Sunday, April 28, 2013

Oh Deer!



Last Saturday I decided it was high time to give my new wide angle lens a try over at the daffodil field at Mill Creek Park.  But contrary to my initial plans, using the new lens was not the most exciting part of this photo adventure.







After I gave up trying to fight the bright beaming late afternoon sun and all the shadows that come with it, I put my workhorse 28mm-300mm zoom lens back on my D90 and decided to just enjoy the regular walking path.  While stopped looking at the trail head bulletin board a couple walking by stopped and told us they had just seen a few deer on the path about a quarter mile down.  Of course I practically took off at a sprint.....but after speed walking and scanning the forest along the creek I spied no deer.

 But the creek looked sparkling and gorgeous as it ambled through the carpet of green grass and I saw a worn down footpath off the paved walkway so I clambered down the embankment picking up speed as I did...pausing and shouting back to my #1 assistant who was following me.  As I turned to look back, my trusty assistant grabs my shoulder and turns me almost face to face with four deer!!!  Of course they were beginning to move away as my bull in a china shop behavior is in no way conducive to sneaking up to wild subjects.  But their tails were down, and they were moving slow enough that we could follow.....so we trailed them along their beaten down path. 


How many deer do you see?  Hope you said three!
  




I didn't get the awesome perfect photo that I would have wanted....but it was my own fault!!  However tracking those deer through the picture perfect setting as people shouting and strolled at the top of the embankment on the main walkway was still thrilling, fun, and oddly soothing.




Tracks of my Deers


 Another fun highlight after the deer got too far away, on the way back I heard some quacking and looked to find a lovely mallard drake cruising along the creek.  He swam along quacking intermittently and then hopped up onto a rock near a spillway and to preen after a few quick dunks in the water!  Fun to see that happen in the wild for real instead of in a city park next to a football field.

All in all a nice kick off to the spring photo season.  I hope to have more posts as I get out there enjoying the great outdoors!


Deer path


If I was a deer I would want to live here!


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