AFTER THE SNOW STORM

Dark-eyed Junco

We had about a foot of fresh snow last night. While the snow storm slowed down this morning I made a few clicks of the birds that try to survive the winter here in eastern Iowa. Dark-eyed Juncos are present by the dozen and are among my favorite birds to photograph. 

The challenge is always to separate the dark eye from the rest of the upper part of the bird. Getting a little bit of light on the eye ring is key and it helps if the eye has a hint of catch light, even if it is the reflection of the flash that was used to bring out some colors. The flash also helps to tell the story about “Winter-wonder-land”. The background has to be dark if you want to see the falling snow. A slower shutter speed makes for nice snow trails but this morning I wanted to capture more of the calm that follows a snow storm. Without totally “freezing” the snow flakes in the background the desired balance was attained at 1/640 s for this image.

NATURE CLICKS #388 - DARK-EYED JUNCO

Can you tell I’m having fun again shooting birds? The snow on the ground is my favorite reflector and the flash arm with flash light can stay in the photo bag if the sun is out and its light is bounced back from the ground. The Dark-eyed Juncos are here in large numbers and take advantage of free food and water from the heated bird baths. They feed mostly on the ground and go never too far away from a hiding place, like our bushes and mountain pines. I saw a hawk flying in today and within a second you can’t see any of them anymore. They even use the old dried leaves between the shrubs to hide. The juncos don’t make it always easy for the photographer because their dark eyes blend often right in with the feathers, and if there is no catch light on the eye it looks kinda lifeless. I don’t think that only a bird with a catch light in its eye makes a good photo, but in case of the Dark-eyed Junco it makes all the difference.

VALID QUESTION AND MOOD OF AN OUTGOING WINTER

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

A valid question to ask is what one finds out there in the Green Island Wetlands when everything is frozen and covered with snow? It’s a simple answer, it just needs a little more patience to find the critters during the winter. I don’t always come back with a good image, not even in the summer, but I never came back without seeing any wildlife.

Yesterday this beautiful Red-tailed Hawk soared above and finally landed in a tree just in front of me. I talked about the snow as a big reflector lately a few times and in this photo you can really see what I mean. The sun creates a nice catch light in its eye, but the snow below bounces the light off and makes the use of a speed light needless.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

On my way back home I paid a visit to the Mines of Spain, the wooded and prairie land just south of Dubuque. There wasn’t as much snow as here at home anymore but still enough to provide a nice color contrast to the almost golden looking prairie grass that swayed in the wind just half an hour before sunset. Love the mood of an outgoing winter… :-)