TOO LATE!!!

Downy Woodpecker tries to deliver some food

I took a break from posting in the blog over the weekend and to no surprise at this time of the year nature stories have piled up…

Last Saturday, and still very early Sunday morning, I saw a little head peaking out of the nest cavity in our dying maple tree. Well, I guess I took too much time drinking the morning coffee and go up on the roof over the porch with tripod and camera. Finally, about 9:30AM I stood there like a week before (see my earlier post) and aimed the lens again at the woodpecker hole. After half an hour without any activities I started wondering. Don’t the little Downy Woodpeckers need any food? Where are the parents?

After 45 minutes the male downy showed up with a big insect in its bill (2nd photo). He stuck his head into the hole but came out with the food still in the beak. After several attempts he flew away. Ten minutes later he showed up again (photo #1) and wasn’t able to deliver his nice snack either. Did the lady of the house not tell him that the offspring left the nest this morning? I hope he finally found them in another tree and was able to deliver his prey. I haven’t seen any young ones yet but keep looking out for them…

NATURE CLICKS #414 - EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE

My prediction about the departure of the young House Wrens from the nest I made yesterday was correct. Early this morning, still at dawn, the mother called them repeatedly and at 7:30AM the gourd with the nest inside was empty. We wish them well and can’t wait until next spring when the first males arrive back from the south. Our nest boxes will be ready again for another nesting season.

While I took the pictures of the young wrens yesterday afternoon another summer guest showed up in our front yard. We can hear the distinctive song “pee-ah-wee” and the calls “pe-e-e-e-e-e” of the Eastern Wood-Pewee all summer long. This small flycatcher feeds on flying insects, like flies, bees, butterflies, wasps, or beetles. They start mostly from an exposed perch to capture their prey in midair but take occasionally insects from vegetation or the ground. Most of the time they sit too high on a perch for a good photo but yesterday the pewee used briefly one of our shepherd hooks that holds a bird feeder. Pretty soon this bird will also head south to the tropics, where it spends the time during our cold season.

NATURE CLICKS #364 - NORTHERN HARRIER (FINALLY!)

Green Island Wetlands, Iowa  --------   

I don’t know how often I have aimed my lens at a Northern Harrier in the Green Island area over the years but never came back with a result that was more than a “private documentary shot”. This hawk has hoaxed me many times but a week ago I finally made a couple shots that can be shown in public. No, this is not the photo I have in mind, there is a lot of room for improvement, but hey, the jinx is broken…😉

Northern Harriers use their sense of hearing to help locate their prey, which is unusual among hawks. Their owl-like facial disk helps with directional hearing.

QUICK MEAL

Common Merganser, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa ----------

It often surprises me how big of a prey some animals are able to swallow in comparison to their own body size. The first image still shows almost the whole fish in the bill of this Common Merganser. The fish is dinner size for a human adult. The second photo was shot two seconds later according to my time stamp in the picture’s metadata. Nature is always amazing!

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

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2016 #10 - FOOD ENVY

Two American White Pelicans and about a dozen Double-crested Cormorants seemed to go along with each other very well below dam #11 in the Mississippi River. Both species fished peacefully side by side, the pelicans using their big bill and the cormorants diving for the fish. There wasn’t any problem until one of the cormorants got a pretty good size fish out of the water.

One of the pelicans was obviously struck by food envy and suddenly attacked the cormorant pretty aggressive. Looking at the image a little closer on my screen at home I realized that the pelican had the poor cormorant in its bill and obviously tried to bite him. I’m very happy to catch this moment. As you can see the cormorant got away with its prey…

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, Better Beamer flash extender

The photos were made on the Wisconsin side of the river, right below the dam between Dubuque, Iowa and the state of Wisconsin. Usually it is not a good place to shoot in this direction during the afternoon hours because the sun is just across the river. We had some heavy overcast and that muted the sunlight quite a bit. To overcome the gray from above and reflected off the water fill flash was used to reveal the colors of the birds.