I always call it a great day if we have a first sighting of a bird or critter. This may not always be the best photographical moment but at least I try to make a documentary shot and hope to work my way up to a better image sometime later. We were told that getting close to some Sharp-tailed Grouse would be not an easy task and we would be very lucky to see them at all. I think it payed back to get up really early in Custer State Park and during this early trip along Wildlife Loop Road, we saw close to a dozen already the first morning. It was good that I fired away immediately, handhold and just supported by leaning myself against the car, because we did not see them at any other time again. Having part of the road in the frame is not very flattering but making “a” shot is always the priority if I see a new species. The Sharp-tailed Grouse gave us about 40 seconds until they took off. This is the best I could get, but hey, it made it already a great day early in the morning… 😊.
TURKEY DAY
Happy Thanksgiving to all friends and readers of my blog here in the United States! I’m sure I didn’t think about this holiday when I made this photo in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota last month. It may not be Wild Turkey, but a farm raised one, that will be served traditionally for dinner in many families on Thanksgiving. However, I thought the picture is appropriate for todays holiday blog post. 😊
We have turkeys in the woods around our house. In spring, during their mating season, we can hear them calling every morning but I still have not managed to make a decent photo yet. Up in South and North Dakota we had several opportunities to see Wild Turkeys and even to get close to these shy birds. Most of the time you see them down in the grass with a close and very busy looking background. More than a dozen turkeys had just crossed the road and continued foraging on a small ridge before they finally disappeared in the valley behind. It is the far away and out of focus background that makes the big difference between many previous shots and this one, which became my new favorite instantly…
THE BURROS OF CUSTER STATE PARK
One animal in Custer State Park in the Black Hills is hard to miss. Known as the “begging burros”, the herds can be encountered along the Wildlife Loop Road. The burros in the park are feral. They have been introduced by humans to the area and have reverted to a semi-wild state. The donkeys descend from pack animals that were once used for treks to a summit. They often block the road and pander for food from tourists. Because you have to stop anyway, you can’t help but take some pictures of these charismatic relatives of the horse...
BIG BOY IN THE MORNING
Many people come to Custer State Park in the Black Hills for the bison. In the fall the majority of the herd is round up and the bison are kept in a large fenced area. This is done to maintain the health and size of the herd and some animals are sold. We were told that this is the biggest spectacle every year and ten thousands of people come to Custer State Park to see the round up. Today many of the about 250,000 bison that live in other herds across the US and Canada have their origins in the herd from Custer. Some bison still roam free after the round up and we saw mostly solitary bulls or smaller groups.
One morning we came across this big bull and with a photo opportunity like this, it is very easy to get carried away and end up with tons of images on the memory card. After making the usual “safety shots” we really worked this guy with our cameras. The light was good and we waited for some extra gestures a bison bull has in its portfolio. As you can see we were not disappointed… 😊
NATURE CLICKS #309 - MULE DEER BUCK
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
Back to the Black Hills and Custer State Park again. Sometimes a photo doesn’t tell the whole story about what was going on at the moment the click was made. And this is OK as long as your picture has a subject and tells the story that is important. Here it is the encounter of a young Mule Deer buck in the early morning sun on a slope of tall grass prairie. This is why I really wanted to go to Custer State Park so badly! It is the place to make pictures like this one. What you don’t see is the presence of a second buck right in front of this one. Within a second I had to make a decision about how to frame the picture. The deer stopped briefly but they were not waiting for a photographer to make up his mind slowly. Shooting them separately led to a better composition and allowed to use the full focal length of 500 mm to get close to the subject. Nobody will miss the second deer in the photo… 😊
MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #10
Tundra Swans, Harper's Slough, Mississippi River, Iowa
I like to interrupt my series about our trip to North and South Dakota for a more actual story from right here, the Mississippi Valley. Yesterday, and again today, I drove up north along the mighty Mississippi River in search for migrating water fowl. North of Harper's Ferry, near lock and dam #9, I found what I was looking for. The area is closed to all migratory bird hunting and the birds obviously have figured that out. What I found was overwhelming and I was stunned by the numbers I saw. Several hundred Tundra Swans were present, maybe even close to one thousand. Beside them ten thousands of ducks and coots covered the Mississippi. There was no way to even just guess the numbers. The river is about two miles (3 km) wide at this point and the sanctuary stretches almost all the way across and is about 4 miles long. More than a dozen Bald Eagles were sitting in trees or messed with the ducks. The sound of all the ducks and swans was incredible and the distinctive call of the eagles was music for my ears. With certainty I identified Green-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Northern Pintails, American Coots, Gadwalls, and a single Wood Duck. There were maybe other species further out on the river but even with my binoculars I couldn’t see them clearly. The Tundra Swans have quite a journey behind them already. Their breeding grounds are high up in Alaska and far northern Canada. They are easy to separate from the Trumpeter Swans, who breed here in Iowa, by a small yellow spot on the base of their black bill.
