TAKE IT NOW

Sunset over the Little Maquoketa Valley, eastern Iowa

This photo was made three days ago here in our woods and I’m pretty sure today it wouldn’t have turned out the same way. We had two very windy days and a lot of leaves came down and opened up the canopy quite a bit more. There is a lesson I learned some time ago and it was confirmed again with this shot, take the image now, when the light seems to be right, don’t wait for another chance with maybe even better light, it wouldn’t be the same, no matter what you do.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head,

    @ 44 mm, 1/20 s, f/22, ISO 2000

TURKEYS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Wild Turkey, Little Maquoketa Valley, eastern Iowa

It’s not unusual to see Wild Turkeys around here in the Little Maquoketa Valley, but most of the time they hardly present themselves for a photo opportunity. During last week a gang of four showed up several times on an open grassy spot right here on the bluffs above the valley.

I can’t see them from our house because it is below that particular location, but after seeing them for two days in a row while driving, I prepared myself already at home. Put the camera in my lap, had the car window down, and drove up the short distance to the top of the hill very slowly. A short stop, the turkeys were present again, and a short burst of shots from the car was all what it took to get the photo of this nice looking male turkey.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x,    @840mm, 1/1000 s, f/9, ISO 800

THE MOST COMMON, BUT IT’S ABOUT THE LIGHT…

Wild Geranium, Pohlman Prairie Preserve, Little Maquoketa Valley, eastern Iowa

A short hike through the woods up the slope in Pohlman Prairie Preserve resulted in a good number of wildflower encounters, some of them even not so common. Pohlman Prairie is a small piece of ”goat prairie”, a type of dry prairie that is found here in the Driftless area mostly along the valley of the Upper Mississippi River, but this one is only a mile away, here on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa Valley.

It was the photo of probably one of the more abundant blossoms on the forest floor, the Wild Geranium, that intrigued me the most. Dappled light is not always a photographer’s best friend but here I really liked how it made the blossoms stand out from the green on the ground under the canopy of the trees.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm,    @200 mm

NATURE CLICKS #602 - WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

White-crowned Sparrow, Ophir Beach, Oregon, Apr 11, 2025

White-crowned Sparrows are not seen very often here in the Little Maquoketa Valley in eastern Iowa. They spend the winter in the states south of here and have their breeding grounds high up in Canada and Alaska. With other words, we are migration territory. The photo below was shot a couple days ago and the bird spent a few minutes on a small tree in our yard. During our recent trip to Oregon we saw White-crowned Sparrows in abundance. At the coast they are present year-round.

At both occasions I tried to make an environmental portrait. Giving the picture a sense of place or season is my preferred way to photograph wildlife. Including the ocean and the surf in the background let us know that the sparrow was perched right behind the beach. The second photo is totally different. The bird was hiding in a dense tree with lots of little branches and that could be anywhere. No chance to have such a clean background as on Ophir Beach. But the buds had just opened and small leaves showed their fresh green, telling the story about spring migration of the White-crowned Sparrow.

Both photos: Nikon Z6II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x, @840 mm

White-crowned Sparrow, Little Maquoketa, Valley, eastern Iowa, May 1, 2025

NATURE CLICKS #593 - YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER

Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

I’m aware that this photo will not win me any awards, it took too many steps in post process to make it what you see here. However, it is an important picture for me because it has been two years since I saw the last sapsucker here in our woods.

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is an interesting woodpecker that we mostly have seen in April while they migrate up north to Minnesota and Canada. Beside hammering trees for insects they also create sap wells, often several in a row, to collect sap and trap insects.

There is a lack of sharpness in the original RAW file due to the fact that this was shot through the glass of the balcony door. Too make things worse I had to shoot from an angle and about five feet away from the glass because the minimum focus distance of the Nikkor Z 600/ f6.3 lens didn’t allow me to get any closer and not enough time for a lens change.

AFTER THE SNOW

Sycamore and fog, Little Maquoketa Valley, Iowa

The snow we got the week before Christmas melted or was washed away by the rain we had lately. Today, on the way back from Dubuque, we stopped briefly down in the Little Maquoketa Valley below our bluffs. Fog had started to develop on the valley floor and with the American Sycamore tree (German: Westliche Platane) standing out at the other side of the valley, I knew I had an image I wanted to make since a long time.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4,  @ 200mm, 1/200s, f/4, ISO 5000, RAW processed in Adobe LR Classic with denoise in Topaz Photo AI

NATURE CLICKS #590 - BROWN CREEPER

Brown Creeper, Little Maquoketa Valley, Iowa

I’m very, very happy about this photo of this tiny little bird. The fast moving Brown Creeper started at the base of this oak and spiraled upwards, looking for insects in the cracks of the bark. It’s hard to follow them with the lens and their plumage is such a perfect camouflage, making it difficult to obtain a sharp focus. Here in eastern Iowa they can be found throughout the year but most of the time we see them during the cold season.

HAVE TO LOVE THOSE BLUEBIRDS

Male Eastern Bluebird

My photography friend Kevin had invited me every year to his backyard during the breeding season of Eastern Bluebirds and many good shots are in my photo library due to his generous sharing of the location. I would like to do the same, inviting him for a shooting session during the winter season. Kevin knows when the bluebirds hatch in the nest boxes that he puts out at the edge near the woods of his property and the chances are always high to come home with a decent image of a parent bird with food in their bills. Well, I would like to return his favor but the visits of Eastern Bluebirds at any of our three bird baths are not predictable. Yesterday I had eight birds coming to the water bowl on our balcony, but today, with even more time on hand to watch, none of them showed up.

We didn’t see any bluebirds during last winter season but the bird droppings beside the bird bath tell me this time, we have a good crop of juniper berries in the eastern cedar trees that grow here on top of the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa Valley. The short appearance of two Cedar Waxwings yesterday, another bird that feeds on juniper berries during the winter, seems to confirm my observations. Well, enough of bird biology. I hope you enjoy my photo of this male Eastern Bluebird today and have a wonderful weekend.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S