Lost wildlife photos miraculously reappear

At the beginning of September, I met my friend Sharon at the bog in Essex Woods to take some wildlife photos. We were successful that day in locating and photographing a number of different birds. In fact, it’s the only day that I’ve been able to get close enough to a great egret (a big white wading bird) to get a detailed photo. I also managed to get decent photos (in my opinion) of sandpipers, a woodpecker, a green heron, cedar waxwings, an eastern phoebe, a cormorant and a mess of young mallards.

Excited to view the photos, I went home and uploaded them onto my computer right away. Later that night, I did an software update or something — I can’t quite remember. But I had to restart my computer, at any rate. I didn’t think much of it.

The next morning, I got to work and told my editors that I’d be posting a blog of all sorts of wildlife photos I took the day before. My excitement was palpable, as was my disappointment when I turned on my computer and realized that the photos were gone. Simply gone.

I searched my computer, to the best of my ability, then handed it over to the technology experts at the BDN. They came back empty handed.

So that was that.

If you’re at all into photography, you can probably imagine how I felt.

But I got over it. I went back to the bog. I took some more photos. But in all the times I’ve returned to the bog throughout the late summer and fall, I haven’t been able to get close to the great egrets again. The pair always seemed to be hanging out in the middle of the bog, far from my camera lens. Then they flew south for winter.

So…

Yesterday, I was scrolling through the many photos on my computer when, out of the blue, there they were — the lost photos.

I don’t understand technology. I can’t even try to explain what happened. But I thought I’d finally share these lost photos, taken at the beginning of September … before they disappear again.

Aislinn Sarnacki

About Aislinn Sarnacki

Aislinn is a Bangor Daily News reporter for the Outdoors pages, focusing on outdoor recreation and Maine wildlife. Visit her main blog at actoutwithaislinn.bangordailynews.com.