MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2025 #6 - ISLAND CITY ATTRACTIONS

Sabula, Island city in the Mississippi River

Sabula, Iowa’s only city located on an island in the Mississippi River, has two technical attractions I always like to look at. The first is their old-style water tower, which seems to be well maintained. If the sun is on the structure this tower stands out and can make for a nice reflection on the water. I have photographed it many times before but with the beautiful clouds we had during my last visit I could not resist to get the camera out again.

Sabula Railroad Bridge

The other interesting structure that connects Illinois and Iowa across the Mississippi River is the Sabula Rail Bridge, a large through truss swing bridge. This time I was there at the right time. After a few small boats had just passed, the bridge started moving and was swiveled back and ready for the next train to get over it. It only took a few minutes and my photo shows it about half way closed. The clouds again made this shot stand out for me.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2025 #5 - SUMMER AT ITS BEST

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S,   @ 1/2000 s, f/8, ISO 500

I haven’t posted another ”Mississippi River Story” since May but I like to do so at the height of the summer. The heat and very high humidity during the last weeks has been replaced by cooler temperatures, a bit of wind, nice puffy clouds at times, but we still had plenty of sunshine. All good reasons to get the kayak out for a couple paddle trips in the backwaters of the big river. The vegetation is lush and green and some flowers can still be found between the arrow heads and water lilies that grow everywhere in the Mud Lake area. The breeding season for most birds is almost over, it is a lot quieter on the water, and I had a lot less photo opportunities for wildlife. But there is always room for a surprise and a couple Great Blue Herons posed nicely within the range of the lens. I caught the first heron standing motionless in the water, like in the picture below. But the bird moved on and I missed the shot. At the second opportunity the wind pushed me almost too close to the bird but by reading its body language I knew a second ahead of time when the decisive moment would happen. This time luck was on my side.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S,   @ 1/2000 s, f/8, ISO 500

Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa,

Nikon Z6III, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 55mm, 1/320 s, f/11, ISO 100

I came back to the entrance of the marina at Mud Lake Park in the evening, hoping to get nice warm light on the puffy clouds we had all day long. Unfortunately the clouds dissolved very quickly due to the air getting drier. The blue boat came at the right time to rescue this photo. A couple minutes later the cloud show was over…

HUNTING BELOW THE DAM

Double-crested Cormorants hunt for fish often together with American White Pelicans, but they may not compete because they catch fish at a different depth in the water. However, I saw cormorants steeling fish a pelican had dropped. The pelican tried to get it back… Laughing cormorant at the end…!

The question I tried to answer last Sunday was, where is a good place to shoot some photos of birds that tell a story about the season, about being in mid August when most birds have almost finished the breeding season? It is hot, it is humid, and some areas are just not pleasant to be there. The answer I came up with was, go to the the most humid place you can find. Ok, I’m a little bit kidding here, but I ended up down at the Mississippi River at dam #11 and believe me, the humidity was awful. But why going there? The next generation of birds in the big river has to learn how to feed and hunt for fish and watching this, there is no better place than the turbulent waters below the Dubuque dam.

Juvenile American White Pelican, Mississippi River, dam #11, O’Leary Lake, Wisconsin. I love how the translucency of the bill pouch stood out. Only two juveniles hunted for fish side by side but the rest of the squadron took a break over on the Iowa side of the river.

Well, the tip for other local photography friends is, go over to the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River to O’Leary Lake and recreation area next to the dam. Dubuque on the Iowa side has the lock that elevates the boats and barges up and down, which is very interesting to watch, but you are too far away from the foaming waters of the dam and way above water level at this location for any shooting position. At the Wisconsin side of the river you can sit on a rock and watch American White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants of all ages fish and hunt at high speed. The action there is fast and furious and both of the photos I show you today tell a story of successful fishing.

If you may not like the final outcome, at least you had a great day of practice that may lead you in the future to your next great picture. As I mention often, it is important for us photographers to create awareness with our photos about the nature that surrounds us and needs our outmost attention for protection.

