I was in a nice creative fog as I typed at the computer in my home office. My ear caught a metallic 'ting' as dry dog food disappeared from the stainless-steel bowl out of sight on my back porch. Then I heard the soft crunch of chewing noises, and a little later another 'ting' as more food disappeared. I figured my Sheltie Amanda must be enjoying a mid-day snack.

A few minutes later I took a water break and watched some surprising action on the porch. Amanda was lying down beside her food bowl. A small furry head popped up on the other side of the bowl to watch me suspiciously, but decided I wasn't a threat. The gray thief backed off a little to chew his booty, ignoring Amanda less than three feet away. When I softly called Amanda's name and she raised her head to look at me, the western gray squirrel quickly scampered over to the nearest tree and climbed. Guess he'd finished his snack.

Dogfood, Birdseed and Visitors
If you put a food bowl out for your dog or cat in the morning like I do and your pet is tolerant, other visitors may stop by for their own snacks. I've seen two squirrels play tag-team feeding as they alternated turns at Amanda's food. Sometimes thirsty house sparrows perch on the edge of her water bowl for a quick drink... until they see me and flit away. If Amanda was a large, aggressive dog they wouldn't come near, but she's always been willing to share.

I used to leave a stocked bird feeder out overnight. I enjoyed the chestnut-backed chickadees it attracted. I even liked the house finches and house sparrows that also stopped by. But I drew the line when nocturnal Norway rats started showing up to pilfer birdseed, and crawled into my attic where they started gnawing their way through the ceiling above the kitchen pantry. They also seemed to enjoy thistle seeds the birds spilled out of my finch feeder. Rats in the house or anywhere on the property were a health hazard to Amanda and me, one I couldn't ignore. I began taking the feeder in every night, put rat poison in the garage and set traps baited with peanut butter in the attic. I also pulled all the food out of the pantry so its smell wouldn't be so strong. After a year, I haven't had any rat problems.

Amanda doesn't mind squirrels stealing dog food and they're unlikely to carry disease, so that's OK. Heck, it's entertaining. Maybe that's why Amanda lets 'em do it.

Shoot When The Light's Good
Just when I think every photographer out there must have learned something about light, I run into someone who doesn't understand. Wildlife behavior is important but the wrong light gives a lousy photograph. I'd been arriving at Palo Alto Baylands' duck pond around 6:00-6:30AM to capture the action as young snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons waited for Mom and Dad to come back with food. These altricial nestlings can't feed themselves (or don't want to) until they fledge about five or six weeks after hatching. They're constantly hungry, so parents feed them all day. But the best light for this site happens in the first couple hours of the morning.

As I was packing up to leave at 8:00 after some really good images of young night herons getting breakfast, a small German car sped into the duck pond's parking lot. The driver popped the trunk and began setting up his camera gear. We talked a little, and he seemed surprised when I suggested he'd have better light closer to sunrise.

So what is good light?

With the sun high in the sky, look at wading birds searching for food in a marsh or pond in the open. A snowy egret's feathers appear very bright white, and any short shadow he casts on the water is inky black. Shadows on the bird are also very black. The highlights show a detail-less white bird with only eyes and harsh black bill relieving the blindingly bright feathers. The water around the bird looks flat and gray. If he's close to green reeds on the bank, his underside feathers may take on an unattractive green tint. There's a slight bluishness to the light on his upper body and head. Your eyes and brain automatically compensate for these color and brightness differences thanks to millennia of evolution. Your film and pixels show them, though.

Now look at the same bird that evening. You might see him against pink water reflecting the sky as a background. Soft shadows from the low-angle light give the bird depth and show off some of the gentle curves of the wings, neck and head. A sharp lens on an 8 megapixel digital SLR or camera loaded with fine-grained film will also show you feather textures in the soft evening light.

