Category Archives: Nature Photography

Fly Like an Eagle

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I know he’d be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly.

~John Denver

A couple of weeks ago I made a trip over to the B. Everett Jordan Dam about 25 minutes from our house. I had seen a lot of images recently on social media of the Bald Eagles that tend to congregate there every winter and thought it was worth a visit. From what I have heard, you generally can observe at least a few eagles, but photography opportunities can be quite variable depending on the number of eagles present and how far down the waterway below the dam they are hanging out and fishing. My plan was to go fairly early, stay a couple of hours, and then head home before lunch to attend to the many chores that awaited.

When I arrived, there were already a handful of photographers strung out along the bank and a couple of fishermen. A tree near the office was decorated with numerous vultures of both local species.

When I arrived at about 8:30 a.m., there were probably 50+ vultures hanging out in trees near the dam, awaiting the warmth of the sun to create some thermals so they could become airborne (click photos to enlarge)

Looking downstream, I could see (and hear) a large number of Bald Eagles roosting in trees on both sides of the tailrace. I counted over 40, many more than were there last year when I visited.

Several trees downstream had multiple eagles perched in them

What really thrilled me were the sounds – so many eagles calling! Here is a short clip of a pair with others calling nearby (turn volume up).

— One of the best things about that day were the sounds. I have never heard so many eagles calling in one place (please note this is not the eagle call which you often hear on TV commercials showing a flying eagle – that screech call is actually that of a Red-tailed Hawk – maybe a marketer thought it was a more fearsome call and figured no one would notice – WRONG!)

It wasn’t long before eagles starting flying up and down the tailrace, and the morning light was spectacular.

The intensity in an eagle’s eye says it all

There was a mix of juvenile and adult eagles, along with lots of flying Turkey and Black Vultures, the latter species sometimes making you look twice at it to make sure it wasn’t an eagle (similar flat-wing profile at a distance).

Juvenile Bald Eagle showing its darkish head and splotchy underside. Adult plumage (white head and tail) usually occurs by year 5 of a Bald Eagle’s life. A one-year old eagle has a dark head and beak. Two- and three-old eagles are a little tougher to distinguish and can overlap in their plumage patterns. I think this might be a 2-year old bird – a lot of white on its belly, very splotchy underside of wings, and some feathers sticking out of line in the trailing edge of its wings resulting from a combination of older feathers and new shorter wing feathers. However, the little lighter coloration on top of its head shows how variable these plumage patterns can be at this age.

I am guessing this is probably a 2- or 3-year old eagle since it is has some yellow on the beak and some white patches on the underside. Notice here that the trailing edge of the wings is fairly uniform, unlike the previous photo.

Most likely a 4-year old Bald Eagle – mainly white head but with dark splotches, still a trace of dark on the tail feather tips, much more yellow on the beak, and less white on the underwings

During lulls in the eagle action, there were plenty of other birds to observe and photograph. Vultures, of course, and a bunch of Great Blue Herons along the banks and in nearby trees.

A Great Blue Heron provides a nice photo target as it flies by

I was impressed that the herons here have added a new tactic in their fishing repertoire. In addition to the usual stalk and strike, I saw them frequently fly out and snag a fish off the water surface, sometimes landing out in the deep water and then seemingly struggling a bit as they took off with their prize.

A Great Blue Heron flies out and grabs a fish that has passed through the dam

The other fisher-birds on the scene were several Double-crested Cormorants. Though often diving to catch a fish, they were also taking advantage of injured fish that passed through the dam that could be seen floating at the surface. A patrolling cormorant would spot one and rush over and grab it, often with several other cormorants ready to do the same if the first one missed.

A Double-crested Cormorant grabs a fish

If it can, the cormorant will manipulate the fish and gulp it down headfirst, with a visible downward-moving swelling in its neck as the meal is swallowed

On many occasions, however, the fish is just too big to swallow. Crappie (the dominant species I saw floating by) are fairly deep-bodied so it can be tough for a cormorant to get the whole fish down.

