Rockland Tunnel

If you happen to be a bicyclist and enjoy a great ride along a beautiful river, you definitely need to check out the Allegheny River Trail.  On a recent ride we started our ride from the trailhead at Emlenton and pedaled upriver toward Franklin.  This is a paved trail through a relatively desolate and unpopulated area other than an occasional small gathering of camps here and there.  Riding this trail will offer you beautiful wooded scenery to the one side and a river view to the other.  So you may wonder if that is all this trail has to offer and I might say, what more do you want!  But there is more and that added bonus would be two awesome train tunnels.  The first tunnel from the Emlenton side would be the Rockland Tunnel.  This tunnel is 2700 feet long and definitely requires a headlight.  I promise you that as you near the center of this tunnel you would not be able to see your own hand in front of your face because it is pitch dark in there.  There is a slight curve in this tunnel which adds to the darkness factor.

 

The Rockland Tunnel was built in 1915 and it's age is definitely showing.  It's very evident that stone and brick occasionally falls to the trail surface and also there are places that you may encounter some running water dripping or maybe running down through the ceiling.  In the winter this water creates some beautiful ice formations.  We rode this trail in early April and the southern end of the tunnel for about 250 feet had a surprising amount of ice blocking the trail.  These ice formations were 2-4 feet high and forced us to pretty much hug the east wall to get around the ice.  Aside from the ice, there was a also a good stream of ice cold water running from the ceiling right onto the center of the trail.  On our return trip from upriver and beyond the Kennerdell Tunnel we passed back through the Rockland Tunnel once again and paused to capture a few photos of this awesome tunnel with the ice formations.

 

In a few weeks this trail will be colored up and shaded by the beautiful colors of summer.

 

Below is a picture of one of the many safety alcoves that are very common in the old tunnels.  These small archways provided a place for workers or hobos to tuck into and be safe from a passing train.  We have been in many old tunnels and this is a very common practice.  These alcoves are staggered from one wall to the opposite wall and a person wouldn't have but a short distance to get to the nearest alcove.  These are large enough for a couple people to seek safety.

 

Capturing the Memories

It's hard to imagine a bad day outdoors.  I've spent countless hours in brutal cold temperatures with driving winds and still called it a great day.  Even rain does little to dampen my spirits.  Now that's not saying that I wouldn't choose a mild day with comfortable temperatures to be outdoors, but I'll take what ever Mother Nature dishes out and still enjoy it.  After all, critters are funny and unpredictable and some of the worst weather days proved to be the most productive for wildlife.  You just never know about critters so if you want to increase the odds of great photographic opportunities, you need to weather the storm, endure the cold and embrace the elements.  It's all about capturing the memories. 

 

The images below are just random shots that I decided to post in my blog so that readers can enjoy the memories that I have captured from the comfort and warmth of their home.  Typically I would have a long story to go with the images I post but that won't be the case this time.  I bet this will make a lot of people quite happy.  The cool thing about wildlife photography is that aside from hopefully going home with a card filled with decent images you also go home with some amazing memories.  Years later you can look at many of your pictures and experience some of the same feelings that you experienced the moment you pressed the shutter and captured the image.  Okay, on to the pictures!

Porky's seem slow and sluggish but don't think for a moment that it's easy to get a decent picture of their face.  Typically when you get close enough to capture their face they will quickly turn with their butts toward you since that is their first line of defense.  Contrary to beliefs, they cannot fling the quills at you and I'm quite thankful for that.

 

 The three images above were taken mid March 2014.  This mature Bald Eagle was very aware of our presence but did sit still long enough for a few shots.  It was a very windy morning and even though the Eagle was stationary, the branch he was on was bobbing like crazy and therefore required a fast shutter.

 

 The spring migration is always an exciting time for us as we try to locate and photograph a new species of ducks.  Here is a Green Winged Teal that posed nicely but wasn't too keen about letting us get close so we took what we could get.

 Spring is an exciting time if you happen to be a big bold Gobbler.  Photographing them when they are all fanned out is like winning the lottery.  Well, almost like winning the lottery.

 



 Walk along any waterway on a sunny day in the winter and you will be treated to mother natures jewelry box.

 It doesn't always have to be dark to capture interesting shots of the moon.  This image required some significant underexposing to bring out the lunar detail.

 On this day I was watching for Eagles along the river when this family of deer stepped out of the woods and seemed to be checking out the thick slabs of ice that lined the banks of the Clarion.

