MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2024 #3 - REST ON A SANDBANK

American White Pelicans and Ring-billed Gulls, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa

After a week of business travel it felt great to go out and enjoy nature and wildlife watching again. Yesterday’s trip along the Mississippi River led me all the way down to Le Claire, Iowa and up back north on the Illinois side to Savannah, followed by a short visit of the Green Island Wetlands on the Iowa side again.

Below lock & dam #14 in Le Claire these two American White Pelicans rested on a sandbank in company with a number of Ring-billed Gulls. They preened their feathers in the sun. It was quite a bit away from the shore and the 1.4x teleconverter was used to expand the focal length to 840 mm. People always debate the use of a teleconverter and claim it would degrade image quality. Except for the loss of light that hits the sensor (it becomes a f/9), I can’t confirm the loss of sharpness. The Nikon Z 600 f/6.3 works great with the TC-1.4x.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x

@ 840mm, 1/1000s, f/9, ISO 200, image slightly cropped

L,G,&C WERE MY FRIENDS TODAY

Ring-billed Gulls, Mississippi River, SAbula, Iowa

I still intend to show a few more photos from the recent trip to southern California but I can’t totally neglect what’s going on here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. Cold temperatures during the last days and strong winds reminded us that winter 2022/23 has not yet entered the history books. Much of the standing water in the backwaters of the Mississippi River had iced over again, including much of the Green Island Wetlands, I visited today. Birds were everywhere, but ”heat shimmer” above the ice or the very cold ground of the marsh made getting a sharp shot a bit of a gamble. I counted about sixty Sandhill Cranes in the wetlands today but they hunkered down in a corner between reeds that gave them obviously some protection from the wind.

Ten miles further south, at the ’Island City of Sabula, Iowa’, hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls tried to make a living by catching fish, just occasionally interrupted by Bald Eagles that tried to do the same. Here in the Midwest Bald Eagles are the ”Holy Grail” for a lot of people, but I think the Ring-billed Gulls are a lot more entertaining at times…

In the photo above it’s not clear which one had the fish, but the other one at least tried to steal it . It was my favorite photo from today’s trip along the mighty Mississippi River. With other words, light, gesture, and color were my friends today…😉

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,   @ 600 mm, 1/4000 s, f/8, ISO 500

WON’T YOU DANCE WITH ME

Ring-billed Gulls, Mississippi River, Sabula, Iowa

The song ”Won’t You Dance With Me” with the great performance by the Detroit Cobras comes to mind when I look at the gesture of these two Ring-billed Gulls. A good reason to pull their 2001 record ”Live, Love, and Leaving”out of the sleeve and put it on the turntable (The song was actually first released in 1964 by Billy Lee and The Rivieras, aka Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels). Back to photography, I love when good light meets with a great gesture in a photo. For those who may complain about the wing hiding the face of the second gull I just like to ask, have you ever danced to Rock Music…?? 😊

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2022 #5 - LIFE ON THE DRIFTWOOD

Ring-billed Gulls like to rest on a long log in the water. You can tell by its color that it is a preferred place. The gull’s social behavior is fun to watch and if you wait long enough, they let you get really close.

I always looked for driftwood, often big trees, that stranded somewhere in the mud during our recent paddle trips with the kayak on the Mississippi River. These logs are a potential place where birds can perch or other animals, like muskrats or turtles enjoy a bath in the sun or just eat.

Background is everything for telling the story of a critter in its habitat. Getting a good background is not always easy while moving in a kayak but it can be very rewarding if the approach is thought through and timing, direction of light, and the acceptance of our presence by the animal come all together.

A young Hooded Merganser enjoyed the last sun before it disappeared behind the bluffs of the river valley. I tried to get close enough to separate the bird from a bunch of gulls sitting on the same log. Water lilies in the background give a sense of place without much explanation.

An old mossy tree root that has been a long time in the river already is the perfect place for a sun bath for this Painted Turtle. The water of the Mississippi main channel is far enough away for a nice blurred background.

With no water in the background the attention goes directly to the birds. The perspective from below eye level of the gulls and great light make this photo a keeper for me.

The same American White Pelican I showed you already a few days ago. Not the most exciting gesture but driftwood and bird are kissed by “killer light” of the setting sun.

All images: Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S

GULLS WITH CHARACTER

Ring-billed Gull, Mississippi River, Sabula. Iowa

The local nature enthusiasts and photography friends may probably say, oh, just a Ring-billed Gull, we have so many of them. It’s true, but I always give the more common species a chance to be presented here in my blog. There is a few ingredients for a photo like this. Last weekend the remaining ice in the little marina of Sabula, Iowa had this dark blue color that makes for that nice background and you only see it in the old ice of a season. A blue sky is mandatory and of course, the gulls have to cooperate. And if you have in addition a nice light from the side, the camera has to come out of the bag for sure.

It was actually pretty busy. The birds caught little fish and argued about them a lot. some of the birds are really characters. This one looks like the cat that had eaten the canary. It just had gobbled down a fish, looked up into the sky for the other competitors, and seemed to think, haha, you didn’t get it, I did! Can you tell I had fun making these photos?

GOING FOR A COMMON SPECIES

Juvenile Ring-billed Gull, Le Claire, Iowa

During my presentation last week I was talking about not to forget the common species, the critters that are present most of the time, usually in larger numbers, and that don’t make it too difficult to get a shot. To make a difference and make the photo special, there has to be at least a certain quality of light or maybe we can catch a unique gesture of the animal.

Today I was driving down south along the Mississippi again but it was one of these days when not much happened despite warm and sunny weather. I had several plans in place for today but I didn’t found what I was hoping for. Coming home with an empty memory card doesn’t happen very often. When I saw a bunch of gulls fighting for fish on the ice near Le Claire, IA, in gorgeous late afternoon light, I knew I had at least something. The Ring-billed Gull is the most common gull in our area and not difficult to find. This juvenile was on its way to the remains of a fish, nothing really special but the light and reflection on the deep blue ice made me push the shutter button.

TURMOIL

This photo ignores the fact that there were about 25 Bald Eagles sitting on the ice or in the trees nearby. But I thought it was a more story telling picture than any shot I made yesterday of eagles at the 16th Street Basin in Dubuque, Iowa. As soon a gull pulled a fish out of the water and tried to save it from its hungry relatives or the eagles, a big turmoil broke loose and never ended until finally one of the gulls had enough time to swallow the fish or an eagle just stole it from all of them...

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #6

It has been a while since I have posted under the headline of “RIVER STORIES”, but hey, here is another one…

While leaving the marina at Mud Lake Park with the kayak again this evening, and just after I turned into the main channel of the big river, I saw one of the Bald Eagle adults that call this area home. You can’t have a better start, despite the gray overcast...

The water lilies are in full bloom at the moment and other flowers grow in abundance along the levies and islands in the Mississippi.

No Foster’s Terns today but these adult and juvenile Ring-billed Gulls posed nicely for a shot.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

This flower is called Marsh Mallow (hibiscus militaris). They can grow up to 7 feet tall. I have never seen them before, although we paddled this area many times during the last few years.