I previously wrote about the wildlife viewing area near this boat launch. From this little platform I was able to see and get shots of buffleheads and wood ducks. Some of the woodie pictures are really outstanding if I do say so myself. I used up the remaining space on the 2GB memory card that I started yesterday. It was time to move to the next spot for the morning.
I drove to the South Shore Recreation area and saw some ducks in the end of the cove. I parked the truck and checked out the ducks, they were Mallards so I passed on the pictures. I also saw a Red Winged Black Bird perched upon a sign near the edge of the water. I set up the digiscope and got some pictures of this guy as he was doing his spring mating calls.
After the Red Winged Black Bird flew off I caught some movement near the shore across the cove. This turned out to be a handful of Hooded Mergansers, unfortunately they were too far away to get any decent pictures.
I moved again, this time to the point of land where this cove meets the main lake. Out on the main lake, maybe 150 yards away, I spotted a Common Loon. I was ecstatic!!!! I had never seen one of these birds before and wanted to take full advantage of this opportunity. Luckily, the loon cooperated with me.
The entire time that I was shooting the loon there was a song sparrow singing away in a tree about 12 yards away from me. After I took about 50 shots of the loon I swung the digiscope towards the song sparrow. It was almost as if he was singing and posing just to get his picture taken.
My next stop would be the boat launch at McDaniel’s Road. I had stopped here before when the lake was frozen and the area showed some potential. I wasn’t even in the parking lot when I saw two osprey in a nest across the cove from me. I parked the truck and walked to the lake shore with the digiscope in hand. The osprey nest was about 150 yards away but the light wasn’t perfect so the pictures weren’t as good as those that I got yesterday.
I left the ospreys and walked to another small cove because I heard wood ducks calling from that direction. I just can’t pass up a chance at pictures of wood ducks in their mating plumage which they are in now. They have the most vibrant mix of colors of all of the waterfowl that visit PA. Try as I might I just couldn’t find the woodies that were doing the calling though.
While I was looking for the woodies, I heard a Blue Jay calling repeatedly. I looked around and saw the blue jay perched at the top of a tree nearby. I swung the digiscope around and started snapping pictures. I’ve seen blue jays quite often but I’ve rarely had a chance to get good pictures, here was my opportunity.
When the Blue Jay flew away I decided to pack up and move to the North Shore of Lake Arthur. I checked a few of my spots and found nothing. I stopped at one of the points overlooking the lake. As I was getting out of the truck I spooked two wild turkeys that were no more than 25 yards away from me; I never saw them before they spooked. These were two long-bearded gobblers and this was the start of the mating season so I used my turkey call to try and bring them back. Although they were gobbling in answer to each of my calls they wouldn’t come into the open for pictures.
After a few minutes I decided that the turkeys didn’t want to be sociable so I scanned the lake with my binoculars. In the water just off the point that I was on I saw a group of four Double-Crested Cormorants. I set up for some pictures and was able to get several before they went out of range. These pictures aren’t as good as those from yesterday but for a rare bird for this area I’ll take them.
After the cormorants were out of range I decided to pack up and head home. I had only 75 pictures remaining on my last memory card anyway. I also wanted to download the pictures to my computer at home to see what I captured over the last few days.
I was slowly driving down one of the back roads on the North Shore when about 150 feet in front of me something very tall and hairy walked across the road on two legs. This thing walked just like the Bigfoot in the famous footage from the 60’s. It crossed a 20 foot wide road in three steps!! I said to myself “Holy Sh*t it’s Bigfoot!!!!!” The camera was packed in its case so I couldn’t get pictures. This creature knelt beside the road with its back to the road. I pulled my XD-40 from its holster and said to myself “If this sumbitch really is Bigfoot I’m gonna give my taxidermist a heart attack.” I wound down the window and slowly drove towards the creature.
I was maybe 50 feet or less from it when I saw that its body wasn’t covered in fur but in canvas. I got a little closer and was able to make out the faded lettering on its back that read “PA Parks and Recreation Maintenance”. It was a maintenance guy with long dark hair and a long beard both the same color as his suit!!!
I pulled up to him and said “I thought that you were Bigfoot.”
His answer was “People say that all of the time. I saw you down on the point and I figured that I’d play a trick on you.”
I replied “You played a trick alright, you were almost on your way to the taxidermist.”
We both had a good laugh about the encounter and I went on my way. After 2 ½ days I drove some 600 miles and took more than 1700 pictures. I saw and photographed 20 species of waterfowl and birds as well as white-tailed deer, elk and turtles. It was an outstanding trip.
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