SOCIAL LIFE AT THE MARTIN TOWER

Male Purple Martin returning to the nest

This is the photo I was hoping to get during my last two visits at the Purple Martin tower at Finleys Landing down by the Mississippi River. The Purple Martins are beautiful looking birds, elegant flyers, and it is very interesting to watch their social behavior. The young martins have hatched and it is such a great joy just to watch the interactions at a breeding tower.

For most of my wildlife photography I try to keep any men-made elements out of the frame, but here I make an exception, supported by a note I found on the Cornell website (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Martin/) :

Native Americans hung up empty gourds for the Purple Martin before Europeans arrived in North America. Purple Martins in eastern North America now nest almost exclusively in birdhouses.

With other words, we enjoy wildlife that has adapted to men-made nesting places since a long time. The towers hold 18 chambers for a Purple Martin nest and at Finleys Landing it looked like almost all were taken. These towers with their plastic gourds may look not very pretty, but the practicality for maintenance (cleaning after the breeding saison) and doing research studies (counting eggs, etc.) is proven. Well, most importantly the Purple Martins must like them and it is so exciting to see how quick the birds accepted the relative new tower at this location.

The nestlings peak out of the box but after the female on the left departed for catching more food, the male on the right pushed them back into the box with his head, I guess using his parent authority…

It seemed like some of the juveniles had already left the nest but this is a matter of interpretation. The juvenile Purple Martins look almost identical to the females that tend them. I’m not sure if this is a jealous female or a young one begging for food. Its clumsy behavior made me believe the latter.

Purple Martins are supposed to be monogamous but that doesn’t mean they can’t be jealous. The male in the center had a happy life until another male didn’t like it, flew in and used its bill vigorously to end the affair. It took less than two seconds and I shot this scene in high-speed shutter release mode with about 14 frames per second. Everybody left the scene uninjured… (June 28th, 2025)

BUSY PURPLE MARTINS

Male Purple Martin, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

I still have a few photos from our recent trip to Minnesota but today I like to share some actual pictures that were made yesterday. I had received an information about the current breeding activities of the Purple Martins (Thank you Mike!) and went down to Mud Lake at the Mississippi River. Three days ago both breeding towers had more than 75 eggs and almost 30 nestlings had hatched already. The parents were very busy to feed and to guard each nesting chamber. I believe each tower holds 18 chambers.

Female with her latest catch at the martin house

I have plenty of pictures with martins sitting at the entrance of a nest box but I really wanted some shots with a bird in flight, approaching the nest or just hovering in front of it.

However, the second image shows a female with a dragon fly in its bill and waiting in front of the entrance hole of her nest. It took about four minutes before she turned around and entered the box to feed the offspring.

Female Purple Martin

If you are not familiar with the habits and biology of our largest swallow, you can find a lot of information about these birds on the websites of the CornellLab or the Purple Martin Conservation Association.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Martin/

https://www.purplemartin.org

The Purple Martin is a very interesting bird and it is fun to watch how they catch all their food in flight and get their drinks by scooping water from the surface of the river or pond with their lower bill.

NATURE CLICKS #607 - EASTERN MEADOW VOLE

Eastern Meadow Vole, Mud Lake Park, Mississippi River, Eastern Iowa

They look like a mini beaver without a flat tail with their thick fur, but this one was just the size of my fist. They are pretty common but still not seen very often by many people.

I was actually out for a certain bird species in the Mud Lake area along the Mississippi River but didn’t get the shots I had in mind. While walking on a new trail through an area of prairie vegetation that has been planted by the Dubuque County Conservation Board only a few years ago, I discovered this Meadow Vole. It didn’t seem to be bothered by me at all and continued chewing on fresh grass stems while I just walked by. The photo could have been made with any of my lenses but I had only the Nikkor Z600 , f/6.3 with me during this little exploration hike. For a picture like this the minimum focal distance of this lens of about 4 meters can become a disadvantage. It’s not difficult to get a sharp image, but I had to step back and at the end had to crop the photo to get you this intimate environmental portrait of this small critter.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2025 #4 - ON THE RIVER AGAIN

