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ALLAN BOVEE - PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES IN NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
JULY 2005 The first time I ever saw a myrtle warbler
was when I lived on a lake in Highland, Michigan. I had started feeding birds in
my backyard throughout the winter and became aware of all the species that came
to feed. With my Petersen's field guide I could identify all the birds with no
problem. One Spring day I noticed some birds in the shrubs by the water. When I
looked though my binoculars, I couldn't believe how beautiful they were. I knew
they must be a wood warbler species but there were several pages of them in the
field guide, how to narrow them down to these I was seeing? Fortunately, the
birds stayed in the shrubs feeding on insect larva and berries and I had enough
time to eliminate all the similar looking birds until I was positive - I was
seeing a group of myrtle warblers. Since then, this eastern species of wood
warbler has been found to interbreed with a western species, the Audubon's
warbler and the two have been lumped into one species - the yellow- rumped
warbler. I have never liked the new name and still call the birds the myrtle
warbler. That first identification is probably the species that turned me into a birder. No longer just satisfied with seeing birds show up in my yard, I began to pursue the species that don't come to feeders and that in turn led me to far away places. Also, just a glimpse of a bird has never been satisfying for me either and I took up photographing them. Now I could have permanent images of them all over the walls of my house. It turns out the myrtle warbler is one of the most common species of wood warbler. Unlike the other warblers that feed only on insects, the myrtle also eats berries including those of the myrtle tree from which it gets its name. This gives the bird an advantage over the others in that they can migrate north earlier and stay later when no insects can be found. I see these birds every spring in my back yard and hear their unique call notes they are always giving as well as their song. But they don't nest anywhere near my home, they are only on their way up north to their nesting grounds in the northern lower peninsula and the upper peninsula of Michigan. Last year when I went to the upper peninsula to photograph the Laughing Whitefish falls in mid-May, the ground still had two feet of snow on it and I had to trudge through. I was surprised when I heard a myrtle warbler calling, and looking up, found a small group of them foraging in the woods. They had arrived on their nesting grounds long before any other birds had migrated there yet. In the winter they stay in the southern U.S., and I often see them at my campsites in Florida. This year I went to the U.P. around
Munising, and found a wonderful spruce bog that was full of wildlife. I began to
search through it looking for nesting wood warblers. The first day I was walking
slowly when I saw a female myrtle warbler fly by me and began to flick her wings
and act very much like she had a nest in the area. But she didn't stay long and
flew off and so I moved on. But three days later when I went back to the same
area, I found the female again this time with food in her mouth. I had read
about these birds and they usually nest fairly high off the ground, the average
is fifteen feet but there were no trees much more then 10 - 12 feet in the area.
I soon located her nest which was only three feet off the ground in a black
spruce. This was a great opportunity since it was so low I wouldn't need to haul
in scaffolding to photograph the birds. But the nest was well advanced and the
young looked ready to fledge. If I went through all the work of setting up the
nest with my blind and flashes and the young decided to bolt, all my effort
would be wasted. But I was determined to go ahead anyway and was successful.
From having worked with many species of wood warblers at their nests before, I knew I could move my blind in immediately and they would accept it. It took four trips of equipment hauling from the van. I discovered the nest at 8:00 AM and was ready to shoot by 11:30. The day was incredibly hot and humid for a day in the upper peninsula but I took my time and with frequent rests and some breaks in the van with the air conditioner on full blast. Several times while I was setting up, one of the parents birds arrived with food for the young, and I would step back five or six feet from the nest while the birds flew into the nest and made their feeding, unbothered by my presence. When I was all set up, I turned on the flashes and began shooting film immediately. The young were suffering in the heat like I was, and I hooked an umbrella to shield them from the direct sun. The adults feed their young various insects, mostly caterpillars and moths with an occasional dragonfly in which they stripped off the wings to make it easier to swallow. The male was an incredibly beautiful bird. The female looks much the same as the male only slightly softer in color tone. A characteristic of the myrtle warbler is the use of feathers to line the nest. Usually they use ruffed grouse feathers and always place them shaft down so the tops cover the eggs or young to keep them warm in the cool nights. It is another adaptation of these birds that gives them an advantage over the other warblers. During my photography , one of the feathers became loose as the four youngsters were always clamoring about the nest and even exercising their wings. I thought to myself I had better leave my blind and remove that loose feather so it wouldn't distract from my photos. Just then, the female returned with food, and after making a feeding, tried to reinsert the feather into the nest. But the young wouldn't leave her alone and kept begging for more food. So, after many attempts to reposition the feather, she flew off with the feather in her beak! It was if she wanted her nest to look neat for the photographs.
