WATCHING MIGRATORY BIRDS

Sandhill Cranes, Mississippi River, New Albin, Iowa

Last weekend I made the two-hour drive along the Mississippi River into Minnesota. My destination was the Brownsville overlook, a place where ten-thousands of birds take a rest on their way to the south. Every November you have a chance to see thousands of Tundra Swans, who take a break on their journey from the arctic to their wintering grounds along the Atlantic coast from the Chesapeake Bay to North Carolina. Beside that this refuge in the river is a great place to see many Bald Eagles and ten-thousands of ducks.

Just before crossing the Iowa - Minnesota border I checked the road that leads east from New Albin, Iowa to the boat landing at the Mississippi River. This is usual a good spot for bird watching but it has been flooded for a big part of the year. The water had just receded and it was still quite muddy. To my surprise I heard the call and saw about two dozen Sandhill Cranes taking off and flying south through the Mississippi Valley. After all the snow we had, I thought they were long gone already.

Tundra Swans, Mississippi River, Brownsville overlook, Minnesota

The two overlooks along the road between New Albin, IA and Brownsville, MN are a popular destination at this time of the year. You can meet many like minded people that enjoy bird watching or want to make some pictures. Not always the best place for a great image, due to the distance between the birds and the overlooks, but always worth the trip, if you like to witness the wonders of nature and for feelings of pleasure.

There was educational material on display and a naturalist on site, who was happy to answer the questions visitors had. She told me that the first Tundra Swans were already here three weeks ago. The backwaters were already partly frozen last weekend but this bay had open water. With the warmer temperatures right now you may still have a chance to watch them this week. If the river freezes over, the birds have to move on…

My pictures today are not really for “gourmets”, but since my blog is about nature and photography I like to share my observations with other nature friends and photographers in the area.

WILDLIFE AT HOME

White-tailed Deer, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa

With snow on the ground since late October things are a little different this year. It feels like January and I’m almost sure the critters in our woods think the same way. The White-tailed Deer are in the rut and during the last few days I have seen a couple bucks roaming around down at the river and here up on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa River Valley.

Today a doe with her fawn were hanging around the house in the late afternoon. It is the time of the year when I have the camera always ready to use in combination with the long lens. We see the deer not just during the winter but it is a lot easier than during the summer to make a photo, if the light is just right. I made several clicks with each of them being the subject in the photo, but in a few shots the faun tried to fondle with its mother. Gesture wins over technical perfection in my books, and today’s photo tells the story about their presence this evening the best.

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #10

River Otter, Bear Head Lake, Minnesota

We didn’t come across with the big animals that have their home in northern Minnesota this time, like moose, black bear, or wolf, but we had a good number of wildlife encounters during our trip last month. The best and most memorable was a brief meeting with a River Otter at Bear Head Lake in Bear Head Lake State Park. I went for an early morning walk with the Nikon D750 and 70-200 attached. There were some deer in and around the campground and I was hoping to get a glimpse at them. As I approached the lake an otter just entered one of the logs in front of me. What a surprise! I have seen otters here in eastern Iowa before, but never had a wild otter in front of my camera. I made a number of clicks but should have dialed in an ISO beyond 1600. A shutter speed of 1/100 s was just not enough to freeze the action for a tack sharp photo of this fast moving beautiful otter.

Ruffed Grouse, Lake Vermilion State Park, Minnesota

Movement didn’t play a role with this Ruffed Grouse a couple days earlier, but it was the same kind of low light from a heavy overcast. The grouse just sat at the edge of a parking lot and let me get very close. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to keep the blacktop out of the frame.

White-tailed Deer, Bear Head Lake State Park, Minnesota

The deer are usually not very shy in and around many campsites. For them it is a relative safe place because predators, like wolfs or coyotes, stay away mostly from busy human places. None of the campsites were really busy in October anymore, some of them we had for ourselves, and the deer can graze pretty undisturbed before the snow covers everything up. This photo was made near our campsite from the kayak during a paddle tour on Bear Head Lake. I liked the environmental aspect of this setting, with the white bark of the birches, some fall colors, and the big pines on the right.

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

AUTUMN IN MINNESOTA #1

Split Rock Creek State Park, Minnesota

Just back last night from a 16-day trip through mainly the north of Minnesota we have hardly time to unwind. I’m flying out to Dallas, TX for another trade show of the printing industry tomorrow, but like to keep the readers of my blog in the loop. Joan, our dog Cooper, and I went on another tent camping vacation. With fall colors in mind we searched again for the quite and joyful moments in nature and did not get disappointed. I will post photos during the next few weeks about this trip, but due to business travel it might be infrequent at times.

