NATURE CLICKS #394 - AMERICAN TREE SPARROW

The photo is already two days old. Life stood in the way for posting here in the blog. That is not a big deal because it was three years ago when I had the last time an American Tree Sparrow in front of the lens. Wednesday night along the waters of the Deere Marsh at the Mississippi River I found a “grove” of them. When I walk on top of the dyke towards the river with our little dog Cooper I usually take the camera with me. This location is always good for some discoveries.

The American Tree Sparrow is here only during the winter time. Their breeding range is in northern Canada and Alaska. Speaking of winter, we have some snow in the forecast for tomorrow. When the ground is covered with snow, the tree sparrows will beat tall weeds with their wings and feed on the seeds that may have fallen down. I thought this is an interesting fact, I just learned from my favorite bird identification app on the phone, iBird PRO. Enjoy your weekend!

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, @ 600 mm, 1/400 s, f/6.3, ISO 400

 

NATURE CLICKS #393 - RING-NECKED DUCK

John Deere Marsh, Dubuque, Iowa --------

Another image from my trip along the Mississippi last weekend. The prominent field mark of the Ring-necked Duck is the white ring on its bill, that makes it easy to identify them. The faint chestnut ring around their necks is very hard to see and mostly visible only at a close distance. I always wonder who gave those ducks their name…😉? The turbulent water on the left is what’s left of one of the females I had in the viewfinder as well. It just dived down in search for food while I pressed the shutter button of the camera. That’s alright, the two males were part of a team of about 20-30 ducks who used the pond at the Deere Marsh as a place for rest and feeding during their migration to Minnesota or Canada up north.

As much as I like this spot for bird watching, for photography it is not ideal. The road to the west and trail to the south are quite a bit higher than the water surface and that gives you always that unfortunate shooting angle from above, which I believe is not very flattering. Don’t even think of getting out of the car and climb down the embankment, all ducks and geese would have left the state of Iowa by the time you are down at water level… 😊

NATURE CLICKS #392 - BUFFLEHEADS

John Deere Marsh, Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa ---------      

If there was a prize awarded for the prettiest migrating duck, the Bufflehead would probably be ranked in the top 3. It is hard to get close to them, but it is so much fun to watch the males displaying and battling for the female’s attention. Although I just read that Buffleheads are mostly monogamous and often stay with the same mate for several years. However, they are constantly on the move and in between they also have to dive for food and will disappear from your view for a few seconds. Guess when that happens? Of course, the moment when you think you have the duck in focus for a sharp image…

It was a gorgeous weekend for bird watching and I used my time to patrol along the Mississippi River between Dubuque, Iowa and Brownsville, Minnesota. I saw thousands of migrating ducks, swans, and geese but it doesn’t mean every encounter will lead to an image. The Mississippi is several kilometers / miles wide for the most part and there isn’t always access to the water due to topography or private land ownership. As longer I live near the Mississippi Valley as more I appreciate to watch the big bird migration every year. My heart beats faster if I see thousands of little dots over the horizon, which indicates birds on the move.

Another good thing is to meet other people who enjoy bird watching as well. Yesterday, at the Brownsville, MN overlook I met Richard, another bird watcher from Iowa,. He let me look through his spotting scope and we had fun to identify birds and shared our sightings. The birds were all at a distance and I didn’t even take the camera out of the car, but spending time with like-minded people is priceless and always educating.

THE STORY ABOUT AN “ORDINARY”

Red-winged Blackbird, Green Island Wetlands -------   

I’m still smiling about my first sighting of a Short-eared Owl yesterday and just a few days ago I finally made some pictures of a pair American Black Ducks, as the avid reader of my blog may recall. It looks like I have already a good bird watching year. But more often we come back from a trip with photos of wildlife that is native to the area, stays all year long, or shows up in large numbers for the breeding season. Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gulls, Mallards, and of course the Red-winged Blackbirds belong into this group here in the Mississippi Valley.

