NATURE CLICKS #566 - GREEN HERONS

Green Heron, Heritage Ponds, near Dubuque, Iowa; Hunting for tadpoles and frogs is often done very stealthy but sometimes a quick move to a different spot in the pond leads to success as well.

The water in the pond disappears slowly but surely because we had no significant rain lately. It doesn’t look pretty at the moment but the pond provides food for other birds beside the family of Sandhill Cranes I wrote about in my last blog post. Green Herons are usually quite skittish and I have never watched more than one bird at any time.

Well, last week there were three herons hunting for food and it was a lot of fun watching them from the deck of an observation platform. The tadpoles in the water just became froglets and have developed front legs already. They still have their tail and they must be very tasty for the Green Herons because they were eating many of them.

Stretching the neck seems to guarantee better sight for the next catch in the muddy pond.

Shooting from an observation platform above water level is not an ideal location. The steep angle looking down doesn’t allow a great background. But hey, I’m not too choosy during this time of the year. I still think the pictures can tell the story.

Green Herons are considered fairly common but studies have shown that their population is in steep decline. (source: AllAboutBirds.org)

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

NATURE CLICKS #470 - NORTHERN BOBWHITE

Male Northern Bobwhite, Durango, Iowa

I had actually planned to continue with more photos from our trip through the badlands of the Dakotas and eastern Montana but yesterday the sighting of a Northern Bobwhite got me all excited. The first and last time I had one of these “New World Quails” in front of the lens was in May 2007, just a month after I started shooting seriously digital with a Nikon D200. The Cornell Lab Website ALL ABOUT BIRDS writes:  Bobwhites have been in sharp decline throughout the past half-century, likely owing to habitat loss and changes in agriculture, and they are an increasingly high priority for conservation.   I guess I can confirm the fact of decline in population!

The bird is easy to identify and when I saw this male crossing the road while driving downhill into our valley I hit the brakes hard. Driving with the camera in my lap and the bobwhite posing nicely for a few seconds, I got the shot. Unfortunately I had only 200 mm focal length, hence that cropping of the photo was employed.

This wasn’t really far from our neighborhood and I wonder if the population of the Northern Bobwhite here is larger than I thought. I’ll keep my eyes open…

NATURE CLICKS #432 - HORNED LARK

Male Horned Lark

I haven’t seen and photographed a Horned Lark here in eastern Iowa since more than four years. Before 2015 I never had problems finding them, especially in early spring. The bird is listed as a common bird in steep decline, which underlines my own observations. To my surprise I found a male Horned Lark yesterday and today again on the observation hill at the Dubuque Regional Airport. I saw this bird several times with insects in its bill, and as the second photo shows, they take the bigger ones too. It nurtures my hope that there is a nest somewhere around.

Due to the fact that I was at the airport for making some clicks of the historical airplanes that practice for the big air venture in Oshkosh, WI next week, I didn’t have the tripod out. It helped to stabilize the lens on one of the posts that support the sunroof on the observation deck. The gravel of the parking lot is not really attractive but that’s where the Horned Lark foraged for insects. Although I shot very many pictures of the planes and only a few of the bird, these wildlife photos are important to me and made me very happy.

HEALTHY SNAKE?

Garter Snake -------

I have been possibly pointed in the right direction about my suspicion over the dramatic decline of snakes in our area by Pamela, who is also a member of the Dubuque Camera Club, today. Thank you Pamela! The cause could be snake fungal disease (SFD) and if you are interested to learn more about it, here is a useful link for you: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5095536/ . Oddly enough, Joan found a Garter Snake at the edge of our woods  yesterday, the first we saw in a long time. The snake just rested in the grass and gave me plenty of time to get the camera.

So how do we get a good image of a snake lying in the grass? I don’t know! I tried a low angle but din’t like the outcome. There was always a blade of grass that covered part of the head. I finally went for a picture from above, using the coil of the reptile and the soft evening light as my means for the story telling.

In a close-up view of the photo I can see that the skin of the snake is kinda flaky, however, not really visible in this size-reduced image of my blog. I will send a larger file to the people that do research on this disease and will either learn that this Garter Snake is healthy or help to pinpoint the spread of this fungus. This is all very concerning, knowing about what impact the Chytrid Fungus, in particular Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or “Bd”, has done to amphibians, wiping out more than one third of the world’s frog species. Just reading a lot about it today, the threat to these reptiles seems to be not less…

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR

NATURE CLICKS #399 - AMERICAN BITTERN (FIRST SIGHTING!)

Today’s blog post starts with a big thank you to my photography friend Kevin! He sent an email this morning telling me that he discovered an American Bittern yesterday at a pond near his home on the south side of Dubuque. A nice photo was attached as well. This morning there were even two birds but they took off too soon. I was about to close my office for the day this afternoon when my phone rang and Kevin was telling me that the bittern was back again. He didn’t have to ask me twice, I grabbed the camera bag, let the dog jump into the car and took off.

This heron-like wading bird is very secretive and a rare breeder here in Iowa. According to an article from the Iowa Audubon website the American Bittern was fairly common in the 1940’s and the trend of population decline continues. The causes of population declines have been cited as habitat loss, human disturbance, and pesticides and other contaminants. The American Bittern is now considered a high conservation priority in Iowa.

The pond, which is actually a rain water detention pond, is wide open from all sides and a stealthy approach with the camera turned out to be a challenge. Kevin knows the terrain and we managed to get within shooting range without disturbing the bittern. The location was perfect for the bird but not so much for the photographer. Between the broken branches of a fallen tree near the shore the American Bittern can find its food, insects, amphibians, small fish, and mammals. We had to deal with obstruction by branches and grass but that’s the challenge of nature photography and part of the fun mastering it…

The American Bittern was a first sighting for me and I’m very thankful for the call from Kevin today!

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,  

1: @ 550 mm, 1/800s, f/6.3, ISO 200, camera set to DX format (equivalent to 825 mm focal length)

2: @ 220 mm, 1/800s, f/6.3, ISO 200, camera set to DX format (equivalent to 330 mm focal length)