NATURE CLICKS #611 - EASTERN PHOEBE

Eastern Phoebe, Maplewood State Park, Minnesota

Eastern Phoebes winter further north than most other flycatchers and they are one of the earliest returning birds after the cold season. Many of the pictures in my library were made in April, some even in the month of March, over the years. Having a pair of phoebes in front of the lens during their breeding time was finally a wonderful experience last month in Maplewood State Park, Minnesota.

I photographed for the first time from a stationary blind, a cabin-like structure above a pond in the woods. While watching the birds on this little lake below the hill was quite interesting, the distance was a bit to long for decent photos. Instead many song birds in the surrounding trees gave me plenty of opportunities for a good shot. The back side of the blind was open and all what I had to do was turning around for the show a pair of Eastern Phoebes gave me during one evening and the next morning. Light, color, and the gestures of these flycatchers made for two great shooting events and it was hard to select a picture for today’s blog post… (I wished I could say that all the time I publish a photo 😉)

SEEING THEM IS THE CHALLENGE

Yellow Warbler, Southern Lida Lake, Maplewood State Park, Minnesota

Unfortunately I do not always have enough battery charge on my computer to work on photos and write something for the blog. However, birds, trees, and flowers. are abundant here in Maplewood State Park, Minnesota. We make a kayak trip every day and enjoy this very quiet and beautiful nature place.

We have never heard so many different warblers around our campsite and along the shore of the lakes before. Seeing them is a different story, they know how to hide under the lush canopy of the trees.

This Yellow Warbler was visible for a few seconds and I tried to catch it with the camera from the kayak.

A SYMBOL OF THE NORTHWOODS

Common Loon, Beers Lake, Maplewood State Park, Minnesota

Two fantastic paddle trips are already behind us . We had great opportunities to watch and listen to birds, often in our campsite, were we use the Merlin App to identify them even if we can’t see the birds high up in the canopy of the trees. On the water I’m always thrilled to see the Common Loons, the Minnesota state bird, and we saw them and heard their distinctive calls on almost every lake so far. I have been in Norway, Sweden, and Finland many times and it is easy to understand why so many Scandinavians have settled in Minnesota after they came over to America years ago. The glacier shaped landscapes with thousands of lakes and dense forests are very similar in many parts of the country and the settlers must have felt right at home.

I have been brave despite Beers Lake was a little choppy yesterday and took the camera and long lens with me in the kayak. Well, I forgot to take the teleconverter off but that turned out not to be a bad thing with and 840 mm focal length allowed to fill the frame quite often with the beautiful Common Loons.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x…@ 840mm, 1/1250s, f/9, ISO 1000