MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2024 #3 - REST ON A SANDBANK

American White Pelicans and Ring-billed Gulls, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa

After a week of business travel it felt great to go out and enjoy nature and wildlife watching again. Yesterday’s trip along the Mississippi River led me all the way down to Le Claire, Iowa and up back north on the Illinois side to Savannah, followed by a short visit of the Green Island Wetlands on the Iowa side again.

Below lock & dam #14 in Le Claire these two American White Pelicans rested on a sandbank in company with a number of Ring-billed Gulls. They preened their feathers in the sun. It was quite a bit away from the shore and the 1.4x teleconverter was used to expand the focal length to 840 mm. People always debate the use of a teleconverter and claim it would degrade image quality. Except for the loss of light that hits the sensor (it becomes a f/9), I can’t confirm the loss of sharpness. The Nikon Z 600 f/6.3 works great with the TC-1.4x.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x

@ 840mm, 1/1000s, f/9, ISO 200, image slightly cropped

PANNING PRACTICE WITH GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS

Immature Great Black-backed Gull, Mississippi River, lock & dam #14, Le Claire, Iowa

Here are a couple more photos from my trip last weekend to lock & dam #14, down in Le Claire, Iowa. The goal was to practice panning with the Nikon Z6II and Sigma 150-600 lens attached. There is always a number of gulls around this area, mostly Ring-billed Gulls, but this time I found only three birds and they all seemed to be Great Black-backed Gulls. This is an uncommon species for this part of the country but I have photographed them before at this location and some other, more experienced birders than me, have documented their presence as well.

Gulls are a great subject for practice with the long lens. They fly often in circles and return over and over again during their hunt for fish, giving the photographer multiple chances to try different settings for the autofocus system and to find out what works best for a fast flying subject. It doesn’t matter how good the autofocus system on a new camera is, proper panning and handholding is still essential for a high keeper rate of sharp images. I could tell that I’m well out of shape. The keeper rate wasn’t bad but there is a lot room for improvement. The Mississippi was still covered with ice here in the Dubuque area yesterday. Once the ice breaks, which will be soon with the warm weather we have since a few days, the birds will move in and I hope my panning skills can improve with more practice down at the river…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,

1. photo   @ 600 mm, 1/2500 s, f/6.3, ISO 200

2. photo   @ 600 mm, 1/1600 s, f/6.3, ISO 200

INTERESTING GULL

Great Black-backed Gull, Mississippi River, lock & dam #14, LeClaire, Iowa

On my way back from a business trip I stopped briefly at lock & dam #14 after crossing the Mississippi River. The pool below #14 near LeClaire, Iowa has been often a good place for watching and photographing Bald Eagles. Unfortunately the relativ mild winters during the last couple years led to a drastic decline in the numbers of eagles that spend the cold season at this location. In addition some trees, used as a perch by the eagles, have died and had to be removed. They have been replaced by some man-made wooden structures but I have not seen any eagle using them.

I saw a couple Bald Eagles, circling high up in the sky, but none of them was within the range for a photo. As always, some Ring-billed Gulls were catching fish and among them I saw two Great Black-backed Gulls. They breed in northeastern North America at the Atlantic coast but may wander inland during the winter. To make it clear, I’m never one hundred percent sure about identification of gulls but I think this one is a Great Black-backed Gull in its first winter. However, there are similarities to a young Herring Gull and if someone can give me a second opinion I will appreciate it.

So how about the photography? I only had a few minutes to make a picture and since I haven’t aimed the lens at birds in flight for a while, I was a little “rusty” and missed a number of shots.

BALD EAGLES IN TOWN?

A couple days ago the word was spread on the internet that a large number of Bald Eagles was at Ice Harbor in Dubuque, right behind the Mississippi River Museum. I didn’t have time to go but tried to check it out yesterday instead. Bummer, there was not a single eagle at this place or any other location where we usually may have a chance to watch Bald Eagles along the big River. Because of the warm weather there is still no ice on the river and the absence of eagles isn’t really a surprise to me. Not a big deal, in January I was at lock & dam #14 in LeClaire, Iowa and had my good share of opportunities to photograph this majestic bird again. During the last days of the year I usually clean out my library, apply missing keywords, and put the last files away into the archive. And that’s where I found this image last night.

BALD EAGLES - GESTURES, LIGHT, AND TEMPERATURE CHALLENGE

Great gesture, the moment when the eagle drops suddenly down to go for a fish ----   

The weather conditions are ideal for Bald Eagle photography at the moment. First we had a clean blue sky, which in combination with a low sun in the afternoon makes for good colors and light. And second, it was cold, and I mean really cold, and this requires the eagles to eat a lot in order to survive. If the eagles are hungry they are in permanent move in search for fish, and this gives us photographers a lot more shooting opportunities than if the temperature is just around the freezing point.

When the eagle is about to put its talons into the prey you can hear the camera shutters rattle...

