The time was
not wasted. My quarry did not show up, but it was time well spent. I sat two and a half hours in the car, using it as a blind. My
window-pod held the digital camera with the telephoto lens aimed at the dark cavity at the top of a twenty-foot high trunk
of a dead tree. A few nights ago, a friend had spotted an American Black Bear
climb in the cavity as a den for the daylight hours. We were well past the semi-hibernation
time of year for bears so It probably left the following evening, but might have found it comfortable enough to have returned.
I am a volunteer photographer
for Shenandoah National Park, and I wanted a photo of the bear leaving the den in the top of the tree. I arrived at a little after 6:00 PM, set up my gear and waited for a bear to emerge for a night of foraging. Long after sundown, I continued to coax the camera to find enough light to photograph
anything.
The time was
not wasted. I read a book as long as could see print on the pages. No bear appeared. At almost 9:00 PM, I gave up and headed
for the Big Meadows Tap Room -- pizza for dinner and live entertainment to sooth my failure to complete my mission. No bear had shown itself during my two and a half hours of waiting.
But waiting is the
secret of my photographic success. It does not always get the result, but it
does often enough to do it over again. I was given the assignment to get a photo
of a groundhog (woodchuck) sitting up beside the road. Groundhogs can be notoriously
timid critters. They run for the cover of their hole in the ground at the slightest
threat. I spent hours on four different evenings sitting in my car where I know
a groundhog had a den.
I have a photo of
a cute groundhog (woodchuck) peeking over the side of the road. That photo has
been published in the “Shenandoah, the Story Behind the Scenery”, Eighth Printing, 2006, New Version, Copyright
1990 KC Publications, Inc. This publication is available through Shenandoah National Park Association. The perky little groundhog is also displayed on Shenandoah National Park’s standard brochure, given to every
visiting vehicle entering the park.
The time was not wasted.
--Ranger Bob
