NATURE CLICKS #330 - WHITE-THROATED SPARROW

Like anybody else I like this time of the year. There is so much going on in nature that it is really not difficult to find a photo that tells a story about the season. We had a rain shower this afternoon, much needed after the top soil in the yard got a little dry during the warm days we had recently. The time after the rain is also a good time to go out shooting and looking for birds, and that’s what I did this evening just here in the woods around our house.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, Better Beamer flash extender

In February I posted already a picture of a White-throated Sparrow. We are at the north end of their winter range but it was the first time that we saw this species so early in a year. It is not so unusual to see them in April during their migration and today we had three White-throated Sparrows foraging here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River Valley.

STOPPING FOR THE PEREGRINS

Peregrine Falcon Bellevue, Iowa

I had to stop for the nest of the Peregrine Falcon again last weekend below the bluffs of Bellevue State Park, Iowa. One adult was perched again on a branch near the nest box that hangs high up in the rocks, overlooking the Mississippi River. I assume the other adult sat on the nest but I can only guess, because this is not visible from the ground at the highway. I admit this is not a fair image, because I have cropped it heavily, a lot more than just a cosmetic crop. I should have put the 1.4 teleconverter on the lens to frame the shot closer but I was kinda in a hurry. Parking is not allowed at this location, although there is a big pull-out beside the highway. I just didn’t want to deal with the local cop, who seems to be always on duty when I drive through Bellevue…😉

NATURE CLICKS #328 - TREE SWALLOW

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

Spring is not complete without the arrival of swallows. I saw the first Tree Swallows already a couple weeks ago but now we can find them in large numbers. I spent most of the day in the Green Island Wetlands. This dead tree is standing in the water and was used by the swallows as a place to rest. There were moments when all of them took off, catching insects in flight, but after a while they always came back to this tree. The Green Island Wetlands are an ideal habitat for these swallows. There is food in abundance and many dead trees, with cavities or woodpecker holes, provide the nesting places for them.

AIMING FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAIT

Buffleheads, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

The next weekend has almost arrived and I still have another story to share with you from the last one. Not a bad problem to have…😉  Last week, during our bird watching weekend along or near the Mississippi River we saw ten different duck species, hundreds of American Coots, and a few Hooded Mergansers between Harpers Ferry and Lansing, Iowa. None do match the beauty of a Bufflehead in my humble opinion. Their breeding grounds are up in Canada and we only have a small time window during migration to enjoy their beauty. The “eyeball shot” just for beauty has never been the goal in my wildlife photography and although I try to get as close as possible to a critter, it is the environmental portrait I’m aiming for most of the time. Photos like this, with reflections on the water, subtle light, and still an intimate focus on the bird satisfy my artistic approach.

CHANGING FEATHERS

American Goldfinch, Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM

Several bird species change their feathers twice a year during the molt. The most apparent one here in spring is the American Goldfinch. The males give up their olive-gray to olive-brown winter feathers and change to a bright yellow body. The shot was made right through my office window and as you can see the goldfinches are not completely done yet with their spring molt.

WILD TURKEY IN FULL DISPLAY

We saw quite a few Wild Turkeys last weekend in the area between Harpers Ferry and Lansing, Iowa, near the Mississippi Valley. This obviously dominant gobbler followed his harem in the grass along a creek. We used the car as a blind on a small gravel road, with the creek between us and the turkeys. It was the first time that I was able to make an image of a male in full display. According to the DNR website, restorations have returned wild turkeys to about 95% of suitable habitat in Iowa. All the major river corridors support turkey populations again after this bird was virtually extirpated from Iowa by 1900. It is nice to read a success story ones in a while, in a world where the exploitation of natural resources is still the norm.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens

NATURE CLICKS #327 - PILEATED WOODPECKER

Female Pileated Woodpecker, Mississippi River, dam #9

I start with the biggest highlight of our bird watching weekend. It happened on the dike of dam #9 in the Mississippi River, just north of Harpers Ferry, Iowa. I was hoping to see another kinglet again but instead a full grown Pileated Woodpecker just landed on a dead tree trunk right in front of me. I made quickly a few clicks but my view was obstructed by branches. Luckily the woodpecker took off again and flew to another tree, a little further away. Only a couple thin twigs were between me and the bird this time but I can live with them.

