Copyright 2001, Dan Smith

Living near a major wildlife refuge has its advantages. In 15 minutes I am knee deep in avocets, ibis, pelicans and a host of other birds. The year varies and so do the birds, marsh and weather. It can be great, living close to what you love to photograph.

It can also be painful but still ripe with great images.

This year we are in the midst of a drought. Add to that the major trapping effort to remove predators from the refuge last winter & we have a changed photo location.

For the past three years I had fox dens staked out I could get to within 15-40 minutes. Dens I could almost walk up to and photograph little fox pups and a few mature foxes who were basically unconcerned with vehicle traffic. They were a plague, but a cute one in front of a lens.

Not this year! Last winter the refuge management had trappers, public and private on the refuge getting rid of foxes, skunks, raccoons and muskrat. With 22 separate fox dens I knew of on the twelve mile dike drive around route, they had easy pickings. Tons of photographers and even more tourists would stop & see them almost daily all summer. Many would get food from some of the folks.

Easy pickings for a good trapper and it didn't hurt that fox pelts were going for $250 last winter. And these were prime pelts from foxes that had so much food it was an easy life.

This summer... nothing. I have not seen a fox, adult or pup, within 200 feet of the drive around route all spring and summer. I have only found one active den but have not seen any animals near it. Just sign. Glad I got good images the past few years.

In reality the foxes are intruders. The red fox is not native to the area. Niether are the raccoons. The skunks are. Trapping really reduced the numbers and it will take time to rebound. As that happens we will be working on more fox images.

Added to the lack of foxes is the lack of water. This results is a major lack of birds.

Grebes? Not this year. At least, not along the twelve mile drive around route. No water, no fish to eat and not enough water to dive in to catch the few fish left. I have seen three pairs of nesting grebes total along the drive around and they are on side canals where water has been diverted to keep other marsh areas wet to support migrating bird populations.

Pelicans? Compared to being able to see massive groups of 5,000 or more feeding we now see groups of 50 or so at the largest. With no water we have no fish. Pelicans eat fish. O, yes, there are fish. But no pelican in its right mind tries to tackle a three foot carp or catfish. Just doesn't happen. They are getting the few small ones left but are now flying further into the marsh areas for food. Further afield as well with some going 150 miles one way per day to feed. At the refuge it is slim pickings for them as well as for those of us looking for good pelican images.

With the drive around route being 95% dry, according to refuge personnel, few birds are there. They have moved into the more remote marsh areas where no one can go unless they are willing to walk over a mile or more of mud flats. Further if you get there legally as you can't walk across the flats on the closed refuge sections.

In these concentrated areas are thousands of Avocets, Stilts, Plovers, Ibis and other birds normall feeding and nesting in the main refuge areas. Yes, I can get there but with so little area left doing so will push a lot of them off their feeding area. It will effect the young. If the drought keeps up it might result in losing more birds than normal to stress. So, I stay away. There is always next year.

But, the drought brings with it other possibilities. With mud cracks going down more than 26 inches, some of the cracks are deep as well as wide. Walking on them is like stepping on a wrestling mat, padded and springy. There is water there but it is beneath the crusted and cracked top layer. In some areas you can see the water beneath as you stand on eight inches or more of dry lakebed. While many think only a wide angle lens works here, the B&W of the carp skeleton on the cracked marsh is with a 'normal' lens on the 8x10. A 300mm, equivalent to a normal on 35mm. Great graphics everhwhere with the lack of water.

Another benefit of drought is the concentration of wading birds when there is water. The south dike of the drive around is almost bare now. Little water. A week ago the water covered about a hundred yards out from the dike. What a show! Thousands of avocets, stilts and phalaropes everywhere. The phalaropes were doing their syncronous aerial performances constantly. Groups of a few thousand in flight, undulating against the sky, all turning in rhythm displaying the flash of white underbelly dazzling in the morning sunlight. Beautiful.

Hundreds of stilts giving distress calls as a hawk flew by, drowning out the noise of everything else and then settling back down again. Seagulls picking on hundreds of carp still alive but stranded in shallow water. A few big catfish in the same condition. Great Blue Herons by the gross standing around too full to eat any more after gorging on floundering fish and the few hapless and unlucky muskrat still in the muddy area. It was great and it lasted about five days before most of the birds moved on to better pickings. But, it was an experience I won't forget.

All the birds that gather require water, food and shelter. With the disappearing water goes the food for many of them. No water and no food means no birds. This means I have to photograph something other than the few birds that are left. It also means if one is near the few watercourses you are near where the few birds will be. Too close & you scare them off so I try to be careful. Sit near a waterhole & wait. The small pool protected by reeds, rushes & cattails suddenly comes alive with sora and virginia rail. Little guys, juveniles who want to eat and scurry around almost oblivious to my presence lying on the edge of the pool in a sleeping bag on a ground pad in the mud. Too close to focus half the time I feel as if some will come up & sit on the lens. Not quite, but they do come within a foot, close enough to touch.

Change brings new opportunities and if we are open we get more images than ever before. Maybe not what we envisioned but then it challenges our vision and creativity. Take a look at dry lakebeds and see how many ways you can photograph Drought! Not that many dead fish skeletons left, they get picked over & shredded pretty fast. Few dead birds and little other than mud cracks & the occasional puddle remaining. But as we get a few late thunderstorms it may be great. Dry mudcracks with the contrast of big raindrops splattering before the deluge hits. New growth in odd locations. Vast patterns of aridity in what is otherwise an oasis with snow topped mountains in the background as fall snowstorms come our way. Remember, it snowed here in mid June so maybe we will get early snowstorms before September hits?

One can only hope.

Meanwhile, I get out the lenses & film & try to document the drought conditions while watching the birds, dragonflies & flowers. And best of all, so few mosquitoes compared to a normal year that it is positively paradise!

Nature photography is full of surprises & we have to be ready. Those coming to the refuge this spring and summer are seeing a different refuge than in the past few years. No water and few birds. This winter should be interesting as with no water the duck hunters will be hard pressed to find anything to shoot, possibly a blessing in disguise for those of us who love the place in winter. Then again, the usual two weeks of 10 degree temperatures I hope for in November to firm up the ice won't make any difference on dry lakebed as no tundra swans will be bedding down there anyway. But blowing snow in the mud cracks have possibilities to make one look forward to the possibilities.

No matter the conditions, there is always another image waiting. Color or B&W. Big camera or 35mm, it doesn't matter. If you are open to what nature gives you rather than coming for a pre-set photo, you will have the chance for great images.