American White Pelican, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wildlife Area
American White Pelicans are pretty common in the Mississippi Valley and mostly we can see them acting together in small or larger flocks, catching fish or soar overhead. When a lonely bird quietly swims by and there is a reflection on the water, and finally the light is just right, I can’t resist and have to make the click. It’s such a majestic bird.
Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x
Last Sunday I came across this little story that is told by today’s photos. I just love to see nature taking its course and we as humans can only stand by and watch in awe.
I entered the scene in the Green Island Wetlands and witnessed what you can see in the picture below. A Great Blue Heron had just speared a bowfin, also known as a dogfish in our area, with its long bill. It took the bird some efforts to wade through the mud and weeds to carry the fish to shore. I spare you the pictures where the fish got tossed around and punctured some more, making sure there was no life in it anymore.
Suddenly a shadow entered the scene in my viewfinder. I looked up and saw this Bald Eagle circling a couple times overhead. Stealing a fish from another bird isn’t new for an eagle but it obviously had learned a lesson before and knew the heron wouldn’t let him have it. The eagle turned away.
So, how does a Great Blue Heron brag about its catch? Well, this one shook his feathers several times and gave me a great show while the bowfin was laying dead in the water.
Time to eat. The heron shook the fish a few more times and finally gobbled it down, head first.
A few seconds later the bird stood at the edge of the water like nothing had happened. I was just wondering how the heron’s ability to fly was affected with such a heavy meal in its belly…?
I shot all pictures with the Z600 / f6.3 with the Z1.4 teleconverter attached, giving me 840mm focal length. However, the distance between me and the bird was still too wide and so I cropped the photos a bit.
Eastern Kingbird, Mississippi River, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa
The Eastern Kingbird is one of the larger flycatchers we can find here in the Upper Mississippi Valley but they have a big range and can be found in most of North America as well in Central America and much of South America. Eastern Kingbirds can be highly aggressive toward nest predators and they don’t hesitate to attack a much larger bird, like a crow or even a hawk.
They have no problems to find enough insects during the summer along the edges of a field and along roadsides, or like here, at the water of the lakes in the Green Island Wetlands. I saw three kingbirds today and they all perched on plants or stems, dove for insects to the ground, and quite often returned to the same perch after.
It wasn’t as quiet as it looks in these pictures. The perch plants swayed in the wind and so the birds were in constant motion and tried to hang on. Normally a shutter speed of 1/1000s is not always necessary for a sitting bird but in this matter it was required to freeze the action and get a sharp image.
Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x, @ 840mm, 1/1000s, f/9
Garter Snake, Green Island Road, Iowa
Usually when I make a visit to the wetlands along the Mississippi River I have something to report about birds. Sometimes great news and sometimes not so good news. Last weekend I found not much to get excited about our feathered friends but two encounters of different critters made me wondering if we have larger numbers of snakes again after other people seem to see more this year as well.
Brown Snake
Both were stretched out on the gravel road in the Green Island area and seemed to enjoy a bath in the sun. I usually get out of the car, make a few clicks with the camera, and force the snakes to go off the road, mostly with the leg of my monopod. It took me awhile this time, both snakes didn’t like to give up their sunny spots. Unfortunately too many of these critters get killed by people just driving over the animal, quite often intentionally. Thinking about that just makes me mad…
Garter Snakes are non-venomous and play a vital role to keep the ecosystem they live in healthy. Snake fungal disease is attributed to the decline of snakes in recent years but habitat loss may play a big role as well. Garter Snakes are recognized with 37 species and 52 subspecies but they are usually easy to identify.
Brown Snakes are also harmless and very docile. Their diet includes mostly earthworms, insect larvae and slugs.
Nikon Z6 II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S, @400mm
Common Yellowthroat, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa
A visit in the Green Island Wetlands along the Mississippi River was way overdue and last Memorial Day weekend I finally found the time for some bird watching and photography. The activities on the water have slowed down but it was nice too watch some Canada Geese and Wood Ducks with their offspring in tow. I put my attention to the smaller birds along the shore and beside the road and spent quite some time with this little warbler, a male Common Yellowthroat.
