Knowing where to wait…

Remember the salamanders? I knew where they would be, but I could go out every night of the year and never see them until the conditions were perfect. Studying our subject is very important. Knowing behaviors and patterns a must.

Way back in the stone age, when I was in high school (really, I’m only 46), as I mentioned in the Timberdoodle post previously, I enjoyed skateboarding around Promised Land Lake with my camera. One day I went out with a specific purpose… to stand and wait along a little game trail on the far side of the lake. The trail lay near the shoreline, between the lake and a stand of hemlocks.

I dressed in camouflage, loaded up my backpack with cameras, grabbed my tripod and skated off. When I got to the trail my timing was perfect… the sun was still well above the tree tops. I quietly walked along the trail and chose my spot to stand and wait… patiently. The magic hour was near. The magic hour is when the light is low and warm in color and the wildlife become active.

Previous investigations along this trail revealed scat from many animals… White-tailed Deer, Coyote, Black bear and others I had not been able to ID. I knew it was a popular spot with tender saplings for the deer and blueberries for the bear! I knew the bears in the area pretty well, and was not afraid of them… respectful, not afraid.

Then it happened… I heard the rustling and snuffling. Something was coming along the trail — as I expected. Camera on tripod already, I posed perfectly still, my camo not revealing my position. A couple of deer browsed their way along the trail, stopping for the portrait above. Light fell perfectly upon them with the shadows of the hemlock stand behind. I had planned my position well.

As I photographed, I heard a subtle scurrying near my tripod leg. I looked down and suddenly a mink, soft and black, looked up at me from atop my foot! We stared into each others eyes for at least a few seconds before he jumped off. As I spun about to try to get a photo of him he disappeared into the tall grass near the lake. However, at that moment I saw the song sparrow on the stump pictured at the top. The setting sun outlined his feathers and I adjusted my Minolta SRT quickly for the change of light and got off one shot before he flew.

I had put myself in the right place, at the right time… had the 1% luck leading the wildlife to me and the skill to capture a couple of images that I continue to sell even though they were made on film (gasp!) when I was just 15 years old.