It's no accident experienced photographers talk about early morning and evening as "the magic hours." Low-angle light has more softening layers of atmosphere to travel through on its way to that white bird. Short wavelengths of the harsher-looking blues get filtered out, leaving the reds and oranges we like to see in sunrises and sunsets. The light also disperses as it travels through that extra atmosphere so it looks softer, like the light through a thin white curtain. Late and early light are more directional so they give more distinct shadows, but those shadows are as soft as the light that creates them. The soft shadows give depth and definition to feathers and other textures.

So that's why you find your subjects at sunrise for the best images... if they're facing a direction that lets the light bring out their color and textures. The egret and night heron rookery at the Baylands faces southeast with tall palms blocking the light from the north and west. That makes it a morning destination, since evening light from the west won't reach the birds directly, leaving them in dark shadow. Early morning light filters through other trees in front of the rookery, giving even more diffusion to the light on the birds.

Bright White Metering
Egret photography also taught me about my camera's metering system. Even the most sophisticated multi-zone meter can be fooled into over-exposing a white subject against almost any background. I usually use one-third to two thirds of a stop less than my meter wants when I photograph snowy or great egrets with my Canon digital EOS cameras. Nikon's matrix metering was fooled less often back in the days when I used an F5 with film or a D1H with pixels. So test your camera with your chosen subjects - that's one time when a digital camera's instant feedback really helps!

(Snowy egret bad hair day)

What if you're using film? Bracket around your camera's meter reading. Test the way your meter reads light with a 24-exposure roll of the film you intend to use for the real thing, in light that's similar. Then expose 'live' images 1/3 stop above and below the best exposure for your subject. For a snowy egret, I'd take three shots - one 1/3 stop below the meter reading, another 2/3 under and a third at the meter's reading. That gives one at my expected correct exposure and two more above and below. Some cameras allow you to set automatic bracketing - this can help you bracket quickly changing behavior. You won't be able to capture the same image with all three exposures, but you'll come close. Make rough notes on each shot afterwards so you can remember what you did the next time you shoot that subject.

Getting Local Wildlife to Stop By
Wildlife goes where there's food and water. Backyard feeders are an obvious way to attract birds and furry animals, and your sprinklers may entice perching birds to bathe. A pair of morning doves ignored me as I got within 20 feet of the sprinkler's 'rain' they were under to photograph them.

Wildlife prefer high spots like stumps and small hills to keep an eye on neighborhood predators. You can make your own 'stumps' and other natural features to entice animals. Your local nursery or lumberyard has four to five inch wide fence posts. Buy a weathered one, some right-angle roof joist supports and some pine planks and two by fours for a base. Cut two six-inch pieces of the two by fours, one for each side of the post. Then use the roof joist supports to attach them to the pine base, far enough apart so the post fits snugly between them. Secure the post with long screws all the way through the post and both two by four pieces (drill holes for the screws first), and spray the pine base and lower part of the post with Varathane or another wood sealant to make everything weather-resistant. You can route out the top of the post to make a small 'dish' for seeds. Place your post for best morning or evening light, near where you've seen animals before. Add seeds on the top and enjoy your wild visitors!

Travelin' Shoes... The New River Birding and Nature Festival happens at the end of April in a beautiful part of West Virginia. Even though I'm too late for the festival, I'll enjoy the steep-sided New River Gorge and its summer wildlife next week. I'm planning on a guided raft trip with some class IV and V rapids July 3, my last day. I can hear it now: "I've rafted 10 days on the Colorado, and a one-day trip is NOTHIN'!" For me it's plenty... I'll have the full story for you when I get back.

No one guessed May's critter. Belding's ground squirrels spend half their lives sleeping in their burrows. They live in colonies above 7,000 feet like the one at Mono Lake County Park. The colony near Yosemite's Tioga Pass is a favorite for study by biologists.

And there's a new critter this month.

First correct guesser gets an 8X10 print of the full image. But you only have until July 25 to email your name and guess to contest@mountain-and-desert.com.
    Good luck!!

Think your friends might enjoy something you saw in Wildlife Watcher?
Click to send it to them!  (Fill in their email address in the form that comes up.)
Or just send them to http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Newsletters/WildWatch.htm