After I photograph a bird at a nest, they are never the same to me. I feel much closer to the species, not just to their color and habits but to the whole Zen of the bird. Getting close to nature is an inadequate description, it is much more than this. It is like getting close to the breath of life of another creature. I know the next time I see a myrtle warbler in Florida or my backyard the experience will mean much more to me than it ever has before. Date this page was edited: July 20, 2005.
ALLAN BOVEE - PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES IN NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
AUGUST 2005
Bogs are some of my favorite places on earth. The wet and spongy areas are usually teeming with wildlife and plants. A true quaking bog is one which was formed over a lake where the vegetation kept growing and thickening until the water surface is completely covered. As you walk over it there is a slight sinking feeling as if you were walking over a giant water bed. I love being in a bog just at dawn in the summer nesting season. During this time in the evenings as mist begins to rise, I often drink my favorite cocktail, the Bog Fog. BOG FOG In a large wine glass of ice, add: Cranberries are originally bog plants until they became cultivated. They are still found wild in many bogs along with Labrador tea, leatherleaf, and twinflower. Incidentally, cranberries were originally named crane berries, because the flowers look like a crane's head, a bird sometimes found in a bog. Somehow, the pronunciation changed and they became cranberries. Although the habitats are different, I find
a similarity between bogs and the Florida Everglades where I spend a lot of time
in the winter.
There is a great bog in Oakland county in Proud Lake Recreational Area where I do a lot of my photography. In this one I have found the rare gentian called the buckbean to be rather common. Also, the carnivorous pitcher plants are everywhere. This plant has its basal leaves shaped into round tubes with a lip like a pitcher. These vessels hold water, and the plant emits a strong odor which attracts small insects to these pitchers. They soon get caught in the tubes by downward pointing hairs that trap them in the vessels where they drown and sink to the bottom. Here the plant digests them. Another favorite bog is in the Hartwick Pines area near Grayling. It is off the Lewiston Grade Road which is labeled and goes under I-75 as a dirt road, but there is no exit, you must go to M-93. Here I have found many orchids including the fabulous arethusa.
I was searching through an area for a northern waterthrush one morning. Their habitat is open water areas with fallen trees. I have actually seen several of these birds in Highland Recreational Area and am sure they are nesting there but have been unsuccessful in locating their nests. I did find a nest of the Louisiana waterthrush, a very similar bird, and the whole time I was photographing it I thought it was a northern. But, it turned out to be a Louisiana, way out of its normal range and I was very happy with it. (See my journal entree November in the May-Dec 2003). But I have read a lot on the northern waterthrush and these birds and they like to nest in the dirt balls of trees that have fallen over. Here, I found one giant hemlock that had fallen over and brought up tons of earth on its end. Under the end was a huge hole, and I thought to myself, "there is probably a bear in there". The next morning I was back in the open area
of the bog looking for bird's nests at dawn. That is when I located a female
myrtle warbler with food in her mouth. This is exciting to a nature photographer
because if you are careful, she will lead you right to her nest. The problem is
you can't be too close or the bird won't go to the nest or too far and you won't
see her when she does. The confusing part for me was I read these birds don't
nest under 15 feet in a tree. Here I was in an area that contained only short
black spruce trees from two to twelve feet. So I decided to wait and see what
would happen. Meanwhile, the female made a feeding and left and I had a rough
idea, say within twenty or thirty feet where her nest would be. I looked at my
watch, it was about 8:30 AM by then. I figured I would stand right there (there
was no place to sit or I would do that, I usually sit on a small cushion I
always carry for waiting. But everything here was wet and there were no stumps
or logs to sit on). I thought I would stand for 30 minutes thinking by then the
bird would return for another feeding and I could get a better fix on the nest.
