KAYAK SEASON IS OPEN

Blue-winged Teals, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

The Easter weekend started with gorgeous and warm weather today. I had some plans in mind for some photography from inside the new photo blind but decided instead to open the kayak season. We have never done it that early in a year.

Many ducks are in the Green Island Wetlands and I heard that up north in Minnesota is still  some snow and ice on the ground. The ducks don’t always wait until the photographer is close enough with the boat for a picture. These three Blue-winged Teals made an exception and showed me the bluish part of their wings during take off. I thought it was a good opener for the kayak season and it is a shot I wanted to make since a long time. More to come, please stay tuned…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,    @ 600 mm, 1/3200 s, f/6.3, ISO 1000, image cropped at the bottom

DUCK DAY

Male Northern Shoveler, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Today we left the rain finally behind us but an overcast made me scratching my head and wondering if it is worth to make another trip to the wetlands. Gray sky and bird photography do not always go well together, especially if the sky is reflected on water. I did it anyway and thought a scouting trip for shorebirds, like sandpipers, wouldn’t hurt. To answer that question first, I saw only one Greater Yellowleg and a group of unidentified sandpipers, all of them too far away for a photo.

The number of ducks has increased and the first Canada Geese were sitting on nest sites. It was fun to watch immature Bald Eagles, honing their skills for catching fish, and pelicans circling with great elegance above. I counted 14 Sandhill Cranes and some showed their elaborate courtship displays to either form mating pairs, or between mates to maintain their pair bond. With other words, it was still a great day for bird watchers.

Pair of Blue-winged Teal

It is mating season and some of the ducks don’t fly away immediately as soon they become aware of us. Other things are on their mind and while they look most beautiful right now, it is the best time of the year to capture their picture. The challenge today was to keep the sky and water with sky reflections out of the frame whenever possible. In addition the green of new grass and reeds helps to hide mud and decaying clutter from last year’s growing season. 

NATURE CLICKS #486 - BLUE-WINGED TEAL

After five or six of gray and mostly rainy days this week the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. Joan, dog Cooper, and I took a ride in the car, heading south in the Mississippi Valley. A strong blowing wind had definitely an influence on the appearance of birds around the river and wetlands in the valley. Beside the usual suspects we saw a lot more ducks than during the last couple weeks. That doesn’t mean the photo opportunities have increased at the same rate. However, we came across two pairs of Blue-winged Teals. The leading male was already outside of the frame but the other three ducks stayed close together. Colder air temperatures than during the last weekends kept heat shimmer in bay and obtaining focus across the water wasn’t so difficult.

NATURE CLICKS #442 - TREE SWALLOWS

Tree Swallow, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

It was a great day for bird watching in the wetlands today. Many more ducks were present than during my last visit two weeks ago. And there were quite a few bird lovers out there, everybody in their car and with binoculars or cameras sticking out the window. I saw a lot Blue-winged Teals, Bufflehead, Hooded Mergansers, Northern Shovelers, and one pair of Green-winged Teals. I also got information about a Cinnamon Teal, but I was not able to locate the bird. It would have been a “first” for me in the Green Island Wetlands. In addition the first flycatchers have arrived and I saw an Eastern Phoebe and a Kingbird.

We had still some frost last night but the sun this morning heated up the air very quickly. This brought out the insects and large groups of Tree Swallows tried to catch them. They used the shrubs along the edge of the water to perch and to rest for brief moments. The Tree Swallows return to their nesting grounds earlier than any other American swallow. The ones I saw today were probably just on their way through. Their summer habitat stretches as far as northern Canada.

The warm air above the cold water created quite a bit of heat shimmer again. I was shocked how much it effected the sharpness today. Although the light was crisp and many bird species provided good contrast, normally easy to focus on, but my keeper rate was not very good.