The Pileated is the largest woodpecker in North America. They are about half a meter tall and their call is usual a very loud “kee-kee-kee-kee-kee”. We actually have them here in our woods above the Little Maquoketa River Valley, and if you use the search field in the side bar of my blog, you may find my older reports about this bird. The Pileated Woodpecker is very shy and skittish and that makes it always a special event if we see one or get it in front of the lens.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

The woodpecker didn’t hesitate a second and started to wedge its large bill between the tree trunk and the bark. Big pieces of bark were flying around and this female knew obviously very well where to find a good snack. The second picture has a little motion blur but it shows pretty good how she attacked the tree. I would have been still very happy if this Pileated was the only bird we would have seen during the whole weekend. But there was more…, so please stay tuned…

UPDATE ON THE OWLETS

600 mm, 1/100s, f/6.3, ISO 320, flash fill

I know I have some friends out there, and as far away as South Africa, who like to hear about how our little owlets are doing. The weather has been kinda “crappy” during the last few days but I try to drive down to the Mississippi River after work several times a week in order to see how the young Great Horned Owls develop. For those who do not always read my blog, this is the first time during the last four years that the Great Horned Owl is raising two young owls. Any other year before was only one owlet in the nest.

Today it seemed again that the juveniles are in good condition and there was a brief moment when I saw both of them at the same time. The mother perched in trees nearby most of the time. She was at the nest only once while I was there. Mother owl went always back to the same trees and branches during the last week because she probably can observe the nest very good from all of her preferred spots. She must trust me, because she turns quite often her back to me and rather looks over to the Mississippi and perhaps watches for some prey.

600 mm, 1/100s, f/6.3, ISO 320, flash fill

Rain and dark clouds during the last evenings made the photography very challenging. There wasn’t an ounce, and not even a gram of nice light! In these conditions I like to master flash fill for my images, with all its quirks, like overexposed branches, red eyes, or just dealing with the settings in camera and in the flash. The missing contrast on an owlet’s head or body in low light makes it difficult to obtain always focus for a sharp image and not every picture is a keeper. I know, this doesn’t sound like fun but I really enjoy the process of trial, error, and improvement, and it makes me happy if at the end of the day there is an image on the memory card that tells the story…

WOOD DUCK WITH COMPANY

Male Wood Duck, Green Island Wetlands

The butt sticking out of the water in the background didn’t belong to a female Wood Duck but rather to a Blue-winged Teal. The beautiful male Wood Duck was all by himself but enjoyed the company of a few teals. Ducks of one species are quite often seen together with other duck species or even geese or coots. They seem to benefit from each other especially by watching out for predators. The Green Island Wetlands beside the Mississippi have plenty of food for all of them. While many ducks, mergansers, and geese have moved on further north, more birds have arrived in large numbers, like thousands of American Coots. Some of them will use the lakes and marshes around Green Island to raise a new generation. It’s an exciting time to be out there at this time of the year… 😊

SIGMA 150-600MM SP, MORE THOUGHTS AFTER THREE MONTHS OF FIELD TESTING

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

Coming back from two weekend trips with filled memory cards in the camera and trying to make up the mind what photos to show is probably a good problem to have. This happens always in spring, when wildlife is migrating back north or getting ready to raise their offspring here in eastern Iowa. This pair of Trumpeter Swans rested together with some Canada Geese at a small puddle near the village of Green Island, Iowa. It was still there when I left the wetlands, hours later in the afternoon, and in much better light than during the late morning.

I promised you in December 2015 to write a little more about my experience with the Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, after I had some more field testing done. So, here are a few thoughts. The lens does a wonderful job delivering sharp images even with wide open aperture (f/6.3 at 600 mm). This was not necessarily the case with the old Sigma 50-500, which had to be set to f/8 at 500 mm for best results. I shot the Trumpeter Swans with f/6.3 and f/8 and like the sharpness equally. This is very important to know because it allows to shoot faster shutter speeds in many situations. The background is much better blurred at f/6.3, which helps to make the subject of the picture stand out from its surroundings. The corn field behind the swans is actually a pretty busy background, but smoothing it as much as possible improves the quality of the image, at least in my books… If the critter is moving and I need to pan with the lens, I usually shoot with f/8. The small increase in depth of field may help to get a sharp shot at all and the background is usually blurred anyway. Sure, a lens with f/4 or f/2.8 may deliver a better background but for most amateur photographers, like me, this is cost prohibitive…😉

