NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/846037
38 NEBRASKAland • JULY 2017 a good look at the prairie dog before it eventually decided to dive down its hole. After a few minutes, it became clear that this was a great opportunity. We had accidentally stumbled upon a prairie dog that wasn't very bright. I rolled down the window of my truck and took a few photos. She didn't move. I slowly opened the door of my truck and lowered myself and my camera/tripod to the ground and peeked out from behind the door. She took a bite of a leaf. I slowly slid my tripod past the edge of the door and took a few photos from ground level. The prairie dog pups cavorted endearingly. About 10 minutes later, following a series of slow and gradual movements by me, I found myself lying prone on the ground a mere 12 feet from the mother prairie dog, who was still feeding placidly while her kids ran around nearby. I took approximately six hundred thousand photos of her standing up, eating a leaf, standing up, looking around, and standing up, before I finally got bored and crept back to the truck so we could continue our trip. Red-tailed Hawk Some friends and I were exploring a Sandhills ranch on a beautiful August day when we stopped our small caravan of off-road vehicles to check out a hawk standing in the middle of the prairie. After close observation of the bird through binoculars, the birders in the group declared it a juvenile ferruginous hawk. It later turned out it was a red-tailed hawk, but that's not actually important to the story. Once they had deciphered (incorrectly) the species of the bird, the birders drove on. As they passed near the hawk, it flew from the ground to a nearby post and then back to its original spot. My friend and I decided we'd drive our UTV a little closer to the hawk to see if there was a reason it was sitting where it was. We figured maybe it had caught something interesting to eat. As we drove closer, I kept expecting the hawk to fly off to the same post it had when our companions had driven by. Instead, the hawk just peered at us with its bright yellow eyes without moving. Once we got within 25 feet This red-tailed hawk just stood and stared at me as I pulled up with an UTV, backed around to get a better angle, and eventually crawled out to the ground within 15 feet of it. I sincerely hope these strategies will help many of you get great wildlife photos without really working at it.