I love spring; it’s such a glorious time of the year! Plants that lay dormant over the winter now explode into a volley of green.
It was the beginning of May, and I was trying to plan a birding/photography day. But here in western Oregon, spring doesn’t just mean new growth and pretty flowers. It also means LOTS of rain! When the weather forecast finally showed a break in the rain, I quickly gathered my camera gear and game call and headed for the Cascade foothills.
My main plan was to photograph wild turkeys. That’s why I had the call with me. Turkeys are very smart and wary. They also have superb eyesight, making it hard to get close to them. However, this time of the year, toms can be quite gullible as well as “gobbley.” Many times they can be persuaded to come in close with a series of excited hen calls.
The place I was going usually has lots of turkeys. The week prior, I had harvested a big tom after calling it in to under 20 yards/meters. So, my hopes were high as I anticipated my afternoon in the woods.
When I arrived, I parked my truck and headed up an old skid road toward a pond nestled in a grove of old-growth oak trees.
As I rounded a bend in the path, a lone turkey took off at a dead run. (Turkeys are fast on foot, preferring to run, only flying when they have to.) I raised my camera, but it was gone before I captured any pictures. He was headed in the direction of the pond, so I dropped down into the woods and approached the pond from below. When I reached the pond, not a turkey was in sight. I called on and off for ten minutes. When nothing showed up, it was time to move on.
I turned back into the forest. I had one more place to check out, a meadow about 800 yards north, where turkeys almost always hang out.
It was cool and dark in the woods. The young Douglas fir trees grew closely together, blocking out much of the sunlight, creating eerie shadows on the forest floor.
I was almost out of the woods when movement caught my eye. There, darting amongst the trees and rummaging through the fir needles, was a large gray squirrel. I brought my camera up and fired off a few shots before it vanished behind some shrubs.
When I viewed my pictures, I was disappointed with blurry, gray streaks. I was shooting in Av (aperture value) mode with the aperture wide open, but I had failed to raise the ISO for the low light conditions, resulting in the blurry pictures. I cranked up the ISO to allow a faster shutter speed and crept toward where I’d last seen the squirrel. There he was at the base of a tree, nibbling on his lunch! I snapped some more pictures before he scampered off into the treetops. This time when I looked at my pictures, Mr. Squirrel’s movements were frozen, and I was pleased!
I popped out of the timber at the edge of a large clearcut dotted with wildflowers. Kneeling in the grass, I admired the tiny yellow buttercups and studied each perfect petal of the little purple geraniums. I pondered the love of our Creator, Who, at His word, spun the Earth into orbit, and Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. In His wisdom, He made a way for us, meager humans, to have a personal relationship with Him! What a wondrous love! I lingered in the warm sunshine before continuing on my way.
As I headed into the woods, I passed a large hawthorn bush in full bloom, with little elegant white flowers. Movement again caught my attention. This time a Steller’s Jay hopped among the branches. I let my camera do its thing and continued on. Soon I approached another pond where a lone Mallard swam leisurely around. When he saw me, he erupted into the sky, heading south, releasing a series of quacks as he went. I also noticed a pair of Red-tailed Hawks playing in the sky. I watched them for a few minutes before they disappeared over the treetops, carried by the thermals.
I was nearing my destination. I worked my way along the edge of the woods, adjacent to a large grassy pasture studded with oaks and wildflowers.
Suddenly, there, not 50 yards/meters away, was a turkey! I skidded to a halt behind a tree, but it was too late. I tried my best to look like a tree, but it didn’t work. His beady little eyes pierced right through the brush and locked onto mine. We stood there in an awkward silence before he gave a haughty flick of his head and dashed back up the hill the way he’d come. I let out a sigh. I was foiled again.
I dug my call out of my backpack and crept to the top of the hill. I set up the call about 20 yards/meters behind me, and got into position with my camera at the edge of the woods. When I turned on the call, it was immediately answered by a chorus of gobbles in the woods on the other side of the meadow.
Unfortunately, where they were coming from was private property. So I decided I’d get as close as I could. I sneaked to the bottom of the meadow and started calling. Again they answered with gobbles. With each gobble, I could tell they were getting closer.
After what seemed like forever, a lone tom came meandering toward me through the meadow with a curious expression on his face. I started snapping pictures. He came all the way in to 40 yards/meters.
Meanwhile all the other toms continued gobbling just out of sight on the other side of the brush. They were so close I could hear them spitting and drumming as they strutted around.
The lone tom soon became suspicious of the “excited hen” that wouldn’t show herself, and parted ways to find a more genuine friend.
After some time, when the gobblers refused to show themselves, I decided it was time to head home. On the way out, I paused by a blackberry thicket to photograph some White-crowned Sparrows as they flitted around looking for supper.
As I came out of the forest, there in a small clearing was a deer, a blacktail buck with small fuzzy, velvet-covered nubs that would soon branch into antlers. He stared at me with soft brown eyes. I hurriedly snapped some pictures before he melted back into the forest.
I was almost back to my truck when I passed one more small pond. It was occupied by a male Wood Duck! I hadn’t seen one of those in a long time! It exited rapidly before I could take a picture.
As I started down the gravel road, a covey of California Quail exploded in front
of me, their little black plumes bobbing. I slammed on the brakes and snatched my camera off the seat next to me and snapped some pictures out the open window.
What a fun, successful day! It was so refreshing spending time with God in His creation!