A cormorant has grabbed a crappie, but is struggling to swallow it as another cormorant lurks nearby

Oh so close…

I saw this many times, the bird tries to swallow a fish and finally has to drop it

If the cormorants don’t swallow the fish right away, the eagles perched nearby or soaring overhead take notice.

This adult Bald Eagle does a quick turn and heads toward a group of cormorants trying to secure a fish meal.

As the eagle closes in, the cormorants scatter with water drops flying through the air. The eagle flies just above the surface, talons lowered and ready to grab the cormorant’s would-be dinner.

Eagles are excellent fishermen and can grab a fish in full flight mode (which I found very challenging to capture).

I kept missing the shot of the moment an eagle grabs the fish but managed a few just after the capture. Often they were pretty far away so these pictures are heavily cropped (taken with my 500mm and a 1.4x teleconverter)

I moved around during the day and found my best shots were when I was down by the water surface

The moment right before an eagle’s talons hit the prey. Look at that concentration!

The eagle’s rarely missed, but when they did, I often saw the fish go flying through the air

A Bald Eagle is well-adapted to grab slippery prey like fish – the talons are strongly curved and the bottom of their feet have rough projections that help hold the prey firmly

After securing its catch, the eagle turns and quickly flies up to a tree branch to eat its meal

Bald Eagles can see 4 to 5 times better than a human. That somewhat angry look is due to a bone (the supraorbital ridge) that juts out over the eye. It probably helps shield their eyes from sunlight. Here you can see the transparent nictitating membrane which sweeps across the eye from the side and helps protect the eyes

What started out as a planned two hour photo trip to see eagles turned into an all day event that had me twisting and turning at times to try to catch the action as eagles flew by and swooped down to snag a fish. It was a thrilling day of observing some of the large concentration of Bald Eagles that call Jordan Lake their winter home. I made another trip a week later with friends, but there were far fewer birds below the dam. The water depth in the tailrace was much higher as more water was being released through the dam, so maybe that had something to do with it or maybe it is the approaching warm weather. As spring arrives, the eagle numbers dwindle, but there will still be quite a few that nest in the area, so get out around the lake and see if you can observe some of these majestic birds in action. And when the Ospreys return next month, watch for eagles trying to steal fish from their raptor cousins, always an aerial display worth seeing. Just remember to not pressure these birds (or any wildlife) so much as to cause them to get stressed and move on.

A majestic adult Bald Eagle in beautiful late afternoon light at Jordan Lake

A New Year, and New Happenings in the Woods

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Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will.

~Vernon Howard

The first days of the new year have brought a few more surprises and lessons from the trail cameras scattered in our woods. Several cameras have remained in one spot for many months because they tend to record lots of activity due to their location along a game trail or creek bed. But, based on some things I have seen over time, I decided to re-position a couple of them and, in one case, slightly alter the landscape around it. Here are some highlights from the first few days (and nights) of 2023…

–The first time I saw this buck on a trail camera, I thought it had broken one antler. But in this closer view, i am now thinking it is just a small spike that formed (the other one has three points and is much longer). Perhaps an injury during antler development caused this?

–A small pool formed in our wet weather creek after a recent heavy rain. Lots of critters have visited, especially the Raccoons and a few White-tailed Deer.

— The family of Raccoons has a regular path through our woods almost every night, rooting around in the leaves as they go.

— The same camera that caught the Raccoons used to be mounted a few feet off the ground on a tree trunk. I decided to move it down near the ground to see what might look different. My first capture was this Eastern Screech Owl (who has been seen on this camera before). I think it may have caught something and gulped a bite or two.

— The owl likes to land on a piece of log sticking up in front of the camera. The problem is it is seems to be a little too close to the camera for a proper focus.

— I decided to replace the close log perch that the owl (and other critters like squirrels and chipmunks) likes to use with a small mossy log that I found nearby. The owl immediately took to it the next night, but appears to be doing some trim work to make it more to its liking.

— Here’s a daylight view of the mossy log perch with a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos feeding all around it. This small mossy patch (probably a root ball from a tree that fell years ago) attracts a lot of bird visitors – the only green open ground in a sea of fallen leaves.

