SAME PLACE, TWO STORIES

Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River, Bankston County Park, Iowa

Today’s blog post has actually two stories, both from the Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River, that flows on the bottom of the valley in Bankston County Park. My eyes scanned the trees for little warblers and other birds when I realized how gorgeous the light was and how it was reflected on the surface of the water. It doesn’t happen very often that I use the shortest focal length of the Sigma 150-600 but I didn’t want to change lenses, because of the chance to miss a bird.

Female Wood Duck

A little while later this female Wood Duck swam hastily around and called. I didn’t see any ducklings and was wondering what she tried to accomplish. They nest in tree cavities and suddenly it became clear that she tried to call them out of the nest for their first dive into the water.

Number one in the water

I backed off and moved away but when I briefly turned around, I saw that her calling seemed to work. The bravest of the ducklings had joined her already. Wood Ducks lay between 9 and 15 eggs and hopefully all of her babies will make it.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #9 - DUCKLINGS

Mallards can be found everywhere along the Mississippi and usually I point my lens at them only if there is an extraordinary light situation. While working with the pelicans a few days ago I couldn’t resist to make some clicks when this female duck with her offspring swam by in the choppy water just in front of me. Young birds are always fun to watch.

I had the camera up on the tripod. This was ok for the pelicans, who were a little further away than the ducklings, but for this shot I should have lowered the camera closer to the water surface.

1/800 s, f/6.3, ISO 100, @600 mm, image slightly cropped, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

NATURE CLICKS #295 - JUVENILE WOOD DUCKS

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, DX cropping mode, additional cropping

It is a busy time with work at the moment, hence the lack of new photos, but since I’m not in the ‘real news business’ I hope you still get a kick out of some nature observations that happened already more than a couple weeks ago, and that I like to share with you.

It puts a smile in my face if I see the offspring of any bird that breeds and spends the summer here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. These three juvenile Wood Ducks were not the only ones that enjoyed the life in the canals along the levees in the Green Island Wetlands, surrounded by plenty of duck weed. When they are that big already, they don’t stick together as much as during their first weeks in life. In July I took a couple pictures of 13 ducklings crossing one of the canals that divide the wetlands! Later in the season the number shrinks usually, because their life is full of danger. Foxes, eagles, coyotes, hawks, they all love to have duckling for dinner. With the hunting season ahead not very many may make it into the next year…

As you may have found out by following my blog, I get out into the great outdoors probably a little more than the average person. I meet all kinds of people out there and hear many different stories and the reasons why they like or even love nature. To be honest, it is shocking how little some of the people that out themselves as hunters know about the wildlife they like to kill. Yep, they use the words ‘necessary regulations’, but admit they have quite often absolutely no clue about what their shooting target is...