If not, I would return to the van and read up on the myrtle warbler as to why
she was nesting where she wasn't supposed to be. Off to my left I heard a deer snort. Deer become aggravated when they smell people but can't see them. In my case a person standing and not moving would be confusing to the deer as they can't hear me move but their excellent nose tells them I am very close. They emit the sharp sounds very audibly almost as if they are upset. I continued to wait and then heard a noise coming straight towards me. I thought it was probably the deer and would he ever be surprised when he saw me very close. I watched the brush moving and then suddenly thirty feet away was a rather large black bear walking right towards me. I realized that it didn't even know I was there and if I didn't do something it would walk right up to me. So, I wanted to get its attention quickly and I just gave a loud "AHEM!", as if I was clearing my throat. The bear looked up at me and immediately ran off. To be honest, I was shaking. I paced off the distance to where he was and it was thirty feet. But almost immediately I spotted the male myrtle warbler with food in his mouth and followed him right to the nest. I spent the next two days right in this spot photographing the birds and clearing my throat a lot. When the bear ran off, I thought it didn't run very far. I expected to hear him crashing through the bog for a few minutes but it was very brief. And when I walked back to the van I covered two sides of the corner of the bog and didn't find any bear tracks. The bear went into that hole I found, I felt positive. Every one tells me that bears are more afraid of people than we are of them. And they tell you when you hiking to travel in groups and make lots of noise. This is to keep the bears from being surprised. A surprised bear would not follow the rules and could react anyway he felt. I am usually alone and being as quiet as I possibly can so I don't scare birds off their nests before I get there. Some rambunctious bear cubs could easily find me between them and their mother and she could feel her cubs are in danger. It was a very hot day and I was exhausted with all the photography set up and so I left all my cameras and flash equipment right there and went back to the motel. I thought that at night the bear might come out and destroy all my equipment searching for food or something. But I realized this is a truly wild bear and not one used to garbage or hand outs from people like some national park bears become. I think when the bear emerged from its den that evening, it sniffed the air more than it usually did and if it caught any of my smell it would go off in the opposite direction. When I returned in the morning, everything was just as I left it. Now, I have a great experience to remember and am looking forward to returning there next year. In the meantime I will cherish the memories of the bog and make myself a bog fog. Date this page was edited: August 22, 2005. ALLAN BOVEE - PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES IN NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
SEPTEMBER 2005 Earlier in the summer, I spent some time in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan photographing nature. Although I spent most of my time looking for birds to photograph, I did take some time to look for waterfalls and also to tour the Porcupine Mountains. There are over two hundred waterfalls in the U.P. ranging from small creek spillages to roaring surges through rocky canyons. I am always looking for new ones and enjoy hiking back to them. My first trip is without camera gear and I spend some time studying the waterfalls for the best times for light and best angles to shoot and so on. Some are deep in the woods so that no sky will show in the photos which means you can shoot when there is even overcast in the sky since the white sky won't be in the photographs, normally a bad thing to include. Other falls are set up so a background must include the sky in which you must then photograph with a blue sky (or one with just a few puffy white clouds). Other factors include the angle the sun makes, how much wind is present, how many other people are there at the time, etc. So, for an average waterfall photo, I probably have to visit the scene three to six times to get things just right.
