GREAT BIRD WATCHING WEEKEND (PART 2)

Great Blue Heron, Green Island Preserve, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

Spending time in the wetlands along the Mississippi River is one of the things I really enjoy and last weekend wasn’t any different. I got quite a few hours of practice with the new Nikkor Z 600 f/6.3 lens and like to share a few images with you.

Some easy shots of this Great Blue Heron were made a minute earlier, as the heron still stood motionless on the dyke. When the bird finally took off I was able to pan with the lens and follow the bird for a few pics. Good panning is still a matter of practice but it is a lot easier with the much lighter Z 600 than with my good old Sigma 150-600 S.

Sandhill Cranes

I counted 87 Sandhill Cranes foraging in the field of the Green Island Bird Sanctuary. This was the highest number I have ever seen in the fall at this location. Some of the cranes performed their elaborate courtship displays, mostly served between mates to maintain their pair bond. The cranes were more than half a mile away, almost one kilometer, and some heat shimmer above the ground effected sharpness a bit. However, I was amazed how clear the lens still rendered despite the distance.

Garter Snake

This Garter Snake was stretched out on the gravel road and seemed to wait for the return of the sun from behind a cloud. Before I guided the snake back into the grass, so nobody could accidentally or intentionally drive over it, a few clicks were made. Should have gotten still a little lower but at least nothing in the background distracts from this nice Garter Snake. I have seen a few snakes lately and this gives me some hope that population may bounce back.

Sandhill Cranes, Heritage Pond, Cooler Valley, Eastern Iowa

This photo was made a day later at the Heritage Pond and marsh, not far from home. A pair of Sandhill Cranes, maybe the same as last year, had flown in from the Mississippi and started searching for food in the mud. Very little rain during the last couple months dried the pond out again but the cranes seemed to like it. They are extremely careful and most of the time one crane keeps its head up while the other one is looking for food.

All photos: Nikon Z6II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S

NATURE CLICKS #566 - GREEN HERONS

Green Heron, Heritage Ponds, near Dubuque, Iowa; Hunting for tadpoles and frogs is often done very stealthy but sometimes a quick move to a different spot in the pond leads to success as well.

The water in the pond disappears slowly but surely because we had no significant rain lately. It doesn’t look pretty at the moment but the pond provides food for other birds beside the family of Sandhill Cranes I wrote about in my last blog post. Green Herons are usually quite skittish and I have never watched more than one bird at any time.

Well, last week there were three herons hunting for food and it was a lot of fun watching them from the deck of an observation platform. The tadpoles in the water just became froglets and have developed front legs already. They still have their tail and they must be very tasty for the Green Herons because they were eating many of them.

Stretching the neck seems to guarantee better sight for the next catch in the muddy pond.

Shooting from an observation platform above water level is not an ideal location. The steep angle looking down doesn’t allow a great background. But hey, I’m not too choosy during this time of the year. I still think the pictures can tell the story.

Green Herons are considered fairly common but studies have shown that their population is in steep decline. (source: AllAboutBirds.org)

All images: Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

LEARNING HOW TO FEED

Juvenile and adult Sandhill Cranes, Heritage Ponds, Dubuque, Iowa

Despite spending some time with aviation photography during recent days I still had a chance to make some wildlife images as well. I saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes with their chick a month ago while riding my bicycle down in the valley. The best camera you have is always the one that is with you, and in this matter I just snapped a couple pictures with the camera in my phone. Last Friday I watched the cranes again and the juvenile on the left had grown quite a bit already. This time I was prepared and had the right gear in the car.

How do birds learn what to eat, where to find the food, and how to catch it? Although the young cranes begin to feed themselves during the second week, as you can see, this young bird was still not probing with its bill in the mud of the very shallow pond. It just watched one of the adults closely and waited patiently until mom or dad found something, like a tadpole or frog. The second photo shows the other adult, just briefly interrupting its intense search for food. The color of their heads tells the story about a hungry chick that still needs some support…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

ROMANCING AN UNROMANTIC LOCATION

Heritage Pond, Dubuque, Iowa

This shot with soft light and reflections on the water suggest a quiet, romantic location, just a few minutes before sunset, right? But nothing of the above was true. Behind the belt of reeds is a busy highway where people headed home from work or shopping. The noise level was not bad but definitely not quiet and the sunset was still 45 minutes away.

The steep bluffs of the Mississippi Valley make the sun disappear a little earlier, hence the blue reflections from the sky on the water. The light is nevertheless very warm and by watching the white balance settings in camera and underexpose by one f-stop we can romance the photo to the final result. Shooting from across the pond and keeping any distracting element from the highway out of the frame was possible by using the Nikon Nikkor 70-200, f/4 at 200 mm. No magic, just using what the camera has to offer…

NEGATIVE SPACE

The use of negative space as an element of composition in art has intrigued me since a long time time, I just haven’t really pursued it much in my own photography yet. If you follow my blog permanently, you already know that earlier this week I had some good moments shooting while the morning fog lifted after a rainy night. This photo was created just seconds before the scene cleared up. The trees in the background and their reflections on the water are still just a hint of slightly darker gray. The color version of this image isn’t much different, not indeed, but I didn’t like the kinda dirty looking yellow tint from the sun mixing with the fog. Heritage Pond is right beside the highway and can be busy with people fishing and other recreational activities at times. The photo may suggest it was shot at a location far away from civilization. Of course it was not, but for a few seconds it made me feel like it was…