WINTER WONDERLAND RESTORED

The view into the valley wasn’t pretty during the last days, with the old snow from earlier this year almost gone. But a new thick layer of the white stuff poured on us again all morning. It was very wet snow and it did cling to the trees. “Winter Wonderland” restored, even if it was only for a few hours…

The deciduous forest here, without its leaves, bares a lot of distractions that often do not work for a photo very well. The chaos of branches is reduced by their snow cover, they stand out and it almost becomes a texture. Using black and white for the final image emphasizes the beauty that we saw today while looking at the trees above the valley below.

FIRST BE PATIENT, AND SECOND, DON’T FORGET THE POLARIZER

A hint of fall colors, Walnut tree, Mississippi Valley, near Guttenberg, Iowa

Another great day with warm weather and some hope to find the unbeatable light of autumn here in the Mississippi Valley. It has been a dry year for the most part and many smaller trees loose their leaves without putting on a great color show. But we are not at the peak of fall colors yet and it may take a little time to find the spots that satisfy the eye and mind. I’m not a big fan of bare branches and dead sticks in my tree photos and some decent light has to be present before I make the click. This walnut tree below the steep slope of the Mississippi Valley caught my attention. I love the shape and how it stands out against the background and the surrounding trees. When the layer of clouds thinned out and more light revealed the colors of the leaves, the click was finally made.

If you like to photograph the fall colors for the first time during the next few weeks, here is a little tip that may help you to come back home with some good shots on the memory card. Don’t forget to bring a polarizing filter! No, we don’t need that for a better blue in the sky anymore, but it will remove the glare from the sky on the surface of the leaves and it will reveal the true colors. This works for leaves that either still hang from the trees or maybe make a nice pattern on the ground already. Glare on a surface is one of the things you can’t “fix” in post process.

NATURE CLICKS #503 - HOODED MERGANSER

Female Hooded Merganser, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

This female Hooded Merganser was as calm as a bird can be. I was really wondering if there were some ducklings nearby. I have photographed the offspring of Hooded Mergansers May 1st already a few years ago, but it didn’t seem like this female was too worried about any juveniles. However, we can’t expect to see the male Hooded Mergansers around the females this time of the year. Once the female begins to incubate, the male abandons her.

The water level in the Green Island Wetlands is the lowest I have seen in years right now. This is not always pretty for a photographer that looks for a nice background, but it is probably good for the wetlands. The high water level of the last few years has killed lots of trees and shrubs and has a huge negative impact on many birds, except maybe for geese and some ducks. There are still some dead trees that make a home for a few woodpeckers and tree swallows. But where do they go when the last tree trunk is not standing anymore? I have watched that and it is amazing how fast a whole grove of trees is nothing but a flat pile of decaying wood in the water. Some land is finally getting dry right now and maybe some of the shrubs may recover. I’m definitely not an expert on the biology of this ecosystem, but my picture library tells me exactly what birds I have not had in front of the lens lately…