Not too far from Bond's Falls is Agate
Falls. Here a roadside park is on one side of M-28 and you can go under a bridge
over the highway to the falls. This one is not too photographic because it
angles away and a railway bridge goes over it, but it is very impressive none
the less. Also, walking back there is a souvenir shop which has fresh
hand-dipped ice cream you can enjoy on the way back to your car.
The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park is an exquisite place to visit. There are well marked roads and hiking trails with good access to all areas of the park. I had to visit Lake of the Clouds again, having been there as a youngster and remembering it as being very beautiful. I took a photo then that I still have and it is still a wonderful place to visit I am glad to report. My photos this time were not what I would like as I was there in the early morning, just after daybreak, and it is definitely a place to photograph in the afternoon. But there were clouds in the lake just like they are supposed to be and the new and old photos are quite similar. My main goal there was to visit and photograph the waterfalls along the Presque Isle River at the west end of the park. Again here there are great boardwalks and stairways to give good views of the three main falls along the river. Walking to the first one, I found a female red-breasted merganser which flew off her nest in the tangled roots of a hemlock. The first waterfall is called Manabezho Falls, and it is the last surge of the Presque Isle River before it reaches Lake Superior, a short distance away. Further up river is Manido Falls and then Nawadaha Falls, both easily reached by a good trail. I was just checking the area out this time taking notes and taking some location photos to study for the next time.
Date this page was edited: September 25, 2005. ALLAN BOVEE - PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES IN NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
OCTOBER 2005
Next fall I am planning a trip out West again pulling my trailer. This time I would like to get to the Canadian Rockies and see Banff and Jasper. Also, I would like to return to Glacier and the Grand Tetons as well. I am hoping for four weeks or so at this. With my out west trip, I wouldn't be able to spend the three or four weeks in the Upper Peninsula again next year looking for warbler nests or waterfalls. But I would work the areas locally for there are a lot of birds I would like to find their nests around here. There are three or more pairs of Northern waterthrushes at Highland Recreational Area, cerulean warblers at Pontiac Lake Recreational Area. and a possible black-and-white warbler at Proud Lake Recreational Area. All three areas are a short drive. Going a little further, I may look for the golden-winged warblers I found in the Gratiot-Saginaw State Game Area a few years ago. I found two nests and got some photos but would like to do it again - better. I will now review the nests I found this year. Bald Eagle - I wasn't aware a nest was in an area I was hiking in the Fakahatchie Swamp area of Florida until I heard the bird calling. The eagle, it turns out, was scolding or warning me and I soon located its huge nest. The area was a rather thick forest which I didn't think these birds liked, but they may have been nesting here so long the forest grew up after they moved in. Red-shouldered hawk (2) - I found a nest on another trail in the Fakahatchie near where I caught the yellow rat snake (Please see my June 2005 journal). The hawks were incubating eggs and I watched as the pair changed places on the nest. I also found a red-shouldered hawk nest at the Shark Valley area of the Florida Everglades. The birds were nesting in a tall cedar right next to the concession stand. Walking around the tree there was only one place where you could see the bird on the nest, everywhere else they were covered from sight. There are hundreds of people walking about and taking the tram ride, all the park personnel coming and going and even the many photographers taking photos of the numerous water birds, yet I feel certain of all these people in the area, none would notice the nest. They just are not aware of the things a bird nest photographer would notice.
Hairy woodpecker - I found another nest of this bird this year about halfway between my house and the Cooper's hawk nest. This may have been the pair that nested in my yard. Yellow warbler (3) - A very early nest was located near the horse tunnel on Duck Lake Road in Highland Recreational and two more were found later further down the trail. Eastern bluebird - I only had one nesting
bluebird in my four nest boxes this year. Its not that the other three were
empty. One had a house wren nest, one a tree swallow, and one a paper wasp nest.