— The new log attracted a lot of attention from the regulars that use this woodland path.

— The young spike buck not only head butted another deer (previous video) but decided to check out the camera as well.

— I moved the camera that was several feet off the creek to a spot with a better view down the now dry creek bed. For the second time in just a few weeks, a beautiful Bobcat made an appearance in our woods It sure looks like the cat is wearing a collar but I think it is probably just a dark patch of fur, what do you think?


Wrapping It Up In Our Woods

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Departure of a year welcomes so many new memories.

~Munia Khan

Our woods offer a lot of things to us – a quiet soundscape, a canopy of huge trees that help cool our landscape in summer, majestic gray forms that stretch to the winter sky, and a source of nourishment and shelter for the countless wild neighbors that share our land. I try to observe as much as I can in my wanderings in the yard and on our forest paths, but I am not out there all the time. When I am not present, I have other eyes to record the comings and goings of the wildlife. In the final two weeks of last year, the trail cameras recorded the usual activities of the herd of deer (still munching on the abundant acorns), the scampering of squirrels, the nightly forays of the Raccoon family, and even some neighbors enjoying the woods. But there were also some nice surprises. Here are a couple of new memories from the final days and nights of 2022…

— The bucks are starting to hang out together now that the rut is about over. One of these looks like it has a broken antler.

Less than a minute after the broken antler buck left the scene, another nice buck entered.

— Another nice buck enters from the left while the one keeps chowing down on acorns.

I re-positioned a different camera to a more ground level view and was rewarded with some new camera critters…

— I had seen a chipmunk at this site before so I put the camera down low and captured some close up behavior

— A male Northern Flicker lands and probes a few times for its favorite food, ants, before taking off

The Raccoon den tree had a nice clip of two of its residents during the daytime for a change…

— Two Raccoons head back to their den in the hollow of the giant Tulip Poplar early one morning last week

I am always delighted to see some of the predators that call our woods home (or at least part of their foraging area).

— A nice-looking Coyote trotted by this camera twice, going in each direction, one night

— The biggest thrill is when the cameras see a Bobcat wandering through the forest. This large one angled down off a ridge and then followed the dry creek bed.

— Another camera downstream along the creek bed caught the Bobcat a few minutes later as it trotted through. This is the fourth time my cameras have recorded one of these secretive animals in the past two years (three times at night, once during the day).

That’s a wrap for trail camera adventures for last year. Looking forward to many more glimpses into the lives of our wild neighbors. Now, if only a wandering bear would stop by…


Night Flashes

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Life begins at night.

~ Charlaine Harris

It’s not just moths that I have been seeing out in the yard after dark. The new flash system has been out on a few nights with me as I wander the premises (carefully in case there are any Copperheads out and about) looking for what’s happening on the night shift. Here are some of the highlights of the late night crowd.

