The Fog in the Forest
It’s December 7th, although the weather and temperature makes it feel like spring. It is in the high 50’s and a hard rain fell overnight which made the streams and brooks flow full again. It was a nice change from the low flows that have been the case all summer. I am out looking for wildlife for my YouTube channel and not having much luck. In fact, this is the second day in a row now that I haven’t seen any mammals other than squirrels. Even the birds have been few and far between. Only a few black-capped chickadees, juncos, and titmice have been out. I did see a small flock of bluebirds foraging along the trail a little earlier this morning. With the warmer weather, there were actually insects flying in the air so the bluebirds were taking full advantage and hawking them out of the sky. It is always a nice sight to see the bluebirds in the forest during the winter. Even their duller blue winter plumage is a bright sight against all the brown and tans of the winter.
I continued on down the old forest road. A small stream was flowing from all the nighttime rain along the edge of the road in an old gully. There were various branches and old downed tree trunks strewn about in haphazard ways along the forest floor. I came walking up along one old tree stump that was partially rotten and heard the familiar rattling call of a wren. I crouched down to see if I could locate the tiny little brown bird. These birds are tiny, and they are always on the move. They have short rounded wings that make them effective short distance flyers, perfect for maneuvering among the downed trees and branches along the forest floor. I spotted the little bird about 50 feet in front of me on a log. To my surprise, the bird came and flew right over to me. He landed only a few feet from me on a small stick that was protruding out onto the trail. I felt that I must have been near its home and it was trying to get me to move along. I snapped a few photos and then moved away as to not bother the little ball of energy.
I moved on further down the forest road toward a small pond. This pond is sometimes a good spot to find waterfowl and the banks are easily assessable to allow for good visibility. I was hoping that perhaps some mergansers would be foraging so I could photograph them. I approached slowly and quietly as to not potentially disturb any animals. To my disappointment, nothing was there. The pond was still and a low fog hung over the water in the back of the pond in the marshy section. I sat and enjoyed the view for a few moments before deciding to continue on in search of any wildlife.
As I continued on my journey, I went deeper into the forest. The light rain that had been falling had stopped and now a thicker fog was descending on the forest. As I continued uphill, the fog became thicker decreasing the visibility. I was hoping that perhaps a deer or anything else might come into view as the fog would create an amazing photo opportunity.
Instead I heard the call of a yellow-bellied sapsucker in a tree not too far off the trail. I paused and waited to see where it would go. To my pleasure the bird came over to a tree that was closer and was head height off the ground. I set up my tripod and waited for the bird to come into view around the brush. The sapsucker appeared to be finding some food under the bark of a tree. It remained in the same spot for a few minutes going about its business. It would take turns from using its beak to forage under the bark and then take a few seconds to look around for any danger. I was only about 50 feet from the bird as I sat there motionless so not to scare the bird. After about 10 minutes, I felt the bird was comfortable with my presence. I decided to back away slowly to leave the bird in peace to forage. I retreated as slowly as I had approached and I was happy to see that the bird had only moved a few feet up the trunk of the tree but had not flown away as I was walking away down the trail.
Just a little way down the road I heard another bird that I was familiar with. This time it was a Carolina wren. I paused to identity where the calls were coming from and I actually heard that there were two birds that were calling. They were sounding their alarm calls down by a large fallen tree. The birds did not sound happy, I also started to hear the alarm calls of two squirrels calling in the same general area. I got excited thinking that there may be a predator of some sort in the area, perhaps a bobcat, or a coyote. I crouched down and started to navigate my way to a small hill to my left that overlooked the downed tree. This would give me a good vantage point to see if anything was over in the area. I planned out each step to make sure I did not step on any branches to alert the animals of my presence. There was a ravine on the other side of the downed tree that sloped down away from me. It was possible that whatever was causing the wrens and squirrels to alarm may be down in this ravine.
I made it over to the hill and the wrens and squirrels were still calling. I sat an waited for a half hour. The wrens continued to call but the squirrels eventually stopped sounding the alarm. There was a rotting stump of a tree that had snapped only a few feet away. As I sat there, the two Carolina wrens both perched on the top of this stump. I started to wonder if these two were really sounding the alarm or if they were just communicating in some way that this was their territory. I was able to capture a picture of the two wrens both sitting on the stump but the dense fog made it impossible to get a clear image. I again retreated and left the area to leave the birds in peace.
I continued hiking for a few more hours without much success in finding wildlife to photograph. The fog hung on in the forest creating a spooky atmosphere that would have been fitting for a halloween horror movie. While I did not find much to photograph, I was able to enjoy the atmosphere and enjoy the warm December day. It will only be a matter of time before temperatures drop and there will be snow on the ground. Although I am very much looking froward to the snow, as this will allow for tracking wildlife to be a little easier.
If you would like to watch the events of this day, check out my YouTube video showing how I captured the images and enjoyed the day. As always be sure to subscribe to the channel to get all the latest videos. Your support is much appreciated.
Also as the holiday season begins to get really busy. Remember that for every item sold in my shop, $1 will be donated to Nature First, a nonprofit organization that I am a proud ambassador for.