So, how can we make the photos of the ordinary creatures special? First, they have to be sharp. If we don’t nail sharpness at least on the eye of a critter we can try it again and again. The “ordinary” birds are a great subject to improve our shooting skills. Second, light and color should play a role. Nobody wants to see, not even on Facebook, a photo of a gull, sitting still on a sheet of ice that reflects the gray from an overcast sky. This rule can be broken if there is a good story telling gesture involved. Gesture is the third ingredient to make an image of a bird that everybody knows more interesting.

I hear the photo-purists saying, Andreas, why didn’t you move a little to the side to get the swaying dried up plant out of the frame? Well, I did, I moved the “mobile blind”, as I call my car, a couple feet back. It was all good, sharpness, light, and color. The only thing missing in all the other shots was the great gesture of the male Red-winged Blackbird, when he spread his wings, called, and told all competitors around, this is my territory! For my friends in Germany and those who are not familiar with blackbirds, the appearance of this species in late winter and early spring is a good indicator that the warmer season will arrive soon. They are here probably by the millions. The males claim a territory and wait for the arrival of the females. This picture may not make it into a field guide about birds but I think it tells the story about what’s going on out in the wetlands, at the Mississippi River, and along the roads here in Iowa…

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, @ 600 mm, 1/400 s, f/6.3, ISO 200

NATURE CLICKS #391 - SHORT-EARED OWL (FIRST SIGHTING)

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, @ 600 mm, 1/125 s, f/6.3, ISO 800, photo is cropped,  ------------   

It was about time for me to get back into the Green Island Wetlands this evening. Beside the “regulars”, like Canada Geese, Bald Eagles, American White Pelicans, Sandhill Cranes (10), Mallards, lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, and the Northern Harrier, I watched the first pair of Wood Ducks this year. I also met my photography friend Kevin, who is the one who convinced me to join the Dubuque Camera Club last fall, and we shared our recent observations, discussed locations, and of course photography. As the sun went down and we said good bye, Kevin discovered this owl sitting in the top of a tree at the edge of the wetland area. First I thought it was a Barred Owl. We have them around our house and can hear their distinctive calls every night really close, but since they are mostly active at night we hardly see them and so I’m not so familiar how they look in detail. A closer look into the books at home revealed that this is a Short-eared Owl. The yellow eyes and the black triangle around each eye made that clear. Barred Owls have dark eyes and a different plumage.

This is a first sighting for me and even if the photo is cropped and a little noisy I’m very happy. I rather crop the image and keep a safe distance to an owl instead of moving in and become a threat. The safety and comfort for the bird come always first.

NATURE CLICKS #390 - AMERICAN BLACK DUCK (FIRST SIGHTING)

During a short trip to the Mississippi this evening I saw a pair of ducks that got my utmost attention. The American Black Duck is a first for me. It is not a bird you can see here in eastern Iowa every day, not even during migration. It has been on my “most wanted” list since a long time. This was a solitary pair, seen just south of the Deere Marsh behind the John Deere factory in Dubuque. This duck is not black as the name suggests but appears so at a distance.

The photography is less than mediocre but for a first sighting I will make an exception 😉. The distance between the car, which I used as a blind, and the ducks was way too big. The railroad tracks and a lot of water between us left no chance to get closer to the subject. For any other species that is more common I wouldn’t even have unpacked the camera. I don’t think I have ever cropped a photo that much to make it work. The loss of detail is obvious but the joy about today’s encounter outweighs the lament about the photographic results…

BY THE THOUSANDS

Oh boy, we had two days without any sun in the sky. It rained and snowed again but even that wasn’t fun. Reflecting the gray from the sky is just not desirable for bird photography. It’s good that we had a great weekend with lots of sun and that’s why these low flying Mallards are the stars in my blog today. They are currently present by the thousands in the Green Island Wetlands. Some may breed there this summer but most of them will migrate further north.

