Spring…

Ah, my favourite time of year. When everything around you in nature is just bursting with new life. After the long, quiet winter of things in stasis, the world seems alive again and so do I.

That period of time after the snow melts, but things are still dormant and the landscape is a monochrome of grey and brown is to me, a depressing time and one I look forward to leaving behind. No snow left to play in, but no sign yet of the life that has been dormant for months. But some rain (or lots of rain, as is the case this year) and some warmth work an amazing miracle.

That miracle is in full bloom right now. I look out our front window and we are surrounded by bright green – the trees – maples, oaks and ironwoods – surrounding our property. The woods are rife with wildflowers – trilliums, trout lilies, violets, hepatica, and Solomon’s Seal.

Trilium amongst the horsetails

And the air is alive with birdsong – Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Scarlet Tanagers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Great-crested Flycatchers, Blackburnian Warblers, and Veery. The insects are buzzing around in the sunshine. And the frogs are singing their hearts out.

A Blackburnian Warbler. This photo doesn't do it justice. The orange on his throat looks like it's on fire, when you see it with your own eyes

A Black-throated Green Warbler.

The frog chorus starts in April, with the emergence of the Spring Peepers, so aptly named for their timing and the sound they produce. It is a welcome sign that winter is over and that spring really is starting.  The Peeper chorus is loud…. And wonderful. I’ve lived in places in Ontario where the Peepers were SO loud that they drowned out the sound of our TV inside the house – and that’s with all windows and doors closed! Incredible!

Out here, at our little slice of heaven near Westport, Ontario, the Peepers are no less entertaining. The cool evenings of April start with the occasional peep and over the next several days, more join the chorus, until the cool night air is alive with the mating songs of these cryptic little critters. I love reaching that point in early spring where it’s warm enough to sleep with the windows open so that I can be lulled to sleep by the Peeper chorus.

Here we are, already three quarters of the way done May and there are still a few odd Peepers singing their song. But the next chorus in the succession of frog song throughout the spring and summer has begun – the tree frogs. The Grey Tree Frogs take over where the Spring Peepers left off. It starts with the odd trill during daytime – frogs up in the tree tops  calling back and forth to each other. As the days get warmer, the calling becomes louder and more frequent. But the real spectacle happens at night.  The tree frogs turn our surroundings into what sounds like a tropical paradise!

Grey Tree Frog

Last night, after a very long days work around the yard, we decided to have a much-needed soak in the hot tub. The warm water felt good on our aching bodies. But the sounds of the tree frog chorus soothed the soul. The sound was incredible! I honestly felt like I was back in the tropics. The air, from every direction, was alive with the trills of tree frogs, singing their songs of sweet frog love. To me, this is one of the nicest parts of spring. I look forward to it every year and savour it until the last frog sings his song. And once he has, the next chorus starts – the bull frogs. We have a 4 acre beaver pond right behind our house and last summer the bull frog chorus was SO loud that there were nights where it was hard to sleep. But it’s still a nice sound….a lot better than the sounds of cars, buses and people.

Grey Tree Frog

A Photographic Exhibit – the Reptiles and Amphibians of Gatineau Park

It’s spring. The weather is great (well, mostly…) and it’s time to get out and about. So why not head to Gatineau Park for a walk. And while you’re there, how about stopping by the visitors centre for a look at our new photography exhibit, showcasing the reptiles and amphibians of Gatinueau Park.

The exhibit consists of 18 images representing 17 of the  26 species found within the park – a variety of frogs, salamanders, turtles and snakes. Images were contributed by me (Shelley Ball), Claus Vogel, France Rivet and several of France’s colleagues from the Club de photographie Polarisé de l’Outaouais (Robert Amiot, Robert Gravel, Lucie Béland, Jean-Pierre Riffon, Gilles Bechdolff, and Sheila Martineau).

Go have a look and let us know what you think!

Where: Gatineau Park Visitors Centre

When: Now until the end of August.

Here are some images from the exhibit….

France and I in front of a couple of our images. France - in front of her great image of turtles. Me, with my shot of an Eastern Newt (above my head)

Me (Shelley) beside my image of a Grey Tree Frog.

Our exhibit at the Gatineau Park visitors centre.

Familiarity Breeds Contentment

Gee, I’ve been out of town for nearly a week for work and now I have a back log of blog entries. But today I want to talk about another important aspect of wildlife photography that I encountered today – familiarity.

In my mind, there are two categories of wildlife photography, at least when it comes to location. The first is the exotic location – somewhere far from where you live and the animals and habitats you photograph there are different from what you typically photograph. These trips are great, but usually mean $$$. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be in Alaska photographing brown bears and hopefully one day I will be. But photographing the things you don’t typically get to photograph does cost money and also requires considerable time and effort.

The second category involves photographing wildlife ‘in your own backyard’. This can be taken literally or figuratively. I’m really fortunate to have a 15 acre ‘backyard’ consisting of a large beaver pond surrounded by forest. Heaven! And there’s plenty of wildlife in and on it. But you don’t have to live in the country to still have access to wild places nearby. Local conservation areas, natural areas and reserves are perfect.

Ok, so maybe your ‘own backyard’ doesn’t seem as rife with adventure as going to Alaska. But it’s a lot cheaper and convenient. And you have the benefit of visiting that nearby place over and over again, which brings me to the point of today’s post – familiarity.

Photographing in a place that you visit frequently has some big benefits. Namely, that you become familiar with the species you’re likely to encounter at that location and also, that you’re likely to find those species in certain areas at certain times. This provides a level of predictability, which can be extremely helpful when there are certain species you want to photograph and it might take several outings to get those photos that you want or need.

An Eastern Towhee serenading me (copyright Shelley L. Ball)

For example, last week, I walked to an open area along the dirt road that we live beside. Using my iPod, I played a few bird songs briefly just to see who was out and about. I’d heard and seen a Chipping Sparrow and so played his song to see if I could entice him out for a photo. But in the process, I heard the call of another bird. I wasn’t sure what it was so I played the songs of a few different likely candidates. I got lucky. A beautiful Eastern Towhee flew over to me and began singing his heart out. At that point I stopped playing his song and just sat and watched him sing to me. It was a really grey day and so the dull skies didn’t make a very good background, but I wasn’t going to miss this great photo opportunity just because of some grey skies. I did get a few photos that I’m happy with.

Checking out who the intruder is (copyright Shelley L. Ball)

Today, a week later, Ray and I hopped on the ATV and went for a ride down the dirt road just to have a look around and scout out some wild flowers. On the way back, we stopped at that same place so that I could play the Towhee’s song and see if the pair was still around. This time of year there are a lot of migrants passing through and so you don’t know who’s passing through and who’s here to stay for the summer. I only had to play the Towhee’s song for about 5 seconds when I heard him answer back. I didn’t have my camera with me. But I did learn that both the Towhee and the Chipping Sparrow have territories at that spot and so now that I’m familiar with this, I can go back again and again to take photos. On the way back, I realized that I know the location of several species (Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Swamp Sparrow) territories along that road. This familiarity will allow me to maximize my chances of getting some good images since I know where and when to find these species. And that makes me content.  :o) So, familiarity really does breed contentment…