WATCHING MIGRATORY BIRDS

Sandhill Cranes, Mississippi River, New Albin, Iowa

Last weekend I made the two-hour drive along the Mississippi River into Minnesota. My destination was the Brownsville overlook, a place where ten-thousands of birds take a rest on their way to the south. Every November you have a chance to see thousands of Tundra Swans, who take a break on their journey from the arctic to their wintering grounds along the Atlantic coast from the Chesapeake Bay to North Carolina. Beside that this refuge in the river is a great place to see many Bald Eagles and ten-thousands of ducks.

Just before crossing the Iowa - Minnesota border I checked the road that leads east from New Albin, Iowa to the boat landing at the Mississippi River. This is usual a good spot for bird watching but it has been flooded for a big part of the year. The water had just receded and it was still quite muddy. To my surprise I heard the call and saw about two dozen Sandhill Cranes taking off and flying south through the Mississippi Valley. After all the snow we had, I thought they were long gone already.

Tundra Swans, Mississippi River, Brownsville overlook, Minnesota

The two overlooks along the road between New Albin, IA and Brownsville, MN are a popular destination at this time of the year. You can meet many like minded people that enjoy bird watching or want to make some pictures. Not always the best place for a great image, due to the distance between the birds and the overlooks, but always worth the trip, if you like to witness the wonders of nature and for feelings of pleasure.

There was educational material on display and a naturalist on site, who was happy to answer the questions visitors had. She told me that the first Tundra Swans were already here three weeks ago. The backwaters were already partly frozen last weekend but this bay had open water. With the warmer temperatures right now you may still have a chance to watch them this week. If the river freezes over, the birds have to move on…

My pictures today are not really for “gourmets”, but since my blog is about nature and photography I like to share my observations with other nature friends and photographers in the area.

THE PRINCESS AND HER LOVERS

If things don’t work out as you may have hoped for during a photo shoot in the Great Outdoors, and for example the species you may see only for a relative short period of time while migrating stay out of your way, don’t hesitate to work with the “locals”, the birds you can always have in front of your camera. I’m not advocating to make another picture of a pair, swimming peacefully side by side, but looking out for an image that tells a story about their life or the specifics of the season I think is still desirable.

Last Sunday I saw a lot of migrators, Buffleheads, Gadwalls, Ring-necked Ducks, and Mergansers, but none of them came into a range that allowed me to make a serious effort for a photo. I’m sure that most of the Mallards we can see here at the moment by the thousands will migrate further north but some are here all the time and many people don’t even look at them. The difference to other times of the year is that mating time is approaching fast and their plumage is at its best at the moment. Combine this with the quality of light in late winter or early spring and you have best conditions to make a photo that sticks.

The lady was holding her breath, she really remained in this position for a few seconds, while the boys were fighting for the grounds. Don’t tell me Mallards are boring just because there are so many…😉

NATURE CLICKS #392 - BUFFLEHEADS

John Deere Marsh, Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa ---------      

If there was a prize awarded for the prettiest migrating duck, the Bufflehead would probably be ranked in the top 3. It is hard to get close to them, but it is so much fun to watch the males displaying and battling for the female’s attention. Although I just read that Buffleheads are mostly monogamous and often stay with the same mate for several years. However, they are constantly on the move and in between they also have to dive for food and will disappear from your view for a few seconds. Guess when that happens? Of course, the moment when you think you have the duck in focus for a sharp image…

It was a gorgeous weekend for bird watching and I used my time to patrol along the Mississippi River between Dubuque, Iowa and Brownsville, Minnesota. I saw thousands of migrating ducks, swans, and geese but it doesn’t mean every encounter will lead to an image. The Mississippi is several kilometers / miles wide for the most part and there isn’t always access to the water due to topography or private land ownership. As longer I live near the Mississippi Valley as more I appreciate to watch the big bird migration every year. My heart beats faster if I see thousands of little dots over the horizon, which indicates birds on the move.

Another good thing is to meet other people who enjoy bird watching as well. Yesterday, at the Brownsville, MN overlook I met Richard, another bird watcher from Iowa,. He let me look through his spotting scope and we had fun to identify birds and shared our sightings. The birds were all at a distance and I didn’t even take the camera out of the car, but spending time with like-minded people is priceless and always educating.