The sculptor of leaves, a May Beetle chewing its way through the foliage of trees and shrubs after dark (click photos to enlarge)
An Oblong-winged Katydid, Amblycorypha oblongifolia. Summer is the time for the katydids to come out and sing their chorus in the darkness. This is one of the katydid species that can occur in different colors other than the dominant green – orange, tan, yellow, or even pink.
A nymph of the Common Tree Cricket, Oecanthus sp., hiding on the underside of a leaf. An adult male tree cricket calls by rubbing the ridges of their wings together.
A common spider in our woods, this Spined Micrathena, Micrathena gracilis, is armored with stiff spines to deter predation. This is a female as they are much larger than males and are the ones that build the webs. Males probably use silk only during the mating ritual.
Annual or Dogday Cicada, Neotibicen sp. Although called “annual” cicadas, they actually have two to five year life cycles with some adults emerging every summer. Males produce loud high-pitched sounds by vibrating specialized round abdominal membranes called tympanums. Sounds can be as high as 100dB
The stars of my night-time strolls are the Cope’s Gray Treefrogs, Hyla chrysoscelis. This is prime mating season for these beautiful amphibians and we can hear their harsh trills from inside the house almost every night now. This one was shy when I approached and quit calling (his vocal sac is enlarged, but he is not inflating it for calling)
This one was not shy. Perched on a plant a few feet from one of our amphibian ponds, he was cranking out his calls trying to attract a mate. You can see the bright yellow on the inner thighs, usually visible only when the frog is moving.
Note the huge toe pads on this species, allowing them to expertly climb almost any surface.
I believe this is a female (because of the white throat). She was on the edge of one of our ponds, no doubt trying to decide which caller she liked the best. Once she chooses, she will approach the male and often touch him, and he will then grab her and, together, they will move to the water.
A small, loose cluster of eggs is laid at the surface of the water. They will hatch in a few days, with tadpoles developing into froglets in about 45 days.
Another pond dweller is easier to see at night – a Backswimmer, Notonecta sp. Note the long hind legs used like oars for locomotion and the upside down resting position at the water surface. Backswimmers are predators that capture prey with their front legs, and stab them with their strong beak-like mouthpart. They then suck out the hemolymph (insect “blood”) of the victim. They breathe by capturing air in a fine layer of “hairs” that cover their body.
Here is one of many larval Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) still living in our ponds. Eggs were laid in February and early March and the largest larvae now look to be about 2 inches long. They will soon absorb those feathery gils and leave the pond to find a home in the woods nearby.

Flash Mob, Part 2

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I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth.

~Stephen Hawking

I returned Friday from a few days helping out my mom in the mountains of Virginia and have been slugging around the house and yard trying to avoid the heat and humidity, It’s tough when you sweat through a tee shirt just walking around the wildflower jungle with a camera. Here are a few more macro subjects with the new flash set-up.

I posted some pics of the Red Aphids last time, a few of which were being eaten by Syrphid Fly larvae. These two have been killed by a tiny wasp parasitoid that devours their insides, pupates inside their empty husk, and then exits through the hole you see on their sides. These empty shells are called Mummy Aphids (click photos to enlarge)
Some hatched insect eggs (maybe Stink Bug eggs) on an iris leaf
An unidentified winged ant. I saw a few others one morning…perhaps a mating flight?
An unidentified sharpshooter (a type of leafhopper), possibly in the genus Draeculacephala, which means Dracula-headed.
An early instar of one of my favorite caterpillars, a Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus). I spotted the tell-tale folded leaf on a Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) out front. I gently opened the fold to reveal this snake mimic larva with incredibly life-like fake eyes. You can see the silk that the caterpillar spun on the leaf to fold it (silk contracts as it dries, pulling the two sides of the leaf together).
A large Rustic Sphinx Moth (Manduca rustica) caterpillar feeding on American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
A new insect (for me anyway) in the yard, a White-fringed Weevil, Naupactus leucoloma – one of the so-called broad-nosed weevils. Originally from South America, this beetle is now considered an agricultural pest throughout the southern United States. Males are unknown for this species. Oddly, I saw several of these one afternoon and when I went out the next day to look again, I couldn’t find any.
Another new species for me was this tiny (less than 1/4 inch) Saddled Leafhopper, Colladonus clitellarius.
Some of the hopper nymphs are just comical looking. I think this is a Coppery Leafhopper, Jikradia olitoria. The upturned abdomen is diagnostic.
Here is an adult Coppery Leafhopper. This species is quite variable in color as an adult. Many leaf- and planthopper species can be difficult to photograph since they tend to move under a leaf when approached with a macro lens. This one obliged me by perching in one spot while I took several photos.
I found several of these tiny predators throughout the yard. This spiky little guy looks like it just woke up from a hard night of partying. This is a Spiny Assassin Bug nymph, Sinea sp.
Unidentified fly. Note the toe pads and the fact that it has only two wings which makes it a member of the fly family, Diptera (translates to two wings).
One of my favorite summer yard critters, a Two-marked Treehopper, Enchenopa binotata. Treehoppers are known for their often bizarre shapes due to enlarged pronotums (the prominent plate-like structure that covers all or part of the thorax of some insects). This species is a thorn mimic.
Here is another type of treehopper in the Buffalo treehopper group. This one may be Hadrophallus bubalus (no common name, although something like triceratops treehopper seems appropriate). This is another new species for the yard. As a by-product of their feeding on copious quantities of plant sap, treehoppers often secrete a sugary substance called honeydew, which can serve as a food source for bees, wasps, and ants. You can see this one was accompanied by an ant. Ants often provide protection from predators in exchange for the honeydew.
A head-on view of the above treehopper. Interestingly, treehoppers communicate with one another by vibrating the stems and leaves of their host plants creating sounds too high-pitched for the human ear.
It seems as though spikiness is a thing in the yard right now. Here is a Spiny-backed Orbweaver, Gasteracantha cancriformis. This one is feeding on a large black ant. The rigid spines are believed to help protect them from predators like birds. This one was about 10mm across and is a female. Like many spider species, the males are smaller than females, in this case much smaller (only 2 – 3mm).
There has been an emergence in the yard of these flying tigers this week. This is a robber fly known as the False Bee-killer, Promaschus bastardii. I’m guessing the scientific name was coined by a bee ecologist. Every year, about this time, I see several of these large (a little over an inch long) robber flies snagging flying insects out of the air. Their loud buzzing is a give-away as they fly off when I am walking through the yard. I saw two this day, each with a species of bee (this one, a Honeybee, the other had a native bee of some sort).

