TWO BEAUTIES

Female Eastern Bluebird

The day started with some snow removal. Fresh snow means the birds will come to our feeders and bird baths in larger numbers. It was nice to see a couple Eastern Bluebirds among them this morning. They are not here for the sunflower seeds. The bluebirds depend on berries during winter and the juniper berries of the Eastern Cedar trees, that cover the rocky bluffs here at the Little Maquoketa Valley, are probably their primary food source. A reason why we see the Eastern Bluebirds only at the heated bird baths that we provide. Beside drinking they sit there sometimes for several minutes and obviously warm up a little bit when it is cold.

Male Eastern Bluebird

To open the glass door to the balcony and stick the lens out into the open for making a click is not always an option. Some birds may not come to the feeders, like the cardinals, but most importantly the warm air that mixes with the cold air outside will create a heat shimmer and make getting a sharp focus almost impossible.

I take the lens shade off the SIGMA 150-600 and keep the front element of the lens as close as possible to the glass of the door. This is of course no optical glass and some blur may occur. The Dehaze-slider in Adobe Lightroom becomes very helpful for solving this problem and removing the extra blur on the bird. Lightroom’s new masking functions allow to keep the blur on the background and make the bird even stand out a bit more. All what I can say is, shooting through the glass of a window or door has never been so easy…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,

GEESE AND OTHERS ON THE MOVE

Greater White-fronted Geese, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Yesterday I took another trip to the Green Island Wetlands, and boy, what a change to the weekend before. The snow is melting really fast and a few spots had finally open water. With that said, food sources become available for all kinds of birds and they indeed move in immediately. I saw seven Greater Sandhill Cranes, a big flock of Red-winged Blackbirds occupied some trees, and twice the call of a Killdeer filled the air, although I didn’t see any. But the biggest sign of spring for me were several overflights of Greater White-fronted Gees

Canada Geese

Wherever the ice had disappeared and open water was available, pairs of Canada Geese had moved in and jockeyed for the best spots. Some may travel further north but the Green Island Wetlands are a popular breeding ground for Canada Geese.

What else, of course a number of Bald Eagles. I discovered another nest location, which is the fourth one I’m aware of in this area. Other raptors can be watched, like a Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawks, and for the first time I saw a Rough-legged Hawk at Green Island.

Getting close enough to a particular bird is always the biggest challenge for any photographer. If you finally have your bird in the viewfinder and you just can’t get it sharp, despite you do everything right, you probably deal with heat shimmer. The warm air above the remaining cold snow and ice creates this inferior mirage that prevents a sharp image. A problem that can’t be ignored, especially when working with a long lens. Sometimes it is better just to watch and enjoy the moment…

RETROSPECTS 2020 - #4

White-faced Ibis, Green island Wetlands, Iowa

April is another great month for bird photography. Many species use the Mississippi Valley as a migration corridor. One of my most memorable moments this year was a first sighting and an extensive shooting session with a congregation of eleven White-faced Ibises. I found them feeding along the banks of a dike in the Green Island Wildlife Area on a gray overcast day.

The Ibis probes with its long curving bill in the mud along shores and in wet soil, searching for earthworms and other invertebrates. This was probably one of the more difficult wildlife shootings I have done, although I shot from the comfort of my car, using it as a blind.

The “elements” were not favorable that day. Gray sky made for low light and muted colors. The worst thing to face was heat shimmer, very common at that time of the year in the wetlands. The water is still very cold while the air above is warmer and that creates heat waves, resulting in soft images and inaccurate autofocus. The long lens compresses this effect and if you are not aware about it, it makes you wonder why none of the pictures is sharp.

Although I made several hundred clicks that afternoon in April, the photo above is among my favorites. It is all about the gesture the ibis makes, with its eye turned up towards the sky and looking at a Bald Eagle. While the birds were busy probing their bills into the mud and feeding whenever they found something, every half an hour a Bald Eagle would circle above, probably looking for a good snack as well. When that happened the ibises would stop, freezing motionless for a little while, and finally take off and fly a circle to distract the eagle. After the eagle had enough and flew away, the eleven White-faced Ibises returned to the dike and continued searching for more food.

