CHIMNEY SWIFTS COMING IN FOR THE NIGHT

Chimney Swifts, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa

Tonight was a pop-up birding event, made public by Marty Corfman, a very active member of the Audubon Society, at the Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. We were able to see hundreds of Chimney Swifts circle around the tower of the seminar and finally pour into an old chimney after sunset. I’m sure everybody who joined this event enjoyed it and was touched by watching the swifts showing up one after another and entering their roost for the night. Thank you Marty for the invitation!

The Chimney Swifts will depart soon for the tropical areas in South America, where they will spend the winter. I shot a number of still images, like the one above, but also recorded a short video sequence. Feel free to click the video link below.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4

RESULTS WITH LONG EXPOSURE

Whitewater Creek in Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, eastern Iowa

There is a chance that this could be my last winter photo of this season that includes snow. What it’s left on the ground melts rapidly away right now and warmer temperatures are in the forecast for the next days. After we left the cave with ice formations ,you perhaps saw in my last blog post, we went down to Whitewater Creek at the bottom of the  canyon. When I saw the pristine field of snow along the creek, with no animal or human tracks on it, I felt the urge to make a photo.

The crystal-clear water flows slowly but still had a few ripples on the surface. Long exposure and the BREAKTHROUGH X4 10-stop neutral density filter eliminated any glare on the surface, made even the bottom of the creek visible, and still retained the reflections from the other side of the creek. It was magical and I love the outcome with any of my Breakthrough filters. By the way, to calculate the exposure time for a photo with the 10-stop or 6-stop ND filters, I use an app on my phone, called ND Timer. It’s free and does the trick just fine. After a test shot without filter you dial the normal exposure time (for this picture it was 1/80s) into the app, choose the grade of your filter (10-stops), and the app displays the required exposure time. I use it usually as a starting point and make corrections up or down to find the best results for the image I have in mind, especially with fast flowing water.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, Breakthrough X4 ND filter (10-stop) GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head  @ 37mm, 15s, f/20, ISO 100

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #09 - ARRIVAL OF CELEBRATION BELLE

Ice Harbor, Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa

Great clouds, combined with a short rain shower, made for good shooting conditions this evening at the Ice Harbor in Dubuque, Iowa. I took our dog Cooper for a walk on the dyke, a little further north of this place. Well, I call it a “dog walk” but sometimes he just sits patiently next to me while I’m fiddling with the camera on tripod. I tell you what, he probably understands how photography works… 😊

While taking a few shots of the old railroad bridge that crosses the Mississippi over to Wisconsin, I suddenly saw the CELEBRATION BELLE coming up the river from LeClaire, Iowa and taking a turn towards the harbor. We jumped into the car and drove down the short distance. It takes time to maneuver this big boat through the small entry and flood gates of Ice Harbor, giving me enough time to find a good position. The TWILIGHT was also docked in the port and I rushed to find a shooting position where both Mississippi River boats and the clouds would line up perfectly. The spot was found while the first passengers exited the CELEBRATION BELLE. The image was made with the Nikkor 16-35, f/4 at 16 mm focal length and the BREAKTHROUGH 2-stop GND filter attached. The rain shower earlier made the wood of the pier wet and darker. It takes out the glare and makes the pier a good part of the composition that doesn’t compete with the bright subjects in this photo.

NATURE CLICKS #392 - BUFFLEHEADS

John Deere Marsh, Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa ---------      

If there was a prize awarded for the prettiest migrating duck, the Bufflehead would probably be ranked in the top 3. It is hard to get close to them, but it is so much fun to watch the males displaying and battling for the female’s attention. Although I just read that Buffleheads are mostly monogamous and often stay with the same mate for several years. However, they are constantly on the move and in between they also have to dive for food and will disappear from your view for a few seconds. Guess when that happens? Of course, the moment when you think you have the duck in focus for a sharp image…

It was a gorgeous weekend for bird watching and I used my time to patrol along the Mississippi River between Dubuque, Iowa and Brownsville, Minnesota. I saw thousands of migrating ducks, swans, and geese but it doesn’t mean every encounter will lead to an image. The Mississippi is several kilometers / miles wide for the most part and there isn’t always access to the water due to topography or private land ownership. As longer I live near the Mississippi Valley as more I appreciate to watch the big bird migration every year. My heart beats faster if I see thousands of little dots over the horizon, which indicates birds on the move.

Another good thing is to meet other people who enjoy bird watching as well. Yesterday, at the Brownsville, MN overlook I met Richard, another bird watcher from Iowa,. He let me look through his spotting scope and we had fun to identify birds and shared our sightings. The birds were all at a distance and I didn’t even take the camera out of the car, but spending time with like-minded people is priceless and always educating.

NATURE CLICKS #315 - NORTHERN CARDINAL

Male Northern Cardinal

The Northern Cardinals flock together in the winter and during the early morning or after sunset we can count about twenty visiting our bird feeders. It was bitter cold again today and so we see them even a lot more during the day. Cardinals are very shy and it is not easy to get close. Other birds will tolerate my short presence out in the open and still visit the feeders but the cardinals just sat in the trees and waited until I went back in the house to warm up my fingers.

I used “quick crop”, the DX mode in the Nikon D750, because I wasn’t able to get closer. The low sun delivered a nice light from the side and being fast was key for making the click.

NATURE CLICKS #278 - GRAY CATBIRD

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light

This is not my first blog post about the Gray Catbird but I still have not made many photos of this species. It prefers low and dense vegetation and if there wouldn’t be its distinctive meeow-call we probably would hardly recognize its presence. Staying always on paved roads or trails is limiting the range of wildlife that we can get in front of the lens. Knowing a little bit about the biology and the preferred habitat of a bird or critter is already halfway of making the click. Sure, we get lucky sometimes in the middle of the road, but going into the woods or into thick brushes and underwoods may lead you to the picture you were waiting for since a long time.

NATURE CLICKS #273 - NORTHERN CARDINAL

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light

I talked yesterday about what it needs that a picture of a less attractive bird works well. The Northern Cardinal makes it a lot easier. It is a pretty bird any time of the year and people like to see them. I don’t know about other parts of the country but here it is quite difficult to get close to this very skittish bird. Of course, I can shoot endless pictures at a bird feeder or in the grass, but I really like to make the image with the bird on a branch, or at least on a perch, like this stick in the flower bed that we use for decoration. It is the time of courtship and they move around fast, well, except when they eat at the bird feeder or in the grass below ….😉

WAITING FOR THE LONG SHADOWS

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

After some days with cold and very windy weather conditions we finally got the spring back here in Eastern Iowa. I used the sunny day for a visit in the Green Island Wetlands. Not every picture turned out like this one. I struggled a little bit with the high contrast from the very powerful sun, especially during the early afternoon. The long shadow of the Killdeer may tell you that this photo was made not too far away from sunset. It pays back to stay and wait for these long shadows, the light is just so much better...

The Killdeer did its usual trick, pretending it was injured, to lure me away from this particular spot. It may want to use it for breeding sometime soon. More to come…