As expected, about 60 miles down the river at lock & dam #14 in Le Claire, Iowa the parking lot was quite full and people enjoyed watching and photographing a good number of Bald Eagles today. The cold bares some challenges and being properly dressed is absolutely essential for spending time behind the camera. I saw several people climbing out of their cars full of enthusiasm and making a fashion statement with every piece of clothes they wore, but ten minutes later they disappeared again because they were not dressed warm enough. Shooting with gloves is not my favorite thing to do but there was no way around it today without a high risk of frostbites.

The flight patterns of a juvenile Bald Eagle while hunting for fish is harder to predict, their lack of routine shows quite often.

I took many pictures of Bald Eagles already during the last thirteen years since we lived near the Upper Mississippi Valley. So why going back to the best spots over and over again with the camera? Well, just watching these majestic creatures is priceless and having hundreds of photos in the files doesn’t mean there are no new gestures or light patterns to discover, and there is always this one special picture that still needs to be made…😉

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

2017 RETROSPECT / 1

I finally found some time tonight looking into my photo archive from 2017 for pictures that may deserve to be seen by the public and that mark some of the highlights during the last year. In January I spent quite some time along the Mississippi, which was other than right now not frozen over for the most part.

When a Bald Eagle drops out of the tree and glides towards the open water you know the hunt is on. This one flew right at me but I was able to nail the focus on its eye, which has to be sharp, no matter what. If not, the picture goes to the trash can…

This photo of an excited Herring Gull was made below lock and dam #14 in Le Claire, Iowa. The direct light of the late afternoon sun helps to bring out the dynamic of the scene. I chose both photos because the quality of the light makes the story telling a breeze.

GOING FOR A COMMON SPECIES

Juvenile Ring-billed Gull, Le Claire, Iowa

During my presentation last week I was talking about not to forget the common species, the critters that are present most of the time, usually in larger numbers, and that don’t make it too difficult to get a shot. To make a difference and make the photo special, there has to be at least a certain quality of light or maybe we can catch a unique gesture of the animal.

Today I was driving down south along the Mississippi again but it was one of these days when not much happened despite warm and sunny weather. I had several plans in place for today but I didn’t found what I was hoping for. Coming home with an empty memory card doesn’t happen very often. When I saw a bunch of gulls fighting for fish on the ice near Le Claire, IA, in gorgeous late afternoon light, I knew I had at least something. The Ring-billed Gull is the most common gull in our area and not difficult to find. This juvenile was on its way to the remains of a fish, nothing really special but the light and reflection on the deep blue ice made me push the shutter button.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #4 - WARM WEEK AT THE RIVER

I have two photos for you today. The one above is from earlier this week, taken at lock & dam #14 in Le Claire, Iowa. It seems it becomes more and more common that some pelicans stay here during the winter. In Le Claire, about 90 miles south from Dubuque, the main channel of the river is open and they can find apparently enough food.

Dam #11, Dubuque, Iowa

It was a gray and foggy day today here in Dubuque and not very inviting for any bird photography, but the temperatures were way above freezing. In the second photo you can see that the snow is almost gone around here. The ice was jammed above the dam, hence the fog in the background. What you don’t see is any Bald Eagles. Today was the annual “Bald Eagle Watch” but I felt bad for the visitors at lock & dam #11. I saw only two eagles on the ice and they were far away. The US Army Corps of Engineers had Brent, one of their Natural Resource Specialists, on site and he was answering questions and helped people with spotting scopes that were provided to watch the birds.

He told me that there was more going on in the Grand River Center in Dubuque and so I went there next. Natural resource agencies and organizations had educational displays and information and there were also some activities for kids.

At one of the vendor’s tables I met with Ty Smedes, a well known nature photographer here in Iowa. I have seen him on TV and read some of his articles in the IOWA Outdoors Magazine before. We had a good conversation about many aspects of nature and photography. If you like to check out his work, here is a link to his website http://www.smedesphoto.com . I bought one of his excellent books and Ty was so nice to sign it.

NATURE CLICKS #358 - GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (1ST SIGTHING)

Mississippi River, L&D 314, Le Claire, Iowa ---------

Yesterday, on my way back home from Davenport, Iowa I stopped briefly at lock & dam #14 at the Mississippi River. As always, a few photographers were present and tried to make a great shot of a Bald Eagle. I was told the eagles were kinda lazy that day and just sat in the trees most of the time.

While looking for some ducks, mergansers, and pelicans I suddenly saw another photographer shooting very determined one big particular gull. He confirmed that it was a Great Black-backed Gull, a first sighting for me here in the Mississippi Valley. I had read in the IA-Bird Google group that someone had seen this species already a few days earlier and I was more than happy to add a few photos of this gull to my library. They breed in northeastern North America and Greenland but may wander inland to the Great Plains.

Plumage and colors indicate that the bird is in its 1st winter. According to all my bird guides the Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world and is very pugnacious, predatory, and opportunistic. I saw it fighting for a fish with a Common Goldeneye and that makes me believe every word I read about its feeding habits…

QUICK MEAL

Common Merganser, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa ----------

It often surprises me how big of a prey some animals are able to swallow in comparison to their own body size. The first image still shows almost the whole fish in the bill of this Common Merganser. The fish is dinner size for a human adult. The second photo was shot two seconds later according to my time stamp in the picture’s metadata. Nature is always amazing!