Though the far reaches of the universe have been in the news a lot recently because of the amazing images from the James Webb Space Telescope, I continue to see aliens right outside my front door. Take a look and I think you will be amazed at what you can find as well.

Flash Mob

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What makes photography an strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time.

~John Berger

My macro light has been giving me trouble for a while now and we finally put in an order for a new one last year. It has been on backorder ever since. I started looking at reviews online and found another option at about a third of the price of the one I was replacing and decided to take the plunge and bought a Godox MF12 twin flash and wireless trigger. It is definitely fancier and seemingly has some advantages, but it is a bit more complicated and I am still learning how to use it after a couple of days. It does great during the daytime, but I am having some trouble with night photography (when you really need a flash) but I am pretty sure it is user error and I hope to conquer that soon. In the meantime, I’m afraid you may be subjected to a slew of pics of bugs here in the yard and the woods for a bit (my apologies to the squeamish amongst you that prefer flower pics….you know who I am talking about). Next step is to create some diffusion to soften the harsh light a bit. Here is a sampler of some macro subjects from the past couple of days.

One of our striking day-time moths, the Ailanthus Webworm Moth, (Atteva aurea) on Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) – click on photos to enlarge
Chestnut Carpenter Ant, Camponotus castaneus. This large (up to 10mm) ant is found throughout our woods nesting in rotting logs or under rocks.
One of my favorite insects, a nymph of the Red-headed Bush Cricket (aka Handsome Trig), Phyllopalpus pulchellus.
This beetle-like cricket has large palps (finger-like mouthparts) that are usually in motion as it explores a leaf surface in search of food.
Two-striped Planthopper nymph, Acanalonia bivittata. Adults are green (occasionally pink) with dark stripes along the top edge of the wings. On the back end of this nymph you can see some of the waxy filaments produced by an abdominal gland to supposedly help protect them from predators. Adults and nymphs pierce plant stems and suck up the sap.
Northern Flatid Planthopper, Flatormenis proxima. I love the venation in the wings of this common species.
One of the most abundant insects in our yard, the beautiful (and tiny) Red-banded Leafhopper, Graphocephala coccinea.
Yellow-striped Leafhopper, Sibovia occatoria, a species I rarely see here in the yard jungle. This little beauty is about the size of a small grain of rice.
Red aphids, Uroleucon sp., on the stem of a Green-headed coneflower, Rudbeckia laciniata. There are aphids predators on the prowl as well. The black-colored aphid has been parasitized (most likely by a tiny wasp parasitoid) and has died with the wasp larva or pupa inside. But what about those other things?
What I believe is a Syrphid fly (Hover Fly) larvae eating a Red Aphid
This morning along our walkway – a Spotted Orbweaver (Neoscona crucifera) with prey (I think it is a type of May Beetle, Phyllophaga sp.)

