IN THE MEADOWS

June 12, 2022

Today I have a couple bird species for you that are threatened by habitat loss. I still find them every year in a meadow that can be easily turned into commercial use. It has been developed for this purpose but so far nobody has built anything there. I hope every summer it stays this way.

Both species are beautiful songbirds and even when they are hunkered down in the grass, like yesterday afternoon, we can at least hear them. I waited patiently and had a few moments when they left the grass, perched on a higher point, and posed for my camera.

SONGBIRDS IN THE BADLANDS

May 19, 2022

Hands down, spring is the best season to watch songbirds, either during their time of migration or while they are in the mood for mating. Badlands National Park has a great variety of songbirds and I was able to add three new species to the photo library during our recent visit.

We had no problems finding Western Meadowlarks, they were present in abundance. This very vocal bird can be found along the road sides in the grass, between sagebrush, or in the early morning perched on a traffic sign or fence post and singing its heart out.

Probably not my best photo of a bird but this male Lark Bunting was a first sighting for us. It was part of a larger group, males and females, and the males were in their full breeding plumage. The Lark Bunting is the only sparrow that completely changes between plain winter plumage and distinctive breeding colors (source: iBird Pro app).

Perched on the same fence as the Lark Bunting were a couple Vesper Sparrows. I have probably seen this bird before but it was the first time ever that I photographed this species.

Coming back from a hike into the backcountry we found a number of Lark Sparrows feeding on the ground at the campsite. They walk on the ground rather than hop, unless during courtship. They are in favor of areas with bare open ground and scattered bushes, habitats that are more common in the West and Midwest than in the East of the country. The Badlands offer such habitats and it is not difficult to find them at this time of the year.

When I saw briefly this bird gleaning insects from the bark of a tree, I knew immediately that I had a Black-and-white Warbler in front of the lens. I have seen them here in eastern Iowa before a couple times and they forage nuthatch-like on tree trunks. I was actually after another warbler species between some thick brushwood, probably an Orange-crowned Warbler, but I never got a real sharp shot. The photo of the Black-and-white Warbler makes me happy the same way!

This photo was made between the same brushwood as the one before. I moved carefully with my tripod to find an open spot between all the branches of the tree and without scaring this beautiful bird away. When the click was made I thought I had an Eastern Towhee in front of the lens, a bird we can see occasionally here in our area. But the Eastern Towhee does not appear that far west and so it had to be a Spotted Towhee. From the front side they look almost identical. This was another first sighting and a welcome addition to my bird photo library.

I wish time wasn’t such a limiting factor for shooting wildlife in and around Badlands National Park. Two days are hardly enough to pursue all photographic ideas I have in mind. But with every visit we know the area a little better and that makes it easier to find the best spots during a next visit.

NATURE CLICKS #440 - SONG SPARROW

March 21, 2020

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 #428 - YELLOW WARBLER

June 13, 2019

Male Yellow Warbler, Green Island Wetlands, Eastern Iowa

I try to visit the Green Island Wetlands at least once a week and one thing hasn’t changed during the last few weeks, the extreme high water level. The main road is still partly under water and closed for all through traffic, making it a dead end. I used that to my advantage and drove slowly on the left hand side (yep, like the British do), the camera in my lap and eyes and ears wide open. Oh, there were many warblers singing in the trees but spotting them is not that easy. The leaves have full size now and even if you see a bird doesn’t mean you have a photo opportunity. This male Yellow Warbler sat in a dead tree and sang his heart out. I cropped the photo because getting closer was no option, the tree stood in the water.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S

RETURNING TO THE SAME SPOTS

June 20, 2018

If people ask me about a good tip for wildlife photography, there is one that will be always on my list. Get back to the same spot over and over again! Sounds boring, right? But I think it really helps to know a location well, have an idea how the light may turn out, and most important , what critters might be present and how do they approach the site.

We went this evening to the flower meadows, I just call “Behind the Mall”, at the city limit of Dubuque, Iowa, and tried to see the birds again I had reported about recently, like Dickcissel, Bobolink, and Savannah Sparrow. We saw them all, but for the most part they were not within a good shooting range today. Watching them is still fun, and making the click is the cream on the ice. Today’s photo is already a few days old. The male Dickcissels guarded the nests that were obviously deeper down between grass and flowers and this is just the gesture you may see most of the time. Did I mention that their songs sound beautiful?

