NATURE CLICKS #460 - WARBLING VIREO

Warbling Vireo, Mississippi River, Finley’s Landing, Iowa

Go out without your longest lens and you'll come back short. I forgot who quoted that in one of the books I own, but this became exactly true today. It seems I make it a habit to take dog Cooper during my lunch break and spend a few minutes at one of the boat landings or marinas along the Mississippi River. Today it was a short trip to Finley’s Landing, a public access with beach, little marina, a campsite, and a boat ramp. A small creek meets the mighty Mississippi and there is always a chance to watch some birds. 

A number of harsh “eeaahh” calls made me looking up into the canopy of the trees and pretty soon a Warbling Vireo was discovered. Now back to the long lens, which of course was left at home. 200 mm at the long end of the 70-200, f/4 was simply not enough for this photo, not even in auto crop mode (Nikon’s DX mode). Additional crop in post allows to have a picture that is ok for a blog post like this or for other social media. A real one to one print will reveal the flaw, because too much detail gets lost.

The Warbling Vireo is not uncommon during the summer but it is not a bird we see even every other day. They prefer deciduous woodlands, often along streams, and spend the winter in the tropics. I should go back and try it again, but this time with 400mm more focal length…😉

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4…@ 200mm, 1/1600s, f/5, ISO400, cropped

2016 RETROSPECT / 6

Warbling Vireo, Mines of Spain, Dubuque, Iowa, June 2016 --------------

Much of my time out in the field is dedicated to wildlife photography and that wasn’t any different in 2016. The Mississippi Valley and surrounding areas provide habitat for many species. Some of them are here only for a few weeks, just enough to raise their offspring.

In June I had the chance to photograph a pair of Warbling Vireos. I saw them several times with insects in their bills and knew that they were feeding, but it took me more than 90 minutes before I finally discovered a young bird. The little guy sat in the grass below a group of trees and waited to be fed by its parents. The technical aspects of making a photograph are dealt with on a subconscious level in situations like that. It’s all about the bird, the light, and being fast enough to bring it all together…

Juvenile Warbling Vireo

NATURE CLICKS #336 - WARBLING VIREO

Warbling Vireo, Mines of Spain, Dubuque, Iowa

Today I watched a pair of Warbling Vireos in the Mines of Spain, the big recreation area south of Dubuque, Iowa that includes woods, prairie, and wetlands. I worked with the birds for almost two hours and it was just a good feeling to go out shooting again after mostly traveling during the last five weeks. The vireos were busy catching spiders and insects for their offspring always in the same tree. Finally I saw one juvenile just before I left the area. It flew from the tree down into the grass and waited to be fed. It obviously had just left the nest. The parents were in constant call contact with the young bird the whole time. They were catching a lot of insects and I was wondering if there was even more than just one juvenile.

It is always a great feeling if a picture of a particular species in my BIRD GALLERY can be replaced with a new and better one. In most instances it means there was improvement in my photography. Previous photos I made over the years of the Warbling Vireo had way too much distance between the camera and the subject, so they had to be cropped. Not good! This time I started with still a safe distance but didn’t really move the tripod much the whole time. As a result the birds got very quickly used to my presence and came closer and closer.