Huntington Portraits

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Portraits are about revealing aspects of an individual.

~Kehinde Wiley

Last weekend I drove down to Myrtle Beach, SC, for a surprise birthday party for my friend Scott. Of course, I had to visit one of my favorite birding and photography spots while I was there, the nearby Huntington Beach State Park. The causeway leading to the beach passes across an oasis for birds with a freshwater lake on one side and a tidal salt marsh on the other. With lots of time with old friends from my state park days, I didn’t make it over to Huntington at prime time of dawn or sunset, but still managed to grab a few mid-day photos of some of the residents. One of the great aspects of this place for photography is that the critters are very accustomed to people walking on the causeway and nearby trails and can be quite tolerant while you capture their portrait.

Great Blue Heron stalking prey among the oysters at low tide (click photos to enlarge)
A Tri-colored Heron moves about swiftly stabbing at small fish and shrimp
Snowy Egret staring into the water right before lunging at a small fish
A Great Egret sporting its breeding colors around the eyes grabs a killifish
I sat with this Double-crested Cormorant for several minutes while it dried its wings and preened. You need to be close to appreciate their eye color.
It is breeding season for the striking Anhingas and this male was looking dapper as it perched near a group of nesting pairs
While sitting with the cormorant, a passer-by asked me “Have you seen any?”. I asked, “Any what?” This is what she and many other visitors are hoping to see along the causeway.


Camera Captures

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These woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

~Robert Frost

The trail cameras continue to capture moments in the lives of our woodland neighbors. Here are a some clips from the past couple of months to highlight some of the mysteries of the forest after dark.

Most of the coyote video captures are similar to this in terms of behavior – very focused, trotting through the woods (unless they see the IR camera, and then they tend to flee). Their purposefulness made me think of the Frost poem above. This is the first time on our property that three coyotes have been recorded in one clip.
Another first for the trail cameras – Gray Foxes. Last year we had several weeks of captures of a Red Fox, but this is the first time Gray Foxes have been seen.
An Eastern Screech Owl landed on a slight mound on the forest floor containing numerous mouse runways and holes. The owl is just inside the field of view on the lower left. Did it catch a mouse?
The owl flies to a nearby sapling. I can’t see any prey…
Two nights later the owl lands on the camera. Was it attracted by the IR lights?
A few weeks later, the owl is back and presumably lands on the branch with the camera. This must be a good hunting spot.

— A beautiful Gray Fox stops by the Raccoon den tree one night to check it out

— It has been a while since we saw a Bobcat on our cameras. This one looks smaller than previous individuals. Hoping it can heel whatever is causing the limp.

Winter Wonderland

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Through the weeks of deep snow, we walked above the ground on fallen sky…

~Wendell Berry

I alluded to this trip in our last post when I whined about missing our “big snow” at home while we were away. Well, we were away in our happy place, Yellowstone. And, even though it is experiencing a relative snow drought this winter, there was still plenty in most places. We were asked by a teacher friend at the NC School of Science and Mathematics last summer to lead a winter Yellowstone trip for high school juniors and seniors. With the ups and downs of Covid, we were unsure about the prospects for making the trip happen, but, eventually, it came to fruition with all participants fully vaccinated and everyone agreeing to adhere to Covid protocols before and during the adventure. Melissa and I went out a few days early to scout things out and make final arrangements for lodging and meals. Melissa managed to find lodging in a hostel so we were isolated as a group and we had all our meals but one catered to minimize being in crowded indoor spaces. I will admit we were both a bit nervous about our first flight since the start of the pandemic, but, we were careful and everything turned out fine.

This is the first of a few posts about the trip. We had a nice mix of snowy days and bright sunny days, so we experienced both the quiet beauty of snow falling from gray skies and the glistening allure of diamond dust. That latter phenomenon occurs when a ground-level “cloud” of tiny ice crystals sparkles in the sunlight. Diamond dust usually occurs only in temperatures well below freezing. It is one of my favorite atmospheric conditions in Yellowstone in winter.

