AN EVENING IN THE WETLANDS

Trumpeter Swans flying in for the night, Green Island Wildlife Area, Iowa

It was about time to pay a visit to the Green Island Wildlife Area, a wetland at the confluence of the Maquoketa and Mississippi rivers. My last visit was back in September. I avoid Green Island during duck hunting season. Parts of the wetlands are closed for hunting but access is also limited for everybody else at that time. Beside that I don’t think it’s the best idea to run around and be an accidental target for those dudes who forgot their glasses at home…😉

Red-tailed Hawk,   1/125 s, f/9, ISO 400, @850 mm, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG

As expected late in the day several raptors showed their presence. I photographed a Red-tailed Hawk in the same dead tree before earlier this year, and it might be the same one, but this time the bird was already in the shade. I tried it with the 1.4 teleconverter, making it a 850 mm focal length. The result is less tree and more bird. I braced myself against the car window to get this shot.

Bald Eagle,   1/1250 s, f/9, ISO 400, @850 mm (DX mode: 1275 mm), Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG

The compounding effect of flooding during the last ten years has left hardly any trees alive and this landscape has already changed dramatically. Who knows, this might be the last photo of a Bald Eagle on a dead branch of this particular tree. Well, the other trees around don’t look any different… Next year the tree is probably gone. To get this shot I pushed the “tools” and my abilities to their limits. Since the water was covered with ice for the most part the eagle wasn’t there for catching fish, but probably enjoyed the last rays of light yesterday evening as much as I did.

Trumpeter Swans, 1/400 s, f/6.3, ISO 400, @600 mm, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,

The sun gets out of sight a little earlier in the Mississippi Valley than what our phone apps may tell us. After patrolling the gravel roads in the wetlands for any kind of wildlife I returned to the dike for some “after sunset” shots but another lens change came first. Wave after wave of Trumpeter Swans flew in, crossed overhead, and probably landed on the ice of Blakes Lake on the east side of the wildlife area. This bird was almost extinct in Iowa at some point in recent history and seeing so many swans congregating during the winter warms my heart… (I didn’t count but I think it was way more than 100 birds)

Green Island Wildlife Area, Iowa

Finally between the calls of Sandhill Cranes and the hoots of a Great Horned Owl I was able to make the landscape picture that was on my mind. Apple’s Steve Jobs was famous for ending his keynote speeches and then turning around and saying “One more thing…” Well, I have one more too, but will show it in my next blog post. 😊

TOO LATE!!!

Downy Woodpecker tries to deliver some food

I took a break from posting in the blog over the weekend and to no surprise at this time of the year nature stories have piled up…

Last Saturday, and still very early Sunday morning, I saw a little head peaking out of the nest cavity in our dying maple tree. Well, I guess I took too much time drinking the morning coffee and go up on the roof over the porch with tripod and camera. Finally, about 9:30AM I stood there like a week before (see my earlier post) and aimed the lens again at the woodpecker hole. After half an hour without any activities I started wondering. Don’t the little Downy Woodpeckers need any food? Where are the parents?

After 45 minutes the male downy showed up with a big insect in its bill (2nd photo). He stuck his head into the hole but came out with the food still in the beak. After several attempts he flew away. Ten minutes later he showed up again (photo #1) and wasn’t able to deliver his nice snack either. Did the lady of the house not tell him that the offspring left the nest this morning? I hope he finally found them in another tree and was able to deliver his prey. I haven’t seen any young ones yet but keep looking out for them…

NATURE CLICKS #457 - TREE SWALLOW

Tree Swallow guarding a nest, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

I have many photos of Tree Swallows in my picture library, all shot during the last ten years along the Mississippi River. Tree Swallows on branches, on wires, or on the ground but the one that really tells the story about this bird was missing. A picture of the swallow guarding its nest in a tree cavity. Last weekend during one of our paddle tours in the Green Island Wetlands we came across this swallow at the nest in a dead tree. It was not too high above the water and the bird accepted my presence in the kayak below.

