BIRDING IN THE NORTHWOODS OF WISCONSIN

Bastile Lake, Forest County, Wisconsin

I spent an extended weekend at a friend’s cabin up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Much of the area belongs to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest or is private land and is the home of White-tailed Deer, Black Bears, wolves, and other critters. Although I saw a young bear in August this year, my aim was to find a small bird again, some Snow Buntings migrating south. However, luck was not on my side, a flock of these fast moving birds came in sight a couple times, but never close enough for a photo. The picture below was shot already in 2023.

Snow Buntings, near Newald, Wisconsin, October 28, 2023

A few American Tree Sparrows were more cooperative and posed nicely while foraging for seeds in the vegetation beside a gravel road.

American Tree Sparrow,

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Benro MSDPL46C SupaDupa Monopod, Monopod Gimbal Head

PADDLING IN THE NORTHWOODS

This juvenile Common Loon was still fed by its parents, but not every dive for food was successful. First time that I was able to make some clicks of loons with their offspring. Fay Lake, Florence County, Wisconsin

I’m back from two different trips to the Northwoods. The second one led to well known territory in northern Wisconsin. Most of the time I have been there for little ice fishing adventures with friends each year in January, but this time the kayak was on top of the car roof while traveling.

I like to share some photos from last weekend that were shot during three paddling trips. The wildfires up in Canada made for unpleasant air conditions and I didn’t really like how most of my landscape pictures turned out. However, there were some good encounters of wildlife, mostly birds, and I saw even a bear crossing the road. I hope you enjoy!

A pair of Trumpeter Swans navigated their five cygnets through the weeds into shallow water near the shore of Fay Lake.

Juvenile Spotted Sandpiper, Wabikon Lake, Forest County, Wisconsin

For almost four hours I enjoyed a paddling trip on the Popple River, deep in the woods of Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. No humans, no men-made noise, just the tranquillity of pure nature. It doesn’t get much better… 😊

WAY TO GO

Fall has many ways to tell us that the growing season is over and nature gets ready for hibernation and all the other things we associate with the season before winter. I made this photo about two weeks ago up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. This was at a little pond, nestled between endless woods and next to a swamp. The trail cameras of a friend prove that deer, bears, and wolves call this area home, even if we hardly ever see them during the day.

The cattails I found at the shore are called ”Kanonenputzer” in the area where I grew up in Germany. This means loosely translated ”canon cleaners”. Maybe you agree that this name describes the plant as good as the english term ”cattail”.

Enough about names, it was the gorgeous side light that made the decaying cattails and grasses stand out. The water of the pond and the woods in the background are pushed back by a strong underexposure, letting the shapes and details of the plants tell the story of a sunny afternoon on a beautiful day in autumn. To me color meant nothing in this image, it was all about the light, contrast, and shapes of the subject. I thought Black & White was the way to go.

CHANGED THE PLAN

Frozen Popple River, Wisconsin

It was the traditional ice fishing weekend with friends up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. While we fished successfully one day we changed plans for the second one. The wind of the ongoing snow storm was too brutal and we decided to drive through the woods and look for wildlife or find some photo opportunities instead. No surprise, the wolves and black bears up there kept hiding but we saw a few White-tailed Deer.

One of the stops we always make is in the middle of nowhere at a bridge that crosses the Popple River. I have posted photos from this location before here in the blog but it is always interesting how different the scene can look. Due to the warm weather even up north during the last couple months, the ice on the river was very thin. Big parts of the woods have bogs and the tint of the ice comes from the peaty water. It makes for a good color contrast between the river and the snow cover. Nothing spectacular, but obviously more fun than attaching bait to the hooks in the icy wind…

WEEKEND IN WISCONSIN’S NORTHWOODS

Popple River, Forest County Wisconsin

I spent the weekend in the Northwoods of Wisconsin at a friend’s cabin, to be more precise, in the woods north of Crandon and Laona. With every mile I drove further north fall colors appeared more sparsely. In addition gray skies dominated the weekend’s weather. I still tried to find ways to tell the story with the camera about the changes at the end of the fall season.

