Wildlife in my Garden

Like most people, I went stir-crazy during the pandemic. I'm typically used to jet-setting on adventures, but instead I had to find the adventure in my own garden. I was extremely lucky that I was isolated with an outside space, where I was able to write outside with my camera or phone next to me. I was ready to capture the amazing happenings of nature, literally at my doorstep. The lack of human movement caused wildlife to flourish. I saw nature take on the dominant role and thrive, all from my garden in New Jersey.

Spring: The Babies

When the pandemic happened in March, the animals very quickly learnt to adapt to a new life with minimal human activity. It paved space for animals to breed, safely. So when April came, baby animals sprouted in our garden. Like this deer:

When Mum and I found this deer, we were concerned because it let us get so close and didn't move (which is when I took this picture). At first, we thought it was injured or abandoned. However, later we found out that a mother deer would leave her newborn faun in a safe and often shady spot while she feeds. This wasn't the only baby deer that we temporarily saw in our garden. There was a set of twin fauns, which were often hidden under trees in our garden. We watched them grow up into mature deer, for they lived and thrived around our block.

Another animal that thrived in our area, during the pandemic were the groundhogs. I've lived in this house for over 18 years and never before 2020 had I seen a baby groundhog. And let me tell you, groundhogs are not the smartest animal out there. When being chased, their instinct is to freeze in place and pretend, "You can't see me!" when they are a brown fuzz in the centre of a grass field, so clearly, they were very obvious. My dog, a small, white fluffy teddy bear breed, liked to chase them, even though they didn't run. So, my dog would circle them, barking for as long as it took for the groundhog to realise, "Huh, I've been discovered," and scurry into its hole. Now, my dog was the same size as an adult groundhog and wouldn't cause harm to said adult groundhog. The babies were the ones I worried about.

I was constantly sprinting ahead of my dog, or going outside before her, to scare the babies away. But like their parents, the babies, at an early age, discovered the "you can't see me" technique, causing quite a few scares. I even adopted a handy scare technique: sing 'Circle of Life' from The Lion King as loudly as I could, which would scare the groundhogs away about 80% of the time. Unfortunately whenever I sing that song now, my dog thinks I'm scaring away a groundhog, so she zooms in the direction of my song. This photo was taken one of those many times, I would bend up close to the critter with my iPhone in portrait mode and would snap as many close ups of the baby as I could. And guess what? It didn't run away.

Another amazing thing about Spring is the clovers sprouting in the field. Pre-pandemic, Mum and I would walk around our garden with our faces close to the grass in any attempt to find a four-leaf clover. I never thought they actually existed, until one day ... During our daily walks, Mum was staring at the grass, probably after we had just chased away groundhogs, and she suddenly said, "Oh! I think this is a four-leaf clover!" And long behold, it was. We spent about fifteen minutes afterwards, trying to get the perfect shot of this one in a million find! Throughout the Spring, Mum and I managed to find about 10 four-leaf clovers and 1 five-leaf clover, making it seem like the lack of human activity allowed for more four-leaf clovers to emerge.

Summer: The Butterfly Bush

Butterfly bushes aren't solely for butterflies, although they do attract a large number of them. In addition, they are for bees, hummingbirds, and moths. During the summer, I would write my manuscript next to the butterfly bushes, watching wildlife interact with its environment. I have two photographs that I love from my butterfly bush, the first being the picture of the hummingbird moth:

At first, I thought it was a huge wasp and freaked out like most people would, flailing my arms around and squealing my heart out. But when I looked closer, I noticed its wings weren't flapping like a bee's, but instead, they whipped like a hummingbird's, thrumming in the wind. I looked up, "Is there such a thing as a hummingbird insect," and surely enough, a picture of the hummingbird moth appeared. The hummingbird moth symbolises a free and powerful spirit, which if one comes across one, they must open to the mystical magic of nature.

Whenever the hummingbird moth materialised, I would whip out my Nikon D7000 camera and 18-400mm lens, keeping it on the hummingbird moth, capturing it as quickly as I could. It moved so fast.

I took on a similar photography technique with the Black Swallowtail butterfly that fluttered into the butterfly bush. Usually, our garden would only get Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and Painted Ladies visiting us throughout the summer; however, during the pandemic we saw a few Black Swallowtails, like this one, also depicted next to a Painted Lady:

The wings of a Black Swallowtail are so rapid that every picture came out blurry. Every time it settled, for less than a second, I snapped the butterfly, and this was the result! I also photographed a Painted Lady on a Chive flower, and I was incredibly lucky because I was able to get super close with my phone and use portrait mode on it!

The Autumn: Changing of the Leaves

Every autumn, I am in awe at the colours of the trees, and during the pandemic it wasn't any different. In 2020 – because of strange, nice weather (it was 80F or 25C on my Birthday in November) – the leaves changed colours a lot slower.

For this picture, I used portrait mode on my phone again. I remember being shocked that most leaves on this one tree were yellow-gold! Usually, in New Jersey, the leaves change so quickly that I barely notice them change. And along with the changing seasons, new creatures emerged, such as the moth that decided my window was the perfect place to be. It let me get super up close to use portrait mode on my phone, from behind the window pane, of course. The dirty glass gives the picture a scratched, peppered aesthetic.

Winter: The Birds

Every winter, each morning, Mum filled her birdfeeder because the birds couldn't peck through the snow and the hard ground to their "wiggly worms." Mum feeds the birds and gives amazing opportunities for photos of cardinals, blue jays, and more, including squirrels that my dog enjoyed chasing away from the birdy seed.

For this one, I shot the Nikon right as the cardinal was jumping to a different branch. I was super excited about the shot. I also didn't have to edit too must, only intensifying the contrast and saturation. This is a picture of a male cardinal, since its feathers are red and vibrant. The female cardinal is a brown colour to camouflage with the nest in the springtime.

My final and favourite picture of photographing wildlife through the pandemic is this blue jay. I tried many times to photograph blue jays, but they were always too quick or hidden around the other side of the tree. However, this time I photographed just at the right moment and got the perfect shot of it flying away. I increased the contrast and clarity, as well as the exposure. But ultimately this was my favourite shot that I took during 2020.