RETROSPECTS 2024 #4 - GREAT SKIES OVER THE VALLEY

After sunset, Green Island, Upper Mississippi Valley, Iowa, February 25, 2024

While digging through my photos from 2024 I got reminded that we had quite a few days with overcast or just a boring sky. Nevertheless, we also had our good share of great sunrises or sunsets here in eastern Iowa. This day at the end of February I mad a couple shots of a Rough-legged Hawk and a Sandhill Crane flying across the Green Island Wetlands in the afternoon, but they were not filling the frame, so more less just documentary shots for myself. I stayed late in hope to see maybe an owl but this didn’t happen. The clouds and setting sun came to my rescue and after capturing a few moments during the blue hour with the Z 24-70 f/4, I changed lens quickly when the day ended with a nice glow above the rocky bluffs of the Mississippi Valley.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,   @ 150 mm, 1/2000 s, f/8, ISO 1600

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2024 #5 - TUNDRA SWAN MIGRATION, AND OTHERS

Tundra Swans, Mississippi River, Brownsville, Minnesota

One highlight for bird watchers in November is always the annual tundra swan migration on the Upper Mississippi Valley. Thousands of Tundra Swans make a stop near Brownsville, Minnesota just about 10 miles north of the Iowa border, on their way from the arctic to Chesapeake Bay at the Atlantic Ocean. They rest here before they finish the last 3000 miles to their destination.

I didn’t hold a camera in my hand for a week and was eager to take the two-hour trip up north today. I was a little stunned when only a few hundred swans were present, but the friendly Naturalist who was on site told me that we haven’t seen the peak yet. With other words, most Tundra Swans are still somewhere further north. She had a display table with lots of information about the swan migration, about the food they are looking for, like the starchy bulbs of arrowhead plants, and she answered the questions of many visitors.

Beside the Tundra Swans many other birds rest and feed in pool #8 of the Mississippi River and today’s little gallery can only show a few of them.

Gadwalls

Gadwalls were present in large numbers, probably several thousand, but I saw many other ducks, like American Wigeons, Northern Pintails, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks, Scaups, and Wood Ducks.

American White Pelicans

A large squadron of American White Pelicans socialized together on one of the islands nearby. They were joined by this group that landed in the water shortly after they made a flyby at the Brownsville overlook.

Trumpeter Swans

Trumpeter Swans can be found among the Tundra Swans. They are slightly larger and adults do not have the yellow spot at the base of their black bill. This family of Trumpeter Swans passed by at the Hwy26 overlook, a mile further south. Their calls are different and make it easy to distinguish between both species.

Northern Shovelers, New Albin, Iowa

This photo was made near New Albin, just at the Iowa-Minnesota border. Northern Shovelers are dabbling ducks and feed predominantly at the surface of the water. These five females had a feast and hardly stopped eating despite my presence. This was shot out of the car window, almost on eye level with the birds. The photos from the overlooks are made from a much higher vantage point and even cropping can’t prevent the not always desirable look of a ”bird from above”.

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

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Sandhill Cranes, Green Island Preserve, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

Going out on a photo walk or drive doesn’t always lead to an image that is worth to show or sometimes no wildlife at all shows up in front of the lens. This was pretty much how it was this afternoon on either side of the Mississippi River. Coming back from the Illinois side I decided to give it another try and went back to Green Island this evening.

Earlier in the afternoon I counted 17 Sandhill Cranes but all too far away and the high temperatures created quite some heat shimmer above the ground. The air had cleared this evening and the numbers of cranes went up to at least 80 birds again, about the same as last weekend. They were spread out in five different groups in the part of the Green Island Wetlands that is a bird sanctuary. No access is allowed for this area and you have to deal with the distance the birds give you. It is so much fun to watch the migrating Sandhill Cranes and especially when they display their courtship and bonding dances in the warm light of the setting sun.

NATURE CLICKS #580 - INDIGO BUNTING

Indigo Bunting, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Yesterday in the wetlands I tried to capture some beautiful yellow American Golfinches, eating seeds from the plants that line the dykes between the lakes. It wasn’t a very successful effort. The goldfinches didn’t like my presence and moved on to another spot any time I stopped the car. But to my surprise another finch species posed nicely for a while in front of the camera. This was the first time I ever saw an Indigo Bunting in the grass and between the flowers on the dyke. This little guy was singing its heart out and I heard a second one nearby.Their feathers are actually black but the diffraction of light through their feathers make them look blue. One reason we can see them in many shades between turquoise and black.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG

CRAYFISH DINNER

Great Egret, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

This was a tricky shot of this Great Egret in the wetlands along the Mississippi River today. I navigated my car (the well known mobile blind!) carefully in a position where I hoped to have an unobstructed view at this bird. The size of the vegetation is enormous after the rain we had lately and there was a lot of grass and other wild plants swaying in the wind between the bird and me. Luck was on my side and just where I had anticipated a possible shot, the egret caught a crayfish and ate it right away.