SANDHILL CRANES AND OTHER ENCOUNTERS

It was another great afternoon and evening along the Mississippi in the Green Island Wetlands. The big migration continues and I had a few more “first of the year” encounters today. Beside thousands of Mallards I saw about 20 Northern Pintails, 4 Northern Shovelers, and 2 American Wigeons. There are still large numbers of Greater White-fronted Geese flying in before sunset.

I was happy to see three Sandhill Cranes a couple days ago but was even happier today when a pair of cranes within shooting range foraged just in front of me. I heard some frogs earlier this week and I’m sure the cranes find what they are looking for. This photo shows a typical scene, while one bird is observing the surrounding area, the other one can search for food. These cranes are omnivorous and exploit subsurface food by probing with their bills. This is why we can see the bill covered with mud quite often. By the way, while I’m writing these lines and look at my pictures I realized how good the grasses and reeds from last year look. I guess this is due to the fact that we didn’t have huge amounts of heavy snow that pushed everything to the ground for weeks.

My excitement grew a little later, just before sunset, when another swoop of 12 Sandhill Cranes flew in for the night. Last year we had way over a hundred cranes in the wetlands in March and I hope the numbers will grow this year again.

WAY TO FINISH A WEEK

There are many good ways to finish a work week, watching a movie, listening to great music, or having a chat with the bar tender, you name it. For me not much can beat being in the great outdoors, listening to the sounds of nature, and watching the things unfold. After a long stretch of days without sunshine the seeming impossible happened just a few minutes before sunset today, the edge of an endless overcast passed finally the sun. This happened while I watched a flock of 30 Snow Geese and listened to the calls of over 100 Sandhill Cranes in the Green Island Wetlands. After sunset the light for shooting into the field, where hundreds of Mallards and Wood Ducks came to rest, was not sufficient anymore. Pointing the long lens to the west and waiting for birds moving in front of the clouds was the option I took advantage of. As I said, many good ways to finish a work week… 😊

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #6 - WATER FOWL MIGRATION

Mississippi River, Mud Lake

I wrote that before, Mud Lake Park is never twice the same and it seems to be not difficult to come back with different impressions all the time. Today thousands of gulls had gathered on the last remains of ice and hundreds of ducks and mergansers were on the water. We saw Canada Geese, Buffleheads, Canvasbacks, Common Goldeneyes, Mallards, and dozens of Common Mergansers. Bird migration is in full swing since about two weeks already. The first Red-winged Blackbirds are here since a few days, a sure sign of spring. Birders on the IA-Bird Google Group reported about migrating Snow Geese and White-fronted Geese in five digit numbers. I have seen only a few thousand of them ten days ago at Cone Marsh in Iowa. Most of them left obviously in the morning, just before I arrived, but it was still quite impressive.

Weather was changing fast today and so was the scene on the river. Colder air moved in and as you can see in the background fog built up over the Mississippi very quickly. When the last shaft of sunlight hit the gulls on the ice I was ready to make the click for today’s photo. Usually I would clone away single birds in the sky that are the size of a little dot in my landscape pictures but today the ducks and geese flying over are part of the story in my image.

NATURE CLICKS #357 - COMMON GOLDENEYE

Male Common Goldeneye, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa

It wasn’t just the great light that got me excited, but also the fact that several Common Goldeneyes were among the waterfowl that competed for fish near the downstream exit of lock #14 at the Mississippi River last Saturday. This duck was on my “most wanted list” for a long time. Not that I have not seen them before, but I never got close enough for a decent photo. So this is really the first time that I’m able to show a photo of this beautiful duck here in the blog. Their breeding grounds are up in most of Canada while they spent the winter in much of the United States.

