NATURE CLICKS #521 - EASTERN KINGBIRD

Eastern Kingbird, Green Island Wetlands, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

I made a quick trip to the Green Island Wetlands this evening and came home with this photo of an Eastern Kingbird. This wasn’t an easy shot due to some strong wind. The Eastern Kingbird is not as skittish as many other birds and it gave me plenty of time to make a number of clicks. But its perch swayed in the wind unpredictable and made focussing a bit of a challenge. This large flycatcher hunts mostly for insects. It defends its breeding territory vigorously against other kingbirds. During winter, down south at the Amazon, this bird has a different lifestyle. They move around in flocks and the diet consists of fruits.

I tried to position myself so I had some open water behind the bird. Some growing reeds were far enough away to blur nicely and made for an undisturbing background.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG,    @ 850 mm, 1/640 s, f/9, ISO 640

TWO CONCEPTS FOR A GRAY DAY

Eastern Kingbird

Last weekend I spent some time again in the wetlands along the Mississippi River. It’s nesting time and except for the pelicans, egrets, and geese most birds are not so visible. The sky had an overcast for most of the afternoon and it even rained a few times briefly. I practiced a little handholding with the pelicans that circled above but birds against a gray sky, well it just ain’t pretty.

When I had this flycatcher, an Eastern Kingbird, in front of the lens, I decided to go for a black & white image. The bird is mostly black, gray, or white and shape and color of the dead branch it was perched on seemed to fit for this concept. The uniform sky made for negative space and supports this approach for a fine art print.

Here is another way to deal with the gray sky and its reflection on the water surface. The water lilies started to bloom and there was this spot without too much glare on the water. You may say, dude, why didn’t you use a polarizing filter in front of the lens? The answer is simple, I don’t have such a big one that would fit the 150-600 mm lens. Yes, the flower was a bit away and I had the long lens at hand anyway… In post process the vibrance was increased a bit more than usual and I used the dehaze-slider to give it a little more punch.

I know, there are better ways to make these kind of photos but photography should remain fun. Coming back home with something on the memory card on such a gray day counts twice… 😊

ENDLESS CYCLE

Eastern Kingbird, Mississippi River, Green Island Wetlands, iowa

Yes, it does not just looks like it, the Eastern Kingbird actually regurgitated pellets of insect exoskeletons while I took a burst of images. While here in its breeding grounds during the summer, the Eastern Kingbird eats mostly flying insects. In the winter along the Amazon in Brazil, however, it has a completely different lifestyle: it travels in flocks and eats fruit. (source: allaboutbirds.org)

The Eastern Kingbird is a summer resident in the Green Island Wetlands, Iowa but I have seen them at several other places along the Mississippi River or in side valleys. I have photographed them on many different occasions, but what I have not managed yet is a photo with a crown of yellow, orange, or red feathers on its head, that is usually concealed. When it encounters a potential predator the kingbird may simultaneously raise its bright crown patch, stretch its beak wide open to reveal a red gape, and dive-bomb the intruder.

Any time I take a picture of a critter or bird and like to share it here in the blog I try to educate myself by reading about the species. The sources are endless these days. Beside a number of good guide books in the home library we can use apps on our cell phones, or some really good websites. One I can highly recommend to my fellow wildlife photographers is allaboutbirds.org from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

And this all seems to be an endless cycle for the bird lover and photographer. Like in the case of the Eastern Kingbird, I read about its concealed crown feathers and now I’m motivated and fired up to look for this moment and capture it on “digital film”…

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2018 #03 - 4 PICS OUT OF THE KAYAK

Green Frog, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

The last three evenings were used to paddle the Mississippi River and its backwaters, but only yesterday I took the camera with me. Aiming for wildlife during the last two hours with daylight and shooting from the low level in the boat have been often a key for success.

The mix of duck weed, algae, and aquatic plants that have reached the surface is a great habitat for many species. Don’t worry, this is usually just near the shore, the main channel in the backwaters of Mud Lake is clear and easy to paddle. This Green Frog blends right in and the reflection of its eye in an open spot of the water made me choose this image for today’s blog post.

Young Barn Swallow, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

A new generation of swallows is learning how to catch insects in flight. I have seen all five species we can find along the big river but this young Barn Swallow posed perfectly on top of a water lily.

Painted Turtle,  Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

Painted Turtles enjoy the sun as much as we do, but most of the time they slide into the water as soon they detect some movement. This one seemed to know that I was not a thread in my kayak and stayed on this piece of drift wood until I was only five feet away.

Eastern Kingbird,  Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

The young Eastern Kingbirds were hunting for insects right at the boat ramp. Even if I’m not always in favor of a backlit situation, I still prefer this shot over the ones I took while I left the boat launch.

Sure, I could make an image of all these critters from shore, but shooting out of the kayak delivers most of the time a perspective that is almost impossible to obtain by standing on land, much higher above the water level.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens

NATURE CLICKS #377 - EASTERN KINGBIRDS

I just returned from a 4-days business trip to St. Paul and Duluth, Minnesota. As always, I took the camera gear with me but a densely packed schedule did not leave any spare time to get the camera out of the bag. So, today’s image is still from last weekend.

It payed back to visit a spot in the Green Island marshes where I had seen an Eastern Kingbird, a large flycatcher, last year and so it wasn’t a big surprise to find a pair of Kingbirds in the same area again. Love was in the air between the two birds and I had some good opportunities to make a click. There was some water between us and the birds and the only way to get it right in camera was to use the DX crop mode (900 mm lens equivalent). 

NATURE CLICKS #340 - EASTERN KINGBIRD

It has been a while since my last visit in the Green Island Wetlands, one of my favorite shooting locations along the Mississippi in Iowa. In August it is relatively quite there in comparison to spring or early summer, but I came never back with empty hands from the wetlands so far. It took me a while before I was able to make my first click today. This Eastern Kingbird was perched on a dead branch hanging over the duck weed covered water. I assume this was a juvenile because it seemed to be smaller than other Eastern Kingbirds I have seen before. We had some good wind today after the rain of the last couple days moved away and getting the kingbird in focus was a little bit of a challenge. I guess I’m a little “rusty” too, since the number of keepers after the shooting was below my expectations.

NATURE CLICKS #287 - EASTERN KINGBIRD

The Belted Kingfisher (see yesterday’s post) and the Eastern Kingbird use sometimes the same trees and bushes when they perch and look out for food. Although their diet is totally different. They both prefer branches or trees that hang over the water or are at least near to it. While the kingfisher mainly preys on small fish that swim near the surface of the water, the Eastern Kingbird is a large flycatcher and feeds on insects and fruits. Quite often they return to the same perch after pouncing for food on the ground or on the water surface.

Last night I witnessed the take over of a tree by a kingfisher. It was actually used as a perch by a kingbird but there was no doubt who had the longer bill and ruled the area. The Eastern Kingbird took off immediately…

This shot was taken at 6:22 pm last night and the sun was already getting low. However, because of its intense power at this time of the year I had a hard time to contain the highlights. I had dialed in -1 EV for exposure compensation already but still had to bring down the highlights in post process to make this image work. This is a simple task in Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW but I usually don’t fiddle around with tones and colors in my wildlife photography. Well, sometimes there is an exception to this self-imposed rule. I really like the gesture of this Eastern Kingbird in the photo and that’s why I show it to you today… :-)