Wildlife Stories from the Wind River Canyon
The day before my birthday this summer an interesting gift was given to me that will never be forgotten, I hope. During Hummingbird Season, here in the Wind River Canyon, I typically wake very early in the morning, usually before 5:30. Looking at my nectar feeders to see who's out and about starts my hummingbird photography day early with observations. It's much too dark at that time of the morning, in this massive hole in the Earth, for any serious
photography; sometimes I try just for the sake of trying, but not this mid-summer's morning.
Flinging open the curtains in my bedroom reveals my favorite hummingbird feeder. It's the one that some of my best hummingbird portraits have been shot near, and this nectar feeder is also a hummer favorite. They gravitate to this feeder presumably because it's in a more protected spot, away from the elements and cannot be approached without being seen. I'd like to think it reminds them of their winter mountain retreat, far to the south.
But this cool summer morning I was thrilled to see my three big buck deer in velvet antlers, not far away, but in my yard having their breakfast! Mule deer are so incredibly beautiful this time of the year, and they were less than twenty-five feet away. I'm in my bedroom with no camera, still in purple briefs standing there dumbfounded, when I suddenly realize that the
mid-sized buck is staring at the half-dozen hummingbirds that are vying for a spot for their breakfast!
It didn't take a professor to realize these big buck deer had never even seen a hummingbird before. This beautiful buck came as close as he could, and just watched the buzzing hummingbirds for over five minutes, while I stood frozen by my window. The largest of the three bucks came wandering over to see what was so interesting, and the two of them watched the birds while I stood there with my mouth open. It was almost too much to process so early in the morning.
In too short a time the velvet-antlered bucks went back to eating their breakfast in my front yard. I grabbed my journal to write the moment down, maybe someday to jog my fading memory. But this is a lesson in Nature Photography Class right from the Wind River Canyon; sometimes you need to just observe and watch. There is so much magic out in the wilderness for you to experience for yourselves.
Last year we had the amazing luck to befriend two Wild Turkeys that came wandering into the canyon. I was honestly surprised just how easy it was to make friends of these huge, intelligent birds. My wife and I had buffalo filets on the picnic table while our Wild Turkeys ate their dinner mere feet from us! They were so much fun for this old nature photographer I could just scream.
One summer's afternoon they fell asleep under a juniper while I was only a few feet away from them. That's the kind of rush of emotions that isn't easy to explain, or write about for that matter. It's in my journal just as it happened. One warm summer day, not long after, I witnessed what must be the strangest meeting of minds in the history of Wyoming.
As I sat close by and visited with my Wild Turkeys late in the afternoon, the hummingbirds
began flying into the feeder near the back doors of the cabin. The oldest of the two Toms spotted his very first hummingbird....a male Rufous; the most dominant of our four breeding species. This little hummingbird stopped in mid-air and looked down at this huge bird. Our big Wild Turkey was looking up at the hummingbird hovering above his ugly head. The two diverse and obviously different birds (the Wild Turkey stands four feet tall, the Rufous Hummingbird just four inches!) stopped and just looked each other up and down. It was the strangest meeting of wildlife the Wind River Canyon has ever seen. They just stared for a long time as the hummingbird hovered over the Turkey's head.
All too quickly this historic meeting was over, and has never been repeated again. If I
hadn't been sitting so close by, I wouldn't have believed two such different birds would even acknowledge each others existence, let alone be so curious of each other. And guess what? I forgot to take a picture.
I was so startled by this weird bird meeting that it never dawned on me to do anything other than observe this momentous event. When the Wild Turkey and the Rufous Hummingbird went their separate ways, one on big feet the other on miracle wings, I sat there with this quizzical look on my face and the camera in my lap. When I realized I'd missed photographing this momentous meeting I was angry with myself. Then that tiniest of light bulbs went off....the one in my head. I'd witnessed something even Mother Nature probably had never seen; besides, most people would have thought I "Photoshopped" the picture anyway; something I'd never do.
I sat there and laughed, the realization of this wild and crazy thing that just happened setting off the giggles....who would ever believe me? And I missed it! But I really didn't miss a thing; I'd observed a meeting of wild creatures that is so rare, maybe no one has ever seen this summit of Wild Turkey and Hummingbird before. This is what good luck must really feel like.
The lesson of this week's Wind River Canyon Blog is simple really; sometimes you're going to miss the shot. There have been events, like those with "Snowflake" the albino Bighorn Sheep, that I knew were momentous wildlife moments. And I've told myself out loud, "Don't #*$! this up....."
Wildlife and nature photography is something I do each and every day of my life here in the canyon. This is my life's work, and I have no other....thank you, Deb. I shoot over 20,000 frames a year, and I'm still learning crap all the time. For instance, I stopped for lunch mid-blog, and saw a family of Bighorn Sheep on our new island, in the Wind River across the street from us. It was the result of the Memorial Weekend mudslides and deluge; pictures on my website. The curious Bighorn were inspecting the new land in the river....I just grabbed the big-rig camera and took off in shorts, hauling the heavy monster through weeds and down a very steep hill. It was a bit nuts and a bit dangerous shooting out the house that way, but I'm assuming that next week's blog will be about Bighorn Sheep.......stay tuned.
Thank you for your valuable time and reading my Wind River Canyon Blog.
Writing, photography and website by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Visit HogbatsPhotography.com for many more award-winning hummingbird and wildlife photographs.