FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW - THE GREAT HORNED OWL

It was a cold day due to some icy wind. It didn’t stop me to take Cooper, our little dog, down to Mud Lake at the Mississippi River after work. Not that I was really longing to go out into the wind but it is the time of the year when the Great Horned Owls lay their eggs. And yes, for the fourth year in a row an owl sits in the old eagle’s nest. Photographically it is not so interesting because you can’t see much of the owl, but as a bird lover I’m very excited.

The photo below shows the young owl that grew up in the same nest last year. The shot is from April 27, 2015, taken after the owlet had left the nest already.

April, 27, 2015

UP EARLY

Black-tailed Prairie Dogs

I shot a ton of pictures of Black-tailed Prairie dogs during last year’s vacation in the Badlands of North and South Dakota. The ones that stood out for me are those that show the critter with a great gesture or in beautiful light.

The whole prairie dog town was out of their dens already shortly after the sun raised over the mountain ridge. They probably tried to warm up a little after a long night and watched us very carefully while we moved closer with our cameras.

NATURE CLICKS #318 - BROWN CREEPER

According to my field guides the Brown Creeper is supposed to be around here in eastern Iowa all year long. This photo was made in the Mines of Spain, a mostly wooded recreation area south of Dubuque, Iowa. So far I have photographed this small bird only during winters or in the early spring. And I admit, I still haven’t been able to make a tack sharp image I could be very proud of. The bird blends very well in while creeping along tree trunks, always from the bottom upwards. They are almost always in motion and it is very difficult to lock the focus on. The picture has a little motion blur too, despite a shutter speed of 1/800s and fill flash for bringing out its colors. With other words, the Brown Creeper still remains on my “most wanted” list…

TEST SHOTS WITH A TITMOUSE

Tufted Titmouse

Yesterday I had planned to go back to LeClaire, Iowa for some more shooting of Bald Eagles but unfortunately other things stood in the way. My friend Dave Updegraff posted some good pictures in his blog from this location and obviously the weather conditions and action of the birds were really good this time. I guess I have to wait for another chance.

I used the gray overcast today to work on a new piece of photography accessory, which I had in mind as a “do it yourself” project since quite some time. I won’t reveal what it is until it is finished, it almost is, and I will show it here in the blog hopefully soon. However, some testing was required in order to find the best design and this Tufted Titmouse in one of our trees made for a perfect subject. The titmouse is another bird that we can see here in our woods all year long.

YOUNG EAGLE'S CATCH

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

On my way home from a good customer of mine in Davenport, Iowa I stopped at lock and dam #14 in LeClaire, Iowa, the same place I have reported from many times before about Bald Eagles. There were by far not so many photographers as last Saturday (see my blog post about the last visit by clicking HERE).

The light was kinda mediocre but I want more practice with the new SIGMA 150-600 Sports lens. During the short time I was at the Mississippi River I just tried to explore the capabilities of this lens , even under not the best light conditions.

I show you what I think was the most interesting picture that made it onto my memory card today. This immature Bald Eagle caught the fish out of the water and headed straight to a tree . Younger eagles are not always successful in their fishing efforts but this one knew it hit the jackpot. The claws holding the fish became my subject, but the photo would have ended up in the trash can, if the eye of the bird would not have been visible or even just been blurry.

NATURE CLICKS #317 - PURPLE FINCH

Female Purple Finch

Any time I look through one of our windows I check for not so common birds or critters that may pay us a visit or just pass through our woods. In the last couple days I have seen a few Purple Finches around here. Surprisingly I saw only females so far. During the summer they are up in Canada or northern Minnesota but we see them on occasion every winter here in eastern Iowa. The females did obviously not stand for the bird’s name with their brown-streaked body but I think they are pretty. The males have a pink-red head, throat, and rump. Hope to see one of them too sometime…

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light

3 PICS, 3 WAYS OF TRYING TO GET A PLEASING COMPOSITION

Beside the story telling in my wildlife photography I like to make photos that are esthetically pleasing. I admit, not every picture that tells a story complies with this criteria. At the other hand, not every photo that is a piece of art tells a story about the critter or the environment it lives in. I guess there is an in between and a demand for either side.

Get it right in camera and be done with it is a high bar that I like to jump but this is quite often easier said than done. Here are three pictures from yesterday’s shooting at the Mississippi. Each was made with a pleasing composition in mind but the outcome required more or less correction.

