 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  A rafter or flock of turkeys, Meleagris gallapovo, with several toms and hens strutting in the grass. Their range is spread throughout North America. There are five distinct subspecies of wild turkeys: Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, Merriam’s, and Gould’s. Adult male turkeys are called toms or gobblers and females are called hens. Wild Turkey are hunted at game birds. Several cloudy afternoons this week I’ve spotted the family of Wild Turkeys in their usual location at an empty house in a field at the corner of New High Shoals Road and Union Church Road in Oconee County, Georgia. There have also been two does and several fawns feeding alongside the group of turkeys making it look like a regular wildlife refuge! Last fall I spotted turkeys in this same spot.
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 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. "Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is His work." Psalms 111:2  Whitetailed Deer; photo #201509037 Taking my typical lunch break walk to the ponds and woods behind the shelter this afternoon revealed a gracefully bounding deer and one stealthy chipmunk. Because I wasn't quite prepared for an "action shot" with a higher shutter speed setting (shot at 1/250 sec.), and because I was firing as I was raising and panning the camera, there was already quite a bit of blur on the deer photo. So to mask the blur, and create a bit more of a dramatic, "artsy" effect, I added some motion blur to the scene surrounding the deer. You can even see a double image surrounding the deer. I also boosted the saturation of the colors. Overall, not a great shot, but why not keep it. A 3 MB file doesn't take up too much space! I thought the chipmunk photo was worth keeping because he has that "you can't see me" look on his face. He was sitting in such a tangled mess of blackberry briers I had to use manual focus to bring his eye in focus.  Chipmunk; photo #201509038  "When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses." Jeremiah 10:13  Antique Vintage Chevy being restored at body shop. Photo #201509036. Support my work by downloading this photo at www.dreamstime.com. 100% of funds go back into shelter photography and education programs. Even though the hot and sultry “dog days of summer” technically have passed, the temperatures still remain in the lower nineties with an oppressively high humidity. This combination has made for some wonderful spectacles of thunderstorms each afternoon this week. Huge billowing mountains of clouds charged with electricity roll in each afternoon proceeded and accompanied by the echoing rumbles like giant avalanches down endless slopes. I have gone out each afternoon to watch the storms that march in, gazing around in wonder until being chased back indoors by the relentless downpour that eventually follows. Sitting out behind my office next to the county’s fleet maintenance shop is an old Chevy donated to the Sherriff’s office by and elderly Walton resident for use in the county parades. The car and clouds just seemed to go together and made for a wonderful photo opportunity.  Antique Chevrolet car restored to an old time Sheriff patrol car wtih red siren, star, chrome bumpers. Blue sky storm in background. Vintage automobile.  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Young juvenile masked raccoon looking down from tree in Walton County Georgia “Spitfire” was a wily little raccoon that got himself stuck in a dumpster while seeking an easy meal. Such a cute young guy (probably equivalent to a trouble-making 12-year-old boy) but man he was full of zest! When Officer Johnny Legaspi brought him back to the shelter in cage, he had his ears pinned down, back hunched up, fur standing on edge and giving his best growls and snorts. I released him near the shelter to climb a dead tree and got some photos before bidding him “good luck” and warning him to stay away from those apartment complex dumpsters from now on! Walton County, Georgia  Young juvenile masked raccoon looking down from tree in Walton County Georgia  Young Raccoon in Tree  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. "Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is His work." Psalms 111:2  Juvenile Wood Storks in pond Walton County Georgia Last week Shari came into my office and told me there was a stork on the pond behind the animal shelter. Never seeing a stork here before, and knowing Shari isn’t up to speed on much bird ID knowledge, I doubted her and figured it was an egret I've regularly seen back there. However, she said, "No, it wasn't an Egret. It had black along its wings." Could it really be a stork? I described and Ibis for her, but she stood firm that it was a large stork. But she said it had a white head. This threw me off, but it was gone when I got outside. This morning Johnny came into my office and said, “Did you see those two huge storks back there?” I ran straight back and had to see it this time. Sure enough, directly across the pond stood two large Wood Storks! After checking them out in my zoom lens, I could discern they were two fuzzy-headed juveniles. What in the world are they doing here? I checked the sightings map on ebird.com and found only one close-by sighting in Jersey, GA. This was a new one for me “on Walton Pond”. Walton County, Georgia  Wood Storks. Photo #201509028  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.  The eastern newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, is a common type of salamander of eastern North America that lives in lakes, ponds, and streams or wet forests. The bright orange juvenile is called a red eft. I left the house Labor Day morning for a long run. Just after a half mile as I neared the top of our subdivision, I ran into an unexpected sight: a little Red-Spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) was crossing the sidewalk! I ran a few steps past but the urge to get a photograph turned me around. I ran him back down to the house in the palm of my hand and had Amanda put him in a small cage. Later that afternoon, after a few Labor Day hamburgers, I took a few shots before releasing him in the rocks around our turtle pond in the backyard. Athens-Clarke County, Georgia  The eastern newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, is a common type of salamander of eastern North America that lives in lakes, ponds, and streams or wet forests. The bright orange juvenile is called a red eft.  The eastern newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, is a common type of salamander of eastern North America that lives in lakes, ponds, and streams or wet forests. The bright orange juvenile is called a red eft.
 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5:14-15  Giant Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina in Walton County Georgia Still attempting to get a photograph of the Beaver that is felling all the trees around the ponds at work, I took my daily get-away-from-the-stress walk on lunch break. Down near the firing range, on the narrow strip that separates a small marsh from the larger wetland area, a gargantuan snapper was crossing from one pond to the other. His head was near the size of a tennis ball; his back feet were huge paddles as wide as three or four of my fingers and tipped in heavy claws. And, oh that mouth! I truly feared a snap from his jaws!  Giant Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina in Walton County Georgia Of course, like a child, I poked and prodded with a stick to watch him snap… one bite breaking my twig! I used a branch to note the length of his shell, which later measured out a huge 15.5 inch carapace! I contemplated bringing him back to my office and later use him in a Creation Speaks lesson, but changed my mind when I knew I wouldn’t be able to carry him very far. I also couldn’t think of a lesson he could teach us. Just a few hundred yards away a previously memorized scripture popped in my head “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:14-15). I raced back to my office, but unfortunately the monster was gone when I pulled around with the pickup truck. Walton County, Georgia  Giant Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina in Walton County Georgia  Giant Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina in Walton County Georgia  Heading out at dusk for a walk around the block, a group of about 6 Common Nighthawks were looping and diving above our house while making a general westerly course into the setting sun. The bold white stripes on their v-shaped wings shown a brilliant eye-catching orange in the lowering rays of sunlight. An attempt for my camera was too late as they circled out of sight before I could fetch it from inside.
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In December 1993 I came to know the Designer and Creator of this wonderful planet and its creatures: Jesus Christ.
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