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,

BALD EAGLE’S STORY, GOOD REASON FORE EVEN MORE AWARENESS

Living here in eastern Iowa and having Bald Eagles present all year long may dull our sense of appreciation for this majestic bird. But as real friends of nature we will probably never get tired of their presence. Not everybody is aware that this bird was almost at the brink of extinction not that long ago, but the time is luckily over when we had to make any possible shot to prove that the Bald Eagle is still among us. Instead we now can relax and focus on its sheer beauty and the stories our images may tell. Creating awareness about our natural history and heritage is what my photography is about. Seeing large numbers of eagles soaring above our heads doesn’t mean we have reached a safe heaven. There are many other critters and birds that need our attention, and your photos, yes, yours, may help to create awareness about the struggle for survival of a particular species that is confronted with shrinking habitat and / or global climate change.

NATURE CLICKS #357 - COMMON GOLDENEYE

Male Common Goldeneye, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa

It wasn’t just the great light that got me excited, but also the fact that several Common Goldeneyes were among the waterfowl that competed for fish near the downstream exit of lock #14 at the Mississippi River last Saturday. This duck was on my “most wanted list” for a long time. Not that I have not seen them before, but I never got close enough for a decent photo. So this is really the first time that I’m able to show a photo of this beautiful duck here in the blog. Their breeding grounds are up in most of Canada while they spent the winter in much of the United States.

Female Common Goldeneye, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa

NATURAL LIGHT AT ITS BEST

Male Common Merganser, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa

I felt a little like an oddball among all the photographers that gathered yesterday in Le Claire, Iowa. Almost everybody there seemed to focus on one subject only, the eagles. This is somehow understandable and I’m happy for everybody that travels to Iowa to see a Bald Eagle, maybe for the first time in their life. The return of the Bald Eagle is a great success story in North America. However, only a few people realized that we had a great light situation coming up, very beneficial for every bird that swims on the water, as the sun got lower and lower in the late afternoon. The presence of hundreds of mergansers, ducks, pelicans, and other waterfowl on the water right in front of us was probably noticed by some, but only a few people took advantage of the high quality natural light. To make this a little more clear, the Bald Eagles sit quite often in a tree and not much happens for long periods of time. Everybody waits for them to get into hunting and fishing mood and if one the eagles takes off and soars overhead, the rattle of camera shutters is the dominant noise in the air. At the other hand, there is a constant battle going on between gulls, ducks, mergansers, and pelicans about the best fishing grounds and none of these birds come ever to a stand still. Combined with just gorgeous light from the low sitting sun we had an abundance of photo opportunities even if the eagles decided to have a break.

My observations from previous years proved that the Common Mergansers can be found always close to the edge of open water. A little further north ice had jammed up the Mississippi, but here in Le Claire, Iowa was enough open water and plenty of fish for them to have a happy life. I shoot birds quite often with the support of flash light to overcome the gray of an overcast and bring out the colors of their feathers. Yesterday, with this gorgeous natural light in the late afternoon I didn’t even think about to get the flash light out of the bag…

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #3 - BALD EAGLES

Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head ---------------

The long-time followers of my blog knew probably immediately where I have been today after looking at this photo. Yes, a trip 90 miles south to lock & dam #14 in Le Claire, Iowa was overdue and the weather conditions were perfect today to shoot at this location along the Mississippi River. The river is not frozen over but there were always some Bald Eagles around, even if they could fish at many other places along the river.

I have been a little “rusty” for shooting birds in flight but I got a good share of photos with Bald Eagles soaring over the water and catching fish. However, my favorite photo of eagles today is the one above with this couple, shot at the moment of take off from a dead tree. While many photographers never point their lens at anything different than a Bald Eagle while they are at L&D 14, I used half of the time today to go for some other birds that were present, and that are usually a lot more difficult to get in front of the camera. But this is for another blog post. So please stay tuned…

YOUNG EAGLE'S CATCH

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, gimbal head

On my way home from a good customer of mine in Davenport, Iowa I stopped at lock and dam #14 in LeClaire, Iowa, the same place I have reported from many times before about Bald Eagles. There were by far not so many photographers as last Saturday (see my blog post about the last visit by clicking HERE).

The light was kinda mediocre but I want more practice with the new SIGMA 150-600 Sports lens. During the short time I was at the Mississippi River I just tried to explore the capabilities of this lens , even under not the best light conditions.

I show you what I think was the most interesting picture that made it onto my memory card today. This immature Bald Eagle caught the fish out of the water and headed straight to a tree . Younger eagles are not always successful in their fishing efforts but this one knew it hit the jackpot. The claws holding the fish became my subject, but the photo would have ended up in the trash can, if the eye of the bird would not have been visible or even just been blurry.