SNOW GEESE, LONG WAY TO GO

Yesterday evening it was the first time that I got really close to a flock of Snow Geese in the Green Island Wetlands. I watched them for several minutes while they were feeding in a corn field before they took off and went to another spot. It is mind-boggling how far they still have to go for their breeding grounds in the Arctic regions of North America. Most of them were white morphs, but as you can see in my second photo there were also a couple blue morphs among them.

Getting ready for take-off

Some of the geese seem to have a stubbier bill, shorter neck, and rounder head and I wonder if this is just due to the perspective or if there are some Ross’s Gees among the Snow Geese? I’m always very thankful if a more experienced birder helps me out with identification questions.

ONE OWLET REVEALED

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

I had exciting thirty minutes at Mud Lake Park this evening. First I saw my first of the season Eastern Phoebe and Great Egret. There were also more than 80 Snow Geese heading north and a Brown Creeper worked its way up at one of the big trees. But the star this evening was the Great Horned Owl, revealing finally one owlet in her nest. Great Horned Owls are blind at birth and this little bugger didn’t have its eyes open yet. The female owl sat very high in the nest again and I wonder how many owlets were actually still under her body. I guess we will find out soon. Food seems not to be scarce. There was another gray-black feather ball at the edge of the nest, which I believe was a dead coot again that one of the parents had bagged.

NATURE CLICKS #364 - NORTHERN HARRIER (FINALLY!)

Green Island Wetlands, Iowa  --------   

I don’t know how often I have aimed my lens at a Northern Harrier in the Green Island area over the years but never came back with a result that was more than a “private documentary shot”. This hawk has hoaxed me many times but a week ago I finally made a couple shots that can be shown in public. No, this is not the photo I have in mind, there is a lot of room for improvement, but hey, the jinx is broken…😉

Northern Harriers use their sense of hearing to help locate their prey, which is unusual among hawks. Their owl-like facial disk helps with directional hearing.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #7 - ON THE OTHER SIDE

Great Blue Heron, Mississippi River, Potosi, Wisconsin --------

Someone may ask why I don’t shoot much on the east side of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin or Illinois? The main reason is that much of my shooting time is in the afternoon or evening and at many places where the river is accessible I would shoot towards the sun. This can be interesting and may lead to some great results but with birds and water involved it is not my first choice considering colors and contrast. However, last Sunday I went across the bridge to Wisconsin and checked out the area around the boat landing and public access in Potosi. I found large numbers of ducks, geese, and even Trumpeter Swans. My favorite of the day was finally this Great Blue Heron, who briefly interrupted its staring into the water for fish and gave me a nice pose. Although they are not much different in size from a Sandhill Crane, it is easier to get a sharp image of a Great Blue Heron. The better contrast on their breast makes it a breeze to lock the focus point. Why the breast? It is on the same focal plane as the eye and the eye has to be sharp.

WATCHING AND LISTENING, PRICELESS!

Click photos for larger image.  --------

I always enjoy meeting with other photographers and photo enthusiast, exchanging thoughts and share little tips and locations. Last night I talked with Kevin in the Green Island Wetlands, who I met at my photo presentation in the Swiss Valley Nature Center a month ago. He loves nature photography and read about the presence of Sandhill Cranes in my blog. All I can say is that it makes me happy when people find inspiration here and get out to find the interesting things in the great outdoors. This is what this blog is about.

The main actors the last couple days were the Sandhill Cranes again and as I mentioned before, I have never seen them in such large numbers in Green Island. Yesterday I had a head count of about 90, but the cranes were scattered all over the fields and it was hard to keep track. Kevin and I positioned our ‘mobile blinds’ on the westside of the bird sanctuary and we had several opportunities to make the click. Friday night some clouds moved in front of the sun and it was a different quality of light I had to deal with. It was a different approach that required a higher ISO setting due to the lack of quality light. Even if the results can’t be always the best, it is a good opportunity to practice and hone our shooting technique. Today’s images are all from Saturday. Watching and listening to the calls of the Sandhill Cranes is anyway priceless, no matter how the photo shoot goes…

NATURE CLICKS #363 - SNOW GEESE

Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

I had an incredible good time the last two evenings in the Green Island Wetlands. Yes, I went there three times this week. Spring migration is just an exciting time! The only problem I have now is to decide what pictures to show here in the blog 😉. Yesterday much of the air space was taken by hundreds of Greater White-fronted Geese but they all were gone today. Still present was a string of about 30 Snow Geese. They seemed to rest always far away from me, but tonight I had a chance to aim my lens at them after they took off and flew towards the setting sun. Among the mostly light morphs were a few dark morph Snow Geese.