Female Common Goldeneye, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa

AIMING FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAIT

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

The next weekend has almost arrived and I still have another story to share with you from the last one. Not a bad problem to have…😉  Last week, during our bird watching weekend along or near the Mississippi River we saw ten different duck species, hundreds of American Coots, and a few Hooded Mergansers between Harpers Ferry and Lansing, Iowa. None do match the beauty of a Bufflehead in my humble opinion. Their breeding grounds are up in Canada and we only have a small time window during migration to enjoy their beauty. The “eyeball shot” just for beauty has never been the goal in my wildlife photography and although I try to get as close as possible to a critter, it is the environmental portrait I’m aiming for most of the time. Photos like this, with reflections on the water, subtle light, and still an intimate focus on the bird satisfy my artistic approach.

WOOD DUCK WITH COMPANY

Male Wood Duck, Green Island Wetlands

The butt sticking out of the water in the background didn’t belong to a female Wood Duck but rather to a Blue-winged Teal. The beautiful male Wood Duck was all by himself but enjoyed the company of a few teals. Ducks of one species are quite often seen together with other duck species or even geese or coots. They seem to benefit from each other especially by watching out for predators. The Green Island Wetlands beside the Mississippi have plenty of food for all of them. While many ducks, mergansers, and geese have moved on further north, more birds have arrived in large numbers, like thousands of American Coots. Some of them will use the lakes and marshes around Green Island to raise a new generation. It’s an exciting time to be out there at this time of the year… 😊

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #10

Tundra Swans, Harper's Slough, Mississippi River, Iowa

I like to interrupt my series about our trip to North and South Dakota for a more actual story from right here, the Mississippi Valley. Yesterday, and again today, I drove up north along the mighty Mississippi River in search for migrating water fowl. North of Harper's Ferry, near lock and dam #9, I found what I was looking for. The area is closed to all migratory bird hunting and the birds obviously have figured that out. What I found was overwhelming and I was stunned by the numbers I saw. Several hundred Tundra Swans were present, maybe even close to one thousand. Beside them ten thousands of ducks and coots covered the Mississippi. There was no way to even just guess the numbers. The river is about two miles (3 km) wide at this point and the sanctuary stretches almost all the way across and is about 4 miles long. More than a dozen Bald Eagles were sitting in trees or messed with the ducks. The sound of all the ducks and swans was incredible and the distinctive call of the eagles was music for my ears. With certainty I identified Green-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Northern Pintails, American Coots, Gadwalls, and a single Wood Duck. There were maybe other species further out on the river but even with my binoculars I couldn’t see them clearly. The Tundra Swans have quite a journey behind them already. Their breeding grounds are high up in Alaska and far northern Canada. They are easy to separate from the Trumpeter Swans, who breed here in Iowa, by a small yellow spot on the base of their black bill.

Ten thousands of ducks during migration

The tip where to look for ducks came actually from a couple local duck hunters, who just came back from a hunt and pulled their boat out of the river in Harper's Ferry. They claimed that we haven’t seen the peak of the migration yet because of the mild weather. After I outed myself as a photographer they were very helpful and gave me a good description how to get to the sanctuary.

Bald Eagle

The photo of the Bald Eagle was probably the easiest to make. The low afternoon sun lit the bird just right. The high contrast between the white of the Tundra Swans and the darker colors of the ducks were quite a challenge. Exposing strictly for the highlights was the only way to go for these documentary shots.

NATURE CLICKS #269 - GADWALL (FIRST SIGHTING)

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

I took a little detour on my way back from a business trip to Davenport, Iowa this evening and checked all the current “hot spots” in the Green Island Wetlands. I have by far not seen all the birds that come through the Mississippi Valley during migration and so it is not really a surprise, that even after living here now for more than ten years, I still have a first sighting of a new species once in a while.

Today I found a single male Gadwall foraging in the shallow waters of the wetlands. Well, it was not totally alone, it obviously enjoyed the company of several Northern Shovelers. At some point the Gadwall even made a courtship display for a female shoveler or it just tried to impress the males, I’m not sure…;-) The Gadwall is not an uncommon bird in North America, I just had not seen one yet before.

Photographically, this photo is not a master piece. The great looking duck was too far away with no chance for me to get closer, and so I decided to crop the picture a little bit.