Showing posts with label Mongaup River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mongaup River. Show all posts

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Bashakill Wetlands and Mongaup River

Mongaup River
Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Canon 24-105 mm f/3.5 - f/5.6 Lens, ISO 50, f/32 @ 4 sec Manual exposure
Last weekend I spent Saturday evening on a trail along the Mongaup River. I was trying to photograph the fall scenery as well as anything else in the woodland. I started by taking photographs of the Mongaup River, trying to capture the fall colors and some motion blur. The photo is more of a water motion blur photograph than a typical fall color photograph, but I was happy with it. Towards the end of the evening, I sat on a rock along the river and watched the sun go down behind the trees. The beautiful yellow rays of light were coming in through the trees, but I was unable to capture the true essence of the scene I was seeing.

Mushroom Close up
Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Canon 24-105 mm f/3.5 - f/5.6 Lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 @ 1/60 sec. Manual exposure
I was also very fortunate to find one lone mushroom on a log that I was able to photograph. I also liked the way that the photo turned out. I have not done much mushroom photography, but I think that I will try it more in the future.

GreatBlueHeron1
Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1250, f/6.3 @ 1/400s Manual exposure
Sunday morning, it was a much darker dreary day. It was supposed to rain, and I wanted to get out before it started. So I went out to the Bashakill Wetlands at about 7 am.  I walked the stop sign trail where I had photographed the egrets the week before, hoping that I would see them again. I made it to the place where the egrets were, but they were not there. I decided that I would sit on the raised platform like the previous week, and wait to see what I could find. It was very peaceful because I did not see any other person at the Bashakill that morning. I think the weather kept everyone away. After about an hour sitting in the raised stand, I heard a Great Blue Heron. It came flying in and landed in front of me. I was lucky enough to capture a few photographs of it coming in. Then it actively was fishing in front of me for a while. I was unable to use my 1.4x teleconverter because of the lighting situation. But my Sigma 150-600 did an excellent job without it. It was fun watching the Heron fish for a while. Then I realized that it was getting agitated by something. Then I noticed something else behind the Heron in my viewfinder.

GreatBlueHeron2
Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1250, f/6.3 @ 1/400s Manual exposure
Initially I thought it was a muskrat or beaver. But after looking closer at the picture, I realized it was some river otters. They seemed to be fishing in the same spot as the Heron. The one photograph shows the Heron staring right at the river otters. I had not seen river otters at the Bashakill before so, it was a great treat. I had sat in the stand for about 3 hours, and mother nature rewarded me for being patient. Even though it was a dark overcast morning, it turned out to be a great day. At around 11 am, it started raining, and I decided to call it a day.
HeronAndOtters
Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1250, f/6.3 @ 1/400s Manual exposure


Overall last weekend turned out great, and I look forward to spending some more fall weekends taking photographs. Until Next Time.

GreatBlueHeron3
Canon EOS 6D Mark II & Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5- f/6.3, ISO 1250, f/6.3 @ 1/400s Manual exposure