Navy Photos

I've just included a new gallery on my website that is somewhat off track from the theme of my website but might be interesting nonetheless. The gallery consists of photos taken by me while serving in the US Navy in the mid to late 1960's. The content is informative with respect to the conditions that were prevalent around the world at that time. The ports of call were Japan, Okinawa, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, The Philippine Islands, Singapore, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Suez Canal, Crete, Malta, Italy, Palma de Mallorca, Gibralter, Azore Islands, Peurto Rico, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Panama.
You can navigate to the my website page using this link:
http://bunchlewisphotography.com/site/#/page/navy-photos/

Bunch

Winter & Eagles

Winter didn't cooperate at all this year. A scant amount of snow and most of that was iced over due to snow changing to rain. The conditions for tracking were poor at best. In spite of this I did manage to track a fisher, some weasels, a fox and a number of coyotes. Also found a coyote bed that had been used for many hours based on the amount of snow that had compacted and melted. I was also able to determine that the coyote was a female due to the manner in which it had urinated. An otter den that I had been observing for the third year in a row, had many comings and goings throughout the winter but as in the past two winters no sightings of  the inhabitant. Although otters may be out and about any time of day or night I believe this otter's activities were confined to nighttime, probably due to the proximity to civilization.

On February 21st I observed six bald eagles feeding on a coyote killed whitetail deer carcass out on the ice of the Sacandaga River near Northville in New York's Adirondack Mountains. There were never more than two eagles on the carcass at any one time. Ravens and crows were lurking about harassing the large birds of prey while trying to steal a morsel. Watched and photographed the eagles for twenty minutes.

A raven comes in for a closer look.

 

Spring is here, now it's time to watch for the return of the migrating birds and hibernating mammals coming out of a long winter's sleep. I've already discovered a remodeled woodchuck burrow and signs of skunks out and about.

 

Bunch 

Getting Started

As winter sets in I will be out and about checking on the local wildlife and documenting what I find with camera and journal. Most of what I expect to locate is animal sign, mainly tracks. It fascinating to read a new page of animal activity on a blanket of fresh snow. Who passed by and what were they doing?

By following the animals tracks it is possible to learn something of the animals behavior. For example a weasel will rarely pass up a hole in a stone pile or a burrow to investigate in its quest for food. The weasel is a study in motion, always on the move. It is fun to find their tracks stitching back and forth along and across their line of travel.

Of coarse there is always the possibility of spotting something still standing in their tracks. To do so you must remain quite and use all the stealth of a hunting bobcat. Always remaining on the lookout for something that doesn't belong, the most productive way is to spot a part of the animal then the whole animal will become more obvious.

As time permits I will be posting new entries from my current journal as well as some of the more interesting entries from years gone by, hope you enjoy!

Bunch