MINNESOTA NORTHWOODS - #7

Ruffed Grouse, Bear Head Lake State Park, Minnesota

The first morning after we moved from Savanna Portage State Park to Bear Head Lake I went out early to the lake in search for a critter I have seen there before in 2019 (more about this one in a later blog post). The camp sites are nicely separated from each other by thickets consisting of spruce, pine, birch, and other trees. I heard a quiet, hen-like cluck in the bushes and decided just to wait and see what happens, Sure enough, a Ruffed Grouse came out of the thicket and balanced slowly on top of a fallen log towards me. There were about half a dozen more birds but this one posed nicely for about three minutes. Later we found out that they were hanging out in the campground most of the time. Like White-tailed Deer, they figured out that the presence of people is not really a threat to them and a campground is a place that potential predators more likely would avoid.

Since it wasn’t mating time we did not hear the rapid-fire drumming sound of a male, but watching these birds, who blend in with there plumage to their environment so well, was worth to get out of the sleeping bag early.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head. @ 600mm, 1/320 s, f/6.3, ISO 2500

THE GESTURE!

Black-tailed Prairie Dog performing the “jump-yip” call. Badlands NP, South Dakota

With all the pictures of Black-tailed Prairie dogs I made over the years there was still one missing, a photo of our favorite gesture. The famous “jump-yip” call can communicate alertness, territorial defense, or can be an “all-clear” signal. (source: https://www.prairiedoghoogland.com/vocalizations )

We just love watching the social behavior of prairie dogs and in the Badlands the numbers seem to increase with every visit we made since 2005. There is no problem to find them in Badlands NP and the photographer can be choosy about location and direction of light.

The “jump-yip” call lasts maybe a second or even less and you never know when they do it. However, a fast frame rate is the key to catch the action. The Nikon Z6II delivers 10 frames per second with my personal settings applied (14 bit depth NEF (RAW), shooting mode: Continuous High, extended). Shooting with 12 bit depth would even allow 14 frames per second, but I do not like to change and rather have more color data in my pixels.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,   @ 600 mm, 1/1250 s, f/6.3, ISO 400

MASTER OF CAMOUFLAGE

Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor)

As its latin name implies, the Gray Tree Frog is able to change colors from gray to green, depending on the substrate where they sit. This little guy announced his presence with loud calls from our flower bed in the front yard. We hear several tree frogs in our woods since a few weeks and sometimes they choose the house plants we have outside as their residence during the summer. This one is a male because the females don’t call.

NATURE CLICKS #414 - EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE

My prediction about the departure of the young House Wrens from the nest I made yesterday was correct. Early this morning, still at dawn, the mother called them repeatedly and at 7:30AM the gourd with the nest inside was empty. We wish them well and can’t wait until next spring when the first males arrive back from the south. Our nest boxes will be ready again for another nesting season.

While I took the pictures of the young wrens yesterday afternoon another summer guest showed up in our front yard. We can hear the distinctive song “pee-ah-wee” and the calls “pe-e-e-e-e-e” of the Eastern Wood-Pewee all summer long. This small flycatcher feeds on flying insects, like flies, bees, butterflies, wasps, or beetles. They start mostly from an exposed perch to capture their prey in midair but take occasionally insects from vegetation or the ground. Most of the time they sit too high on a perch for a good photo but yesterday the pewee used briefly one of our shepherd hooks that holds a bird feeder. Pretty soon this bird will also head south to the tropics, where it spends the time during our cold season.

ALL GONE NOW

It was an exciting time during the last couple days watching the young House Wrens finally leaving their nest. I tried to document as much as time allowed, hoping to catch one of the juveniles out of the nest. Read the full story:

Sunday 10:00 AM

All three young birds were still in the nest. The parents brought in food very frequently. As you can see, sometimes two insects were carried at once. I doubt that this little guy shared them with its siblings…

Sunday 1:30 PM

The parents had started calling the kids out of the box. They sat sometimes for a few minutes with food in their bill in the dead cedar tree across from the box and tried to lure them away from the nest.

Sunday 7:40 PM

At about 7:00 PM the first little wren had left the nest and flew directly into the trees of the woods. No picture was taken, it just happened too fast. The parents called the other two birds intensely but they decided to stay another night in the safety of the nest box. They received the last meal at 7:40 PM. There wasn’t enough light anymore and I used flash as my main light source, not just to fill in shadows or boost colors as usual.

Monday 9:46 AM

Early in the morning the two little House Wrens were still in the box and called for food. A quarter to ten I interrupted my work and stepped out on the porch to check out what’s going on and saw that the second bird had just left the nest box. The little guy was chirping and hopping around between our flower pots on the deck. It finally climbed up the espalier on the side of the porch where this photo was taken. Later, at about 1 PM during the eclipse of the sun, the last wren was not in the nest anymore. Here in the Durango area the sun was covered by the moon about 88.5 %. During the peak time I didn’t hear a single bird, even the hummingbirds were quiet and didn’t show up.

The wrens are still around somewhere nearby. I still heard their chatter in the woods this evening. I hope they all will make it, become mature birds, and some will return for another good summer here in Iowa. It is always a sure sign of spring when the males show up here in late April or early May and work on their reproduction again.