It is quiet on the lakes and between the reeds at this time of the year in the backwaters of the mighty Mississippi River and it takes some efforts to get a bird in front of the camera. However, I enjoyed being back again after some busy weeks and nothing can beat the time spending in the Great Outdoors!

By the way, the neck of this Great Egret seems to show some impact and it makes me wonder, if the bird had a hard time with a predator or if it just is the result of a fight with another egret about the right to mate…?

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG,   @ 850 mm, 1/1250 s, f/9, ISO 400

NATURE CLICKS #573 - PECTORAL SANDPIPER

Pectoral Sandpipers, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Last weekend ended with a short visit in the Green Island Wetlands, the area 40 miles south of our home that includes a wildlife preserve and a mix of lakes and marshland, separated from the main channel of the Mississippi River by dikes.

I saw Wood Ducks in their best mating mood, Sandhill Cranes, some pairs of Canada Geese with little goslings, Hooded Mergansers, a number of Pied-billed Grebes, and again two migrating Greater Yellowlegs.

As the sun got ready to set, a last drive along the gravel road on the west side of the wetlands led to the discovery of 30 Pectoral Sandpipers, foraging in a big puddle at the edge of a field. Their breeding grounds are high up in the arctic tundra of Canada and they obviously stopped at Green Island for some re-fueling. Their bills probed into the water and mud with high frequency in search for invertebrates. I used my car as a blind and moved slowly in the field towards the puddle. The sandpipers didn’t seem to take any notice of my presence and kept feeding.

Moments like that keep me going and feed my passion for bird watching and reporting about it here in the blog. The Pectoral Sandpipers spent the winter down in South America and their long journey to the breeding grounds up on the arctic tundra is just amazing.

I shot this at 850 mm with the 1.4 teleconverter attached to the Sigma 150-600 S lens. A small, cosmetic crop was applied to the final image.

ANOTHER CHANCE WITHOUT WIRE

American Kestrel, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

More than once I have complained about that the kestrels mostly perch on utility wires along the road, which isn’t my preferred location for a wildlife shot. Well, the solution seems to be to drive along roads that do not have power lines next to them. Not easy to find here in Iowa! This female American Kestrel used the dead trees at the edge of a marsh for her hunting efforts. During the summer these small falcons often eat insects, like grasshoppers. Since this is not an available option right now, they are on the outlook for small mammals and birds.

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

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2024 #2 - WINTER, BUT WARM COLORS MAY HELP

Bluffs at Catfish Creek, Upper Mississippi Valley, Dubuque, Iowa

After all the snow we had here in the Midwest during the last couple weeks and the very cold temperatures that still remained today, I wanted to make one single photo that sums it all up, tells the story about winter here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. I drove around this weekend, mostly to places nearby and along the river that have the potential to deliver this kind of a story. Well, I got a few shots yesterday and recognized last night in front of the computer, nice photos but the story is not told the way it needs to be told.

So I went out again this morning with a recent blog post of acclaimed photographer Moose Peterson in mind, while thinking about my plans for the day. He called it ”Red Loves White!”. This very interesting article is about the iconic landscapes out west, Bryce, Zion, Arches NP, Grand Canyon, etc., and how these red rocks can really reveal their beauty with the addition of snow. (https://www.moosepeterson.com/blog/red-loves-white/)

I wasn’t really out for the rocky bluffs here in the Mississippi Valley and its side valleys. However, I thought how can I emphasize the presence of cold weather, snow loaded branches, or ice covered creeks in my photo? The answer I found in Moose’s blog post while thinking in reverse was, try to add some red, orange, or yellow to the wintry landscape! The closest place that came to mind was the Mines of Spain, the State Recreation Area just south of Dubuque, Iowa. Catfish Creek has hollowed out this side valley of the Mighty Mississippi River and has its confluence with the big river just a couple hundred yards behind the bend in my photo. I love what I found!

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2023 #11 - A TOUCH OF MELANCHOLY

Mississippi River, John Deere Marsh, Dubuque, Iowa

I guess I’m finishing my Mississippi River stories of 2023 at the same location where I started them this year, at the end of the dyke that protrudes far into the river, near the big John Deere factory north of Dubuque, Iowa. It’s the fog that tells today’s story. Cooler water comes slowly down from the north while the air temperature is way too warm for this time of the season. With almost no wind today there were no ripples on the water and the fog had a chance to stay in the valley. Some thin sheets of ice had piled up on a mud bank lately, but it was the only white spot around. The scene had a certain melancholy and proofed what I have said often before, the Mississippi River is never twice the same…

NATURE CLICKS #565 - GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER

Great Crested Flycatcher, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Here is still a shot from our wildlife watching trip last weekend. This opportunity came up actually at the very end but it made me very happy. It’s not very often that we see a Great Crested Flycatcher. This bird is not difficult to identify due to its yellow belly.

