We still have quite a bit of snow here in our woods and I try to take advantage of this “big reflector” for my bird photography. This beautiful female Red-bellied Woodpecker is a frequent visitor here and a few days ago I had a chance to make this photo with just natural light. Don’t take me wrong, I don’t mind using a fill flash for boosting the colors if the natural light is not sufficient, but this time the soft light that bounced just off the snow did the job just fine.
PANNING WITH THE MERGANSERS
Just a short post today. Here is another photo from my tour along the Mississippi. These Common Mergansers were in food competition with the pelicans at lock & dam #14 (see my last post). They were on a constant move about the best positions and fishing grounds. I prefer to handhold my camera and long lens while watching out for Bald Eagles and it works for the mergansers as well. It allows me to pan with the lens even at a short distance and panning is the only way to get the head of the bird sharp. The image was made at 500 mm, 1/350s, f/8, ISO 200.
LIGHT, GESTURE, AND COLOR
Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
I went on a wildlife scouting trip today. The temperatures went up above freezing but there is plenty of snow still on the ground. The Green Island Wetlands were snowed in and it was very very quiet. I saw a couple Horned Larks and some Song Sparrows but that was all.
The last stop of my little trip along the Mississippi River was the well known lock & dam #14, just south of the bridge where Interstate 80 crosses the big river. I was late but still early enough for the best light. Seven Bald Eagles were sitting in the trees and at least new visitors had a chance to see them relatively close, maybe for the first time in their life. This is good and this is why this location is great for everybody, not just photographers.
Some photographers, that came long ways to #14 for shooting pictures of the eagles may have been not so happy because the lack of action. Means the eagles didn’t hunt for fish in the river. However, more than 25 American White Pelicans and numerous Common Mergansers made up for the inactivity of the eagles.
When I arrived at 3:45PM many photographers carried their gear already to the parking lot. At 4:30PM most of the people were gone. Big mistake IMHO! It was the time when the magic unfolded.
Although the gates of the lock are closed during the winter, there is still plenty of water flowing through the lock chamber. This is where the pelicans go for the fish. The light of the low sun got reflected from the doors of the lower gate onto the water in front of it. This made for a spectacular golden color. These two pelicans face the warm sun light directly and from all the reflections around. In addition they lifted their wings simultaneously, which gives them the little gesture that makes it interesting. It doesn’t always happen but today it all came together, light, gesture, and color…
LESSON LEARNED
The load of snow we got over the weekend was topped today again with another inch and the temperature dropped quite a bit below freezing. It is the time of the season when life gets really hard for the critters out there. The White-tailed Deer overcome their fear and come out of the woods, very close to the house, and try to find leftovers at the bird feeders or just eat dried up flowers in the garden.
I learned my lesson yesterday when I missed to open the window before a group of deer arrived. I made a few clicks through the glass but the results were not flattering. Remember, this happens usually between 4.00 and 5.00 PM when the light is already fading away and it is hard to make a photo of a moving critter. The little noise from sliding the window down while the deer are present usually scares them away.
All images: Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head, Nikon SB800 speed light
Today I saw a doe with its fawn approaching and opened the window quickly before they came close to the house. I used a fill flash for some color boost but that did not bother them much. The doe was eating out of the bird feeder while the fawn munched on some dry flowers.
What do I like about these images? I made of course a few more clicks, some pictures with even better sharpness, but it is again the story telling gesture in both photos that made me choose these two for the blog post. The fawn looks back for its mother, knowing that she still means protection. The knee-deep snow and the snow crystals in the fur tell the story about survival in very harsh winter conditions. Last, but more and more important for my wildlife photography, the composition was made 100% in the viewfinder and no crop in post process was required… I hope you enjoy!
WORK FOR A NEW GALLERY
I’m working on a total overhaul of my galleries about the wildlife in Iowa at the moment and I hope I can integrate it soon into this new website here. While reviewing older photos I realized that some of the birds and critters deserve some new and better representation in the gallery, especially those that live here in our woods all year long. One that is present during all seasons is the Black-capped Chickadee.
It helps to know the habits and biology of a critter to make the shot. In this case I used the fact that the chickadees quite often fly first to the bushes in the yard before they enter the bird feeders. It is a repeating pattern of behavior that helped me to focus on one particular area without moving around with the long lens too much. The light was sufficient this morning but I still used a fill flash for boosting the colors a little bit.
DOWN TO EYE LEVEL
Despite the mild winter so far the squirrels must have used up all their food reserves. At least they started feeding sunflower seeds from our bird feeders with much higher intensity than in December or early January. Who knows? There isn’t much exciting about a photo of an Eastern Gray Squirrel feeding but the snow crystals in its fur triggered my interest. I don’t want my photos look like they were shot with a phone camera, from above and as boring as possible… ;-) The option was to lay down and bring the lens to the eye level of the critter. And that’s what I did to get this shot.
NATURE CLICKS #253 - DOWNY WOODPECKER
Every bird goes on high alert here in our woods if a bird of prey shows up. They either fly away panicky or they just freeze absolutely motionless, like this Downy Woodpecker just outside our window. A Sharp Shinned Hawk hunts here quite often, and even if we can’t see the predator always, we know it is around by just watching the other birds behavior.
A FINE LINE
I stopped briefly at lock & dam #14 today on my way back home from a business trip. Unfortunately it was just about the same time when a big field of clouds moved in from the west that covered the sun. You could tell that the quality of light dropped from one minute to the next or from gorgeous light to stupid gray. I counted six Bald Eagles sitting in the trees and about three times more photographers who waited more or less patiently for the birds to come down and start some fishing action. The eagles didn’t leave the trees at all while I was there and shooting against a gray sky wasn’t really what I had in mind.
Sometimes we have to accept that we come home with nothing on the memory card, but if we don’t try we will miss the opportunities that come at another time. Today’s photo was made almost exactly one year ago and the metadata of the image reveal that it was even almost the same time, between 3 and 4 o’clock. It can be a fine line between success and coming back with nothing in your hands…
PRACTICE WITH THE GULLS
Every winter when I go out shooting Bald Eagles for the first time in the season I get reminded how important it is to practice proper shooting techniques. There is no lack of Ring-billed Gulls along the Mississippi and when the eagles decide to sit just quiet in the trees I just aim for the gulls in order to use my time the best. If you have a high keeper rate while shooting gulls, getting a sharp image of a Bald Eagle in flight seems to be a piece of cake in comparison. The flight pattern of the eagles is a lot more predictable.
After arrival at lock & dam #14 in LeClaire, Iowa last Sunday I went straight for the place where the gulls were fishing. My keeper rate was very low in the beginning but improved over time and finally there were a few pictures that I even liked…