SPRING BIRDS AND MORE

White-throated Sparrow, near Durango, Iowa

I don’t mind to travel and it is an essential part of my job, but it is nice to be home again, especially at this time of the season. It’s getting green here in eastern Iowa, a little earlier than other years, and with the warm weather more birds arrive in our woods.

Yesterday I heard the wonderful sound of the male House Wrens for the first time this spring. He will wake me up in the morning during the next days and weeks by his melodious songs that hopefully will attract a female to one of our nest boxes.

There were several White-throated Sparrows in the grass below our bird feeders and they look never more beautiful than during this time of the year.

In addition a pair of Chipping Sparrows has arrived and unfortunately a Brown-headed Cowbird is around already. They like to lay their eggs into the nest of other birds and that doesn’t always go well for the offspring of the host bird.

Owlet, Great Horned Owl, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

After being away for an entire week I had to go back to Mud Lake Park at the Mississippi and find out how the little owlet is doing. Other photographers kept me up to date during my time in California but since I watch this nest since five years I wanted to see it with my own eyes. The young owl has grown tremendously since I saw it the first time peeking out from under the mother’s feathers (Click HERE for the first photo). There is definitely only one owlet in the nest this year (last year we saw two) but it is so nice to see this episode continue.

BLUE SHOW OFF

Male Western Fence Lizard, San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California -------

I don’t know if this male Western Fence Lizard displayed to attract a female or maybe tried to keep an intruder at distance. I saw only him between the rocks at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, California. Commonly called the blue-belly, it was showing off his blue patches on throat and belly right in front of me. I was actually focussing on the birds in the shallow water behind the lizard and therefor had the 1.4 tele extender added to the Sigma 150-600. This was the right combination to make this click without sacrificing any pixels because of the distance.

NATURE CLICKS #369 - ALLEN’S HUMMINGBIRD

Male Allen's Hummingbird, San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Orange County, California ----

Last Saturday in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve I met a German pilot from Lufthansa, who did exactly the same like me, shooting pictures and enjoying it. He recommended another location that I wasn’t familiar with, the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. This unique freshwater marsh is only a few blocks away from John Wayne Airport and as you can imagine not the quietest place on the planet. I changed my plans for Easter Sunday and decided to give it a try. All what I can say is that it was a great tip from the pilot. The checklist from the Audubon Society tells that over 282 bird species have been documented in the sanctuary. Before I even pointed my lens at any of the shore birds, I saw this Allen’s Hummingbird. This is a first sighting for me and I was eager to make a photo of it, perching high up in a tree.

NATURE CLICKS #368 - EARED GREBE

Eared Grebes, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, California --------   

When a pair of Eared Grebes becomes the subject during the last hours of the day in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve there is one shot that will make it into my blog. The photo when the sun hits the feathers on their heads was what I tried to capture. Well, the grebes have their own mind and as soon one of them turns the head just a little bit that photo cannot be made.

NATURE CLICKS #367 - WHIMBREL

Whimbrel, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, California --------   

Greetings from Southern California. One evening and a whole Sunday of bird photography lie behind me. I shot at two locations. About the first one, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, I have talked in the blog before. As always, great bird watching and fun to make some good clicks around the laguna between Huntington Beach and Seal Beach.

This Whimbrel was a first one for me. I followed this long-legged sandpiper for quite some time. They are in constant search for marine invertebrates, worms, and mollusks. The Whimbrel probes deeply into the mud and moves as it feeds but I also saw them picking up food on the ground. The Whimbrel breeds up in Alaska and the arctic regions of Canada and Greenland.

Because of the intensive low sitting sun it looks almost like a speed light was used for the photo, but because of this light quality the flash stayed actually in the bag the whole evening.

MIGRATING GEESE, STILL COMING THROUGH

Snow Geese, Mississippi River, near New Albin, Iowa

This is a late photo from our trip along the Mississippi River last weekend. I was traveling this week and had planned to post this on Monday already, but made the “beginners mistake” of leaving my card reader at home. A good reminder to pay more attention while packing the photo gear for a trip…

We saw several hundred White-fronted Geese near the boat landing in New Albin, just south of the Minnesota border. Among them were about a dozen Snow Geese, feeding in the marsh land that surrounds the road to the main channel of the river. I have watched these species since several weeks along the Mississippi and was surprised to see still so many of them. I thought they were all gone already and they would be way further north on their journey to the arctic region of North America. A look on the migration map reveals that especially the Greater White-fronted Goose travels from as far south as Mexico.

Greater White-fronted Geese

I shot most of the pictures from my car, using the DX-crop mode, equivalent to a 900 mm focal length. Another photographer told me that a little earlier they were so close that he had to zoom out to 150 mm focal length. I wished I was that lucky…

NATURE CLICKS #366 - COMMON SNAPPING TURTLE

There was a reason not to pick up the grass in front of the turtle's face........

Joan and I enjoyed a nice drive along the Mississippi River all the way up into Minnesota today. We were looking for all kinds of migrating birds between Harpers Ferry, Iowa and Brownsville, Minnesota. We had some good sightings but the most impressive encounter was this huge turtle that we found on top of the levee that connects lock & dam #9 with the Iowa side of the Mississippi. Our little dog Cooper almost learned it the hard way why this big turtle is called a Common Snapping Turtle. It really snapped at him very fast as he approached the motionless critter. Luckily he was fast enough to avoid its bite, but it would have been a mess otherwise. I learned my lesson quickly and used the full zoom of 600 mm for making some clicks. The turtle had just finished the steep climb from the south side of the levee and was probably on its way to the other side. They travel extensively over land to reach new habits or to lay eggs. When out of the water the snapping turtle is noted for its combative disposition, while in the water they are likely to flee and hide in sediment (source: Wikipedia). Well, after today Cooper and both of us have no doubt that every word about this species in this encyclopedia is true…😉

MOTHER OWL

Mother owl did not show me her precious offspring this evening. She just sat on the nest and kept her owlet covered. I still don’t know how many owlets are in the nest but I talked to a camper, who had watched the owl since a while, and he told me he has not seen more than one.

As you can easily see the light had no character today. Yes, we had another day with mostly a deep overcast. I hope I can show you some more photos of a young Great Horned Owl soon.

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