Early Morning River Crossing

Each year, when Kay and I are back home for the summer, we always make sure to take at least one day where we get up early and haul our Wilderness Systems tandem kayak down to the Au Train River access in order to float down the river before “the amateurs” wake up and get out on the water. The Au Train River is a popular canoeing and kayaking destination and because it is a shallow, slow moving body of water, it attracts a large number of people who are somewhat inexperienced paddlers and are often very loud making it very hard to see wildlife. Every time we we are able to be the first people paddling down the river for the day, we are able to truly experience the tranquility of the river and we have always been able to have some amazing encounters with wildlife.

This year we had a beaver rise up immediately next to the kayak and swim along with us. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements and startle it, so I wasn’t able to put down my paddle to grab my camera - so, there was no chance to get a picture . However, it swam next to us, within touching distance for well over fifty yards.

This doe white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and its two fawns entered the river about about 75 yards in front of us and proceeded to make their way across. We stopped paddling and simply let the flow of water drift us toward them, while I was able to get this picture of their beautiful summer coats contrasted agains the lush greens of the mid-summer vegetation.

Sika Deer - Hokkaido

Whenever I plan on photographing with a specific goal, I always have something really great happen that was completely unexpected. In this case, I was at this location to shoot Japanese Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) While I was there, I became somewhat disenchanted with taking pictures of a ton of really big birds that were, for the most part, just standing around. One of the people that took us to the location pulled me aside and told me we should set up our cameras in a particular spot so we could get pictures of the cranes as they started to leave for their roosts as the sun began setting. I decided to practice shooting birds in flight, trying to get different effects of motion blur, either of the subject or the background, while I was waiting for the cranes. I took shots of ducks, swans, hawks, and eagles. At one moment, I looked across the field to see this male Sika Deer (Cervus nippon) moving through the brush. It stepped out into the light of the setting sun, paused, and looked straight at me. It was at that spot for 3-4 seconds, tops. Then it began running to find some more cover. However, that 3-4 seconds was enough for me to get this picture. It amazes me how often the concepts my Dad taught me, when I was a child, about hunting, now apply to a successful photo outing...practice, planning, patience, and pliability (adaptability).