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<\/p>\nPlus yesterday’s unexpected good Samaritan.<\/p>\n
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1\/125. f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n We begin with another photo from one of the oldest portions of my portfolio. It’s been almost four years since I posted a Yellow-headed Blackbird so I figure it’s about time – this one is from the early summer of 2008.<\/p>\n During the breeding season male Yellow-headed Blackbirds are known for an amazing variety of sexual and agonistic displays, at least 15 of them. I especially like this one with his tail flared and a head turn which allowed me to get light in his eye as he performed the splits between two cattails. I got a much better exposure than I usually get on an inky black bird and I was pleasantly surprised to get him so sharp at such a slow shutter speed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n OK, now for a real change of pace.<\/p>\n When good things happen, especially when they’re completely unexpected, it sometimes leaves me with a warm buzz that lasts for a surprisingly long time. Yesterday afternoon while I was trying unsuccessfully to get some interesting bird photos at one of our local ponds it happened once again when a fisherman reminded me of the inadvisability of making assumptions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This gentleman was fishing on the far side of the pond. To me at least he doesn’t necessarily look like a potential hero but he surprised me.<\/p>\n He caught my attention when I noticed him craning his neck in an obvious attempt to see what was happening in front of a stand of reeds growing out of the water near the shore immediately to his left. He looked for such a long time I eventually scanned the edge of the reeds to see if I could spot whatever it was that he was so interested in. It turned out to be an American Coot entangled in fishing line that was in turn entangled in the reeds.<\/p>\n I didn’t know it at the time but when this photo was taken he was looking to his right at his large pile of fishing gear on the ground to see if he had anything there that would help him to free the coot.<\/p>\n For the sake of telling the story I’m going to call this good Samaritan… Sam.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Eventually I spotted the far away coot through my lens. Here ‘he’ looks pretty relaxed but that’s deceiving. He’d already been struggling for a long time so he was resting briefly as a very curious Pied-billed Grebe looked on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even as far away as I was I could hear the coot splashing in the water as he struggled but that only made things worse as more of the fishing line became entangled in the reeds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was freezing cold, 33\u00b0 F. with a frigid breeze blowing, but Sam was intent on freeing that coot. There was an expanse of water between him and the reeds and the coot was on the other side of them so he had to try to wade through the water with a very muddy bottom in an attempt to get at the bird.<\/p>\n When that didn’t work, probably because of the muddy bottom combined with the freezing water that Sam wasn’t dressed for, he tried another tactic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When he began to walk around the far side of the large pond with his fishing gear left behind I had no idea what he was up to. He walked about 150 yards until he spotted this deadfall from one of the large trees near the shore. He picked it up and than dragged it all the way back to his original fishing spot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When he finally arrived at the reeds in front of the coot he picked up the deadfall and…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n gently laid it across the water between the shore and the reeds. I believe his intent was to try to walk on the deadfall to allow him to avoid the worst of the freezing water and mud as he attempted to free the coot.<\/p>\n But unbeknownst to Sam the coot had freed itself and swam away while he was walking around the pond to retrieve the deadfall. Eventually Sam walked the other way around the pond and close to my pickup so Mia told him the coot had freed itself and thanked him for his efforts. He seemed nonchalant about what he’d done, as if his efforts were the natural and assumed consequences of anyone seeing a bird in such a predicament.<\/p>\n I disagree. I don’t think most folks in Sam’s situation would have made the effort that he made to free the coot.<\/p>\n Kudos Sam. You made me feel just a little bit better about my own species and reminded me that potential heroes don’t always look the part.<\/span><\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n Sam spent almost half an hour trying to free the coot. At the beginning of his efforts there was no one else at the pond except for Sam and the two of us in my pickup. We were far away and Sam had no idea we were watching him through our lenses. Notice that in the first photo of Sam he appears to be already wet almost up to his knees.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plus yesterday’s unexpected good Samaritan.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/good-samaritan-4479-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"good-samaritan-4479-ron-dudley\\"")
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