Red-eyed vireo - I found a nest with three eggs in the Melstrand bog area of the Upper Peninsula. I have found many nests of this bird by following the female when she gives her scolding "queee" call. As I search around she calls as if to say "you're getting colder" as her voice goes softer, then "you're getting warmer, warmer" as her intensity increases until I finally locate the nest. It is a work of art with the pendulous mass hanging in a horizontal fork of a small tree and she covers it with birch bark rather aesthetically. Myrtle warbler - My successfully photographed nest in the Upper Peninsula (Please see July and August 2005 Journal).
I also found my first morel mushroom this year. I was hiking a trail in Highland and found it right off the trail in some oak leaves. I have met many people out in the woods in Spring that are looking for this tasty mushroom. They always ask me if I have seen any while I always ask them if they have seen any nesting birds. We have never been any help to each other. I have one more art show this year - Novi (Please see my Art Show Schedule). That's it - the past, present, and future of this nature photographer. Now I can sit back and enjoy a bog fog. Date this page was edited: October 18, 2005. ALLAN BOVEE - PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES IN NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
NOVEMBER 2005
In my hiking in Proud Lake Recreational Area one day, I heard a very strange bird call. The bird remained hidden in the briars of a thicket but would occasionally sail out bursting with its song while its legs were dangling. It had a tremendous repertoire, singing clearly and with a great variety of phrases, chirps and squeals. I was fascinated by the bird and after a long investigation in this area I would later call the Bass Lake Road Thicket, I identified the bird to be a yellow-breasted chat. These wood warblers are normally not found in Michigan and I was determined to find its nest. However, the season was about over and I had only seen the bird briefly but decided to look hard in this area the next year. During the winter I researched the bird at the University of Michigan Natural History Library where I could copy and read journal articles on the species. The next year I found a male singing in the area and after a long search I did find one nest. Unfortunately, the young were ready to fledge and I couldn't do any photography. The following year I came back again and this time there were two different pairs of the birds. I decided to search every square foot of the thicket and had the most difficult time I probably ever had trying to locate a bird's nest. Along the power line in Proud Lake that
parallels Bass Lake Road is this thicket. This is a textbook briar patch, a
section of extraordinary density and variety of thorns and briars a hundred
yards wide and half a mile long. It is the original briar patch, a brer rabbit
briar patch. Every plant with thorns is here, climbing eight feet tall and
tangling with its neighbors. One-inch thick multiflora rose plants send out
shoots at an angle fifteen feet long and hang there suspended off the ground
like a snake searching for prey. I find greenbriers, multifora, raspberry,
blackberry, nettles, and others all entangled and choking each other for
sunlight. The occasional tree in this impenetrable jungle is, what else?, a
hawthorne with its two inch thorns. All the plants compete for the available for
the available space and sunlight covering up and choking their own kind, leaving
perished, dried stalks underneath that still stand with thorns barred but are no
longer living. Every few years the power line people come out in their high rise
buckets and trim trees that they think might interfere with the wires in the
future and these trimmed branches are tossed out into the middle making the
thicket even thicker. Although a bridle path ran through the middle at one time.
here a scramble is taking place between the raspberries and the multiflora,
reaching out to plug this gap. This is where the yellow-breasted chat lives. I can crawl in some spots and not even see ten feet away in the bright sun. I had to cover my skin despite the hot and sunny weather and the overdressing caused me to perspire heavily just standing still. I donned "briar proof" chaps, a full sleeved sweatshirt, and wore meat cutter's gloves that are designed to prevent cuts or puncture wounds otherwise the thorns would rake my arms and leave me bleeding. I sprayed insect repellent all over but the deer flies buzz around my face waiting for the sweat to wash off the repellent. The dust is gagging - I wore a respirator after the plentiful pollen and dust caused me to choke. Soon barbs penetrated my sweatshirt and even my chaps. The vines and branches are a labyrinth of layer upon layer spreading out with each coming from a different direction and all locked together. At times, I become so entangled from all sides that a claustrophobic feeling comes over me, not being sure which direction to go if I can go at all. When I applied more insect repellent to try and stop the flies from biting me, the liquid stings so much it takes my breath away. The respirator becomes plugged up and it makes me short winded and my eyeglasses fog. I would squat down to peer about into the gloom for any signs of a nest and become so fatigued I need my hiking stick to stand back up. Thorns grab at my face and neck as I try to pass through.
