It’s become an annual meeting. I’ve encountered this same female snapping turtle in the exact same place the last three springs. I’m excited to see her – she’s big and beautiful, probably a 16” diameter shell - but I also feel badly. Each time we meet, it’s just as she’s working her way up the steep bank below the dam of the pond that she’s trying to reach. As soon as she sees me, she turns around and slides back into the stream, giving up all the ground she’s gained. Then she lies perfectly still in the water thinking I can no longer see her and waiting for me to leave. I look forward to next year’s meeting – with guilty pleasure.
Another one of those shots that was supposed to be a shot of something else. A new family of geese had spent the night on the pond and I was out before sunup to try for pictures. I couldn’t get very close because they were already on the water so I just settled into the opposite side of the pond under the cover of some camo material and shot them as they fed back and forth along the far bank. It was a busy morning; first a couple mallards, then the kingfisher, some mergansers, and finally my favorite - wood ducks. Their colouring is amazing. It is so vibrant, so crisp and detailed, that it appears to be painted on. They’re skittish but they didn’t see me undercover so I was able to get several good shots of them cruising the pond. I shifted my focus to one who had wandered off by himself to feed along the edge. Suddenly the sunlight broke through the trees and he lit up like neon. I started blasting away. Then something spooked him and I could tell he was about to take off. No matter how much I anticipate it’s always tricky to keep up with birds launching off the water. I was lucky this time to get three shots off while keeping him in frame. The goose family only stayed the day and then moved on up stream but seeing as how it was the first goslings we’d ever had, I took it as a sign of good things to come.