Focussing on just one Canada Goose and panning with the lens led to this shot. No crop, the bird’s position in the frame tells the story of a direct overflight, and the light reflected from the snow on the ground make for a pleasing picture in my books. I wished it would be always that way 😊.

More geese flying by at the same location. The light is again just great. I tried to capture the typical V-shape of the formation and integrated it as a triangle in my composition. Everything worked out good, except for the fact that one goose was cut by the edge of the photo on the left hand side. There was no remedy for that beside removing the bird in question. I didn’t get it right in camera obviously but this small correction made me keep the image.

Over the years I made thousands of photos with a Bald Eagle in flight and I keep still several hundred in my photo library. So, why another one? The shape of the cloud in the background and the way the eagle holds its wings at that moment make it an esthetically pleasing photo for me. Well, but I missed the composition completely by having the eagle dead center. I would not have a problem with that if the eagle would fill most of the frame, but here the cloud is an important part of the photo. It just didn’t look right to me. A small crop on the right and at the bottom came to my rescue. Again, not right in camera, but the photo is much better balanced after the correction in post process.

BALD EAGLE DAY

Adult Bald Eagle, Mississippi River, lock & dam #14, LeClaire, Iowa

Today I finally had a chance for the first time this winter season to travel down south to lock & dam #14 in LeClaire, Iowa for some Bald Eagle photography and for more exercise with the new Sigma 150-600 Sports lens. I like the late afternoon light at this location the best and so I took my time and visited several other locations along the Mississippi River on my way. The river has ice cover all the way down to Princeton, Iowa but it isn’t solid and there are open spots. South of Princeton I found nothing but open water, except for the bays and some backwater areas. This is unusual in January but except for the last couple weeks it was a relative warm winter. I saw lots of ducks and mergansers that just go so far south as the ice stretches.

Photographers lined up at lock #14, LeClaire, Iowa

The parking lot at #14 was completely filled when I arrived and I don’t think I have ever seen so many people with cameras in this place yet. I think it is great that more and more people go out for nature photography but I personally don’t like big crowds and try to avoid them. Well, I turned around and went across the river on Interstate 80 to the Illinois side of the Mississippi. Wow, I had it all for myself! There was nobody at the dam on this side of the river. The main reason is that shooting from the east side of the river is not always the best in the afternoon but I had my chances. The photo above shows only part of the crowd that gathered on the Iowa side. The river is here more than one kilometer wide. This is next to the exit of the lock and many photographers like this place because the eagles perch in the trees nearby, there is always open water, and you have a good chance to make a picture of a Bald Eagle catching fish.

Immature Bald Eagle, Mississippi River,dam #14, Illinois side

The bay next to the dam on the Illinois side of the river had ice and a nice snow cover. This worked like a giant reflector and the photo of this immature young Bald Eagle flying over was made without flash or bringing up much of the shadows in post process.

NATURE CLICKS #316 - EASTERN GRAY SQUIRREL

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light

Our woods around here support a lot of critters. Oaks, hickory trees, maples, eastern red cedars, wild cherries, and a variety of smaller trees provide food for birds and mammals. The Eastern Gray Squirrels built their nests in the trees, made out of leaves and small branches, and we have always a few of them here. As the winter continues their food stacks become obviously smaller and they take more advantage of the bird feeders than usual. The squirrels must have a really good way to communicate and spread the news, at least as good as the internet…😉  A few days ago, when it was bitter cold here, I counted twenty of them just by looking out the windows. This is a new record and we wonder from how far they come to desperately fight for a few sunflower seeds.

NUTHATCH AND SIGMA 150-600 S LENS TALK

White-breasted Nuthatch, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa

This is a picture I wanted to make since a long time. The White-breasted Nuthatch gave me a little bit of time today at our maple in front of the house to shoot a series of pictures. The fill flash is subtle, just enough to emphasize the colors, and except for the second catch light in the bird’s eye, it is not obvious that flash was even used. The nuthatches are permanent residents in our woods here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River Valley.

I used the Nikon D750 with the SIGMA 150-600, f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens for this photo (picture made @ 600 mm, 1/160s, f/6.3, ISO 250). As more I work with the new lens, as more I fall in love with it. My old SIGMA 50-500 delivered sharp images but it was at its best at an aperture of f/8. I’m very impressed how the new 150-600 S performs already at f/6.3, and I already mentioned in my first article about this lens how much better the bokeh of the new lens is. It’s getting gradually warmer here in the next few days and I hope I have some more opportunities to practice with the SIGMA 150-600 S.