Date this page was edited: November 7, 2005. ALLAN BOVEE - PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES IN NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
DECEMBER 2005
I hope to have my Florida schedule complete by next time, I am still applying to shows and working on it. Since it is January and I haven't journaled
anything for December, I thought I would introduce some of my photos with my new
digital camera. Film shooters - don't fret! I haven't converted to digital yet,
there still isn't the quality that I am used to in slide photography, I am just
having fun with the new technology.
I bought a Nikon D-70 about eight months ago and I am finally learning how to use it. This camera is a DSLR, that is I can use all my Nikon lenses with it and it works like my two Nikon F5 SLR cameras. This last fall I went out to Highland Recreational Area and took some fall color shots learning things like White Balance and Histograms and have found there are definite advantages to digital shooting, such as working on the images as soon as I get home, while there are disadvantages such as the lack of real quality. For example, I have always shot with film that has an ISO speed of 50 which gives me grainless images of high quality. The D-70's lowest ISO setting is 200 which is a film speed I would never even consider. On the other hand the histogram feature lets me see immediately how the photo was exposed and I can correct it right away by varying the aperture or speed and shoot again. Also, fine tuning can be done in Photoshop at home so I shoot in the RAW mode, which captures all the data I can (in the case of the D-70 that is 6.0 megapixels) and process it later. I can always convert the photos to jpeg as I have done here, reducing the files from 30 meg to 100K or so for quicker web site loading. (Actually these photos are huge for web site use and by making them smaller the page would indeed load faster, but I wanted to see how they looked at this size). As far as producing Art Show prints, this camera comes up a little short. If I wanted to print my smallest size 12 X 16 inches, I use a photo sized 8 X 12 and mat it out to the standard frame size. If you insist on 300 dpi in a print which is the industry standard quality, then you would need: 8 X 300 = 2400 dpi (one side) and 12 X 300 =3600 dpi (other side) which would require a camera sensor of: 2400 X 3600 = 8.64 million pixels of which the D-70 is only 6.0M
There are some cameras out there that are approaching this and probably will in time, but for now the digital camera is just an interesting toy. I am sure I will convert completely to digital especially when film becomes no longer available, but until then I must stick by my Fuji film. Date this page was edited; January 11, 2005. Return to PHOTOGRAPHY JOURNAL main page.
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In
the photograph I have included here of the nest site, the blind I sit in is on
the left, my main and fill flashes are in the middle and the nest is in the
spruce on the right. The blind is six feet from the nest and I am using a Nikon
F5 camera, a 300mm lens, a small extension tube (Nikon PK-13), and Fuji Velvia
slide film. Of the six rolls of film I shot in two days, 95% of my shots were
1/250 at f/13.5 with just a few shots at f/16. F/11 is just too hot. These
exposures are from past experience. With a lighter or darker bird you must
adjust. After a few hours of photography, I left everything there and returned
the next day. This day was totally different, much cooler and less humid. The
young were still there and looked much more comfortable. I spent the morning and
part of the afternoon at the nest and then left to look for other nests in the
area. Two days later, when I returned, the young had fledged and the nest was
empty. Nearby, with my binoculars, I could see the female scolding, and so the
young must have been nearby.
In
the upper peninsula there are many bogs. A major one runs on both sides of M-28
for ten miles from McMillan to Seney. There are many smaller bogs such as
Sleeper bog and one in the Great Tahquamenon Swamp. This year I found another
wonderful one up there near the town of Melstrand (which so far I haven't found
the town). There is an old abandoned railroad trail through the middle of it and
the locals run their ATVs up and down it in the summer and snowmobiles in the
winter. This gives me great access to it and a way to find my way out as well.
