SENSE OF FALL


Savannah Sparrow, Green Island, eastern Iowa

A big house project came to an end on Friday and I finally found the time to go out with the camera again and shoot some pictures. The photo above was made about 40 minutes before sunset at the edge of a field that was already harvested. The warm rim light on the dried up flower pods intrigued me and all the elements, including some spider web threads, give the photo of this sparrow a sense of fall.

Male Red-winged Blackbird, Green Island Wetlands

Thousands of Red-winged Blackbirds congregate in the wetlands along the Mississippi River at the moment and feed or rest during their migration to warmer areas in the south. If the winter is mild, as we had it during the last couple years, some of them will even stay here or at least return very early. I have photos in my picture library that were made in February.

NATURE CLICKS #408 - SAVANNAH SPARROW


Savannah Sparrow, near Dubuque, Iowa

While on the “hunt” for the Bobolink during the last couple evenings I also came across a Savannah Sparrow. Not a first sighting but I never have made a photo of this summer guest in a natural setting, means without a wire fence in the picture. The prairie like grassland is the perfect habitat for this small sparrow. They feed on seeds, insects, and spiders. The yellow eyebrow makes it easy to identify and distinguish from other sparrows that make eastern Iowa their home for the summer.