ABOVE AND BELOW LOCK & DAM 11

Frozen Mississippi River, Mud Lake Park, Iowa

I start with one of the last photos I made this weekend. The Mississippi River is about 1.5 miles (~2.4 km) wide at this point and was still completely covered with ice. No chance for any duck to find food here, about 6 miles north of lock & dam #11 in Dubuque.

Male Common Goldeneye, Lock & dam #11, Dubuque, Iowa

That was different below the dam. There was quite a bit of open water yesterday and even more today with the temperatures way too warm for February right now.. Hundreds of ducks were on the move. The male Common Goldeneye, with their white body, dark head, and the yellow eye, is one of the prettiest ducks we can see at the moment. I shot this picture right below lock #11 and distance was a little bit a problem. Most goldeneyes preferred to dive for food away from the shore and despite using the 600 f/6.3 lens with the teleconverter, I still had to crop the image a bit.

Mallards, Mississippi River, A.Y. McDonalds Park, Dubuque

It’s not difficult to find Mallards any time of the season. On a sunny day and with the colors of their feathers really popping it is fun to photograph them while they do their thing along the shore. Beside what I can show today I saw Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaups, and Common Mergansers, unfortunately not close enough to make a good click. Maybe next time…

THE PRINCESS AND HER LOVERS

If things don’t work out as you may have hoped for during a photo shoot in the Great Outdoors, and for example the species you may see only for a relative short period of time while migrating stay out of your way, don’t hesitate to work with the “locals”, the birds you can always have in front of your camera. I’m not advocating to make another picture of a pair, swimming peacefully side by side, but looking out for an image that tells a story about their life or the specifics of the season I think is still desirable.

Last Sunday I saw a lot of migrators, Buffleheads, Gadwalls, Ring-necked Ducks, and Mergansers, but none of them came into a range that allowed me to make a serious effort for a photo. I’m sure that most of the Mallards we can see here at the moment by the thousands will migrate further north but some are here all the time and many people don’t even look at them. The difference to other times of the year is that mating time is approaching fast and their plumage is at its best at the moment. Combine this with the quality of light in late winter or early spring and you have best conditions to make a photo that sticks.

The lady was holding her breath, she really remained in this position for a few seconds, while the boys were fighting for the grounds. Don’t tell me Mallards are boring just because there are so many…😉

BY THE THOUSANDS

Oh boy, we had two days without any sun in the sky. It rained and snowed again but even that wasn’t fun. Reflecting the gray from the sky is just not desirable for bird photography. It’s good that we had a great weekend with lots of sun and that’s why these low flying Mallards are the stars in my blog today. They are currently present by the thousands in the Green Island Wetlands. Some may breed there this summer but most of them will migrate further north.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #9 - DUCKLINGS

Mallards can be found everywhere along the Mississippi and usually I point my lens at them only if there is an extraordinary light situation. While working with the pelicans a few days ago I couldn’t resist to make some clicks when this female duck with her offspring swam by in the choppy water just in front of me. Young birds are always fun to watch.

I had the camera up on the tripod. This was ok for the pelicans, who were a little further away than the ducklings, but for this shot I should have lowered the camera closer to the water surface.

1/800 s, f/6.3, ISO 100, @600 mm, image slightly cropped, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head