AFTER THE ADVENTURE

A day comes to an end at Green Island Wildlife Area, Iowa

Shortly after my little adventure with the Striped Skunk in the Green Island Wildlife Area last weekend the sky turned into some color. I went for a compressed view, left the Sigma 150-600 on camera, pulled the zoom back to 230 mm, and set the white balance to 6750 Kelvin. The nesting tunnel was placed almost dead-center as an anchor point and reminder that this is a managed wildlife area. I forgot to look if there was a Canada Goose in this particular nest but I remember that many of the nesting structures in the wetlands were taken, fiercely defended by males and females. Good way to end a day in the Great Outdoors!

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #15 - ICE PILED UP

Mississippi River, Mud Lake

When I took our dog for a walk to the Mississippi River this morning I was almost tempted to leave the camera at home. It was just a gray and cold day. I hardly ever go without a camera to the river and I was glad I didn’t change my habit today. The photo was taken from almost the same spot as the one in my last post, which I called “Dynamic in the sky”. Well, there was no dynamic in the sky at all today, but the cold temperatures we had earlier this week, followed by some warmer weather, had broken up some ice upstream and a lot of drift ice was piled up. The river is about 2.2 km (1.375 mi.) wide at this point, but the Wisconsin side looks much closer due to the compression effect of the 200 mm lens. 

Another occurrence that had an impact is heat shimmer. The cold air above the ice is mixing with warmer air and makes it impossible to see the ice on the other side of the river really sharp. I shot this with f/8 and focussed on the piled up ice on the Iowa side of the river. A smaller aperture, like f/16 wouldn’t help a bit in this matter. 

Snow, ice, and a gray overcast don’t go very well together and in order to make this image work I left the white balance a little more on the colder side. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4,   at 200 mm, 1/320s, f/8, ISO100

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #11 - FROZEN OVER

Mississippi River, Finleys Landing, Iowa

I made a short trip to the big river yesterday morning. It was actually not very promising with a uniform gray sky hanging over this part of eastern Iowa. To my surprise the Mississippi was almost completely covered with ice. Not unusual for December but it has been way too warm for this time of the year lately and we had only very little snow so far. 

This is a view across the river, shot with the Sigma 150 / f2.8 and the 1.4x Teleconverter attached. This combination makes it a 210 mm focal length on the Nikon D750. I thought the compressed view works good to make the ice on the river my subject. It keeps most of the gray sky out of the frame without giving up on the mood of the scene.

I know, it’s not the most flattering photo but it tells another one of my little Mississippi River stories.

IT WILL TOUCH YOU

The Tundra Swans are still present at the Mississippi ----- 

Remember, a week ago I posted pictures and reported about the large concentration of migrating Tundra Swans at the Mississippi River, just north of the Minnesota border. Joan had to work last weekend and so we gave it a try again today and drove north on the scenic roads that follow the river. Guess what, the swans were still present and after a mostly gray and rainy week it was nice to see thousands of Tundra Swans again in good sunlight.

View from Brownsville Overlook, Minnesota

This is only a fraction of all the swans. The compressed view of the 600 mm lens makes the Wisconsin side of the river appear a lot closer than it actually is. The Mississippi is here about 3 km (~2 miles) wide. The main channel for the boats is behind the island with the tall trees.

If you live somewhere in northeast Iowa, southwest Wisconsin, or southeast Minnesota and you haven’t been there yet, take the time to see the swans. It will touch you, no matter if you a photographer or just someone who likes nature.