Cold Weather - Watery Wednesday

With all of the reports of White-winged Crossbills in northern and central Indiana I decided to check out a few pine stands around Bloomington, as its only a matter of time before they get down to southern Indiana. Unfortunately no crossbills were to be found but while hiking around I was able to find a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Winter Wren. Both of which can be difficult to find in Indiana during the winter.

On Saturday I decided to visit a new location about 50 minutes away, Cataract Falls State Recreation Area. The waterfalls on this property are very impressive and are the largest by volume of water in all of Indiana. As soon as the sun came up over a 100 vultures started soaring indicating that there is a vulture roost in the area. Most were Turkey Vultures but a few Black Vultures were in the mix as well. Many Golden-crowned Kinglets and one Sharp-shinned Hawk were also in the area. For a photographer/birder you can't ask for a better location. There is a big pine stand in the middle of the deciduous forest that surrounds the river and falls which creates great habitat for birds throughout the year.

I climbed up a big pile of rocks for this one. During the winter the sun rises over the falls creating some very interesting lighting. This falls is about 30 feet tall.

This is another part of the upper falls. I liked the contrast between the water and the ice. There is plenty of opportunity in the area to work on some abstract water shots.


This falls is the same as the falls in picture 1. On the other side of this falls you can walk on ice behind the falls and look out from behind the falls. I liked this shot because it conveys the low temperatures in Indiana (about 15° F on this morning).

Check out other great Watery Wednesday posts here.