Woody Allen is alleged to have quipped “Ninety percent of life is just showing up.”
If one is a nature photographer, I’d put the percentage at 99 percent. It is really quite simple… if one is not out “in the field” one can not make nature photographs.
Besides, I can’t think of a better way to spend time than sitting out in the woods… or swamp… watching the non-human world go by.
Thus these days, when ever I have a spare moment, I don my green wellies (and other clothes for the literalists in the audience), apply a liberal coating of “bug stuff” and head off to the beaver swamp at the back of our property.
I went off thus garbed, and with camera in hand, after lunch yesterday. As I walked down the hill, I watched a coyote skirt the swamp staying carefully in the cover, cool and easy walking of woods. As I got to the swamp proper I flushed a great blue heron from the patch of open water.
As I immersed myself … quite literally at a couple of points… in the marsh, I noted many dragonflies (mainly frosted whitefaces and four spotted skimmers) out over the open water. Down in among the grasses and reeds were small numbers of damselflies and a number of Hudsonian whitefaces (one of the smallest dragonflies).
It is always quite amazing to see what happens when one just sits quietly observing. I often have dragonflies land on my shirt or hat. Yesterday, a small song bird alit in a small tree not more that five or six feet from where I had staked out an old brown stalk of vegetation remaining from last year.
I watched a four-spotted skimmer make dozens of forays from this perch. It was clear to me that some of the forays were for hunting and others were for defense of territory.
I was hoping to get a photograph of predator eating a nice large prey. The best I got were photographs of predator with the feet of small prey just visible as most was gulped down before getting back to the perch. Oh well! It was still nice to spend time in the field.
After about three hours, I headed back up the hill to the house. My rear end and knees were sopping wet. It is hard to stay dry while kneeling and squatting in a swamp. My boots were sloshing with a couple of inches of water. I stepped into a hole that was deeper than my boots are tall while my attention was focused on a damselfly pair laying eggs. I arrived at the house hot, thirsty, and happy.
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P.S. In today’s ninety degree heat, I decided to say inside and process yesterdays photographs. I know… I’m a wimp when it comes to the heat!