Ten thousands of ducks during migration
The tip where to look for ducks came actually from a couple local duck hunters, who just came back from a hunt and pulled their boat out of the river in Harper's Ferry. They claimed that we haven’t seen the peak of the migration yet because of the mild weather. After I outed myself as a photographer they were very helpful and gave me a good description how to get to the sanctuary.
Bald Eagle
The photo of the Bald Eagle was probably the easiest to make. The low afternoon sun lit the bird just right. The high contrast between the white of the Tundra Swans and the darker colors of the ducks were quite a challenge. Exposing strictly for the highlights was the only way to go for these documentary shots.
NATURE CLICKS #308 - MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
I got the question, did you see a lot of birds up in the Dakotas? Not a lot, remember we were there in October, but we saw some birds we don’t have here in Iowa. I posted recently a photo of the Black-billed Magpie and that was the first time I was able to make a decent picture of this bird. In Custer State Park in the Black Hills we saw several Mountain Bluebirds. Mostly during our photo excursions early in the morning. They like to sit on fence posts or barbed wires and there are quite a few along the Wildlife Loop Road. First there is the fence that surrounds the landing strip of Custer State Park. As soon the sun appears above the mountain ridge the fence on the east side along the road is a safe bet to find Mountain Bluebirds. Further down the road, at the Buffalo Corrals, we were able to watch this attractive bird as well. This is where the second photo was made. In comparison to the Eastern Bluebird, that is very common here in Eastern Iowa, the Mountain Bluebird doesn’t havethe red on its underparts.
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
GETTING UP EARLY: ESSENTIAL
Pronghorn, Custer Sate Park, Black Hills, South Dakota
Getting out of the sleeping bag before sunrise is important for seeing some of the wildlife and for maybe getting the photo that makes the difference. Well, the sun raises and sets 365 days during a year around the world and sometimes I think about what it is, that triggers our desire to snap a picture of something that occurs every day. The quality of light during these times plays probably a big role. We maybe just can’t get enough of it.
Being up early beares another advantage, you have the roads, trails, and locations almost for yourself. Not much interferes between you as the photographer and the critter that may become your subject in a good image.
The first photo was made five minutes after the sunrise picture. The Pronghorn buck is still in the shade of the mountains but his ears and horns are backlit by the morning sun. What a great moment!
The last photo was taken the day before and the metadata reveal that the click was made about an hour after sunrise. Still good light, but you can already tell with every minute it became more and more difficult to work an animal like the Pronghorn Antelope with the camera due to the high contrast. As always, a click on each photo opens a larger version on black background for better viewing. I hope you enjoy!
HAWK ON THE HUNT
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
Everywhere where prairie dogs are present in the grasslands of the Dakotas there is also a good chance to make a photo of one of the predators that have prairie dogs on their menu. Beside coyotes, black-footed ferrets, or rattle snakes there is probably always a raptor not very far away. We didn’t see any ferrets or snakes but many birds of prey. This one here is probably a Red-tailed Hawk. There are several subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk and the differences between an adult and immature bird can be quite remarkable. This is the reason why I don’t put this post in my “NATURE CLICKS” series. I’m simple not a hundred percent sure about the identification of this raptor. However, it is always exciting to get close and watch them, and this counts more for me than any photo in the books…
NATURE CLICKS #307 - AMERICAN BISON
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
Lets talk about some big animals today. The American Bison is without any doubt the most iconic animal in the American west. They ones roamed the plaines and prairies by the millions but less than 1,000 bisons survived the massive killings in the 19th century by the white men, and today’s herds are the descendants of those few. We read, I believe in one of the information centers, that about 250,000 bisons live toady in private and public herds in North America.
Badlands National Park has a herd and we always found it in the Sage Creek area, not far from the campground. Except for the mating season the older bulls roam more solitary or in small groups together. Because of their beautiful fur and massive appearance they are a great subject for wildlife photography.
Making a photo has to be done with utmost caution. Don’t be fooled by their relatively slow movements. They can move very quickly and will outrun you easily with a speed up to 50 km/h. We have seen videos of bisons throwing people around within the blink of an eye, and every time we have been out west during the last ten years, we saw someone walking right up to a buffalo with a camera or smartphone in their hand. Well, stupidity never dies…
Most of the time we used the car as a blind and the 500 mm focal length of the lens maintains a distance that the critter will accept and not feel threatened. However, the most important thing is to always keep an eye on the animal and watch its behavior.