Spotted Sandpiper, Mississippi River, Mud Lake area

Yesterday morning I paddled into the main channel of the big river, following a Spotted Sandpiper that never seemed to stand still for a moment. The wind added some dynamic to the fast flowing water. I didn’t expect that the vegetation and probably some algae along the shore had such an impact on the colors reflected from the surface of the river, giving it a warm touch. Of course, I take that for a photo that is a little different…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S,    @ 600mm, 1/1250s, f/9, ISO 1000, image slightly cropped

RISKY PLEASURE

We made another paddle trip by kayak in the Mud Lake area on the Mississippi River yesterday evening. The water level of the big river was a little bit higher than two days earlier and as a result I saw only one sandpiper. But there is always something to find in this ever changing ecosystem of the Upper Mississippi Valley. Before we even saw them we heard the incredible noise from dozens of American Toads that had started their mating  time.

Having probably only one thing in mind some of the frogs didn’t pay the attention to their environment they should have. While I still tried to find the best position with my kayak, two Northern Water Snakes took advantage of the frogs desire for some pleasure and their drive to mate and snatched them off from the driftwood logs in the mud. One snake disappeared immediately in the water and made it to land quickly. The other one slipped over the log quickly and all what I got in my picture is the head of the snake and the legs of the toad sticking out of its mouth.

Well, this didn’t stop all the other males to continue to attract the females with their loud high-pitched trill. They produce their characteristic calls by using a combination of their lungs, vocal cords, and a vocal sac to amplify the sound.

Good time, good times!

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

NATURE CLICKS #604 - A SECRETIVE RAIL, THE SORA

Sora, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

Shooting from a kayak leads to perspectives that are otherwise hard to obtain. I have photographed the very secretive Soras before from land and it seems they always disappear behind some reeds or bushes when you have them in the viewfinder. It can drive you crazy. However, the Sora is the most widespread and abundant rail in North America. While they search for food and move along the shore it is often hard to follow them. Being on the seaside in a boat makes it a lot more visible where they might go next and allows to predict a good opportunity for a shot a little bit ahead of time.

Soras rake often floating vegetation in the water with their feet or use their bill to move plant material and find insects, mollusks, snails, seeds or aquatic invertebrates. Yesterday I found three of these very beautiful rails in the backwaters of Mud Lake. The one in the picture below took actually a bath and frolicked in the shallow water for several minutes. What a show!

NATURE CLICKS #603 - DUNLINS ON THEIR WAY TO THE ARCTIC

Dunlins, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

I really wanted to go back to the Mississippi River this afternoon and try to shoot from the kayak again. It was a good idea since I saw birds we haven’t spotted yesterday. The highlight were two Dunlins in full breeding plumage, who were definitely on their journey from the cost of the Gulf of Mexico or Florida to the arctic coast in Canada. This is a bird easy to identify with their black belly patch. They didn’t pay too much attention to my presence and didn’t stop to probe and jab in the shallow water or mud along the shore at Mud Lake on the Mississippi River. I have seen them a few times at the Green Island Wetlands further south during recent years, but always very far away. Today I finally had a real photo opportunity here in Iowa for the first time and I had a hard time to decide which photo to post here in the blog.

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

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2025 #3 - OPENING THE SEASON

After taking many pictures of Greater Yellowlegs during this spring season I finally found a Lesser Yellowleg within the reach of the lens.

Today we used the nice weather with mild temperatures and sun and opened the paddle season. The kayaks were launched on the Mississippi River in the backwaters of Mud Lake, only a few minutes away from home. What was supposed to be a short trip became an all afternoon journey with lots of wildlife encounters. I have written here before how much I love to shoot from the kayak because of the ability to have the lens real low above the water, much better than driving by car on top of a dyke. Beside the usual suspects, like egrets, herons, geese, ducks, pelicans, and muskrats, we watched three different sandpiper species, a number of eagles, and even heard the Sandhill Cranes in the reeds.

