CRAYFISH DINNER

Great Egret, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

This was a tricky shot of this Great Egret in the wetlands along the Mississippi River today. I navigated my car (the well known mobile blind!) carefully in a position where I hoped to have an unobstructed view at this bird. The size of the vegetation is enormous after the rain we had lately and there was a lot of grass and other wild plants swaying in the wind between the bird and me. Luck was on my side and just where I had anticipated a possible shot, the egret caught a crayfish and ate it right away.

It is quiet on the lakes and between the reeds at this time of the year in the backwaters of the mighty Mississippi River and it takes some efforts to get a bird in front of the camera. However, I enjoyed being back again after some busy weeks and nothing can beat the time spending in the Great Outdoors!

By the way, the neck of this Great Egret seems to show some impact and it makes me wonder, if the bird had a hard time with a predator or if it just is the result of a fight with another egret about the right to mate…?

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG,   @ 850 mm, 1/1250 s, f/9, ISO 400

NATURE CLICKS #506 - YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON (FIRST SIGHTING)

Yellow-crowned Night Heron with crayfish, Maskunky Marsh, Iowa

Encouraged by the reports from other birders on the IA-BIRD Google group website, I made a three hour trip to Mahaska County, in particular to Maskunky Marsh, a wetland area east of Oskaloosa, Iowa on Saturday morning. Driving down in some rain made me doubt if this was a good idea but all was good at my arrival at the marsh. Within a few minutes I saw the first Yellow-crowned Night Heron. What a beautiful bird, and it was a lifer for me! I knew from the birder website that there were several more in the area but I saw only two.

I was amazed by the amount of crayfish the Yellow-crowned Night Heron can eat. The photo’s metadata show that the bird I watched ate nine crawdads within an hour and fifteen minutes. After they pick one up in the water or mud, they chew on them until most of the legs and claws are gone, and then swallow them as a whole.

Almost all shots were made from the tripod, trying to tell the story about the heron’s feeding habits. The relative large eye and the contrast on the bird’s head seem to make obtaining focus easy, but this was not always the case. The overcast gave the water some not so pretty glare and a little heat shimmer above the water surface seemed to play a role as well. However, my autofocus was thrown off more often than I expected. Well, none of this will stop me to rave about my first sighting of the not so common Yellow-crowned Night Heron!

All photos: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head