A Bad Day at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge

     Last Wednesday, Linda and I hit the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge hard with nearly all of the equipment we own. We arrived shortly before the hours where birders have seen the greatest number of birds. We were prepared, but the weather was damned cold, and the birds sat well off shore. The only birds in photographic range were Canadian Snow Geese, and hundreds of black birds hiding amongst the branches of anything still remaining after this cold winter. Even Linda’s tenacity with her camera didn’t bring much if anything. With my zoom lens, I was able to get a couple of photographs of Canadian Geese but nothing of any quality. Frustrated and with a tinge of dread, I gave up shooting, packed up and warmed myself in the car. It wasn’t long before Linda gave up as well. By mid-afternoon, we were on a luckless run back to KC.
     I knew Howard at the paper would not be pleased with our results, but with the changing weather patterns, shooting birds is a crap shoot, and today we shot craps, not birds. After arriving at the hotel, I pulled the memory chips from both cameras and deleted most of my shots before I began the editing process. Out of the original 88 photographs,
only three had any potential; and those were not of the quality needed for publishing. I closed up Corel PaintShop, shut down the laptop, and thought of the conversation I’d have with Howard at the Chronicle. Dreading this, I only caught a few hours sleep. Tomorrow I would send my photos to the paper and I knew Howard Ray would not be happy.