This year I had five first sightings of bird species that are now also part of my photo library, but the three hours I spent with the White-faced Ibises was one of the best times behind the camera. The Wildlife Management Biologist of the Iowa DNR for this area confirmed by email that they were very rare visitors in this area. I was back on site the next day but the birds had moved on.

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.

NATURE CLICKS #440 - SONG SPARROW

Going out into nature for a photo shoot or bird watching by car is one of the activities that can be done without putting anybody at risk. All images created today were shot from the safety of my car. This seems to be an easy task because a foam roll on top of the rolled down side window provides usually good lens and camera support. Today a typical seasonal problem made getting a sharp picture quite difficult. I’m talking about heat shimmer. When the cold air above the ground mixes with air already warmed up by the sun the effect is the same as viewing through exhaust gases from a jet engine. It is maybe not as strong but looking at a bird or critter through a long lens compresses this effect. With other words, I came back today with a lot more unsharp pictures than usually.

The birds get ready to mate and this Song Sparrow was singing his heart out. They look at their best at this time of the year. So, why taking a picture in the cluttered environment of a ranking plant? This is the habitat where this sparrow will spend the summer and where it will raise up to three broods per season. The Song Sparrow can be found in most parts of North America. We see them mostly at the edge of water bodies, like the Mississippi River, with open grassy feeding areas.

NATURE CLICKS #439 - SANDHILL CRANES

Sandhill Cranes, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

If you read my blog long enough you knew that I would go back to the Green Island Wetlands along the Mississippi River if great weather would unfold today again. That’s what exactly happened. The ice on the river has melted very quickly this week and only very shallow parts of the backwaters show still some ice cover. I was pretty sure that the geese and ducks would prefer to spend more time here, because the tundra up north in the arctic regions is probably still white and the warm sun at the moment feels good for the birds and of course for us as well. 

So, here is a little report about the species I have seen during the last couple evenings in the Green Island Wetlands:

  • Mallards (many, very many…)

  • American Wigeon (6+),

  • Northern Pintail (4+),

  • Bufflehead (4),

  • Northern Shoveler (just one, but more will come soon),

  • Sandhill Crane (6+),

  • Great Blue Heron (2)

  • Snow Goose, ( ~10)

  • Greater White-fronted Goose (thousands),

  • Killdeer, (after hearing and seeing the first ones last weekend, many have arrived today)

  • Red-winged Blackbirds (now appearing in large numbers as every year)

  • plus the locals, like Trumpeter Swans, Ring-billed Gulls, Bald Eagles, etc….)

I saw a few Sandhill Cranes foraging in the wet fields and marsh land already yesterday. The direction of light and even more annoying the presence of heat shimmer prevented a good click. Heat shimmer is pretty common at this time of the season. The warm air above the cold ground has an distorting effect and makes a sharp image nearly impossible, in particular if viewed through a long lens. It was a pretty crisp day and when these two Sandhill Cranes flew by while loud calling, heat shimmer didn’t play any role because they flew high enough above the ground. We don’t see them by the hundreds or thousands, like further west, but quiet a few breed in the Mississippi Valley and no other bird announces spring better with their call like the Sandhill Cranes. More to come, please stay tuned…

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

FOCUSSING ON SANDHILL CRANES

Sandhill Crane, Green Island Wetlands, near Mississippi River, Iowa

Any time I go to the Green Island Wetlands in spring I see or at least hear some Sandhill Cranes. Two years ago we had about 200 cranes but this year I have not seen more than 20 at a given time. Getting close to them can be a challenge. They are not skittish, like for example most of the ducks, but they keep a distance to humans and cars that doesn’t always allow to make a decent photo of these birds. 

Last Sunday I was lucky and came close to a single pair that was searching for food. I didn’t get both cranes in the same frame but was nevertheless pretty happy about the results. Getting close is key for a sharp image. In this habitat, between the old grass and reeds, the Sandhill Cranes do not provide a lot of contrast to lock on focus all the time. The ground is still cold and the warmed up air above can lead to heat shimmer and make obtaining focus even more difficult. Going out late in the day, when the temperatures drop and the light gets warmer seems to be the best time for success.