SAME PLACE, TWO STORIES

Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River, Bankston County Park, Iowa

Today’s blog post has actually two stories, both from the Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River, that flows on the bottom of the valley in Bankston County Park. My eyes scanned the trees for little warblers and other birds when I realized how gorgeous the light was and how it was reflected on the surface of the water. It doesn’t happen very often that I use the shortest focal length of the Sigma 150-600 but I didn’t want to change lenses, because of the chance to miss a bird.

Female Wood Duck

A little while later this female Wood Duck swam hastily around and called. I didn’t see any ducklings and was wondering what she tried to accomplish. They nest in tree cavities and suddenly it became clear that she tried to call them out of the nest for their first dive into the water.

Number one in the water

I backed off and moved away but when I briefly turned around, I saw that her calling seemed to work. The bravest of the ducklings had joined her already. Wood Ducks lay between 9 and 15 eggs and hopefully all of her babies will make it.

A MERCILESS FIGHT

3 Wood Ducks in a fight, Green Island Wetlands, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

No, I didn’t throw a big stone into the water. We just witnessed a merciless fight between three male Wood Ducks. It lasted only a few seconds and was probably all about the mating rights for a female. Driving along the west boundary of the bird refuge at Green Island, this scene unfolded just in front of us. Luckily I found a gap in the vegetation for pointing the lens at the birds. In areas where wildlife encounters are very likely I always drive with the camera in my lap. The camera stays turned on to increase the chance for a shot of a wildlife sighting or sometimes for an unexpected incident like this one.

NATURE CLICKS #447 - WOOD DUCK

Before I start in another weekend adventure I still like to share a photo from last weekend. Wood Ducks breed in the Green Island Wetlands. Some of the habitat meets their preferences, wooded swamps and marshes. They are pretty shy and coming close to a pair in the open water is not always possible. They are probably one of the prettiest ducks we can find here, and especially right now, during mating time, their feathers look great. 

There was a lot of glare on the water surface but this couple tried to get away from me and swam towards a darker part of the submerged woods. This made at least the background acceptable and I tried to include it in the frame.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 550 mm (825 mm DX mode), 1/800 s, f/6.3, ISO200, slightly cropped

WOOD DUCK WITH COMPANY

Male Wood Duck, Green Island Wetlands

The butt sticking out of the water in the background didn’t belong to a female Wood Duck but rather to a Blue-winged Teal. The beautiful male Wood Duck was all by himself but enjoyed the company of a few teals. Ducks of one species are quite often seen together with other duck species or even geese or coots. They seem to benefit from each other especially by watching out for predators. The Green Island Wetlands beside the Mississippi have plenty of food for all of them. While many ducks, mergansers, and geese have moved on further north, more birds have arrived in large numbers, like thousands of American Coots. Some of them will use the lakes and marshes around Green Island to raise a new generation. It’s an exciting time to be out there at this time of the year… 😊

NATURE CLICKS #295 - JUVENILE WOOD DUCKS

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, DX cropping mode, additional cropping

It is a busy time with work at the moment, hence the lack of new photos, but since I’m not in the ‘real news business’ I hope you still get a kick out of some nature observations that happened already more than a couple weeks ago, and that I like to share with you.

It puts a smile in my face if I see the offspring of any bird that breeds and spends the summer here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. These three juvenile Wood Ducks were not the only ones that enjoyed the life in the canals along the levees in the Green Island Wetlands, surrounded by plenty of duck weed. When they are that big already, they don’t stick together as much as during their first weeks in life. In July I took a couple pictures of 13 ducklings crossing one of the canals that divide the wetlands! Later in the season the number shrinks usually, because their life is full of danger. Foxes, eagles, coyotes, hawks, they all love to have duckling for dinner. With the hunting season ahead not very many may make it into the next year…

As you may have found out by following my blog, I get out into the great outdoors probably a little more than the average person. I meet all kinds of people out there and hear many different stories and the reasons why they like or even love nature. To be honest, it is shocking how little some of the people that out themselves as hunters know about the wildlife they like to kill. Yep, they use the words ‘necessary regulations’, but admit they have quite often absolutely no clue about what their shooting target is... 

HIGH UP IN THE TREES (TWO STORIES)

After an overall gray day the sun came out this evening for a brief moment. Luckily this happened when I checked the nest of the Great Horned Owl again today. Not much new to report. I saw the upper part of the head of one little owlet, but haven’t seen the face yet. My photography friend Linda from Dubuque sent me an email today, basically confirming the same observations. It looks like we have one young owl in the nest again, the same as during the last couple years. But what do we know? Since we can’t peek into the nest we may still have a surprise waiting for us...

Male Wood Duck

The second image was shot this morning during some light rain from my office window and has not much to do with decent photography. I made it mainly more for my own documentary. Every spring, and only in spring, we see and hear migrating Wood Ducks resting in the oak and hickory trees that surround us here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River Valley. There was actually a female duck sitting not far from this male, but as you can see by the blurry parts in the foreground, lots of branches obstructed a clear view. The bird is further away as it seems. I have cropped the picture a little bit. Nothing for the purists among you today, but since my blog has always been about both, photography and nature, I still like to share today’s observations with you...