6:00 am – at Holland Ponds, not much of a sunrise as the sky is overcast, it is a comfortable 65 deg F and dead calm.
I decided to visit our local Holland Ponds today, nothing particular in mind to photograph – most likely ducks or herons. This is a fairly large nature area, with of course, a lot of ponds and wetland areas. I brought my bag blind with me, as I knew I would have to be hidden for any of the very skittish herons or wood ducks to come close enough.
There is one thing, however, that I absolutely hate about being in a blind. You can’t see much that is going on around you. You basically have the view through your lens and through the small mesh window in the front. So, say you were concentrating on some wood ducks in the distance. A kingfisher could land 10 feet off to your left, and unless you heard its call, you would never even know it was there. And visa-versa, you hope that animal doesn’t know you are there either. So you have to rely a bit on your ears to sense if something was approaching behind you, and hopefully it is not a skunk.
Being in a blind does keep you focused. While boredom may set in while waiting, it does help you concentrate and absorb the natural beauty in front of you. It not only helps you blend in appearance with nature, but partly in soul as well.
My patience in the blind was rewarded by some ducks approaching closer, but never close enough to yield images I was after. There were many wood ducklings swimming about, but stayed a significant distance from the shoreline where I sat. There was a perfect log sitting in my view, surrounded by some nice marsh reeds – creating a nice green backdrop that was fairly orderly. No major distractions, bright sticks or twigs. I thought this would be the perfect spot for a heron to land on. It would make for a nice image of a bird in its environment. But despite my waiting, no herons.
Soon enough I heard some rustling off to my left. Some small critter was definitely approaching, and obviously unaware of my presence. I rotated my front window around a bit just to get a peek. To my surprise, a mink popped its head up out of the grass not 2 feet away. I seemed to be sitting directly in its normal path for the morning. So the mink appeared a bit more annoyed about going around me than alarmed that there was this unknown object in its territory. It went into the water in front of me, and then off into the marsh grasses to my right. About 10 minutes later, the rustling again to my right. The mink returns, this time with a frog in its mouth, traveling along the same route. Apparently I was sitting about 5 feet away from their den – and was witnessing the mink ‘bringing home the bacon,’ so to speak. I never did get a picture – the lens I was using simply didn’t focus close enough, nor did the the mink sit still long enough for me to grab a lens that did. It was a rewarding encounter nonetheless.
I needed a break from the blind and decided to photograph some nearby flowers. As I wandered around the edges of the pond, a green heron flew out and crossed the pond. Wouldn’t you know it – it landed right on the log that I had been watching. Very slowly I went back to my spot on the shoreline where I was in my blind. The heron did not seem to mind my approach – so I didn’ t use the blind. I was able to capture a few images that I had imagined 20 minutes earlier.
A few images from this morning are now in the gallery..
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