SANDHILL CRANES AND OTHER ENCOUNTERS

It was another great afternoon and evening along the Mississippi in the Green Island Wetlands. The big migration continues and I had a few more “first of the year” encounters today. Beside thousands of Mallards I saw about 20 Northern Pintails, 4 Northern Shovelers, and 2 American Wigeons. There are still large numbers of Greater White-fronted Geese flying in before sunset.

I was happy to see three Sandhill Cranes a couple days ago but was even happier today when a pair of cranes within shooting range foraged just in front of me. I heard some frogs earlier this week and I’m sure the cranes find what they are looking for. This photo shows a typical scene, while one bird is observing the surrounding area, the other one can search for food. These cranes are omnivorous and exploit subsurface food by probing with their bills. This is why we can see the bill covered with mud quite often. By the way, while I’m writing these lines and look at my pictures I realized how good the grasses and reeds from last year look. I guess this is due to the fact that we didn’t have huge amounts of heavy snow that pushed everything to the ground for weeks.

My excitement grew a little later, just before sunset, when another swoop of 12 Sandhill Cranes flew in for the night. Last year we had way over a hundred cranes in the wetlands in March and I hope the numbers will grow this year again.

THE PICTURES FOR OURSELVES

Greater White-fronted Geese, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Over the years I have tried to grow as a photographer and have developed some standards for myself about what goes into the trash can immediately, what stays in the library for documentary reasons, but is never seen by the public eye, and what can be printed as big as the pixel count allows. Of course, the aim is always the latter but it doesn’t always work out that way.

I made a lot of clicks last night in the Green Island Wetlands and in my post from yesterday I showed a couple photos that tell together the story of this evening. And if I want to print them, I don’t have to think twice. Well, my favorite picture is nevertheless the one I show you today. It lacks sharpness and it is heavily cropped (down to 55%), to make it work. So, what’s the point? It’s the gesture of the geese in front of that superb cloud that tells the story about bird migration and the great light last night in just a single image. Usually I keep this kind of picture (heavily cropped) for myself, but I know that some other photographers who follow my blog, try to answer the same question (Where do I stand with my image quality?). Let’s keep our favorite photos, even if the technical side is not perfect. It’s the emotional part that makes us happy!

IT WAS ABOUT TIME

Virginia Opossum -----------

It was time to go down south today. I haven’t been in the Green Island Wetlands for quite some time and understandably during the winter the expectations to see a lot of wildlife are on a lower level. I enjoyed being away from the “cabin” and just wanted to get a feeling for the landscape again. To my surprise I found some critters and one of them was this Virginia Opossum. This solitary and mostly nocturnal animal is the only marsupial found north of Mexico.

This possum was in search for food between the dry reeds and along the iced over canals in Green Island. They are opportunists and eat a wide range of plants and animals. Opossums are very resistant to rabies, most likely due to a low body temperature. They also limit the spread of lyme disease, as they successfully kill off most disease-carrying ticks that feed on them (source: Wikipedia). I wish the deer would do the same...😏

My photo library shows that the last time I had a Virginia Opossum in front of the camera was already nine years ago. With other words, it was about time to make a few clicks of this actually not so uncommon critter.

FINALLY THE CARDINALS

Male Northern Cardinal ------------

There is one bird I really wanted to make of some new photos this winter but had no opportunity until now. This changed today when we got some fresh snow fall and a conclave of Northern Cardinals occupied the elm tree in our backyard. Usually they show up not much before sunset and this is of course not a good time for aiming a lens at them. I just read that cardinals can live up to 15 years in the wild and now I wonder if there is any of them still alive who was already here when we moved in our house…

Female Northern Cardinal

Because the birds never sat in the same spot for more than 1-2 seconds I decided to shoot not in “sniper mode”, one shot at a time with the flash light and flash extender for better color rendition. I usually do that if we have an overcast but the snow reflected enough light to get some color and keep exposure between 1/100 s and 1/400 s. It is more difficult to shoot the long exposure but it renders a nicer background and the snow flakes look like trails as you can see in the photo of the female cardinal.