Tree Swallow
With most of the larger trees already dead and disappearing I wonder how long we still may see Tree Swallows at Green Island. No trees means no woodpeckers and without them there will be no nest cavities for the tree swallows, even if an old dead tree still stands. I made this image at a dead tree where I had photographed Tree Swallows for many years. The numbers are just not there anymore and this was the only good photo opportunity for this bird last Sunday…
Ring-necked Pheasant, Green Island Wetlands, Upper Mississippi Valley, Iowa
Any time you think, I have seen it all, when you frequently go to a certain wildlife area, nature may prove you wrong. After two other photographers told me they had seen some Ring-necked Pheasants in the Green Island Wetlands I opened my eyes a little more yesterday evening. Sure enough, I spotted a colorful male bird walking through the reeds and grasses in the wetlands. I never saw one before in the Green Island Wildlife Management Area, didn’t know they were there.
And here is why I like this shot. In late winter or early spring the vegetation from the year before doesn’t look very pretty anymore. It’s all dried up or laying in the mud and is in process of decay. This can often ruin a perfect sharp and well lit shot because the background or surrounding of the animal just look very distracting. In this picture the pheasant is in his habitat, tries to hide behind the grass, and the light of the low sitting sun is reflected by the feathers of the bird and throws the beautiful colors right between your eyes. I waited until this guy was about to walk through the gap in the grass. Suddenly the pheasant stopped and stood even still for a few seconds and allowed me to make this environmental portrait of a Ring-necked Pheasant.
Well, the ”eyeball photographers” among us may turn up their nose because the bird is partly hidden, but the storytelling aspect of the photo wins and is much preferred, at least in my books. More to come…
Female Pileated Woodpecker, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands
After a number of rainy and cloudy days last week it was a gorgeous Easter Sunday with lots of sun and very little haze. A perfect day for doing some birding in the Mississippi Valley.
When you see all the holes in this dead tree you know why this female Pileated Woodpecker loves this area in the Green Island Wetlands. They feed on insects such as ants and wood boring beetle larvae but also eat fruits and nuts. These really big birds drum with their bills on hollow trees to claim territory. During all my recent visits in Green Island I have heard the drumming many times, even saw the woodpeckers briefly, but it is not easy to get them in front of the lens. Today it all worked out well with some saturated light as a bonus.
Male Downy Woodpecker
Here is a little size comparison. While the Pileated is is about crow-size and the largest woodpecker we can find here, our smallest one is the Downy Woodpecker, with a body of maybe the size of a fist. Both photos were made in the same area, less than 50 yards away from each other.
This wasn’t the only story today to tell with a photo. So please stay tuned, more to come…
Short-eared Owl, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands
The avid reader of my blog knows that I have been in the Green Island Wetlands and on Sabula Island at the Mississippi River once or twice every week this year. One of the birds I really wanted to see again was a Short-eared Owl. Other birders and photographers had told me about their recent observations but luck was not on my side.
Yesterday, shortly after sunset, I finally spotted at least two Short-eared Owls and tried to make the best out of the low light situation. The owls were very active hunting for small rodents and I caught even one that had just made a kill of what looks like a vole. Standing next to the car the birds came really close and flew even right overhead. This was an amazing experience and I didn’t put the camera back into the bag until the absence of light made sharp focus on the subject impossible.
I was very glad that going back to this location many times finally paid off and I’m happy to share these photos with you. But I wasn’t the only one that had put some efforts into the game. Behind my car parked a young lady with her camera, who came all the way from Kansas for some pictures of a Short-eared Owl. She said she would drive back to Kansas City still last night and had a couple more hours to drive home this morning. Well, I call this passion!
Successful hunter with a vole for dinner
Striped Skunk, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa
A little hike deep into the marsh of the Green Island wetlands in the Mississippi Valley started with a nice surprise. With my eyes mostly up and looking out for birds, I almost stumbled over this Striped Skunk that was obviously in search for food. After we discovered each other the skunk kept searching, had still an eye on me ones in a while but wasn’t bothered much by my presence. I kept my distance, knowing that they can spray their musk, with its very powerful odor, several meters from the two scent glands they have around their anus. If you look at this beautiful animal it is easy to understand why it was one of North America's most sought-after fur-bearers.
I took a new lens I just had acquired for the first time on a hike and wanted to learn how it performs and how it handles in the field. The Nikon NIKKOR Z 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 VR S is only since a few days in my bag and using 400 mm focal length was perfect for this shot, keeping the distance and not making the skunk feeling threatened. I still cropped the picture a little bit because at the end of winter there is a lot of dead plant material scattered everywhere in the marsh and I tried to keep as much as possible out of the frame, especially in the foreground.