NOT SO FAMOUS LOCATIONS

Lake Carlos State Park, Minnesota

The chance that we can create a good nature photo increases dramatically if we go to an interesting location. Period! Well, we all know this is not always an option. Sometimes life stands in the way. So should we leave the camera in the bag or even at home any time we think the location is not worth any efforts? Of course not! Watching the light and colors, looking for interesting perspectives, or focussing on details can sometimes lead to a photograph at places that usually cannot compete with Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon.

On our way home from North Dakota last October we camped for one night at Lake Carlos State Park in Minnesota. Not a bad campsite, and at least at the end of the season there were not too many people. But every way I looked around, there wasn’t much I really wanted to photograph. It wasn’t until the sun had disappeared and left us with a nice glow on the shore, that I realized the potential for a shot. There was some “camping and boat clutter” between the trees in the background, which were cloned out for this image. The moon and the last light of the day made all the difference.

Earlier I tried to take some pictures of these Pied-billed Grebes on the lake. At that time the reflections on the water were just to bright and I didn’t get a shot that I liked. Ten minutes after the photo with the moon was shot I saw still the colors of the sky reflected on the water. Suddenly it wasn’t about a detailed shot of the birds anymore, it was just all about color and positioning the silhouettes of the grebes in the frame...

NATURE CLICKS #315 - NORTHERN CARDINAL

Male Northern Cardinal

The Northern Cardinals flock together in the winter and during the early morning or after sunset we can count about twenty visiting our bird feeders. It was bitter cold again today and so we see them even a lot more during the day. Cardinals are very shy and it is not easy to get close. Other birds will tolerate my short presence out in the open and still visit the feeders but the cardinals just sat in the trees and waited until I went back in the house to warm up my fingers.

I used “quick crop”, the DX mode in the Nikon D750, because I wasn’t able to get closer. The low sun delivered a nice light from the side and being fast was key for making the click.

HAVE TO LIKE IT

Pronghorn, Custer State Park, South Dakota

We are in northwest Iowa again and spend time with our family. The winter becomes “serious” and temperatures getting really low here right now. Today we had about -15˚C and tomorrow we expect -25˚C / -13˚F with a windchill down to -40˚C / -40˚F. Minus 40 is the magic number where the temperature on the Celsius scale meets the one on the Fahrenheit scale…

Joan, Cooper, and I went out this afternoon for a little hike and I tried to make some pictures that tell the story about winter. After all, looking at them later on the computer screen, I didn’t like the results. This happens and I don’t blame the weather for it. I rather show nothing than a picture I don’t like. So, this is why a photo from the archive is used for today’s blog post. Not even partially related to today’s article, but at least it is a photo that I like… 😉

FEEDER LOCATIONS

Black-capped Chickadee

I can’t mention enough how important our “front and backyard studio” is for my almost daily practice of wildlife photography. Sure, I have met other photographers that would never aim their glass on a bird that flies in for a feeder, with other words, one that has been “baited”. I highly respect their ethic standpoint as long as they stick with it, but I think they may miss a great chance to study the wildlife and to practice their skills, especially if time is limited because of work or other commitments.

Many birds fly first to a bush or nearby tree before they enter the actual bird feeder. It also serves them as a first refuge if some danger comes up or if they are just scared by a noise or sudden movement. Placing your bird feeders next to a brush or shrub can make a big difference how often your feeders are visited by our feathered friends. If you plan to set up a feeder sometime, give it a thought, plant a bush or tree nearby or use the proximity of an already existing one. The birds will make their visits more frequently and the fun you have will at least double…😉

TEST SHOT (IN A SHAFT OF LIGHT)

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light

It is very cold here right now in Iowa (-16˚ C / 3˚ F) and because of the wind it feels even a lot colder. I don’t have always time to dress for these temperatures when I see something in the front or backyard, so I shoot quite often through the glass of the balcony door or just open a window briefly, while using every spare minute to learn and practice with the new glass, the Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports lens. Most of these “test shots” will never be seen by the public eye. This is the big advantage of digital, it allows us to shoot and practice without breaking the bank.

So, what pictures of backyard wildlife photography are really worth to be published? I can’t answer that for everybody, but when light, gesture, color, or either combination of them let a photo stand out or help the story telling, I would consider it.

The cold temperatures drive lots of Dark-eyed Juncos down south and many of them love our feeders, or better, what can they find below them. Juncos usually feed more on the ground. The trees we have around here make it somehow unpredictable how the low sun at this time of the season will impact the light. However, when a shaft of light hit the snow just where the juncos roamed today, I had to make the click...