I really wonder how long a photo like this will be possible at Green Island in the near future. Tree Swallows need dead trees for their nest and there are probably thousands of dead trees at the moment. The problem is that they all die at the same time and fall apart very quickly. This is probably due to the high water levels we saw in the last few years. New growth does simply not happen. I visit the Green Island Wetlands, that are separated from the Mississippi by dikes, since more than nine years very regularly. Many groves have recently already vanished or are about to. The loss of biodiversity is easy to see. Species that thrive in dead woods and need them for nesting, like woodpeckers, wood ducks, or tree swallows benefit right now, but probably not for long. Others, who breed high up in the canopy of the trees, have already lost their habitat.

ON THE ROOF

Downy Woodpeckers

The bad thing is, the big sugar maple right in front of the house is dying, slowly but surely. Half of the canopy is already without leaves and every day another piece of bark or a branch is found in the grass below. We know we need to cut the tree down soon because there is a good chance it may fall onto the house in a storm or strong wind. It will be a sad day, no matter what.

The good thing is, the Downy Woodpeckers took the opportunity, drilled holes in one of the dead branches, and raise their offspring in the tree right now. As you can imagine, we hold the tree cutting for now.

The photographer took the ladder today and climbed onto the roof of the porch. Everything was with me, camera, long lens, tripod , gimbal head, speed light, and flash extender. Even on the roof the nest hole was still a bit higher but I found a gap between the branches to make this photo.

The Downy Woodpeckers are around here all year long and are really used to our presence. Sometimes, if I fill a feeder in the yard, they don’t fly away unless I come in a range of less than 3 feet. Both parents feed the offspring. While one is out to find food, the other one is in the nesting hole and guards it. The chance for a photo is when they have the “changing of the guard”.

Here the female downy arrives and shows the male what she had in her bill. A second later the male would leave the nest and let the female take his place. I was running out of light this evening (did I mention yet that we had another gray day with almost no sun? 😏) and the only way to shoot against the gray sky was to employ some fill flash. I left the ladder in place and maybe this weekend is another chance for some interesting moments.

1/320 s, f/6.3, ISO 400, @600 mm, +1 EV, flash -1.7 EV; with Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender;

OUT WEST #23

Upper terraces, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming

You certainly have not seen a lot of “dead sticks” in my landscape photos but there is always an exception from the rule. I will always include them at Mammoth Hot Springs and some other locations in Yellowstone National Park. How the travertine terraces have taken over the landscape during the years is part of the storytelling. It is a very fragile environment with an unsurpassed beauty, where even a dead tree has its function in the picture.

Lower terraces area, Mammoth Hot Springs

NATURE CLICKS #328 - TREE SWALLOW

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens

Spring is not complete without the arrival of swallows. I saw the first Tree Swallows already a couple weeks ago but now we can find them in large numbers. I spent most of the day in the Green Island Wetlands. This dead tree is standing in the water and was used by the swallows as a place to rest. There were moments when all of them took off, catching insects in flight, but after a while they always came back to this tree. The Green Island Wetlands are an ideal habitat for these swallows. There is food in abundance and many dead trees, with cavities or woodpecker holes, provide the nesting places for them.

NATURE CLICKS #327 - PILEATED WOODPECKER

Female Pileated Woodpecker, Mississippi River, dam #9

I start with the biggest highlight of our bird watching weekend. It happened on the dike of dam #9 in the Mississippi River, just north of Harpers Ferry, Iowa. I was hoping to see another kinglet again but instead a full grown Pileated Woodpecker just landed on a dead tree trunk right in front of me. I made quickly a few clicks but my view was obstructed by branches. Luckily the woodpecker took off again and flew to another tree, a little further away. Only a couple thin twigs were between me and the bird this time but I can live with them.

The Pileated is the largest woodpecker in North America. They are about half a meter tall and their call is usual a very loud “kee-kee-kee-kee-kee”. We actually have them here in our woods above the Little Maquoketa River Valley, and if you use the search field in the side bar of my blog, you may find my older reports about this bird. The Pileated Woodpecker is very shy and skittish and that makes it always a special event if we see one or get it in front of the lens.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

The woodpecker didn’t hesitate a second and started to wedge its large bill between the tree trunk and the bark. Big pieces of bark were flying around and this female knew obviously very well where to find a good snack. The second picture has a little motion blur but it shows pretty good how she attacked the tree. I would have been still very happy if this Pileated was the only bird we would have seen during the whole weekend. But there was more…, so please stay tuned…