Whitetail Breeding Continues

While the 2015 whitetail rut is now a memory, some breeding activity continues.  This doe apparently did not conceive earlier during the rut and is again receptive to a bucks advances.  If this mating was successful it will result in the doe giving birth in early July. 

The following sequence of photos were of the mating encounter observed this morning.

Speed: A Whitetail Defense

 Whitetail deer have a number of defensive tactics to draw from in their attempt to survive hunting seasons.  Four photos below illustrates one oft used and very successful defense, running.  While deer can be shot running the fast moving deer is a very difficult target.  Not only is the deer capable of  running at speeds well in excess of 30 mph but it can also bound high into the air and change directions on the proverbial dime, all without slowing!

The defensive tactic of the buck pictured below is not nearly as effective.  He was taken on the first day of the firearms hunting season three days after I captured this image.

After the Storm

After raining all day yesterday, the sky was broken as dawn crept across the landscape this morning.  Before the sun had the chance to crest the nearby mountain a double rainbow developed in the west perfectly framing a herd of whitetails feeding in the meadow.

Summer Whitetails

As the first day of summer nears and the daytime temperature reaches into the 90's, the whitetail deer are in their full summer pattern.  Adult bucks are traveling in bachelor groups and provide outstanding photo opportunities when encountered.  And the bucks are only part of the story for by now most of the season's fawns have been born and are beginning to travel about.  The following photos were captured while spending a few hours this morning sitting quietly between two creek crossings.  

March: Wind & Snow

 

March, is a month of transition, some days are like winter while others are more spring like.  With snow falling today and tonight's temps to be in the single digits, one would never guess that spring is only two weeks away. 

 

Winter will soon be past but for some animals spring will not arrive soon enough.  Last year's growing season provided mast, grasses, and browse that wildlife depends upon to get through the winter however by now many of those foods are or will soon be exhausted.  It has been my experience that small fawns, weakened by winter, frequently will die about the time the grass begins to green in spring.

 Birds that flock to feeder are more aggressive now than they were a few weeks ago.

 

Earlier in the year the bird feeders were a nicety, a place for an easy meal.  Now with natural foods becoming more difficult to find fights between birds frequently erupt. 

 

Soon spring will usher in a new season of abundance, but until then many species of wildlife are facing their hungriest time of the year.

Rut Photography Ends in a Bang

 

As daylight creeps across the Pennsylvania landscape the sound of gunshots will be heard in the more rural areas.  Firearms deer season will open with antlered deer being legal statewide and antlerless being legal in a few management areas.  While Monday morning will be the beginning of "deer season" for the firearms hunters it will signal the end of photographing the whitetail rut.

The whitetails two most important defensive tactics are stealth and speed with this racing buck illustrating the latter.

 

Thousands of hunters across the state will fill their tags tomorrow while many will return to home or camp with the story of the deer they missed.  Along with the successful kills and the misses will be a significant number of deer wounded and unrecovered.    

 

 

A casualty from and earlier year, this old buck actively participated in the 2014 rut even though his left front leg was missing.   For any hunters reading this please remember, Safety First!  Be sure of your target, make sure you have a safe backstop, and choose your shot carefully.  Remember once fired a bullet is a lethal missile that cannot be recalled.  

 

Death in the Outdoors

The seemingly endless cycle of life goes on mostly unnoticed by today's modern humans.  We are so insulated from reality by our society and technology that most Americans no longer have any connection to the source of their food.  While backyard gardens are making a resurgence, the rearing and home butchering of meat animals is practiced by a comparative few.  I dare speculate that few people who sat down yesterday for a Thanksgiving dinner gave a second thought to the fact that a real live turkey with thoughts and feelings was killed to make their feast possible. 

 

However in the outdoors the animals must deal with the cycle of life on a first-hand individual basis as shown in the following photographs.   

 

While driving a back country road Thursday morning I first noticed a raven feeding on something in the fresh fallen snow.  As I began approaching, the story of the nights event was spelled out in tracks and blood stains.

 

A fawn, one which was either sickly or born late judging from its small size, had been pulled down by coyotes.  The snow told the story of where it was first pulled down, regained its feet and moved a few yards before being taken down the second and final time.  The remainder of the blood stains were where it was dragged as the coyotes fed on its small body.