Much of the landscape was already in the shade but the low sitting sun touched the bird just nicely. The Great Crested Flycatcher is the only eastern flycatcher that nests in cavities, like woodpecker holes. With most of the trees in the Green Island Wetlands disappearing and dying after years of high water levels I wonder what its future will be. I accidentally didn’t have the zoom lens extended to its maximum of 600 mm and decided finally to crop the photo a bit.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,   @ 490 mm, 1/1600 s, f/8, ISO 500

LIFE AT THE POND

Green Frog, Mississippi Valley, Bellevue State Park, Iowa

We made a trip to different nature locations this afternoon. One of them was the butterfly garden in Bellevue State Park, a place we haven’t visited in a while. It wasn’t really a surprise that we saw very few butterflies, a trend that we see also around the house this year. But there are of course other things to look for. Joan has always an eye on the botanical side and found several flowers and plants she didn’t have in her picture library previously.

I focussed on a small pond that is surrounded by the butterfly garden. It is the only place in Iowa I found Green Frogs (Rama clanitans) in the past so far and luckily there was still a number of this species in the pond. They are easy to identify with their small irregular brown spots on the back and side. In Iowa Green Frogs are often brown when fully grown according to the DNR brochure (The Salamanders and Frogs of Iowa, by J.L. Christiansen and R.M. Bailey). Green Frogs can be found in the eastern half of the state in scattered populations and the pond in Bellevue State Park seems to be one of them.

The water was a little low and the short banks of the pond are kinda steep. With other words, I had to shoot from slightly above and not from a very low angle as it is sometimes possible, for instance from a kayak.

Northern Bluet Damselfly

Frogs were not the only animals that life in or near this habitat. I saw different species of dragonflies and damselflies but only the smallest of them, the beautiful Northern Bluet Damselfly, perched on a stem of grass once in a while and posed for a photo.

All images: Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm

NATURE CLICKS #564 - AMERICAN BULLFROG

American Bullfrog, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

It was a gorgeous summer day, not too hot and not too humid, and we decided to paddle our kayaks this evening for a couple hours at Mud Lake. This part of the Mississippi River backwaters is separated by a dike structure from the main channel of the river and the current in there is very slow. The best part is that you almost never come back without any wildlife sightings. Today we had a number of different birds but none was close enough for a decent photo. We also watched muskrats, beavers, and turtles. But the best posing in the light of the setting sun came from some of American Bullfrogs. I have never seen so many of these big frogs at Mud Lake. They are a great subject to practice handholding the long lens in a kayak. The bullfrogs were pretty patient and let us paddle up really close to them, even below the minimum focal distance of about 102” (2.6m), before they dived down and moved away.

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

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2023 #5 - ABOVE FLOOD STAGE

The good news first, the water level in the river fell slightly today.

While I was out of town last week the water level in the Mississippi River kept rising and was at its peak yesterday. The gauge is located at the Lock & Dam #11 in Dubuque, Iowa and some of the numbers from there are quite impressive. The flow from yesterday was 263730 cubic foot per second, which is equal to 7.4 million liters of water that pass through per second! The gauge was at ~23 ft (7 m), which is about 13 ft (~4 m) above historic normal stage. The river reached its flood stage of 16 ft in Dubuque on April 20.

Riverwalk, Dubuque, IA, Not much space underneath the old Railroad Bridge was left.

They had a lot of snow up north in Minnesota this winter and floods are a normal occurrence during spring time. All flood gates in Dubuque were closed but several areas north and south of town (i.e. Mud Lake Park or Finley’s Landing) are under water.

How can the story about all this be told with our photos? I decided to include at least some green in the picture. It’s easy to document the flooding and the high water level, but I thought it was also important that the colors in the trees say ”spring”, even if they are on the other side of the river.

Mud Lake Park, 4/24/2023, Campground, parking lot, boat ramp, and playground were already flooded a week ago.

GREAT LIGHT WORKS

Not every critter or bird is as attractive as the pelicans I had yesterday in my blog post, but they all play their role in the ecosystem of the wetlands. It took me a long time to learn that the only way to come back with a decent picture of animals, who are a little less appealing, is the presence of great light. A gray sky or a lot of glare on the water will effect the results often not in our favor. Including some colorful reflections on the water, without making them the subject of the photo, can also help to make a nice portrait of a muskrat or turtle. Paddling the kayak with the sun sitting low and from your back or the side is the most promising scenario.

This Common Muskrat swam right at me shortly after I left the boat ramp at Green Island. Muskrats eat the roots, stems, leaves, and fruits of a many water plants. Even though they are mainly plant eaters, small fish, clams or snails can be part of their diet.

To see turtles stretched out on a log in the water is very common in early spring, when they warm up in the sun. The Painted Turtle with its fine yellow lines is the most common turtle in the Mississippi. While approaching them I usually stop paddling as I get closer and let the boat just drift towards these reptiles. This extends the time they will stay on the log before gliding into the water, time that helps to fill the frame.