I made it to Erie National Wildlife Refuge in Crawford County at 6:40 and in the twilight of early morning I was able to make out Canada Geese on some of the ponds that I drove past. I knew that I would have better opportunities before the day was through so I didn’t bother to shoot those geese. At the Erie National Wildlife Refuge there are lakes and ponds scattered throughout the area, some along roads and others accessible only by hiking to them. I decided to drive past the ponds visible from the roads and if I didn’t see anything worth shooting I would hike to some of the other ponds.
I was driving past one of the ponds and saw a small flock of nearly 20 Ringneck Ducks; it was time for some pictures. The wind was still blowing quite hard from the storm last night; the temperature was in the mid 30’s but the wind made it feel like the high teens. It wasn’t a very comfortable first stop for pictures. While I was shooting the ringnecks, I noticed something among a flock of geese at the far end of the pond. I continued to get shots of the ringnecks as the new creature worked its way closer to me. Eventually he was close enough so I swung the digiscope in his direction. It was a diving duck but I hadn’t positively ID’ed him yet. I got into his rhythm as I do with all divers that I shoot and was shortly getting acceptable pictures. This little guy turned out to be a Pied-Bill Grebe! I had only seen one of these before and was unable to get pictures of him. Getting the pictures of this Grebe made passing up the photo opportunities earlier worth while. It was time to leave Erie National Wildlife Refuge. You could spend days there and not see everything but I had other places to get to today.
Woodcock Creek Lake is a small recreational lake near Meadville, PA. I had no idea what to expect to see when I got there. I pulled into a parking area on the east end of the lake and before the truck even came to a stop I saw more new-to-me species. These were all black, long necked birds a little smaller than geese. I found out later that they were Double Crested Cormorants. I had never seen this species of bird before and enjoyed the time that I spent photographing them, The stayed in range for more than 30 minutes so after my initial rush to get pictures I could settle down to pick and choose which shots I wanted.
After more than 50 pictures of the cormorants I packed up the truck for the drive to my next spot. I was crossing the causeway on Woodcock Creek Lake when I looked to the west and saw some Buffleheads less than 50 yards from the base of the causeway. I immediately pulled over and grabbed the digiscope. I’ve rarely had chances with this species this close to me. I was able to get 25 shots before the birds were out of range again. Now it was time to go to Cambridge Springs.
Cambridge Springs is a small village nestled along French Creek in Northern Crawford County. Just outside of town is a Pennsylvania Game Commission Game Lands/Wetlands area and this is where I was going.
My first stop in Cambridge Springs was a boat launch/picnic area on French Creek. As I was pulling into the parking area I saw eight Wood Ducks in a small marshy area near the side of the road. I parked the truck as quietly as possible and grabbed the digiscope. I was dressed in full Realtree Hardwoods APG camo as usual. I slowly crawled about 25 yards closer to the wood ducks but they were still spooked by my initial arrival. I made some greeting and feeding calls on my duck call but the woodies weren’t buying any of it. I tried a few more calls but had no luck with the woodies. Less than a minute after I finished with the last calls I heard a splash behind me. It seems that although the calls didn’t work with the woodies I did manage to call in 3 drake mallards. I laughed to myself for a few minutes about the mallards showing up like that. I was able to see the woodies the entire time but I wasn’t able to get them into a decent picture. The drakes were at the back of the marshy area and the hens were in trees.
My next stop was about ¾ of a mile down the road. This spot is a pond set up by the PA Game Commission as a feeding and resting place for migrating waterfowl. There is an access road/trail beside the pond with brush on the pond shoreline. This brush would provide cover for me to make my way along the pond without spooking any of the waterfowl.
I parked the truck across the road from the pond. I got my equipment ready and prepared to cross the road and walk along the pond. Just before I crossed the road, a guy on a LOUD Harley rode past. As he did a mixed flock of Blue-Wing and Green-Wing Teal flew away from the near end of the pond. It figures, two new-to-me species that I could have gotten great pictures of disappear because of a bonehead that thinks his obnoxious bike is cool. Don’t get me wrong, I like Harley’s but you don’t need to have the exhaust earsplitting loud.
Anyway I crossed the road and soon found a break in the brush alongside the pond. I used the Tetons to find that there was a nice mix of waterfowl still on the pond including Canada Geese, Mallards, Blue Wing Teal, Green Wing Teal, Northern Shovellers, Wood Ducks and Mergansers that weren’t spooked by Harley Boy. I continued walking along the access road until I came to the end of the brush. From this point I was able to set up and get some good pictures but not as many as I had hoped to get. Most of the ducks were on the far side of the pond which was 250 yards away. I couldn’t go on that side of the pond because it was privately owned and posted against trespassing. I filled the memory card that was started yesterday and drained the battery before walking back to the truck.