SINGING HIS HEART OUT

May 3, 2018

Song Sparrow, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa -----

It is not difficult to find Song Sparrows and take a picture of them. We find them mostly along the edge of water and marshy land and I have seen them in many of my favorite shooting locations along the Mississippi. Spring is here and this is of course mating time and most birds look at their best right now. Last Sunday I couldn’t resist to make a few clicks when this little guy made for a great display in some old stems from last year and sang his heart out.

MOTION BLUR FOR STORY TELLING

May 26, 2017

How can we tell the story about the male House Wren, who sits on a perch near the nestbox and sings and chatters like crazy to impress one of the females? Knowing a little about the biology of the critter helps to answer the question. When the wren performs, he holds the upper mandible relatively still, while the lower mandible goes up and down with lightning speed. By using a relatively slow shutter speed (between 1/60 s and 1/160 s) I was able to freeze the eye and upper mandible while the lower one has a slight motion blur. We can use a real fast shutter speed and a powerful flash light to freeze every little feather on this wren, but there is a chance it may look like the wren is yawning, and this would be a totally different story we tell with our photo. A little hint of flash was used for this image to make the color of the wren’s bill stand out, but not to freeze the action.

READY FOR A DRINK (OR A BATH)

October 18, 2016

The days are getting shorter quickly and there isn’t much daylight left after I’m done with my work. On the positive side are the more frequent visits of many birds in our yard. Today we had four different woodpecker species around here and I saw a Brown Creeper going up the trunk of a tree. A first this season.

In the fall the American Robins stick together in small flocks and take advantage of our four bird bath bowls. The photo opportunity comes right before they go to the water source. Most of the time they perch briefly on a branch or sticks I have mounted near the bath. The robins look carefully around before they jump or fly to the water bowl to make sure no predator is nearby.

I shot in “sniper mode”, with the Better Beamer flash extender for color enhancement. The sun was already behind the trees but left still some ambient light for this photo. A few minutes later it would have been too dark and using flash as my main source of light is not an option.

1/80 s, f/6.3, @600 mm, ISO 400, -1EV, Flash -4, 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

NATURE CLICKS #284 - INDIGO BUNTING

July 7, 2015

*Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM*

I wrote a few days ago about that we haven’t seen the same numbers of certain birds, especially warblers, as last year. This is also true for the Indigo Bunting, a regular summer resident here in Iowa. They usually visit our bird feeders sometimes during the summer but this year I have seen the species only once so far in the front yard.

This photo was made last weekend in the Green Island Wetlands and before I was able to locate the bird I heard its singing efforts , which sounds really beautiful.

Blue is my favorite color but Indigo Buntings are actually black. It is the diffraction of light through their feathers that make them look blue and this explains why males can appear in many different shades from turquoise to black (source: iBird Pro app).

NATURE CLICKS #277 - SONG SPARROW

May 27, 2015

*Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, SB 800 speed light*

We can talk about the Baltimore Oriole all day long, everybody would agree that this bird is one of the prettiest and most wonderful sounding song birds in America. The Song Sparrow may not win the beauty contest in comparison to the oriole but its singing capabilities are not far from those of the oriole.

The Song Sparrow migrates but I have seen them here in Iowa even during the winter down at the Mississippi River.

NATURE CLICKS #275 - ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK

May 16, 2015

It was a great day for bird photography today. We had a nice overcast all morning long, with even a few rain drops, but this made for a wonderful and soft natural light. No harsh contrast and highlights to deal with and in addition a very pleasant temperature.

I showed you some images of the Scarlet Tanager lately and I’m glad I did, because I haven’t seen neither the male or female during the last couple days

My focus today was on another bird that arrives here every year around the first of May, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The grosbeaks like to visit the feeders with sunflower seeds but it is not so easy to make a picture of the bird away from the feeder.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak winters from central into northern South America. While I’m writing this blog post I just read that the female grosbeak is known to sing, unlike most songbird species (source: iBirdPro app). I have not been aware about this fact but will pay attention to it next time I watch them...