is rich in scenery and wildlife.  It is a very good area to find Black Bears in the wild.  On Thursday evening Jim Jr, Joyce and I saw a number of deer and we had the fortune of having two black bears fairly close to us.   The sow and cub did not seem frightened by our presence and we were able to take a number of photographs before they ambled off through the Laurel (which was in full bloom and was beautiful-a good subject for a future post).

Friday night was still good for bears as we saw 7 different bears but all of them were skittish and did not present photo opportunities.  Saturday evening started the same way.  We saw a sow and cub about 60 yards into a swampy, open area, but they were busy tearing apart a log and it was a dark area so we did not get pictures of them, but still enjoyed them.  We then saw a lone yearling cub that was rather "frisky" and was frolicking in the woods.  About an hour later we saw a mother bear and three cubs in the lawn of a camp and it appeared they had been fed by the camp owner and we decided not to photograph them. 

We were about ready to head back to the cabin in Blackwell when I spotted a sow with two yearling cubs in the laurel.   I "woofed" lightly at the cubs to get them to stand and "momma" decided she needed to check us out.  The PA DCNR fences in large areas of Pa State Forest Land after it has been clear cut to keep the animals out so that the forest can fully develop.  Well, this sow and cubs were on the "wrong side" of the fence and I was wondering how they got there.  Momma came directly to a tree that the fence was nailed to and promptly climbed the tree and came over the fence and down on our side.  She them proceeded right directly toward Joan and I.  We decided to stay calm and still.  She came within two to three feet of both us and them ambled along our vehicle looking in the windows and checking out our mothers and then she went up the fence line and found another tree and climbed back into the clear cut forest and continued eating with her cubs.

The following picture is full frame (no cropping) taken with the 600 Canon lens on a 1D Mark IV at about 40 feet.  The picture after it is with a Canon 7D and a 300 f2.8-once again full frame at about 15 feet.  

Canon 1D MKIV; Canon 600 f4 @ F8 1/60 ISO500

Canon 7D; Canon 300 f2.8 @ F10 1/50 ISO640

Joan was shooting her D300 with 80-400 Nikon on it and she was able to get some shots as well.

Nikon D300; Nikon 80-400 @400mm  f8 1/200 ISO500

Nikon D300; Nikon 80-400 @170mm  f8 1/100 ISO500

It was an exciting time!!  Our mothers talked about it all the way back to the cabin and then over breakfast the next morning. Certainly a memorable weekend. Just so I do not get any lectures-I have been around LOTS of bears my entire life and I highly respect them and have learned what to watch for with their behavior.  This one was simply looking for hand-outs.  We had just had some peanuts and pepperoni and I am sure she smelled. My concern is that folks have been hand feeding (or close to that) these wild bear sin that area and it makes them bold and approachable--a dangerous combination!

A parting shot of one of the cubs:

Canon 1D MKIV; Canon 600 f4@f9 1/500 ISO800

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Until next time!

Jim Borden

Fawns and Coyotes

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 @f7.1 1/125 ISO500

We have fawns in our back yard, yet those farther away are better to photograph-right?  In my case, being a workaholic, I find it difficult to photograph the fawns in my backyard (literally) because I feel guilty being that close to our business and not being in there working.  So on Friday, Joan and I traveled to Shenandoah National Park and visited the Big Meadow area along the Skyline Drive.  The deer there are "wild" in that they are free roaming-but they are more acclimated to humans than the deer around our area. The weekend was bittersweet.  I have found that many of the photographers visiting that area have a different cultural base and set of values than I do when it comes to observing and photographing wildlife. I was appalled at some of the behaviors I witnessed there by "photographers".   We saw a number of individuals that had no clue on how to act around deer.  They treated them as though they were zoo animals and directly approached them.  We even witnessed individuals chasing does and fawns trying to get good pictures.  But alas, I digress on the soap box. 

We observed about a dozen different fawns in the Big Meadow area and we were able to get some very good images of the does and fawns on Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening and again Sunday Morning.

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 with 1.4 TC @f9 1/500 ISO500

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 @f5 1/160 ISO500 EC+.67

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 @f5 1/500 ISO800

Canon MK 1D; Canon 600 f4 @f5 1/200 ISO500

Canon 7D; Canon 70-200 f4 @70mm F9 1/250 ISO400

Sunday morning was windy and cool and the deer were very skittish.  The does were keeping close track of the fawns.  After a couple of photographers chased a couple of does and fawns around, the does deposited the fawns in the bushes and left the Meadow.  Then suddenly all the does hid their fawns and began running from the Meadow.  Soon Joan spotted what the problem was-a very healthy looking Coyote was crossing the Meadow and coming directly at us. It was hunting and it came to within 20 feet of us and stopped, sniffed around and went past a fawn about 30 yards in front of us and proceeded to a hiding spot for another fawn and killed it and ate it.  When it had finished that one, it found another one and killed it. It left that one lay.

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Until Next Time

Jim Borden

Maine Sightings

Just got home from our summer trip to Maine for Moose calves.  This year we did not locate any calves. They certainly were there as we found the tracks and heard their blats!  Maine, like most of the northeast, got their vegetation about two weeks early this year and it indexed the feeding cycles for browse versus ponds early.  Most of the ponds had already turned "sour" this past week so finding cows with calves was tough.  We did find a number of yearling cows and bulls and of course we had a great time being in the woods (black flies and all).  Mount Katahdin still has some ice slides present on it.  We were fortunate enough to see quite a few warblers and had the good fortune to observe an adult pair of loons with chicks.

It was also refreshing to observe the difference in moose behavior in the highly human frequented Baxter Park ponds versus along the Golden Road and remote ponds we hiked in to in Baxter (2 miles or so from nearest roads).  I enjoy observing and photographing the moose that are wary far more than the moose that are human acclimated.  I can draw a direct parallel with the elk in PA.  However, I have yet to find a "wild elk" in Pennsylvania and I go more remote than most of the hunters in Pa.

This yearling moose befriended an older young bull after mom kicked him out to make room and time for a new calf.

This whitetail doe seems to be in the same area every time we go there.  She is a good example of a human acclimated animal.  She feeds to within a few feet of us and as one can see, she is not the least bit stressed.

This is one of a pair of fawns that we found and for most of the pictures I had too much lens. This picture was taken at 3200 ISO to keep shutter speed to a point so I could get a sharp picture in the dark Maine woods.  In the days of film this picture could not have happened.

Observing and photographing a pair of adult loons with their baby chicks was a highlight of the trip.  We had to wait for the right time of day because of the angle of the light then hope that they floated to an area that they had been earlier in the day.  We lucked out and were able to capture about 500 images of the chicks and mom with a few of dad included.  I was amazed at how ill informed some of the "eco friendly" campers were when it comes to animal behaviors.  A ranger in the park and some women staying in one of the primitive cabins were concerned that some one was stressing the loons as the mother would drop below them while they were on her back leaving them vulnerable and floating on the lake.  It was obvious that they did not understand that is how the chicks learn to swim and it is when mom goes for food that she then feeds them. These images were taken with a lens setup equivalent to a 22 power spotting scope.

Finally, Joan and I celebrated an anniversary of sorts when we were there.  40 years ago this past week was the last time that Joan and I were in a canoe together.  Lets say that the experience resulted in two very wet individuals!  I love canoeing and I was finally able to coax Joan into a canoe on a very cold Maine lake and we had a ball paddling through Moose Bog and into a beaver dam.   No-we did not take the good cameras and big lens in the canoe--I am not that brave yet.