Below are a few of the scenic highlights of the trip…

Lamar Valley (click photos to enlarge)
There’s always more snow in the northeast portions of the park
Icy morning in the interior (on our snow coach ride to Old Faithful)
An all but frozen Soda Butte Creek
It was a very good year for Snowshoe Hares. Their tracks were everywhere! (pop quiz – which way was this animal going?)
The group on a snowshoe hike on the Thunderer Trail
Rime ice on trees along a waterway impacted by a thermal feature
The steam phase of the eruption of Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest geyser. The impressive water phase had happened the day before our trip to the interior. The water phase can be major or minor in length, with the geyser height in a major eruption reaching over 300 feet. The steam phase can last from a few hours to several days. Over the years, Steamboat has been unpredictable in its schedule with intervals between eruption ranging from 4 days to 50 years. The largest number of recorded eruptions in a year occurred twice, with 48 eruptions in both 2019 and 2020. This is the first time we have ever seen Steamboat erupting and it was a thrill!
The nearby Cistern Spring is believed to be connected to Steamboat Geyser. Cistern’s discharge increased in 1965, when Steamboat’s major eruptions were becoming less frequent. This surge in heat and water was so great that all vegetation immediately south of Cistern was killed, The water level in Cistern changes when Steamboat erupts.
The Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone as seen from Lookout Point. This waterfall is 308 feet high and, in winter, the ice mountain at the base of the falls can be over 100 feet tall.
Old Faithful geyser erupting. The beauty of this winter sunrise sighting was that only four other people besides our group were there to witness it. In summer, there can be several thousand people crowded on the boardwalks viewing an eruption.
Rime ice on trees in the Upper Geyser Basin

One of my favorite thermal hikes is the Fountain Paint Pots Trail where, in a short walk, you can see all four types of Yellowstone’s thermal features – geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles. My favorite are the mudpots. They are like a natural double boiler. Water collects in a shallow, impermeable depression (usually due to a lining of clay). Heated water under the depression causes steam to rise through the ground, heating the collected surface water. Hydrogen sulfide gas is usually present, and certain microorganisms use the smelly gas for energy. Microbes help convert the gas to sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock into clay. The result is a goopy mix where the gases gurgle and bubble. Minerals, like iron oxides,color the mudpots leading to the name “paint pots.” I find myself taking a ridiculously large number of photos here on every visit, hoping to capture an unusual shape as the mud erupts.

A spire of mud
Intricate patterns in an erupting mud bubble
A combination of spire and bubble
Grand Prismatic Spring from the boardwalk, the largest hot spring in Yellowstone, and the third largest in the world.
I love the incredible sunrises and sunsets in Yellowstone, especially in winter. Here is a flame orange sunset toward the end of our trip.
Melissa looking at wolves at sunrise

The next posts will cover some of the amazing wildlife we encountered during our adventure…

Refuge Ramble – Pocosin Lakes and Mattamuskeet

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Our public lands – whether a national park or monument, wildlife refuge, forest or prairie – make each one of us land-rich. It is our inheritance as citizens of a country called America.

~Terry Tempest Williams

Last week was another of those times I really appreciate our public lands. I spent four days on the road in eastern North Carolina doing what I love to do – watching and photographing wildlife and sharing it with others. I started out Wednesday morning at the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR. It was sunny when I arrived and one of the impoundments finally had some standing water in it so there were some swans hanging out close enough to observe and photograph.

Tundra Swans milling about in Marsh A on the Pungo Unit (click photos to enlarge)

The day started to take a turn as mid-day approached with light rain showers developing and a rainbow out across the fields.

Distant swans in a rainbow

The rest of the day was the kind of weather where my camera stayed in the car. Unfortunately, I didn’t, and before the day was done I was soaked along with a couple of folks hanging out with me. It wasn’t a total loss (it never is) as we did see a nice young bear and a wild canid. I am pretty sure it was a Red Wolf (that would be the 15th I have seen at Pungo over the years) but I can’t be 100% sure as it was about a hundred yards away when it dashed across a grassy road giving us about a 5 second view. In all my trips to Pungo, I have never seen a coyote but I know they do occur. This canid looked large and leggy, so I am pretty sure it was one of the few remaining Red Wolves in the wild.