I have photographed from this bridge, crossing the Popple River, several times in the past. My older photos show it mostly frozen, with a layer of snow on top. Most leaves were gone already but the patches of grass lead the eye to the background, where some fall colors tell us, it’s not all over yet.

Full moon revealed, near Double Bend Road, Forest County, Wisconsin

The rain had moved out of the area and the almost full moon started peeking through the clouds. The light and mood of the scene reminded me of paintings by German Romantic landscape painter Casper David Friedrich (1774 - 1840). A light at the cabin to my left gave the tree trunks some structure. It is very subtle, but made the difference instead of rendering the trees just as a silhouette and nothing but black on the lower part of the photo.

Most of the maples had lost their leaves already but I found this young maple on an island in a bog. I removed carefully everything bright below this branch to keep the background as dark as possible. After this little bit of preparation it was an easy click.

I’m always amazed about the variety of different tree species up north. On the small island in the bog near the cabin we found pine, fir, spruce, maple, birch, arborvitae, and others. With the absence of popping colors, even in the sky, the camera was set to black and white with a red filter effect applied, making the shape of the trees the subject of the image. Although the arborvitaes are evergreen trees, the may shed some of their leaves. Here they covered the forest floor and gave me another reason to make this photo.

Cascade in the Little Popple River, Forest County Wisconsin

The tinted water at this cascade is a good indicator that the river flows through a boggy and peaty landscape, shaped by the glaciers a long time ago. This was shot handhold at 190 mm focal length and 1/20 sec. exposure time. I wanted movement in the water but also keep some of the details and not making it just some ”chocolate milk” flowing over the rocks.

MINNESOTA NORTHWOODS - #2

Ring-necked Ducks, Wolf Lake, Savanna Portage State Park, Minnesota

I learned right here at the Mississippi River a long time ago that good wildlife photo opportunities often come up if you are brave enough to take the camera and telephoto lens into the kayak during a paddle trip. Yes, it is always challenging holding the heavy gear by hand in a boat and not without danger, but shooting most of the time on eye level with a bird or critter is just great photography fun.

Ducks are not always cooperative and quite often take off before they are even in the range of the lens. These young Ring-necked Ducks were very much aware of us while we drifted silently towards them, but nevertheless stayed in their spot even in relatively short distance.

MINNESOTA NORTHWOODS - #1

Daybreak at Lake Shumway, Savanna Portage State Park

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, RRS BH-55 ball head,….@75 mm, 1/200 s, f/10, ISO200

We just returned from a wonderful 10-day trip to the Northwoods of Minnesota. We were rewarded with pristine lakes, clear streams, beautiful forests, and numerous wildlife encounters. Paddling our kayaks almost every day allowed us to explore the boreal forests of northern Minnesota and enjoy the solitude away from noise and other people. The temperatures were still quite warm but the intensifying fall colors reminded us that winter isn’t that far out anymore. As time allows I will post a few photos I like to share with you during the next few weeks. I hope you will enjoy.

Wolf Lake, Savanna Portage State Park

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,    @ 28 mm, 1/250 s, f/10, ISO 100

BACK IN THE NORTHWOODS

Fay Lake, Florence County, Wisconsin

It was the traditional ice fishing weekend with friends up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Great camaraderie, good food, lots of laughters, moderate temperatures, and yes, a few fish saw the light above the ice. While here in eastern Iowa all the snow had melted, up north there was still plenty of the white stuff on the ground and the ice on the lake was solid and about 12” (30 cm) thick. Good enough for driving safely onto the lake.

I know I have posted photos of Fay Lake before, but it is never twice the same. The camera comes out of the bag shortly before we collect our fishing gear and leave the ice. The sun is low and we were rewarded with a nice glow on the ice and warm colors above the horizon. Good times!

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 24mm, 1/1000 s, f/10, ISO 100

ONLY ONE

Rainy day deep in the woods, Forest County, Wisconsin

The last three days were spent in and around a friend’s cabin up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. I had high hopes to come back with a few photos that tell the story about a landscape “five minutes before winter”. It didn’t happen. The weekend was marked with rain and a uniform gray sky. I had an image in my head, with fog and maybe some good spot light that would help to draw the attention away from the bare deciduous forest that had lost its colorful leaves already. Again, it didn’t happen.