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

USING THE CHANCES

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

Sandhill Cranes are among my favorite birds and I hope you don’t mind if I show you another image from yesterday evening. Opportunities like this don’t come up every day. Today we had an overcast all afternoon and evening and even if the birds were at the same location, the outcome would be totally different. Let’s use the chances when we have them…

NATURE CLICKS #362 - SANDHILL CRANES

Green Island Wetlands, Iowa ------

I read and heard from two different sources that in the Green Island Wetlands more than 100 Sandhill Cranes have been sighted during the last few days. Without any cloud in the sky today I was hopeful to have some nice warm light in the evening and since we still have some snow on the ground these were promising conditions for some shots. Shortly after my arrival in the wetlands I discovered about 25 cranes, scattered at different locations but not far from each other. That was already the largest number I have ever seen in Green Island. You can’t chase the cranes and try to follow them, and so I parked my ‘mobile blind’ on the west side of the wildlife refuge, with the sun behind me. I was hoping the cranes would walk in my direction and come within range for a decent image. And that’s what exactly came about. The group gathered and with every minute getting closer to sunset other Sandhill Cranes flew in and joined the group. My head count was probably not 100% exact but I had about 70-80 cranes. 

I talk quite often about visual story telling I like to accomplish with my photography. Today was such an exciting evening when it all came together. The snow covered hillside in the background, the powerful sunset, and the appearance of the largest number of Sandhill Cranes I have ever seen, this was all part of the story about the wonderful time during bird migration between winter and spring.

NATURE CLICKS #361 - NORTHERN CARDINAL

Winter came back here in Iowa last night and a fresh layer of snow covers the ground again. Daylight saving time went into effect Sunday night and the only good thing about itis the extra hour of daylight that extends the shooting time with the camera after work. The cold temperatures and snow cover drive the birds to the feeders in larger numbers and tonight we had several Northern Cardinals visiting us. The cardinals are very shy and quite often don’t come down from the higher branches if I stand with my tripod on the front porch. The weather made them obviously a little braver and I had my chance to make a few clicks. The only way to make this photo was to use flash fill for some color, but this actually collides with the fact that there were always some little twigs between the camera and the bird. Their shadows were projected onto the feathers and put this shot into mediocrity. I didn’t pay attention to this little detail and saw it only later on the computer screen. No, the world doesn’t come to end for me because it is important to practice as much as possible and having a Northern Cardinal in front of my lens doesn’t happen every day… 😊

MIGRATING DUCKS

Northern Pintail / Mallard / American Coot -- Mississippi River, Deere Marsh, Iowa -------

Our area is kinda ‘fly-over-country’ for some of the ducks I show you today. Usually they spend the summer north of Iowa. The Mississippi River is an important flyway for their long travel.

It isn’t the first time that all three species used the pond at the Deere Marsh north of Dubuque, Iowa for food supply and rest during migration in spring. The Northern Pintail is easy to identify, even if someone is not so familiar with their color or pattern in the plumage. The long tail, much longer than on other ducks, tells the story, even if they have the head under water like the one in this image.

Gadwall

I watched several pairs of Gadwalls swimming and feeding by submerging the head in the muddy water. Part of the pond had a thin layer of ice but the Gadwalls had no problem finding food.

Ring-necked Duck

The Ring-necked Duck is a diving duck and feeds mainly on aquatic plants and seeds but also snaps at insects on the water surface. Their chestnut neck ring is often hard to see from further away but the white ring on their bill is a prominent field mark and makes identification relatively easy.

I used my car as a blind to get as close as possible to the ducks. At my slow arrival they all swam away from the shore but after a few minutes they came back within the range of the lens. Not as close as I would have liked and so I have cropped the photos a little.

NATURE CLICKS #360 - WILSON’S SNIPE, EARLY APPEARANCE

Mississippi River, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa -------

It was a great day for bird watching and in particular the migrating waterfowl along the Mississippi River. On my way south my first stop was at the John Deere Marsh in Dubuque. On the pond north of the little parking lot I saw a couple Northern Pintails, several Gadwalls, Ring-necked Ducks, and lots of Mallards, American Coots, and Canada Geese. I may post a couple pictures from this location tomorrow.

My excitement grew when I arrived in the Green Island Wetlands and found dozens of Northern Shovelers and a pair of Hooded Mergansers beside the other “regulars”, like Canada Geese, Mallards, American Coots, and Killdeer.

