A lot of wildlife action can occur at a pond in the forest that is stocked with trout. This is a smorgasbord of food that can be irresistible to some predators, so let’s see who came calling at a pond in Northern Michigan.
Location
This pond was located near a fish hatchery, so it was routinely stocked with trout. The fish attracted a wide variety of wildlife. Many were avian species, some looking to eat the trout, others were sharing the insects and vegetation with the trout. Early morning is when most of the action occurred.
This large pond had brook, rainbow, and brown trout
The pond had a platform with seats, very convenient !
This was a great place to train future assistant photographers. The varied wildlife and conditions made it a good place for my assistant to learn in a relatively controlled environment. This is not the case when we are pursuing polar bears in the Arctic or photographing elephant seals in the Falkland Islands, not to mention golden eagles in Mongolia or the big cats hunting in Africa. Wildlife appear when least expected, and they move fast, so the training for these trips begins in more controlled situations outside.
This is a Canon 500mm mounted on a Wimberly tripod. The camera is the mirrorless Canon R3. My assistant Mohini is learning how to set it up for me.
Dr. P with camera in hand and spotting scope on the ready, now all we need are for the wildlife to show up
Wildlife Teaser
A few of the critters we saw, more details on each one of them in future posts.
Great Blue Heron
Flying in to see if the smaller trout are on the menu today
Vision that can easily see fish in the water, along with lighting fast reflexes, make him a successful “fisher-bird”
Female (Hen) mallard with ducklings
They usually have more than 2 ducklings, so some of the chicks probably did not make it
Belted kingfisher
The rust colored breast indicates that this is a female
Male (drake) mallard
Mallard drake (male) coming in for a landing
River otter
Eating a trout
Bald Eagle
The bald eagle perched right over the otter, hoping to get a morsel
Female Hooded Merganser
This female stayed away from the otter for obvious reasons
Pileated Woodpecker
Seemingly oblivious to all of the action below, a pileated woodpecker goes about his business