On my walk back to the truck I ran into some local folks that were just out for a walk. They told me of another place west of Cambridge Springs to try for waterfowl. (I did go there but there was nothing to be seen).
When I got back to the parking area I saw a guy in a pick up truck watching the waterfowl; I waved as I walked past and went to my truck. I had the battery changed and was in the process of changing the memory card when the guy from the truck walked over and introduced himself. I put the camera case in the truck, sat the full memory card case on the roof(remember this) and shook hands with the guy. We spent about 20 minutes talking about digiscoping, waterfowl and elk. It turned out that he is an elk hunting guide in Idaho every fall. I’ve met several people that work/live in this area most of the year but work as guides during the hunting season out west. Well we finished our conversation; he drove off as I was putting the digiscope and tripod into the truck.
I had hoped to get lunch at the Wooden Nickel Buffalo Farm and Restaurant in Edinboro but they were closed. Apparently they changed their hours. I did see plenty of buffalo at the farm but I didn’t bother taking any pictures of them.
I made my way to Pymatuning, making some of the stops that I did yesterday. The ponds that I stopped at yesterday still held nothing of spectacular so I proceeded to the spillway and nature center. I walked a trail from the nature center towards the closed part of the lake. While on this walk I was able to get pictures of a small group of Buffleheads. The excitement didn’t really pick up until I walked through the remainder of the loop trail to the far side of the nature center. I found an older man sitting on a bench with a spotting scope set up in front of him. He told me that he was there waiting for the eagles. It wasn’t long before we spotted one flying almost directly overhead of us. I turned the digiscope in the direction he was flying, just in case. I continued to watch the eagle soar out over the lake and back again until he landed in a tree about 800 yards away. I had the digiscope on him in a matter of seconds. The camera was satisfied with the focus so I started snapping pictures. Unfortunately the eagle was just too far away for the pictures to be clear. I didn’t realize this until I was home and viewed the pictures on the computer.
While I was busy watching the eagle I failed to notice the small flock of Bluebirds flying around the area. Again I quickly moved the digiscope and was able to get a few good shots of these birds.
It was now early afternoon so I decided to make my way back towards Lake Wilhelm; I wanted to try for the eagles and osprey there too. My first stop was where I got the osprey pictures yesterday. I was able to check the nest from the road but the birds weren’t there.
My next stop was an access area below the bridge that I was just on. I was told by a local that from this access area you can just make out the active bald eagle nest. I couldn’t find the nest but I was able to see an immature bald eagle perched above the water some 500 yards away. Again the distance was too great, even for the 40x eyepiece, for the pictures to be clear. I did however get some nice shots of Herring Gulls that were perched on a submerged log. I decided to drive back to camp before going to my next stop so that I could put a battery in the charger.
My next stop for the day was a small pond near the Lake Wilhelm marina. On my way to the camp I drove past this pond and saw some Ringneck Ducks. I parked the truck and didn’t even have my equipment out of it and set up before I saw a photo opportunity. There were Killdeer frolicking all over the parking lot of the marina. I got some shots of these hyperactive birds before starting my walk towards the pond. I was about half way to the pond when I noticed two Ospreys in a tree near the back of the pond. I immediately set up the digiscope and got some pictures in case they flew away before I got to the pond. After about 35 pictures I walked to the small observation deck on the pond. The ospreys were still there so I took another double handful of pictures before they flew off.
When the ospreys departed I busied myself taking pictures of the ringneck ducks in the pond. I was lucky enough to get some really good pictures of these ducks. Soon enough the ospreys returned and I was able to get great shots of these birds, almost at will, for nearly 45 minutes.
An older couple joined me on the deck and I explained to them how the digiscope worked. I went to the camera case in my pocket to get the memory card that I had switched out earlier in the morning and it wasn’t there!!!!! I double checked all of my pockets and still no memory card. I grabbed the digiscope and walked to the truck. I checked all through the truck and on the ground around it, no memory card. I went back to the camp and checked inside, no memory card. I ripped apart the truck again, no memory card. I was starting to panic, yes, really panic. That was a 2GB card, the card itself is easily replaced but the pictures on it would be next to impossible to get again. I went to the previous two stops that I made before I came back to camp the first time this afternoon and had no luck, the card wasn’t there. The last place that I knew that I had the card was Cambridge Springs, 40 miles North of where I was. It was nearly 5 pm now so I better get moving. A little over an hour later I pulled into the parking area at Cambridge Springs and saw my memory card lying on the ground next to where the truck was parked in the morning. I immediately tried the memory card, it was just fine, no damage and all of my pictures were still there. I suppose that I forgot to take the memory card off the roof of the truck before I pulled away this morning. I crossed the road to see if there were any waterfowl on the pond but it was empty. I turned the truck around and started the drive back to camp. I was done for the day. It was after 6 pm and I still had an hour to drive. I did have a truly outstanding day though so I was happy about that.
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