As of late I have been writing in this column about travel and “getting the shot”. As a wildlife photographer, getting the shot is about the only thing that matters. Well, this week I am going to break with recent history and interject some major league reality. This week’s topic is about “not” getting the shot.

It all started about six years ago when I built a blind on a local pond with the plan of getting some images of a Belted Kingfisher. This is a fairly large bird, about 12-13 inches in length that hunts for small fish along the edges of streams, lakes and ponds, just like the pond where I have my blind.

When I first built the blind I would spend days (in the blind) waiting for the Belted Kingfisher to come by so I could get a shot. What I got was a big fat nothing. In fact, after a while I completely gave up on the kingfisher and for several years I didn’t even try. Then last year I was so determined to “get the shot” of this bird that I built a special perch directly in front of the blind for the kingfisher to land and hunt for his favorite food—small fish. Days and weeks go by and again nothing.

This spring I changed around my perch in hopes of making it more attractive. I could hear and see a kingfisher near my pond but still nothing. Then one afternoon while I was not in the blind I saw the kingfisher come in and land on my perch. Right where I wanted him to land. He sat there on my perch looking perfect then he dove head first into the water after a fish and then flew right back up onto my perch and sat there just as I had envisioned it in my head a hundred times.

Read the rest of the Stan's column in our June issue...