But at least there was this short moment, when the endless rain slowed down a little bit and the different layers of conifers in the background became visible. The trunks of the birches stood out and a few remaining leaves in the foreground left no doubt about the time of season. Only one picture in three days? Yes, getting skunked is sometimes part of the game in nature photography. Well, we stacked some wood for the winter, raked some leaves around the cabin, made repairs, had some good food on the stove, drove around in the rain in search for a picture opportunity, and stopped at the local bar. Yep, only one photo, but we had a lot of fun too…! 😉

DEALING WITH THE WIND CHILL (II)

A second round of photos from last weekend’s trip to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Our friend Bryan built his cabin near this remarkable tree. I have photographed it, but never during a snow storm before. Actually I wasn’t really motivated to go out and wade through the deep snow to get the tree from this angle. Instead I just played with the camera and shot this image through the glass of a window. 

As mentioned yesterday already, no snow stuck to the trees for long due to the high winds, but I think with its toning and long shadows the photo still tells the story about a very cold winter day up north on the frozen tundra.

The question came in, “how was the ice fishing?” I guess, this picture tells it all. What you see is the black tip of the flag that goes up when a fish bites. The orange stick is just for safety, so no stranger drives over your fishing hole accidentally. The photo was shot with an iPhone 12 after I had already removed my three tip-ups from the ice. Our friend Doug had his fishing gear still out when I snapped the pic. We all cleaned the drilled holes in the approximately 15” (38 cm) thick ice quite often to prevent them to freeze over, but the drifting snow covered the depression and the tip-up within minutes. It was faster then I have ever seen it in 17 years of ice fishing fun. We had a few flags going up and it was never because of a serious bite, just triggered by the icy winds. Yield of the day, one Bluegill, caught by Bryan’s son Clayton with a jigging rod at a hole next to his truck. Experience means nothing while ice fishing… 😆

DEALING WITH THE WIND CHILL

Frozen Popple River, Forest County, Wisconsin

Last weekend was the annual ice fishing trip with friends in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Very cold temperatures are not unusual up there but due to an icy wind we actually limited our time on the ice to only a few hours. Instead we scouted some lakes we had never been before and checked them out for future ice fishing adventures. Beside all the other fun we had I used this opportunity for some photography while driving through the woods and across the frozen land. Our host Bryan, who has a cabin up there, knows the area very well. I was happy that he stopped at a location I had been before several years ago and always wanted to revisit for some better images.

Both photos were made from a bridge across the frozen Popple River. Fresh snow fell the night before but unfortunately the wind blew most of it off the trees. I liked how the shore lines lead the eye into the backcountry. The Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S lens was used the whole time and I was very pleased how the Nikon Z6II performed under sub-zero conditions (-4ºF, -20ºC). A considerable wind chill made shooting quite a challenge and everything had to be done fast. There are of course gloves in my pockets that would allow shooting for a while, but I still prefer to use bare hands while operating the camera. Nice to have a warm pickup truck as a backup when the fingers start to get frozen stiff…😉

WEEKEND IN THE NORTHWOODS

It became a tradition in January that I meet with some friends up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for an ice fishing weekend. Well, our fishing success was modest this year but the fun we had can’t be measured in numbers. Cold temperatures and more than a foot of fresh powder snow created a winter wonderland. The best time to get the camera out of the bag is usually around sunset but I tried a few other things this time as well…

WORKING AGAINST THE GRAY

Is there still some story telling in a photo if nothing but a gray overcast with fog, and as a result snow that looks gray, dominate the scene? At least I gave it a try last weekend during our annual ice fishing event with friends up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. I was hoping for some great light moments, but they never came this time. One way to suppress the overall gray is to find some colors. The nicely stacked fire wood beside the cabin and a little bit of fresh snow draw the attention away from the gray sky.

In the second image negative space was used to depict the contour of the lake shore. In addition the dark spots of the slushy snow on the ice of Fay Lake tell the story of a gray and relativ warm winter day.