NATURE CLICKS #565 - GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER

Great Crested Flycatcher, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Here is still a shot from our wildlife watching trip last weekend. This opportunity came up actually at the very end but it made me very happy. It’s not very often that we see a Great Crested Flycatcher. This bird is not difficult to identify due to its yellow belly.

Much of the landscape was already in the shade but the low sitting sun touched the bird just nicely. The Great Crested Flycatcher is the only eastern flycatcher that nests in cavities, like woodpecker holes. With most of the trees in the Green Island Wetlands disappearing and dying after years of high water levels I wonder what its future will be. I accidentally didn’t have the zoom lens extended to its maximum of 600 mm and decided finally to crop the photo a bit.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,   @ 490 mm, 1/1600 s, f/8, ISO 500

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.

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.

NATURE CLICKS #276 - PURPLE MARTIN

Female Purple Martin

Finding the Purple Martin is not a big problem along the Mississippi River. Most nest in colonies and use man-made birdhouses. Almost every boat landing, community, or park has them. We made another paddle tour in the Mud Lake area at the Mississippi yesterday and after the kayaks were loaded on the roof of the car I was able to photograph this species of the swallow family.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light

Although the availability for natural nest cavities has declined over the years, the increased availability of human-provided nest sites has a positive effect on population. The Purple Martin competes with European Starlings and, as in the case of Mud Lake Park, with the House Sparrows for nest cavities. They share the big birdhouse at the boat landing with the sparrows, but as you can see in the second image it is not always a friendly relationship between these two species

Male Purple Martin

None of the photos would have worked very well without using fill flash. I just threw enough light at the birds to bring out the shadows and make the colors pop. It is a fine line and can be easily overdone.