We started out in the southwest corner of Minnesota and pitched our tent for two nights at Split Rock Creek State Park, Why? I will get to this point in a later post.

Split Rock Creek is dammed up and many geese use the lake as a safe resting place during the night. Scouting the lake shore the morning before led to this photo at sunrise on day two. The Canada Geese stayed together for the night and gaggle after gaggle took off shortly after the sun was up in its full beauty.

GOING FOR THE SEEDS

American Goldfinch

When Purple Coneflowers are in their prime they are a good food source for many butterflies and other insects. Later, after they are withered, they become a food source for some birds. The American Goldfinch is primarily a seed eater. There is a reason why they raise their offspring later than most of the birds we have here during the summer. Seeds are available in abundance and beside thistles the faded coneflowers are in high demand. This photo is from last weekend and while looking for hummingbirds I saw this male goldfinch feeding on coneflower seeds. He did not stop until each flower he visited was almost bare. Most of the time the head was down and it was difficult to get a clean shot. But the bird was aware about my presence and had a look at me ones in a while. These were the moments to release the shutter button of the camera…

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

A MORNING WITH THE SMALLEST

Immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee and behind the camera after a busy week on a Sunday morning is hard to beat. We still have a number of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds around and as far I have seen it, they are all juvenile males. These young rowdies have the endless battle about the best feeders and bully each other whenever they can. Their ruby throat is not fully developed yet but the first feathers that look almost like scales start to peek out.

This summer the tiny hummingbirds have nested relatively early here and have probably already left towards the tropics some time ago. What we see are immature birds that have only recently hatched further north and that are now on their first journey to the south.

It had rained overnight again and an overcast still covered the sky this morning. I like this kind of soft light for my hummingbird photography. The MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender was used to throw some extra light at the birds and use the reflection of the feathers to bring out some colors.

There were many keepers on the memory card today but I always look for the special pose or gesture that makes the difference between a good picture and a photo that tells a story.

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

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #12 - GREEN HERON

Green Heron with prey, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, iowa

Sometimes it is not possible to shoot with a low ISO setting if you want to capture what is in front of your eyes for just a brief moment. The moment can be as great as it gets, if you don’t have enough light, increasing the ISO setting in camera might be the only choice. I’m a big advocate for using the lowest possible ISO in order to have as much detail as possible. For my wildlife photography ISO100-200 is the standard, sometimes up to 400, very seldom beyond that.

Yesterday evening I took the Nikon D750 with the 70-200, f/4 with me while going for a walk down to the Mississippi River with our dog Cooper. When I saw this little Green Heron, who had just caught something and posed nicely on a piece of drift wood, I knew that 200 mm was really not enough focal length and light was critical. I still gave it a try, cranked up to ISO1600, and made the click. I shot in DX mode (with just part of the sensor), which already limits the amount of pixels to play with and still had to crop the image a little bit in Adobe Lightroom to make it work. The image needed of course more noise reduction than what is usually applied. With every little bit the noise reduction slider was moved to the right, more details in the bird’s feathers went away. I think the photo still tells the story of that moment down at the river and it works somehow here on the website, but making a nice print for the wall…? I guess not.

FROGS IN THE WOODS

Northern Leopard Frog, Pilot Knob State Park, Iowa

Pilot Knob State Park near Forest City, Iowa has without any doubt a lot to offer for nature lovers. Two lakes are within the park and one of them, Dead Man’s Lake, is a floating sphagnum bog, the only one of it’s kind in Iowa. It is surrounded by flowering plants, native trees, and shrubs. The natural features of the park are significant and most of the park is dedicated as a nature preserve.

We were delighted to see a large number of small Leopard Frogs jumping all over the place while we walked on a trail. If you are close enough the frogs sometimes change their survival behavior and just sit still, using their camouflage skin pattern in hope not to be seen and preyed on. The challenge for the photographer is to find a “window” between the grasses and plants that allows an unobstructed view of the frog. When you were in the park last weekend and saw a man in the middle of the trail, lying on his stomach or on his knees with the butt in the air, well, that was me… All photos were made with just natural light and ISO settings between 320 and 1000.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM

NATURE CLICKS #435 - BROWN SNAKE

It has been 10 years and one month ago since a Brown Snake was in front of my lens. I have lamented numerous times about the fact that we hardly see any snakes anymore around here, probably due to snake fungal disease (SFD). This photo is a few days old, because I was out of town for business, but my excitement hasn’t really settled yet. This is not a photo for winning an award, but for me it is a very important documentary shot.

