- Kathy Malone is a guest blogger this week.
The last time I remember feeling this way was when I passed the math section of a college skills test. I failed it once. Oh the feeling when finally I passed it after studying “Math the Easy Way” for months during lunch breaks at work.
Getting a nice shot of LeConte’s Sparrow triggers the same sort of feeling. In north Florida, we are at the southern end of its winter range. Shortly, it will leave for the long journey to Canada where it breeds.
LeConte’s is a reclusive ground forager and is difficult to see. Filled with grand expectation but scarce hope of landing a nice shot, I set out to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. After a four-mile hike, I nabbed a bobcat that strolled alongside in a swale. I was going to have fun looking at photos that evening. But since I still hadn’t seen the LeConte’s, I went to try another place.
I hiked a mile or two into Barr Hammock Preserve where birders reported sightings. And voila! In flesh and blood (and fine feather) it appeared like a celebrity. But it stayed hidden. Shoot!
Well, I did just that, many times, always with a blade of grass over it somewhere. Gosh, this was frustrating! After several hours…still not an acceptable shot. Finally, I managed to eek out an okay backlit shot, but nothing photo-processing software couldn’t make respectable. This was fun! I got a nice shot and…exercise. I hurried home to download a day’s work.
I plugged in the CompactFlash card. Nothing. Nothing is happening. Panic… after all that. Rescue software, file after file, spewed “read errors” for a nauseating two hours. My techie twenty-something son Ryan couldn’t even crack the code!
Plan B…back to more LeConte stalking where the bird was likely to be found. I spotted the bird for a second only to see it vanish. My back muscles and hands felt the weight of the heavy lens after two hours…always in “ready-to-shoot” mode should anything shock my senses such as a LeConte’s in the open. At eye level even? A clear, close shot. Impossible!…well that day at least. But thankfully not the next.
I approached the spot where I had seen the bird before. Ah ha! But again, grasses obscured the bird. My hopes waned. My shoulders slumped. My frown would not turn upside down.
I patrolled the area for nearly three hours . C’mon, c’mon. There it is…at eye level and nothing between us!? “Keep it together,” the producer tells the Geico gecko. So I did. Shutter click…click. Our mutual gaze told me we were old friends.
Godspeed tiny bird as you find your way to Canada! And thanks for refreshing the joy. I hope your portrait inspires. You teach us well.
This week’s guest blogger, Kathy Malone, co-developed Project Butterfly WINGS, a national butterfly-monitoring program for youth. She became interested in butterflies when her son was 5. He is now 23 and she continues her butterfly pursuits along with her new interest in birds in north Florida and Spring Hill, Tennessee.
You can read about WINGS here: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/educators/resources/project-butterfly-wings/.
See more of Kathy’s bird and butterfly photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmalone98.