I visit a wide variety of local, state and national parks, preserves and sanctuaries during my search for photographs.
Each park has its own unique offerings, the reason the areas were protected as parks.
For instance, parks in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio have deep, creek-filled gorges surrounded by rocky cliffs and many waterfalls, a unique landscape for Ohio. The J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in Florida is part of the largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem in the United States and is world famous for its spectacular migratory bird populations. Magee Marsh Wildlife Area along Lake Erie in Northern Ohio is filled with migrating warblers every spring, attracting bird watchers from around the world. Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary east of Naples, Fla.,is part of the Everglades ecosystem and is filled with alligators, snakes, nesting storks and a variety of other wildlife in a swamp surrounded by the largest old growth Bald Cypress forest in North America.
I enjoy visiting each of those parks, along with the dozens of others I visit often.
But if you took a look at my photo files you’d see one location popping up more than any other: Sharon Woods Metro Park north of Columbus, Ohio, about a 20 minute drive from our summer residence. It's the subject of my featured gallery for February.
It’s become my favorite place for photography, primarily because it doesn’t have one unique characteristic.
Sharon Woods has a large lake. I’ve picked up some nice waterfowl and wading birds photographs in that area.
It has open fields where I’ve captured many hundreds of photos of goldfinch, sparrows, blackbirds, warblers, deer, turkeys, bluebirds, chipmunks and other wildlife.
It has a hilly forest, great for woodpeckers, mockingbirds, catbirds, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, blue jays and other birds the prefer forests over fields.
I’ve photographed birds ranging from the gigantic Pileated Woodpecker to the tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
I’ve photographed landscapes, including sunrises, autumn scenes and winter scenes.
I’ve even photographed a mink.
It’s that variety that keeps me going back to Sharon Woods. I never know what I’m going to see. That keeps my photo hikes interesting.
Credits:
All photos and text © Copyright - Pat D. Hemlepp. All rights reserved.