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

Many Painted Turtles had climbed on driftwood logs and used the sun to warm up after a long winter season.

This adult Bald Eagle had just eaten something, probably a fish, and didn’t seem to be bothered by me drifting by with my kayak. Six or seven other eagles were nearby, maybe hoping to pick up some leftovers.

If this Solitary Sandpiper plans still to reach the breeding grounds in the northland regions of Canada, it better gets on its way for the rest of the long distance. They spend the winters from central Mexico to South America.

NATURE CLICKS #594 - DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS

Double-crested Cormorants, Mississippi River, Lower Sabula Lake, Iowa

While shooting birds on or in the water it is always recommended to have at least one eye in the air from time to time. Overhead flying birds are often a good opportunity I don’t want to miss, even if they approach suddenly.

Double-crested Cormorants are very fast flyers and I wanted to make a picture like this one since quite some time. With my heavy Sigma 150-600 S it seemed to be always a matter of luck to get a sharp shot. Panning with that heavy lens is not always easy.

While working with the pelicans you may have seen in my last blog post, four cormorants crossed the river and flew rapidly towards me. The exposure compensation was quickly changed by one stop (-0.67 to +0.33EV) to retain some detail in the birds plumage. The Nikon Nikkor Z 600 f/6.3, even in combination with the Z TC-1.4x teleconverter, is so much easier to handle while following birds in flight. I know for sure now why this lens made it in my gear locker.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x.  @840 mm, image slightly cropped

COLLECTIVE EFFORTS

American White Pelicans, Mississippi River, Lower Sabula Lake, Iowa

It was so nice to see some colors again after a gray and nasty cold day yesterday. It was a good Sunday for checking out spring migration of the birds along the Mississippi again.

I have never seen so many pelicans fishing together before. This squadron contained more than a hundred birds, with many more on the water around, but choices had to be made what to leave in the frame and what not. First it looked and sounded like they all were fighting for the fish but pretty soon it was clear that it was a well organized collective effort by these American White Pelicans, as you can see in the second picture. I don’t know who was in charge to give the command, but suddenly they all took off and flew across the water to a different spot and started all over hunting for fish again.

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

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2025 #2 - THE ICE MAKES SOME NOISE (VIDEO)

While shooting the photos of the Trumpeter Swans I showed in my last blog post I suddenly heard a crunching noise behind me, coming from the main channel of the river. A really huge ice floe had broken loose and started moving, grinding, and crashing against the rocks at the Potosi boat landing. We had a cold snap the night before and much of the Mississippi had frozen over again.

I like the crunching noise and hit the video button on the camera to capture the powerful movement of the river. Turn your speakers on loud, click the video below, and feel free to watch the little show.

Mississippi River, Pool #11 above the lock & dam Dubuque, Iowa. Photographed from the Wisconsin side of the river

This photo was shot later a few miles further south, giving you an idea how the ice got jammed above the lock and dam in Dubuque, IA, which is located but hardly visible at the horizon line.

Photo info:

  1. Nikon Z6II, Z 600 / f6.3

  2. Video: Z6II, Z600 / f6.3

  3. Nikon Z6II, Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR, @ 19mm

ENJOYING THE TRUMPETERS

Trumpeter Swans, Mississippi River, Potosi, Wisconsin

I spent quite a bit of time on both sides of the mighty Mississippi River this weekend and like to share a some photos with you in the next few days.

This morning I saw about 25 Trumpeter Swans at the end of the John Deere dyke here on the Iowa side but all too far in the distance for a picture. A different scenario this afternoon at the Potosi boat landing on the Wisconsin side of the river, where close to 100 swans had congregated. Several family groups were feeding, resting, or socializing with each other and their loud trumpeting calls, that sound like a french horn, could not be missed.

Trumpeter Swans feed mostly with their head under water. I watched them today using their webbed feet to stir up roots. An adult swan eats up to 20 pounds (~10 kg) of food per day.