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Grouse And Woodcock The Birds Of My Life by Timothy C. Flanigan

April 27th, 2020

Grouse And Woodcock The Birds Of My Life by Timothy C. Flanigan

GROUSE & WOODCOCK – THE BIRDS OF MY LIFE is the most recently-published book by Wild River Press. As its author, my goal is to generate, encourage, and enhance the reader’s appreciation for and admiration of America’s “Classic Combo” of upland game birds; The Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus and the American Woodcock, Scolopax minor.
This book is an extensive compilation of the bird’s natural history and fascinating lifestyles. Both are seldom seen by non-hunters and exceptionally challenging quarry for upland hunters and their specialized dogs. I believe that the more we know about any subject or thing, the more we tend to care about its welfare. It is my sincere hope that readers will be inspired to admire these elusive species and be encouraged to help fund habitat management for their benefit.
GROUSE & WOODCOCK – THE BIRDS OF MY LIFE contains forty chapters, four-hundred and thirteen pages, and two-hundred photographic images printed on prime quality stock and presented in landscape format. The photos jump to life on the pages and serve to illustrate the accompanying text.
It is both enjoyable and educational reading for hunters and birdwatchers alike. I know of no other book that so extensively reveals the intimate natures of these very different bird species. One is a non-migratory gallinaceous bird that is generally a vegetarian. The other is an upland shorebird that migrates thousands of miles twice annually and subsists on a diet of earthworms that it pulls skillfully from deep within loamy soils.
Although it contains ample advice related to gunning these wonderfully-wild birds, it is much more than an upland bird hunting book. Instead, the text reveals the intricacies of both specie’s truly-marvelous physical attributes that render them true survivors of nature’s many challenges from severe weather to constant predation.
Bird lovers will marvel at the extraordinarily-precise revelation of these bird’s physical compositions and adaptations from heart rates to metabolism schedules to their sensory abilities and reproductive characteristics. And, readers will surely enjoy learning of the early twentieth-century discovery of ruffed grouse bones, in two caves dating back to the Pleistocene age, over 2,500 years ago.
GROUSE & WOODCOCK – THE BIRDS OF MY LIFE is a compilation of more than six decades of my natural world experiences while hunting, studying and photographing these secretive birds in their claustrophobic, dense and thorny coverts that deter human entry.
Upland hunters regard the Ruffed grouse and the American woodcock as woodland Royalty. Thousands of hours and countless days spent observing and photographing their lifestyles enables me to share my knowledge and photographs with readers of Wild River Press’s title, GROUSE & Woodcock – THE BIRDS OF MY LIFE.

Winter Wildlife Photography Tips

November 24th, 2018

Winter Wildlife Photography Tips

Winter Wildlife Photography Tips
By Timothy Flanigan

Brrrr.....

Natural world wildlife photography is especially challenging during winter weather conditions, but the reward can be substantial. Inclement weather conditions impart substantial viewer-captivating intensity to images of wildlife in the elements; as most people won't brave the elements so their viewing experience is limited to what passes in front of their windows.

Falling snow imparts immeasurable interest to any wildlife scene, but plays havoc with today's ubiquitous auto-focus. Shooting pixels in snow often requires that we quickly switch our camera bodies and lens to manual focus to ignore the auto-focus and light-meter-confusing white flakes. Attempting to focus on a buck's eyes through a curtain of snowflakes confuses the camera's focus sensing ability and frustrates the photographer. I suggest go Manual-focus in snow conditions.

The whiteness of snow and ice also imparts a (brightness-of-scene) factor that influences the camera's light meter to underexpose the image. An abundance of ambient light does not necessarily equate to ample reflected light from the photo's main subject. Snow scenes, shot on automatic exposure settings, often produce images with underexposed and dark subjects. To capture properly exposed main subjects, switch your camera's metering area to either Center or Spot metering when using any auto or program settings.

You may also select a bracketing series to partially and sequentially overexpose the entire scene to obtain a correct exposure of the subject. Doing so enables eye-pleasing captures of a brown deer, black bear or perhaps a brown grouse within an overall bright white scene. You can also go Manual in snow and handle your own hands-on bracketing while periodically checking the camera's histogram. Shoot to the right, but not all the way to the right.

Wind, snow, and ice are generally unfriendly to photographers and even more so to our equipment. We, of course, need to dress properly to shield our bodies against winter's wet and cold and the camera must be similarly protected. Many camera raincoats are available commercially and using a properly fitted camera shield is wise in rain, snow, sleet and ice conditions. I personally use dark-colored terrycloth hand towels to cover my camera and lens from falling snow and use them to pad any camera support that may be available, such as a rock, tree limb or fence post. Keep dry towels in your coat pockets to replace the one in use as it becomes wet or to dry the camera and lens as needed.

It is also wise to carry replacement camera batteries in a pocket close to your body. Cold saps battery reserves quickly so watch your battery status and replace weakened ones with the fresh, fully-charged batteries that you kept warm and ready for service. Warming the cold ones in that same pocket will refresh some of their efficiency.

Another hedge against the cold is the use of modern hand-warmer packets to keep the camera and the photographer's hands working efficiently. Simply place the warming packet in the palm of the glove that supports the camera/lens. Be careful not to limit that hand's ability to operate the lens's zoom or focus controls. Wearing a golfer's style thin leather glove on the strong hand or shutter-release hand greatly enhances the feel of vital camera controls while shielding it from the elements to a lesser degree than the heavily gloved support hand. Between shooting sequences, the shutter-control hand can be quickly warmed in a pocket.

Upon returning, home, do not take seriously chilled cameras and lenses directly into your home's warm and humid atmosphere to avoid camera-killing condensation. Rather, warm them thoroughly in your vehicle during the homeward bound trip or stage their gradual warming by taking them from the field to the garage, then to the basement or mud room and then to your office den or studio.

After an inclement weather shoot, a hot cup of coffee never tasted so good. Getting those winter shots are worth the challenge of utilizing your skills and withstanding what old man winter threw at you, especially when a winter print is purchased by someone to grace the space above their cozy fireplace.

A Nature Exposure blog by Timothy Flanigan

April 15th, 2015

A Nature Exposure blog by Timothy Flanigan

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