POOL FULL OF LIFE

Little pool full of life in a creek

Basswood Creek is a small tributary that meets the Mississippi River at Finleys Landing, a small marina and campsite not far from home here in eastern Iowa. The last few hundred yards of this creek are on the same level as the Mississippi and sometimes flooding of the big river has an impact on the water level of this little creek. The water was pretty low for most part of August and in Basswood Creek nothing but clear water came down this small side valley. It can be very muddy after a heavy rain, when the water pours down from higher elevations, with tons of runoff from the fields, but it wasn’t this time. Tadpoles and small fish used the little pools and deeper parts in the creek as a habitat.

A photo like this can be made even at the height of the day, when light is awful for any other pictures out in the Great Outdoors. It was very hot that day and just looking at the life in a creek is a welcome change. Well, our dog Cooper did not develop the same sense of visual appreciation, he just lies down in the water and calls it a day… I can’t blame him when it’s so hot as it was!

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