 



 In this image it appears as though the American Coot and the Redhead Duck were engaged in a pretty serious conversation.

 

 We watched for hours as the American Coots would dive to the bottom and bring up a rock covered with Zebra Mussels.  Apparently they were quite tasty because they would clean off one rock and then dive down and bring up another.

 

 Lots of different ducks.

 Canvasback, Redhead and Scaups.

 

 Canvasbacks are often confused with Redheads but truthfully they are quite different.

 

 Three young Amish or Mennonite decide to call it a day after a long day out on the ice.

 

 The images above are of a Longtail Duck also known as an Old Squaw.

 

 Another fun activity on the ice.
 

In the image below it appears that the two male Redheads are competing for the female Redhead.



Snowy Owl Irruption 2013

The year 2013 offered many exciting opportunities for this wildlife photographer.  Of course, the elk rut was amazing this year and although the River Otters were a bit on the elusive side, they did cooperate late in the year.  Our trip to the Canadian Rockies was amazing and we captured thousands of images from scenery to critters of all types.  We finished off the year with a bang compliments of an exciting Snowy Owl Irruption.

 

So for those that are not familiar with the term "irruption"  I will give a quick and dirty explanation.  The Snowy Owls are actually from the Arctic and are comfortable living on the tundra.  Their favorite meal is the Lemming which is a small rodent type critter.  When the Lemmings are in short supply, the  Snowy's will travel south looking for a replacement food source.  This is called an irruption.  In 2010, my son Jeremy and I traveled to New Jersey and hoped to locate one Snowy Owl at the rear of a large reservoir.  We were thrilled to locate and photograph that single Owl and the memory of that day will always be special to us.

 

2013 has proven to be one of the most significant irruptions in recent history.  They have literally been spotted all over the northern section of the United States and even some as far south as North Carolina.  Often the Snowy's will irrupt to a place similar to the tundra of the Arctic but certainly not always.  We had the opportunity of photographing several Snowy Owls out on Gull Point on Presque Isle.  The terrain at Gull Point probably closely resembled their home in the Arctic and trust me when I say the frigid temperatures and wind made us feel as though we were in the Arctic at times. 

 

The Snowy Owls are one of the largest owls in North America.  They have a wingspan of 4.5 - 5.5 feet and stand over two feet tall.  The males may have some dark bars in their plumage but will get pure white as they mature.  The young males will have noticeable dark variations in their feathers while the females will typically be darker.  Their eyes are large and round and an awesome yellow color with a dark center.

 

It's anyone's  guess as to how many Snowy's will irrupt to Presque Isle and of course we have no clue how long they will stay.  We are so fortunate to have spent  time photographing these amazing Owls and hope to spend more time with them.  A wildlife photographer must always keep in mind that it's a delicate balance of trying to get the shot but still be respectful of the subject.

 

The four images below were shot on a more recent visit to Gull Point. 

 



I believe the blood on this Snowy came from a recent meal but could also have been the result of a mid-air fight with another Owl that occurred that morning.



 

 

 Can you believe the size of the talons on these Owls!  I shot this image as he sat out on an ice dune along the shore.

The main reason for including this shot is to show the amount of ice crystals and sand in the air as the winds pummeled us.

 

 

Having a Blonde Moment

I suppose I need to explain the title of this post because it does tend to be misleading.  The male readers may be getting their hopes up thinking I will be posting images of beautiful blonde females.  Come to think of it, I am.  Then again there may be female readers that are expecting some cheap shots directed at the blonde sector of the female populous.  While it's true that I have been guilty of such childish acts, that won't be the case this time.  I'll save this for another post.

 

So just what kind of a blonde moment am I referring to, you may be wondering.  Well, in this particular case I would be talking about blonde coyotes.  And to be more specific, we're talking about a blonde female coyote.   Typically when a person mentions coyotes, people cringe and make all kinds of faces, and picture this ugly predator with bloody fangs.  Now I'm not saying that coyotes are the cutest critters in the world but surprisingly my images of this blonde female have gotten some positive comments.  Instead of all the negative remarks I've actually heard people describing this blonde as beautiful.  I've also had people asking if it is a dog.  Well, in a way it is a dog but you don't want one sitting on your lap.

 

Hope you enjoy these images. 

 

 

 The above image was modified using several different post processing effects.  I just thought it was a neat look for such a mysterious predator.