Reader Stephen Ledbetter shared this photo of a young bald eagle flying around the Pickerington Ponds area, near Columbus.
One of the many things I enjoy about writing and photographing my monthly Woods, Waters, & Wildlife column in Ohio Cooperative Living print magazine is the interaction with co-op members. Almost every month after a column appears, I hear from a half dozen or so readers with their questions, comments, or attaboys. Although there is not space enough to run everyone’s question or comment in this “Ask Chip” online column, everyone receives a personal answer from me via email. Quite often, readers also send photos, which I then share here, online. Below is a small sampling of the dozen or more emails I received concerning my January 2024 story, a four-page photo spread celebrating 20 years of Woods, Waters & Wildlife columns. Thank you, readers!
Stephen Ledbetter
Q. Your photos in the January 2024 issue were great! I agree that the two red foxes playing was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the photo is outstanding. We have had several sandhill cranes in the area around Pickerington Ponds near Columbus recently, and also some bald eagle activity. Maybe the eagles will produce some eaglets in 2024.
A. Thanks for sending your eagle photo, Stephen. It’s an immature bald eagle; the adult birds do not acquire their signature white head and tail feathers until three to five years of age. The past few decades have been a great time for bald eagles in Ohio, with their nests now numbering nearly 1,000 statewide, up from just four nesting pairs in 1979.
Patricia Ann Lang
Q. Seeing your photo of the ghost plant (Indian pipes) in the January 2024 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living, I thought I would share my photo of the plant. It has been growing in the same location on my property, in a grove of 14 white pines, for two years. In 2022, there were six blooms, and in 2023 there were 13. A very unusual and interesting plant.
A. What a beautiful photo, Patricia! I will share it with other co-op members in one of my “Ask Chip” online columns, and will make sure that you receive photo credit for your exceptional work. Many thanks for sending.
Mike Van Keuren
Q. My wife and I enjoyed the article “A Walk On the Wild Side” in the January 2024 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living. What tree did that handsome walking stick come from that you were pictured with on the cover of the magazine? And was it the whole tree?
A. Hi, Mike: You and your wife are very observant. I’d been looking for just such a tree to make a walking stick from for about a year when I found this one growing 100 yards behind my house in my own woods. The tree was a thin, young sugar maple about 12 feet high, and what you see is approximately the bottom half of the tree. I sent a photo of the tree to a woodworker friend of mine, asking him if he could make me a walking stick from it. He said, “Sure, cut it down and bring it to me,” so I did and what you see is the result. There is a bit more to the story, such as how the tree grew in such a strange spiral, but you’ll have to wait until this summer to hear the details, as I’m making the walking stick the subject of my July 2024 Woods, Waters, & Wildlife column.