There is all sorts of habitat from open swamps to dense woods. This is where I
found the myrtle warbler nest I talked about last month. Also in the same area I
know was nesting birds such as Blackburnian warbler, magnolia warbler, Nashville
warbler, Lincoln's sparrow, winter wren, and northern waterthrush. 
One
of the nicest of the ten or so waterfalls I visited this year, was Bond's Falls.
This is located near the town of Pauling in Ontonagon County. These waterfalls
have great access with a boardwalk and stairways going on both sides and meeting
at the bottom over the river. Once when I was there, a camera club from
Wisconsin was visiting and we shared many ideas and techniques. On this day the
sun was bright in the blue sky so shooting could be done in the afternoon and
some high shutter speeds could be used allowing one to freeze the water coming
down which is best for these kind of falls. On an overcast day when the mood is
more melancholy the shutter speeds slow and the falls have a blurred, slowed
look that goes with that feeling. 
During
my next time in the Upper Peninsula when I spend some time there, I may want to
work the Ottawa National Forest in the west instead of the middle area like
Munising and Seney where I was this year. If so, this exploratory search will
prepare me for learning the area. 
In
October, I start to think about my plans for the next year as well as relive my
memories of the year. I am presently working on applying to art shows in Florida
next year. I plan on doing Florida in March this time instead of January -
February as I usually do for two reasons. One, I want to find out about the
later art shows so I have an idea of where to concentrate in the future. I
eventually plan to go to Florida for three months or so each year so it
would be a good idea to be familiar with their shows. Secondly, I am after some
great photographs of Florida bayous and everglades in the Spring. I am always
down there when the trees are bare, as in the bald cyprus and live oak, which
don't get their needles or leaves until the Spring. I think some of the
beautiful scenics down there would be even greater with the fresh green of the
new leaves. 
Cooper's
hawk (2) - I found a nest in my woods, Proud Lake, about a quarter mile from my
house. Taking a walk one day, a hawk gave its yip-like call and I knew there was
a Cooper's hawk nest nearby. I found it after a short search and went back many
times to watch their progress. Also, in Highland, the Cooper's hawks returned to
the exact nest that had been used two years before. They took last year off but
I was glad to see them come back this year. 
Yellow-bellied
sapsucker - I spent two days looking for black-throated blue warbler nests in a
wooded area of the Upper Peninsula while watching the males singing nearby. I
never did find their nests but all the time there was the incessant begging
calls of the young of this yellow-bellied sapsucker nest in a tree hollow about
twenty feet up a dead sapling. The parents came and went without paying any
attention to me all day long. I had photographed this woodpecker in Maine a few
years ago standing on top of my van with fair results. 
I occasionally find uncommon birds in my
travels, and when they are close to home I really work hard to find their nests.
Many of the birds that don't come to bird feeders are difficult to approach to
photograph and finding their nests is the only alternative. This is a story I
wrote in my journal in July, 1994.
I
was determined to search every square foot of the Bass Lake Road Thicket for the
bird's nest. After three days of work here, I found two nests and got to
photograph each from the blinds I set up. The next two years after my
photography, the birds came back to the same thicket. I also found a nest in
another area of Proud Lake about two miles from the Bass Lake Road Thicket. But
after that, and to this day, I have never seen (or heard) a yellow-breasted chat
again.
I'm
back - after a long period of web correction. My web site became corrupted when
I downloaded Windows Service Pack 2. I had been warned about that and resisted
the upgrade as long as I could. Actually, the problem is with FrontPage, the
software I use to create this website, the Service Pack is really a great
improvement over how things were before. Soon Microsoft will introduce their new
operating system, Vista, and I get to have problems all over again. In the
meantime, I have become a FrontPage expert with the help of my Indian friends
who talk me through the website problems with great courtesy through all hours
of the night.
This
applies to my smallest size print, if you look at my next sized print, 16 X 20
(11 X 16 photograph), by the same thinking, then you need a camera with a sensor
of 15.8M to produce this print.