weather
Pirate name: Poncy Henry Goodfellow
I got a nice surprise yesterday. My boss said I can get an extra day off. I woke-up real early today, and set off for a quite morning of birding. I headed West to Pickerel Creek, near Sandusky, Ohio. Pickerel Creek is a huge marsh, with several unkempt trails leading to Lake Erie. It also has a very nice observation platform. I decided to start here. I climbed the platform with camera, scope, and bins, and was greeted straight away by a Caspian Tern. I thought this had promise. There were several Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons too. Not much else was in the marsh or flying by.
I decided that maybe I would focus a little on insect photography for awhile. Right down the street was Blue Heron Reservation. Sam and I have been here a few times. Not much in the way of birds, but I remember it was very, very buggy. I thought maybe a nice close-up of a Mantis would be fun. I turned down the small, empty road that leads to the park, when I spotted something flapping on the ground to my left. My God! It was a Great-horned Owl. As I approached, I could see it had a fresh kill. A snake. I was able to get just a few feet from it. My God what a pic this would make. I reached for my camera, only to have the sinking feeling that I left it in the trunk. Cursing myself for making such a stupid, novice mistake, I rolled down the road to open my trunk and retrieve my camera. As soon as I opened the door, the Owl took to the trees, carrying his lunch with him. I ran down and managed to get one pic of it in the trees. What an opportunity I missed!
The rest of the day was pretty quite. Just the usual suspects in their usual places. I guess photographers, like anglers, will always talk about the one that got away...
Mike
I decided that maybe I would focus a little on insect photography for awhile. Right down the street was Blue Heron Reservation. Sam and I have been here a few times. Not much in the way of birds, but I remember it was very, very buggy. I thought maybe a nice close-up of a Mantis would be fun. I turned down the small, empty road that leads to the park, when I spotted something flapping on the ground to my left. My God! It was a Great-horned Owl. As I approached, I could see it had a fresh kill. A snake. I was able to get just a few feet from it. My God what a pic this would make. I reached for my camera, only to have the sinking feeling that I left it in the trunk. Cursing myself for making such a stupid, novice mistake, I rolled down the road to open my trunk and retrieve my camera. As soon as I opened the door, the Owl took to the trees, carrying his lunch with him. I ran down and managed to get one pic of it in the trees. What an opportunity I missed!
The rest of the day was pretty quite. Just the usual suspects in their usual places. I guess photographers, like anglers, will always talk about the one that got away...
Mike
