SWALLOWS IN THE WETLANDS

Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Not writing anything here in the blog during the last few days doesn’t always mean I’m not behind the camera. A project around the house took priority this weekend. But beside bird watching in the early mornings here at home, I made another trip down south along the Mississippi River. A number of different sandpipers and plovers were present but were often too far away for a good photo beyond a documentary shot.

Nevertheless, I had some good moments with swallows. A Northern Rough-winged Swallow hasn’t been in front of my lens for a long time. This branch was hanging above a water-filled canal in the Green Island Wildlife Preserve. A perfect habitat for catching insects and replenish energy resources in their little bodies. The fresh green of the trees on the other side of the canal was nicely out of focus and is a perfect backdrop for such a spring photo.

Tree Swallows

I wonder how long we still will see Tree Swallows in the Green Island Wetlands. Their natural nesting places, cavities in trees, will quickly disappear while the majority of trees near the water is dying from water levels too high during recent years. This may benefit the habitat for some waterfowl but I see already a decline of other bird species, like warblers, in this area.

Both photos: Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,

NATURE CLICKS #381 - BANK SWALLOW

Bank Swallow, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

A photo of a Bank Swallow has been on my “Most Wanted List” since quite some time. It was the only missing in my bird gallery of six swallow species we have here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. This picture is at least a starting point but it isn’t the image I have in mind. One of its best identification field marks is not visible, the brown breast band, that makes it easy to identify this species. The photo was taken again from the kayak during our tour at Mud Lake on the big river a few days ago. I had no chance to change my position with the boat and was just hoping the swallow would maybe turn around, but this did not happen. It is the fun of photography, whenever you have a decent shot, there is always room for a next step and improvement.

NATURE CLICKS #328 - TREE SWALLOW

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

Spring is not complete without the arrival of swallows. I saw the first Tree Swallows already a couple weeks ago but now we can find them in large numbers. I spent most of the day in the Green Island Wetlands. This dead tree is standing in the water and was used by the swallows as a place to rest. There were moments when all of them took off, catching insects in flight, but after a while they always came back to this tree. The Green Island Wetlands are an ideal habitat for these swallows. There is food in abundance and many dead trees, with cavities or woodpecker holes, provide the nesting places for them.

NATURE CLICKS #283 - CLIFF SWALLOW

When I started shooting with the Nikon D750 back in April I wrote here in the blog that I have to get physically closer to my subject in order to use the full potential of the full frame sensor. The Cliff Swallows built their nests out of mud below a concrete bridge that crosses the Little Maquoketa River down in our valley, just a few miles upstream. Getting closer to them requires some climbing over a rocky slope, fighting the way through tall weeds, and dealing with hordes of mosquitos. This is a challenge but these extra steps are necessary to fill the frame with the nest and its master architects, the Cliff Swallows.

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

There are several dozen nests under this bridge and the colony of swallows is feeding their offspring at the moment. It takes some patience to make the click if you focus on one particular nest. Sometimes the parents don’t return for several minutes. Taking the challenge of moving in closer and adding a little patience led to some rewarding images and great shooting fun today...

THE LITTLE CHANGE IN GESTURE

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

I made five clicks for this Tree Swallow last weekend in the wetlands,. None of them is really bad but I chose this one for the blog today. It is this little gesture of rounding the chest, tilting the head, and somehow looking into the lens that was pointed at it that made the difference for me. The photo was cropped in post from over 6k pixels on the long side down to a little more than 4k. This is about the same perspective I would have gotten with my old DX-camera, the Nikon D300s or by shooting in DX mode on the D750. I really try to shoot in FX mode whenever possible, means full frame, but in this matter I just haven’t been able to get closer to my subject. So what’s the deal? I can’t print it on paper at least 20 inch long without loss of detail. It’s OK for the blog here, but it will not stand in the world of high quality images. Does it matter? It does for me, because I like the photo because of the gesture the Tree Swallow shows off. So what’s the remedy? I need to go out and try it again…

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.