The next couple of days were spent further east and I’ll share those highlights in the next post. Friday I was back at Pungo and enjoying the gang of four otters that have been a mainstay of the Pungo wildlife show this winter. One had caught a Bowfin and was munching away in a tangle of brush.

River Otter chewing on the head of a Bowfin

Two other cars had stopped and were out photographing the otter, so I moved on. Later that afternoon, I encountered the otter again and this time they climbed out on the bank and I was able to grab a portrait of one before they all disappeared into the canal.

Otter portrait

At sunset, we were out in the fields near the maintenance area where several thousand Snow Geese were already landing for their evening snack of corn. It is such a privilege to witness this gathering of birds and to share it with others.

I have been lucky to have seen this sunset show well over a hundred times in the almost 40 years I have been going to Pungo and it never gets old. And I love the reactions of people witnessing it for the first time. It is something they never forget.

The next morning was very cold, but sunny. Birds were flying, we had glimpses of the otter again, and a friend spotted a bird I don’t see very often – a King Rail. It was feeding along the bank of D-Canal and allowed us to sit and watch it for several minutes before disappearing into the tangle of vines and debris in what looked like a Muskrat or Nutria burrow entrance.

A King Rail was a highlight for me at Pungo

Mid-day found us driving over to Mattamuskeet where there were many more visitors and tons of waterfowl in the impoundment. Many of the visitors looked like duck hunters and I always wonder what’s going through their minds as they stare out at thousands of ducks. Northern Pintails are particularly abundant this time of year. The whistle calls of the males can be heard everywhere along Wildlife Drive. Anytime an eagle flies over, hundreds of ducks take flight and circle until the threat is gone.

A Great Egret stalking small fish in the shallows

The water level was high in the impoundment, so the ducks had free range over most of it and the waders tended to feed along the edges or at grassy islands. Great Egrets and White Ibis stood out in their white outfits against the dried grasses and blue water.

A pair of White Ibis crisscrossing their bills for the photo

Back at Pungo, we looked for and found the King Rail not far from its morning feeding area. It continued to skulk up under the overhanging tangle of vines and grasses along the canal edge…no wonder I rarely see them.

The King Rail was only a few yards from its morning spot when we returned from Mattamuskeet
The golden glow of late afternoon light on a pair of Tundra Swans in Marsh A

We walked down “Bear Road” seeing a couple of bears across the field and enjoying the beautiful crisp winter day. A few swans flew over, serenading us with their mournful whoo-whoo calls. I ran into several folks I know (I guess I am partly responsible for all these refuge visitors) and then headed out to the front fields, hoping for a show of several thousand Snow Geese. I stopped at the observation platform and did not see the birds out on the lake, so we rushed to the front fields where we found several hundred geese mixed in with feeding swans in the field. Where were the others?

Snow Geese swarming over the fields after a pair of Bald Eagles made the scene

We had not been there very long when I saw waves of birds flying in from the north. They had either been off refuge or around the bend in the lake, invisible from the platform. This was a huge flock of several thousand, flying in with their noisy nasal calls, swirling around the field with the late day sun reflecting on their bodies in a soft rainbow of colors. We were on the west side of the fields this time (I had been on the east side the night before) so the light was very different. The flock was landing about midway in the field, but when they would swirl around, hundreds of birds flew near us, squawking as they tried to settle down to feed. A couple of Bald Eagles flew across, chasing one another, and the geese exploded into the air (the swans stay put when eagles appear).

The magic of Pungo…

I believe there were more cars that night than I have seen at the sunset show (at least twenty scattered on both sides of the field), but, quite frankly, I’m amazed there aren’t a hundred cars every night. But, the birds are not always predictable and the weather can greatly affect their behavior. When conditions are right, like this past week, there is nothing like this anywhere else in North Carolina. Thank you, public lands managers.