I have heard a lot of people complain about coyotes killing deer and some will view the photos shown here and condemn the coyotes.  While coyotes do kill some deer I have rarely had the opportunity to view their kill sites.  Unlike human hunters which harvest the biggest and the best, coyotes kill the frail, the weak, the ill, and the very young.  I cannot help but think that the selection practiced by the coyotes and other predators is beneficial to the deer herd as a whole, unlike the selection practiced by humans.    

Poke Weed: More Than a Perch

Dead poke weed is a favorite of mine for providing photogenic perches for winter bird photography however poke is also a good wildlife forage plant as well.

 

In casual conversation with my brother, he mentioned that a fellow photographer had noted that he had never seen anything eat poke.  I began to think of what I had observed and photographed in the past.  While I have observed a few different species of bird eating poke berries the below photos document both deer and a cardinal utilizing the plant.  While I have never seen a deer eating green poke leaves I have watched many times as they stripped a plant bare of its dead leaves during the winter months.

 

Here a doe eats poke berries that are beginning to shrivel after having been killed by an earlier frost.

 

A molting male cardinal sits on a poke branch, his bill stained by the plump ripe fruits.

 

 And a whitetail buck nibbles poke berries that have just ripened in the late summer.

 

 

So while poke does make great perches for bird photography, it is also a good natural food source as well.

 

Springtime has Everyone Running and Leaping

Whether wild or domestic, after a long winter, Spring is SOMETHING TO GET EXCITED ABOUT!

 

UP UP and

Away!

 A pair of three week old heifer calves frolic in the warm sunshine.

Their pair-bond may not last long but hopefully they will remain on the farm for years to come as they are destined to replace some of the older brood cows in the current herd.

While the cattle must remain within the fences the deer cross over easily. 

And no matter whether the fence is three foot high or six foot they nearly always use minimal effort, barely clearing the top strand during their jump.

 

Captures of Winter

After experiencing mostly mild winters for the past two decades, this winter has seen sustained cold and snow.  I captured the photos posted here before a brief warming spell melted much of the snow pack a week ago.  Now with snow and 0 deg. temps in the forecast for tomorrow there is no doubt that we must wait a while yet until winter loosens its grasp.


Canon EOS 6D, EF 24-105mm f/4L USM @28mm    f/5.6,1/800/ISO-160




Canon EOS 6D, EF 600mm f/4 IS USM   F/5.6, 1/100 ISO-320



Canon EOS 6D, EF 600mm f/4 IS USM   F/5.6, 1/400 ISO-800



Canon EOS 6D, EF 600mm f/4 IS USM   F/5.6, 1/2500 ISO-320



Canon EOS 6D, EF 600mm f/4 IS USM   F/5.6, 1/125 ISO-320



Canon EOS 6D, EF 600mm f/4 IS USM   F/5.6, 1/160 ISO-320

Winter, a Challenge to both Wildlife and Wildlife Photographers

A gobbler stands on one leg while resting and warming the other

 

Mid-winter; a time of freezing temperatures, snow and ice makes survival in the wild a daily challenge for wildlife.   Without the cover of leafy foliage to hide behind and with the ground covered by white snow, many species of wildlife are more easily spotted now than at any other time of the year.

 

Adult Wild Turkey

 

During this past week we experienced two winter storms, first a wet snow on Monday followed by a snow and ice storm Wednesday.  Following Wednesday's snow and rain the temps dropped, turning the heavy wet snow that blanketed the ground into ice.  Neither deer nor turkeys are able to break through the resulting crust and cannot reach the food below.

 

A yearling buck stands with his coat fluffed to ward off the cold morning chill.

 

 

During weather like this deer spend a considerable time each day browsing.

 

 

 

And nibbling at dried grasses that remain uncovered.

 

Winter also presents its own set of challenges for the photographer.  Aside from how to keep warm enough to spend time outdoors and what we must do to keep our photographic equipment functioning, snow presents a challenge of its own when it comes to properly exposing a photo.  As anyone who has spent any time on Facebook can attest, most of the snow photo posted are exposed much too dark.  With the exception of some snow-scene photos taken in bright sunlight, the camera's built-in light meter will under-expose any photo shot on auto.  

 

Manual exposure, exposing strictly for the subject, or exposure comp can be used to nail down a good photo.  Since I usually shoot in aperture preferred I use the exposure comp wheel and watch the histogram to assure that my exposure is within the proper range.  I used exposure compensation of +.3 to +1 stop to nail down the exposure for photos in this post.