I spent sunrise on the 4th of July on the grounds of Binghamton University’s Nature Preserve.  Although BU is my alma mater, I’ve visited perhaps twice since graduating almost three years ago.  During that time, I had forgotten just how rich the Nature Preserve is – although in my defense, when I was there I wasn’t yet shooting wildlife images.  In town to spend the holiday with family, I figured the Preserve was a good, convenient place to try my luck.

I was lucky!

This is an Eastern Phoebe, and she put on quite a show, hunting insects over the marsh with her fledgling, perching on the boardwalk within easy range of my 120-400.  I spent a good part of the morning moving back and forth along the boardwalk; it’s not common that you get to watch a critter on the hunt like that for so long.

When I did move along down the trail, my luck followed me – the image below is a Green Heron, which is a species that I only saw for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and then just for a moment.  To find one perched like this within lens range was an incredible find – and like the last time, a find that only lasted a moment before it was gone, the heron relocating to a tree on the far side of the marsh.

Here’s a familiar face, and another not so familiar; a Yellow Warbler and a Eastern House Wren, the later of which is a new species for me.

And what would a trip to the Southern Tier be without at least one of the area’s notoriously over-abundant resident White-tailed Deer?  This gal (?) was on the trail and showed no fright as I slowly moved closer.  Close enough that I had to zoom out from 400mm to keep her all in the frame.  You see this all the time up there – the deer just aren’t afraid anymore.