Sauble Falls Poses An Outstanding Opportunity To Photograph A New Species

Last weekend I traveled to Sauble Beach to celebrate a family member’s birthday. Only there for one night, I wasn’t planning on birding but hoped to maybe visit nearby Sauble Falls located just down the road. The weather forecast for the weekend looked less than ideal with rain, flurries, and strong west winds off Lake Huron predicted.  

On Saturday afternoon the precipitation let up and the group of us piled in the car and made the five-minute drive to Sauble Falls. The Sauble River was high and flowing fast with recent rain and runoff adding to the river’s volume. The falls themselves were quite impressive watching and listening to the force of the water. Wanting to focus more on time with the family and not wandering off alone with my camera, I made the decision to leave my camera back at the house. We had a great time exploring the banks of the river and the adjacent Sauble Falls Provincial Park.

As we made our way to the falls, we could see several salmon and rainbow trout in the turbulent water. After watching for a few minutes, several fish began leaping into the air trying to ascend the falls. Each autumn, trout and salmon migrate from the Great Lakes up rivers to spawn with salmon subsequently dying having completed their life cycle. Trout, on the other hand, won’t spawn until late winter or spring but often enter the rivers early with some theories suggesting they follow the salmon to feed on their eggs while making the epic journey upstream. Trout are able to spawn several times and can make return trips upstream each year to spawn returning to the lake afterward. These runs of salmon and trout as they are often referred involve the fish barrelling their way through obstacles including waterfalls and other obstructions along the way. 

The plan for Sunday involved me driving back to London by myself, so it quickly became my intention to return to Sauble Falls with my camera before heading home to try to capture this incredible spectacle along with some images of this beautiful landscape.   

On Sunday, I returned to Sauble Falls this time armed with my camera and several lenses. I was excited to try capturing images of the salmon and trout, something I had never attempted before. Since I was planning on photographing the falls itself as well as the fish, I brought with me my Canon 18-55mm kit lens and my Canon 10-18mm wide-angle lens.  Also in my bag was my Canon 55-250mm and my trusty 100-400mm. Due to the proximity at which I could view the fish and the narrow river, my 100-400mm stayed in the bag as it provided too much reach, something most wildlife photographers rarely encounter. 

After taking a few photos of the falls from the north side of the Sauble River, I made my way over the footbridge to the base of the falls on the south side where we had great views of trout and salmon trying to get up the falls the previous day. To my delight, right next to the bank in a calm pool of water, three salmon were staging getting ready to make their move up the falls.  I took a few test shots of the water and adjusted my settings to dial in my exposure. To photograph the fish, I used aperture priority mode with my aperture set at f6.3 and my ISO at 1250 due to the poor light conditions created by the heavy cloud cover. I also used +1 stop of exposure compensation to properly expose the white water. These settings resulted in a shutter speed of 1/1250.   

Just downstream from the falls several anglers were seen drifting their baits below floats in an effort to catch the fish. One fisherman I spoke to was successful as he had a beautiful female rainbow trout on a stringer and was heading home to clean his catch and warm up.  

Once an avid fisherman before getting so serious into photography, I was enthralled by the activity and quantity of the fish. To be honest, I almost completely tuned out the birds in the area. A lone Herring Gull was observed on the same rock at the base of the falls both days, I assume hoping to feed on one of the salmon that will eventually meet their demise after they spawn. A female Common Merganser was also present Saturday and Sunday on the river. American Robins, Dark-eyed Juncos and Golden-crowned Kinglets were seen and heard from the surrounding trees and shrubs. The day before as I arrived in town, I observed a Common Raven scavenging at the side of the road. 

The scenery surrounding Sauble Falls was quite beautiful. A mix of birch, pine, cedar, spruce, hemlock, and tamarack trees line the banks of the river while the water cascaded over a series of boulders and rock shelves. This landscape would make for great photos year-round, but especially when the fall colours peak and perhaps even in winter when snow and ice potentially cover portions of the falls. 

I was thoroughly impressed with my visit to Sauble Falls. The birthday celebration was outstanding and the falls and surrounding landscape are quite stunning. My only wish is that I had more time to explore. I only spent about an hour taking photos as I had a long drive ahead of me. I’m sure if I devoted more time to birding in the nearby forests I could have discovered more birds and maybe even other waterfowl in the slower moving water upstream from the falls. For those of you who are campers, Sauble Falls Provincial Park has some large, well-treed campsites with hydro overlooking the river that would be worth looking into for next season. 

If I ever find myself in the area again, I will definitely be stopping at Sauble Falls. A visit to this location at any time of year is sure to be rewarding based on the scenery alone. Throw in a few birds and even some fish making their way upstream to spawn and you have the recipe for an outstanding day.

Good birding,
Paul   

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