AUTUMN PALETTE

Another reason the Carolina Wren is a symbol of fall for me is because it's colors match the hues of late autumn: tans, browns, rust, and a splash of white for the early snows.

Oh, by the way, this little guy was photographed at the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy's Bow In The Clouds nature preserve off Nazareth Road.

SIZING UP THE RACKS

I scouted these bucks earlier in the season, looking for a bruiser I could follow for some prime photos. Not all bucks are worth following.

BROKEN

STUNTED

PERFECT

I'm keeping an eye on this guy.

THINGS ARE HEATING UP!

You know the rut is right around the corner when you find your deer target decapitated and thrown down to the ground by an irascible buck in the middle of the night.

Bucks are revving up for the chance to breed a doe (the rut) and starting to challenge the local competition, even the fake ones! I had the same thing happen with a fake tom during turkey breeding season. He got pretty torn up as well.

Check out the bend in the stake that holds up the deer. That's almost a 45 degree bend in half inch steel. That's some serious fury!

YOU KNOW WHEN...THE CAROLINA WREN...

In my experience, I know Autumn is peaking when I hear the clarion call of the Carolina Wren, slicing through the morning fog of a chilly, October morn.

Ever since I first heard, and filmed, my first Carolina Wren down at Kleinstuck Marsh, that piercing call has become the signature bird song for my favorite time of year. It serves as a life affirming siren when the air is still and the decay of Autumn lays down an eery silence.

In my wildlife doc, ANIMALS AMONG US, the little wren has a small but starring role in the big buck scene where I begin an obsessive quest for Karl, the alpha buck of Kleinstuck Marsh. He's in the opening part of the scene, setting the mood for Autumn's classic, ritual hunt for whitetail bucks.

Producing and editing a documentary has a way of etching sights and sounds into the memory banks, causing them to spontaneously surface in life and add meaning to a moment. Well, two days ago, the bold little Carolina Wren did just that, bringing all the fond memories and sensations from that indelible moment some six or seven years ago to the fore. Just like the scene in the film, he signals the beginning of a mad search for a massive rack, "worthy of a good shot". And just like the film, you'll be seeing, and hearing, more about my pursuit.

ME AND THE ANIMALS...

...want to thank everyone who came out for the opening at Water Street last Friday. Your presence contributed to a steady stream of people flowing in and out of that beautifully tiny coffee joint. It all made for a good buzz, a lot of good will, and plenty of mini-reunions of friends and family.

(Unfortunately, there are no photos from the night of the "event" because we were too busy living in the moment)

I was personally thrilled to see photos that were living in my computer screen for months, if not years, finally hanging on the wall in front of satisfied eyes. The images seemed to pass the test: people REALLY liked them.

That's why I want, and need, to thank some others for my first wildlife photography exhibit: my parents for all their love and support; Kirsten Field for curating Water Street; Brent Spink for inspiration and insight into my new stomping ground, Schipper's Crossing; my dear friend Michele for supporting me in my craft; all the others who offered feedback and support; and of course, big thanks to the wildlife, the land, creation and the mysterious life force that crafted all these masterpieces I only mine with my lens.

YOU'RE INVITED...

If you didn't get one of these cards in the mail, or pick one up around town, then I formally gift you with an invitation to my photography exhibit this Friday, in Kalamazoo Michigan.

This Friday is the infamous Art Hop for October in Kalamazoo, and this one proves to be insanely big and busy, with an emphasis on photography. There's a photographic conference going on at WMU this weekend, so photography is the buzz around town.

I'm personally thrilled to see my own work magically shape-shift from a digital image on screen to a real, tangible photograph, hanging on the wall. If you've been following my blog, and come to the show, you can also experience this transformation.

It's also a chance to purchase a framable print, at "just starting out" prices. So invest now, before inflation kicks in.

Nearly all the photographs were taken in and around Kalamazoo, except for two that were taken at Ottawa Marsh in the Allegan State Game Area. So these are our urbanm, animal neighbors, and there's a distinct possibility you my have seen one running, or flying, around town.

ROOKIE HUNTERS

Driving around late summer and early fall, I always see more redtail hawks than usual, with the light chest glaring from a distance on a telephone pole or wire. Now that I know redtail behavior so intimately, I know full well these are the juveniles from this years brood striking out on their own, trying to earn a living. They're learning the ropes when it come to hunting.

As rookies, or novitiates, they don't have hunting down yet. That's why they perch in some of the oddest and most conspicuous spots. The bird above and below stuck out like a sore thumb right off East Michigan Ave, surveying a patch of mowed grass just outside the junk yard and unusually close to traffic. The juvies cluelessness is a photographers blessing because it means extreme approachability. Any adult redtail, in their right mind, will instantly fly if it senses you approaching within 100 yards. They can be a real challenge. Juvies, however, are a real gift.

The trade off to this easy photographic victory is the absence of the trademark, rust colored tail of the mature red-tail, as well as the less mottled chest. There is a graphic clarity to the adult redtail that makes it a more prized visual, much like the adult bald eagle compared to a juvenile. The adult is simply more beautiful.

What amuses me about the juvy red-tail though is how they remind me of myself when I first took up whitetail deer hunting, particularly with bow and arrow. When I first started, being relatively clueless as to deer behavior, movement, eating habits, and just how damn elusive they can be, I would plunk myself down in the middle of the woods, next to what looked like any old game trail, thinking right at dusk a deer would come sauntering along. Or I would sit a tree stand in a small tree in the middle of an open field, sticking out like a window washer on the side of a building, thinking I was invisible. It's amazing how far I've come. The same will be true for any juvy hawk that survives the passage into adulthood.

The driving force though can be hunger, sharpening the hunting skills as hunger zeros in on prey. All the crazy, trial, hunting zones (the ones that initially felt like a jack-pot) just don't bear any fruit, and any hawk (or hunter) with sufficient processing power, figures this out quickly and moves on. The same was true for me. The only difference being the absence of hunger. I would go home and simply open up the fridge. My learning curve was a tad slower than the hawks.

From The Wild to the Walls of Water Street

I'm really excited to announce my exhibition of wildlife photos at Water Street Coffee Joint during the months of October and November.

Some of the photos seen in my blog, as well as many never seen before photos, will finally greet the public in my first exhibition of wildlife photographs. The show opens on the October Art Hop which happens to be Friday, October 1st, coincidentally the opening day of archery season for deer. Clearly my favorite time of year and I'm thrilled to finally share some of my photos with the public.

You'll be hearing more from me about the show as it approaches.

Gray Fox in Town

Good News Downstream

The good news downstream is that the oil hasn't reached our stretch of the River. The guy in white in the canoe was a City of Kalamazoo employee surveying the area Friday for evidence of the spill and fortunately the word out is  - no oil - . Me and a couple friends concluded the same thing from our eye witness observation from the bridge at Michigan Avenue and Kings Highway.

Not a particularly comforting piece of news for the stretch upriver that's been saturated in crude, but from a bigger perspective, to contain the disaster to only that 25 mile stretch is significant. The health of the entire river, and connecting bodies of water--especially Lake Michigan--depends on it. Preserving other parts of the river will most likely help in the eventual recovery of the contaminated stretch. Wildlife and fish have some immediate places to escape to, and, in the long run, can eventually re-colonize the recovered portion of the river.

I'm skeptical that they can stop every ounce of oil, whether sheen or the thicker stuff, from making it's way downstream, but stopping the major flow means a lot to the health of the river, and us. 

It makes me think of the expression, "everybody lives downstream". Indeed, we're just downstream, and thank God they know that upstream.