NATURE CLICKS #326 - PEREGRINE FALCON

Mississippi Valley, Bellevue State Park, Iowa

Another very windy day here in eastern Iowa again but staying home on a Sunday in spring is not really an option, isn’t it? My birder friend Sally gave me a hint a few days ago about the presence of Peregrine Falcons in Bellevue, Iowa. I knew about this location since a few years but had never spotted a falcon. Well, today was the day! At my arrival late morning I saw a pair of Peregrines near the nest box that is mounted to the rocks on the east side of the bluffs at Bellevue State Park. What beautiful birds!! After I had my gear in place, right beside the highway below, one of them was gone and I had no clue were it went (nest box?). The other falcon perched in a tree slightly below the box.

These Peregrin Falcons were another first sighting for me. I made quite a few shots but wasn’t really happy with the outcome due to the harsh light. I decided to come back later when the bluffs would not be in direct sunlight anymore and moved on to the Green Island Wetlands.

The photo I show you today was finally made during the late afternoon. Only one bird was sitting in a dead tree below the bluffs. Good enough for me and much easier to handle without the direct sun light…

NATURE CLICKS #325 - GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET

I could tell several stories with the photos I made today but I like to start with the the most exciting one. I was heading north today to dam #9 in the Mississippi River, located between Harpers Ferry and Lansing, IA. The area north of the dam is a bird refuge for most of the year and it came to no surprise to see hundreds of coots and ducks there. 

A walk on the levee towards the dam led to another first sighting for me. While focussing on another bird (may talk about it another day) I suddenly heard a high-pitched “tsee-tsee-tsee” call and discovered two tiny birds that I knew so far only from my bird books. The Golden-crowned Kinglet is easy to identify, but with the speed they move along the tree branches while looking for small insects, getting a sharp image was quite a challenge.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

SAME STORY, BETTER LIGHT...

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

Same thing as yesterday, two little owlet heads peaked over the edge of the big nest from time to time. The adult Great Horned Owl was again sitting in different trees, not too far from the nest. But what a difference today photographically spoken. Yesterday, with the dark gray sky, was like biting into a lemon. The only way to make lemonade was using fill flash for having some colors. But even then the gray background just sucked…

The clouds were about to move out of our area and a shaft of low sun light and the subject (Mrs. Owl) against a partly blue sky make all the difference…

NATURE CLICKS #324 - GREAT HORNED OWL

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

Yesterday evening I was greeted by a chirpy little owlet, sitting at the edge of the big nest, down at the Mississippi River at Mud Lake Park. I quickly set up my tripod and watched the bird through the SIGMA 150-600mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, zoomed out to its longest focal length. For a while I thought there was a second owlet in the nest, but after looking closer at my pictures on the screen of the NIKON D750 I found out that mother owl just “took a nap” deep down in the nest, while the juvenile enjoyed the sun. What a great moment when she finally went up and left no doubt about who is in charge. I’m so happy to see that we have for the fourth year in a row the pleasure of watching a Great Horned Owl raising her offspring.

THREE GOOSE SPECIES

Green Island Wetlands, Greater White-fronted Geese, Snow Geese, Ross's Geese (far right)

A relatively warm Easter weekend lies behind us. I hope you had a great holiday, although the sun wasn’t out much here in eastern Iowa. On Saturday I introduced the Green Island Wetlands to part of the family. Well, the seven months old twins probably didn’t care too much about where we went…😉

My excitement went up when we saw a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese. My guess was about 400-500. They have still a long way to go before they reach their breeding grounds in northern Canada. With them were also about 50 Snow Geese, the largest number I have seen so far in the Green Island Wetlands. Looking closer at my pictures at home I found out that at least two blue-morph Ross’s Geese were among as well. This was a first sighting for me! If a more experienced birder than me has some other ideas about my identification efforts, I always appreciate your help and suggestions!

An overcast isn’t really helpful if you like to reveal the colors of birds in a photo but it definitely helped with this shot. This would have been a very high contrast scene if the sun was out, but with the overcast it allowed to show some detail in all of the different species, without tweaking much of the photo in post process.