REVEALING THE RED BELLY

This week flew by fast and I only have been out one evening with the camera. It was warm during the last few days and the snow, the “giant reflector”, melted down quite a bit. I still like to show another photo I made last Sunday in crisp winter light. This female Red-bellied Woodpecker is one of our regulars. She was born in 2016, at least I believe it is still the same bird we see here.

This was actually my favorite shot from last Sunday. Not just because of the great light but I also like the gesture of the woodpecker and the fact that you can see the orange-red belly, that obviously played a role when the Red-bellied woodpecker received its name. Most of the time we can’t see it in our pictures because the woodpeckers hang on to a tree trunk and the belly is hidden.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender, @600 mm, 1/640 s, f/6.3, ISO 200, image cropped

 

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2018 #01 - SNOW COVERED

Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa --------       

Of course in 2018 I will continue my story telling about wildlife and nature in the Mississippi Valley with some photos. It still fascinates me that the big river is never twice the same, no matter how often I drive down to the valley and visit even well known places. This evening it wasn’t as cold as during the last week and daylight lasts a lot longer already as in January.

Canada Geese, Deere Marsh, Dubuque, Iowa

The ice on the Mississippi has a solid snow cover at the moment but this can change very quickly. Nothing is static at this river. There was a spot with open water south of the Deere Marsh today and hundreds of Canada Geese used it for feeding and resting. It was a constant coming and going and I had some good opportunities to practice my panning technique.

Mississippi backwaters at Deere Marsh, Dubuque, Iowa

I only took the Nikon Nikkor 70-200, f/4 lens with me today and it was a good choice. I acquired this lens mainly for my landscape photography but it will definitely be used for wildlife as well. I love how I can now separate a scene from surrounding and distracting elements. This is where I often have seen the limits of my Nikon Nikkor 24-120, f/4. The 24-120 is a great “walk around lens” but the maximum focal length of 120 mm is quite often too short for separation. Well, I can hear you, why don’t you zoom with your feet and get closer? This is a valid question but in a terrain with natural barriers, like water between the camera and the subject or a canyon just below my feet, a longer focal length is sometimes the only way to exceed these limits. And no, I’m not a fool and walk out onto the ice of the crazy river…😉

All images: Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR

SHOOTING IN LOTS OF SNOW

Winter doesn’t get much better here in eastern Iowa as we had it this weekend. Plenty of sunshine, lots of powder snow, and temperatures that were manageable. The camera was out on the tripod several times and it was fun to shoot with an abundance of light the large numbers of birds that choose our woods as their headquarter at this time of the season. So, who was here? Since a few days a single White-throated Sparrow uses the amenities we provide for the birds, water, food, and protection by bushes, trees, and shrubs. This is not an uncommon bird but usually we see them in early spring.

The Dark-eyed Juncos are here in large numbers all winter long. They prefer to feed on the ground but since competition is very high we see them sometimes picking at suet feeders as well. Because of their dark upper body it is not easy to photograph them under low light conditions. Today it was easy to make the click and many pictures made it onto the hard drive.

We always have some Mourning Doves around the house. At least one couple breeds during the summer here. This winter I have seen up to twelve doves sitting in the trees together and warming up in the sun. This one hit me by surprise and just landed in front of me while I aimed at another junco.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender

NOW ONLINE: VISUAL STORIES - THROUGH THE DAKOTAS

Castles-Slim Butte, North Dakota

Some projects take a long time to become reality and some take even a little longer…😉

I just finished a new set of VISUAL STORIES here in my blog. The collection THROUGH THE DAKOTAS is finally online and you can find it by clicking up in the “Collections”-bar or by clicking right HERE. Some of the photos about a journey through the Black Hills and different “Badland” areas in the Dakotas have been previously posted in my blog a while ago and a coffee table book “BADLANDS - North and South Dakota” has been created as well. The only thing missing was a slide show in the blog. Well, as people in Germany say, …. gut Ding will Weile haben!