“Arden Valley Falls”
Arden Valley Falls Nikon Z8 with Z 24-70 f/2.8 lens at 34 mm 1.6 secs, f/11. ISO 64
Given the amount of rain that we have had in the Hudson Valley the past couple of weeks, I figured that an “ephemeral” falls that I was familiar with out on Arden Valley Road in Harriman SP might be flowing today. So with high hopes, I drove the short distance to where I remember this feature being and sure enough, there it was. Later in the summer, once the spring rains have abated, this will be nothing more than a dry ledge without any vestige of the water flowing over this rock face. There is not much of a pull-off across from this site, so I had to pull to the side of the road and work quickly. Fortunately, it was the middle of the week and there was next to no traffic, so in fact I did have plenty of time to set up. Since I wanted to capture the milky flow of the water over the “falls”, I made sure that my shutter speed was at least 1 second and hopefully more, and things worked out just fine. We still had some of the fog from the morning in the area and it diffused the light nicely giving e me the look I was hoping for. It’s nice when things come together as planned. After spending some time at the falls, I drove down to the end of Arden Valley Road to a hikers parking lot called the Elk Pen.
I was hoping to find a Field sparrow here, but the grass has grown so thick and high that they seem to have moved on. Before long, however, I did notice a bright yellow spot flitting about in the canopy of the trees abutting the fields. A Yellow warbler was picking little bugs off the cedar tree, and while I’ve photographed a ton of these little guys this spring, I couldn’t resist to grab one more. It seems that these are the most prevalent warblers in the area this year and I’m not sure whether it’s because there are actually more of them or are they simply so bright and so loquacious that they can’t be missed.
Another bird that has made its presence known at many of the sites I’ve visited recently is the beautiful Indigo bunting. Like the Yellow warbler, the bunting’s song is quite unique and easy to identify. Not quite as ubiquitous as the yellow, he still makes an appearance at many of the areas I have been checking in on over the past couple of months. The Indigo bunting prefers “edges” like roadsides and is one of the few species that are “happy” with habitat fragmentation! I’m sure I’ll be seeing him again before he starts to make his return journey to the tropics in the fall. His path will take him across the Gulf of Mexico, traveling mostly at night and navigating by the stars.