This photo of a male bison bull, laying in the grass, was made after a long day out in the field, driving around and searching for critters. I love the shot of this older bull, with mud in its face, burs sticking to its fur, and a horn that tells the story of heavy use…
NATURE CLICKS #306 - COYOTE
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
The howling of a Coyote is one of our favorite nature sounds and even here in the woods of eastern Iowa we can hear it at night quite often. Seeing one, not so much, they know how to hide during the day. The open prairie and grasslands in South and North Dakota make it more likely to see one and it took only one day until we saw the first Coyote in perfect light of the setting sun. What a thrill to see this guy hunting for another critter, maybe a mouse or chipmunk.
All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
NATURE CLICKS #305 - BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4
The Lakota knew this landscape as mako sica and early French trappers called it les mauvaises terres a traverser. Both means “bad lands”. However, if you take some time to visit, the Badlands will reveal themselves as a landscape with great biological diversity and you will find out that it is full of life.
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
The Black-billed Magpie is a great looking bird. We have seen them in every part of the western half in South and North Dakota during our trip. That doesn’t mean we had a lot of photo opportunities. Quite often they flew away as soon we stopped the car and left us no time for pointing a lens at them. They built nests with domes on top and unlike most birds, they can use scent to locate food.
NATURE CLICKS #304 - ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIGHORN SHEEP
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head
Joan and I spent quite some time searching for, watching, and photographing wildlife during our trip in the Dakotas. Since it was our third time in Badlands National Park we had already a pretty good idea where to look for critters and this time we had again some wonderful encounters and joyful experiences. For those of you who like to go there sometime here is the tip, try Sage Creek Rim Road, the gravel road that leads to the primitive Sage Creek Campground. You may find wildlife along the Badlands Loop Road, where most of the tourists travel as well, but it isn’t always easy to park the car and work the critters with your camera along this busy road.
Finding and getting close to the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep was on my bucket list for this trip, and boy, we have not been disappointed!! We were still a little early for the rut and these two rams were standing peacefully side by side, watching the herd and having an eye on the photographer.
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
This is one of my favorite images during this trip. It shows the herd moving along the grassy slopes beside Sage Creek Rim Road and leaves no doubt about where this image has been made. The avid reader of my blog knows that I often like to go for the environmental shot and because of the typical landscape in the background, there is very little doubt that this was shot in the Badlands, South Dakota. It would have been a “butt-shot-only” image, except for the wonderful pose these two young rams put on display. They are too young to play a role in the upcoming rut but they like to test their power against each other.
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
When the bighorn sheep are comfortable with your presence they stick their head into the grass and do the “sheep thing”, eating and munching. Getting the shot may need a lot of patience. Remember, while eating every muscle in their face is in motion and the head moves around all the time. It is hard to get a sharp shot and the prairie grass covers quite often part of the head. The terrain in the Badlands sometimes allows you to shoot from below or at least at eye level with the critter. Waiting for the brief moments when the head comes up, either to watch out for a potential predator, or like in this case, for just chewing on a taller piece of prairie grass, can lead to the picture you have in mind. More to come...
NATURE CLICKS #303 - COMMON RAVEN
You won’t believe how long it took to make this photo of a Common Raven in a parking lot at one of the overlooks in Grand Canyon National Park. I did not have a long lens with me and capturing some details of the black feathers in the harsh light was quite a challenge. I shot this image with the 24-120 after the raven landed on a pick-up truck and faced the sun. In situations like that you can really learn that the camera can handle only about 5-6 steps of light while the human eye is able to see more than twice as that. The raven tried to impress a mate and didn’t mind my close presence. I wished I had a more natural background but at least I managed not to have any other car in the frame. This was the first time that I had a chance to make a photo of a Common Raven (we don’t have them here in Iowa) and so I’m ok with this image. It sure leaves room for improvement…
NATURE CLICKS #302 - BLACK-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG
In almost every area we visited during our trip in South and North Dakota we found Black-tailed Prairie Dogs. Prairie dogs are highly social critters and just watching them in their large colonies can be fun and entertainment for many hours. I shot a lot of pictures and can promise you this will not be my last post about them. They have a system of using body language and sounds to warn and inform each other about a possible predator or whatever is approaching their so called prairie dog towns. Many of our photos were taken from the ”mobile blind”, our car, and that seemed to work very well quite often.