NOT ”SKUNKED” AGAIN

Rough-legged Hawk, Green Island Wetlands, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

I have been at Green Island, the wetlands down south in the Mississippi Valley, the third time in a row during the last weekends and after getting ”skunked” twice, I came finally back with some photos on the memory card today. I know that a number of local fellow photographers and birders follow my blog and I like to report about the sightings first today.

While I was even further south in Sabula, Iowa my hopes to get some Bald Eagles in front of the lens did not came true. There was still too much ice on most parts of the Mississippi River and the eagles had no reason to be there due to the lack of open water.

At the Green Island Wetlands I found to my surprise 100+ migrating Greater White-fronted Geese. Among them was one single Snow Goose and a school of seven Trumpeter Swans had joined the party as well. This was all too far away for a decent photo, but I enjoyed watching the birds through the binoculars. The picture below is from 2019.

New photo opportunities came during the hour before sunset. While driving through the mud on the west side of the wetlands this Rough-legged Hawk seemed to take advantage of my presence. It let me come really close with the car, took off and flew to the next tree ahead. This repeated several times. Maybe the bird was hoping my movement would startle other birds or rodents along the muddy road. There was only one stop that would allow a shot without any obstruction. Of course, I took my chance!

Rough-legged Hawks breed in the tundra and taiga of North America and Eurasia. They migrate to the Central US for the winter. An area with marshes and fields, like the Green Island Wetlands and with rodent prey present, is their preferred habitat. More to come…

Migrating Greater White-fronted Geese, photo from 2019

WINTER STORY

Red-winged Blackbirds, Green Island Wetlands, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

One of the stories I heard and read quite often after I moved from Europe to North America is that the return of the Red-winged Blackbird at the end of winter here in the Midwest, is a sure sign that spring is not far away. This was true for many years since I photograph wildlife in the Upper Mississippi Valley. Not so much anymore since about the last three years. I have seen Red-winged Blackbirds during all of my frequent visits in the Green Island Wetlands, even at really cold times. It seems the blackbirds stay much further north during the winter now.

Today I had quite a large flock in front of the lens. Hard to guess how many, but at least several hundred. The birds either rested in trees or went down to the ground all together, foraging between the reeds of the marshland or patches of corn fields that were left intentionally by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

I asked myself, how can this story be told with the camera? I wanted as many red wings in the frame as possible. It was also important to have some snow in the picture. The compressed view through the 600 mm lens hides the snow on the ground between the reeds, but the rocky slope of the Mississippi Valley, far in the back, delivers some white between all the birds and an open spot on the left hand side adds as well. There was enough light to shoot with exposure times between 1/1000s and 1/4000s and the best results came with the sun right from behind.

Rough-legged Hawk

The blackbirds were closely watched by a Rough-legged Hawk. During summer time on their breeding grounds in the arctic tundra they eat mostly small rodents, like lemmings and voles. The Red-winged Blackbirds didn’t hesitate to land in trees right next to the hawk. I wonder if the raptor just waited to get a hold of a slow straggler or if he hoped to catch mice that may come out of the snow covered ground for seeds or corn the birds had dropped…

NATURE CLICKS #482 - SAME HAWK, SAME LOCATION, DIFFERENT DAY

I thought I give it a try again today and went back to the same location as yesterday. Sure enough, the Rough-legged Hawk was present again, this time perched in a tree, a little further away from the road. They are known to perch sometimes on very slender branches on top of a tree and I have watched this behavior at the dark morph of a Rough-legged Hawk lately at a different location. This time the bird waited for me and gave me a few seconds to make some clicks before she flew away. You can see how the feathers cover her whole legs. The name “Rough-legged” refers to that. In North America only Golden Eagles, the Ferruginous Hawk, and the Rough-legged Hawk have feathers all the way down to their toes. We expect another snow storm tomorrow and I wonder sometimes how these birds manage to survive these often brutal weather conditions…

NATURE CLICKS #481 - ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK

These are my lucky shots today. On my short trips to the Mississippi River during lunch break I drive quite often with the camera on the passenger seat or in my lap and look for wildlife. Rough-legged Hawks spend the summer up on the arctic tundra and come down to southern Canada and the U.S. for the winter time. Up north they feed mostly on lemmings and voles, while mice and other rodents are on their diet here during the winter. This hawk is a light morph but I have watched a dark form as well during the last two months only a couple miles away from this location. This Rough-legged Hawk is possibly an immature female but I’m not an expert enough to say that with certainty.

Rough-legged Hawk, near Sherrill, Iowa

She was perched on a utility post, a perch they like to hunt from. They need open habitats, such as fields or prairies. The procedure is always the same. I make sure nobody is behind me, slow down the car, roll the window down, take the hands off the steering wheel, grab the camera, stop the car, and start shooting. I have trained this many times on gravel roads without traffic but it still needs a bit of luck to get the picture. The hawk took off right before I came to a standstill but she flew towards me and I was able to fire five shots. I thought I missed the focus completely but later at home I found out that two shots were at least usable, although they are not tack-sharp.

It was not a first sighting of a Rough-legged Hawk, but I’m very happy because it was the first time I was able to come back with a picture that is more than just a documentary shot for the records. 

Both images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, …@600 mm, 1/1600 s, f/8, ISO400. Shot in full frame mode (FX) but cropped in post to DX dimensions, which delivers an angle of view like with 900 mm focal length.