Green Island Wetlands
The second picture is a view across the marsh at Green Island, with the Illinois side of the Mississippi River in the background. This was shot with the same lens at 100 mm. It was quite cold during the last few days and most of the water was frozen again. The photo shows also the dilemma we face in many parts of the Upper Mississippi Valley. Floodplain forests along the Upper Mississippi River are experiencing mass die-offs, with thousands of trees lost due to prolonged, intensified flooding caused by climate change and altered river hydrology. These "dead zones" are compounded by invasive species, specifically the emerald ash borer.
I have visited and photographed the Green Island Wetlands since 2011 and even if I shoot mostly wildlife pictures, the landscape images from the past document some of the wildlife habitat loss we can see.
Merlin, Green Island Wildlife Management Area, Iowa
During a search for some Short-eared Owls earlier this week I didn’t come back totally empty-handed. While slowly driving down the gravel road this merlin posed nicely in a tree next to the road. All what I had to do was to lower the side window of the car a little more, aim the lens at the bird, and press the shutter release button of the camera. It isn’t always that easy to make a click and definitely better than going home without a picture on the memory card…😊
Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x, @ 840mm, 1/1000s, f/9, ISO 1000, image slightly cropped
The identification of the bird was changed 02/13/2026 by the author.
I was out in the Green Island Wetlands today in search for a certain raptor but didn’t have any luck again. The usual suspects showed up but not the one I was looking for. While cruising slowly on the gravel road, with my eyes in the trees and the camera with long lens and teleconverter in my lap, the sun was about to set at the horizon. I never shot a sunset with 840 mm focal length and thought to give it a try. The compression effect of the lens makes it look like the sun sets right between the trees on the ridge. That a bird flew into the scene was a bonus, although it wasn’t the owl I was hoping for…
Rough-legged Hawk, Green Island Wildlife Management Area, Iowa
Not so easy to get in front of the camera was a pair of Rough-legged Hawks I found yesterday on ”wildlife patrol” in the Green Island Wildlife Management Area. These hawks have their breeding grounds in tundra habitats of North America, way up north in Canada, but migrate to the Central United States for the winter. These opportunistic predators feed mostly on small mammals, like voles, mice, or even rabbits, but won’t refuse birds either.
Fog in the valley, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wildlife Refuge, Iowa
I came across this moody landscape with some fog in the Mississippi Valley today. The compression effect of the long lens, including the Z1.4 teleconverter, got me all the subtle layers of gray in the distance. The picture was processed in monochrome mode but at the end I wasn’t completely satisfied, the image seemed to be too gloomy, and maybe too depressive. I gave it a little bit of a blue tint and that changed the appearance to something I like much better, at least for today…
Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x, @ 840mm
Bald Eagle, Mississippi River, Sabula, Iowa
Today was probably the last time in 2025 I visited the Green Island Wetlands and ”Iowa’s Island City” Sabula at the Mississippi River. The statistics in my picture library tell me that I was 20 times in this area this year. Every season is different and each visit doesn’t lead necessarily to some good photos. Sometimes it’s overwhelming and quick decisions have to be made about where to point the lens next. Other times, like today, it takes a long time to have something in the frame that is worth to push the shutter release button on the camera.
Today it was mostly raptors that showed up since all the water bodies were frozen. I saw three Northern Harriers, a couple Red-tailed Hawks, and along the road to Sabula three American Kestrels.
The click for this Bald Eagle was made right after the bird took off from the ice and flew over to a dead tree where its mate was already waiting.
Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x, @ 840mm, 1/800s, f/9, ISO 3200, image cropped
Savannah Sparrow, Green Island, eastern Iowa
A big house project came to an end on Friday and I finally found the time to go out with the camera again and shoot some pictures. The photo above was made about 40 minutes before sunset at the edge of a field that was already harvested. The warm rim light on the dried up flower pods intrigued me and all the elements, including some spider web threads, give the photo of this sparrow a sense of fall.
Male Red-winged Blackbird, Green Island Wetlands
Thousands of Red-winged Blackbirds congregate in the wetlands along the Mississippi River at the moment and feed or rest during their migration to warmer areas in the south. If the winter is mild, as we had it during the last couple years, some of them will even stay here or at least return very early. I have photos in my picture library that were made in February.