As I was ready to turn around and head back home I suddenly discovered four Wilson’s Snipes in the pond across the gravel road from the DNR facility. They were probing the mud with their very long bill in search for food. This was the earliest I have ever seen this bird in the Green Island Wetlands. All older photos in my archive were made during the month of April.

I admit both images are a little soft due to distance and the fading light. When the snipes have the bill in the water or mud the movement of their heads hardly ever stops. There was a moment when they all stopped feeding suddenly. I quickly added the Sigma 1.4x teleconverter to the 150-600 lens. As it got darker with every minute, autofocus became a problem and the lens started hunting back and forth from time to time. Luckily a few clicks could be made nevertheless.

WOODPECKER TREE NO. 1

Female Red-bellied Woodpecker ---    

The tree in our front yard that I call “Woodpecker Tree No. 1” is probably one of the ugliest trees we have. But it is of big importance for our woodpeckers, if they want to approach the suet feeder that is not far from it. Before they enter the feeder, most of the time they land on this tree and hop down step by step, making sure no predator is nearby. The tree is also used to make clear who is next in line. There is a hierarchy between the different species and ages of the birds. The Red-bellied Woodpecker is able to scare the Northern Flickers away, even if some of them are larger. The much smaller Downy Woodpeckers always leave and wait patiently when one of the larger birds, like the Northern Flickers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, or Hairy Woodpeckers come to the tree.

Downy Woodpecker

Both photos are from last weekend after we had some fresh snow on the ground. This helps a lot with light quantity. In addition I use flash fill, not as my main light source but to make the colors more vibrant and to improve mostly the quality of the light. I’m still testing a new flash extender that made it into my bag a few weeks ago and I will write about this piece of gear here in the blog shortly. “Woodpecker Tree No. 1” has been always a good place to make tests with new gear. I know the location and most importantly can compare my results with older photos that were shot under similar circumstances.

I GOT HIM!

Brown Creeper, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa ----------     

This photo was on my ‘Most Wanted List’ since a long time. I showed pictures of the Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) before here in the blog but none of them was well crafted (heavily cropped and lack of sharpness). It is not unusual to see them here in our woods but their appearance is almost unpredictable. They fly to the bottom of a tree and spiral upward very quickly while pecking for insects. The Brown Creeper uses its stiff tail for support when climbing. Their curved bill helps them to get the food out of the smallest cracks and from behind the bark. After the bird is done with one tree it hops down to the base of another tree and starts all over again. Here is some trivia, in my home country Germany lives a relative, called the ‘Gartenbaumläufer’ (Certhia brachydactyla). It looks very similar to the American species.

Male White-breasted Nuthatch

While waiting for the appearance of the Brown Creeper another tree climber showed up several times. The White-breasted Nuthatch is a regular visitor here and we can see them all year long. Beside the obvious visual differences between the creeper and the nuthatch, the White-breasted Nuthatch flies to a higher point of the tree and usually hops down the trunk. ‘Nuthatch’ is derived from its habit of placing seeds or nuts in crevices of trees and prying them open with its bill. (source: iBird Pro App)

FIRST GLIMPSE

Great Horned Owl  ------------   

It looks like I show you the same image at this time of every year. Yes, a Great Horned Owl sits again in the nest at Mud Lake Park, just a stone throw away from the Mississippi River. 2017 is the fifth year in a row that the Great Horned has chosen this nest site. A couple other photographers have emailed me during the last days that they saw the owl and even the male was spotted in another tree (Thank you Linda and Ken!). Incubation takes about 28 to 35 days and is mostly done by the female.

 I was there yesterday afternoon but the bird was out of the nest. Today I used my lunch break to drive down to Mud Lake again and was even able to make a few clicks. Distance is always a bit of a problem and I used all my technical means to overcome it. First, the Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG was mounted between the Sigma 150-600 mm lens and the camera to extend the focal length to 850 mm. Second, the D750 was set to DX crop mode, which gave me the equivalent angle of view of a 1275 mm lens. I still cropped a little sliver on the right and top to keep a few distracting branches out of the frame. At that time of the day I had to shoot against the sun but a thin layer of clouds didn’t make this a big problem. Dialing in exposure compensation of +1 1/3 EV delivered the best results today. 

MISSED VALENTINE'S DAY SHOT

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens,Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG ------------

I was hoping to show you a perfect Valentine’s Day shot but it didn’t work out. A few seconds earlier a second Mourning Dove still perched on the same branch and both birds were facing each other like a good couple. While still fiddling with my camera one of them left. Well, maybe next year… 😏