While filling a hummingbird feeder in the front yard I discovered this snake between our Brown-eyed Susan sunflowers. Brown Snakes are primarily woodland snakes and eat earthworms, insect larvae, and slugs. They are docile and harmless.

The problem with making this photo was finding a “window” between all the flowers where nothing obstructed at least the head of the snake. This looks easy but a little wind made things moving around the snake and I have several shots where this was just not the case.

ON THE PERCH

Male juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird

It is just relaxing to sit at the edge of the porch in the evening and aim the lens at one of our numerous hummingbirds. Today we had a slight overcast with occasional appearance of the sun. To me ideal for hummingbird photography. This time the Micro softboxes were not used as a light modifier and instead the MAGMOD Magbeam flash extender on a flash bracket above the lens was employed. Click on the link “WHAT’S IN THE CAMERA BAG?” if you like to see how this setup works. A hint of flash is concentrated on the bird and the reflected light boosts the colors, even with a gray overcast. The tricky part is to dose the amount of flash and balance it with the ambient light, so it is not apparent that a flash light was used and the bird looks like a “Christmas tree”.

Some of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds show more character in their behavior than others. This juvenile male doesn’t even have the ruby throat yet but acted like the “neighborhood bully” at one of our feeders. Hummingbirds are very territorial and obviously that starts at an early age. As photographers we can use that behavior to our advantage. The bird returns frequently to the same perch, in this case the stem of a maple leaf. From the perch they can observe what they believe is “their feeder” and start attacks against intruders, most likely their siblings and in-laws.

1/60 s, f/6.3, ISO 320, @600 mm, -1/3 EV, flash -3.3 EV,  with 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.

OUT OF THE HOUSE

Today around 10:30AM I heard the House Wrens intensively calling while I worked in my office. They just didn’t deliver any food to the nest box in the flower bed of our front yard anymore. I ran downstairs and saw #1 leaning out of the hole but still hesitating. I knew immediately that the time was right and that the little chicks would follow the calls of their parents and leave the nest. The camera was already in position on the porch, ready to shoot.

At 10:37AM #1 finally jumped out of the upper hole, tried briefly to hang on to the wall of the box, and landed on the perch of the lower hole. From there it jumped to nearby bushes, through the grass, and made it safely into the woods where the parents called frenetically.

#2 followed shortly after. #3 didn’t hesitate at all and flew straight into the woods to the parents. I had a look at them from the distance when suddenly a #4 showed up next to me and joined the whole gang in the trees.

This is a photo still from yesterday. The parents had chosen a good time for raising this gang of four little House Wrens. During the last 17 days we had nice weather and there was food in abundance. Here it is a spider but we saw lots of caterpillars, moths, and crickets disappearing in the hungry bills of the juvenile House Wrens.

FEEDING TIME AT THE NEST BOX

Friends of the blog have asked already how the little House Wrens in the nest box doing. The parents feed since July, 23rd and as you can see the size of the food is getting bigger. We know for sure that we have at least three little chicks in the box. I shot a few pictures yesterday morning and I liked this one in particular. It’s always hard to tell what’s on the menu because the feeding happens very fast. But here the shadow on the white wall reveals that a cricket was stuffed into the open bill. The new generation makes a lot of noise if the parents arrive with food but in a few days it will be quiet and the little wrens will have left the nest.

HUMMINGBIRDS

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I spent three hours behind the camera in our front yard this evening and was only after one target: The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds who raise their offspring here during the summer. Inspired by a video famous wildlife photographer Moose Peterson had on his blog, I tried to push the envelope for my own hummingbird photography and tested new ways of lighting the subject. I used two flash lights with a mini soft box for boosting colors but I can tell you, I’m not there yet. These photos are a start.

Here is the idea for today’s shooting. Since the female and young Ruby-throated Hummingbirds do not offer too much color variety I tried to incorporate parts of the surrounding flowers into the background. I thought this works better for the storytelling than just a plain green. Wide open, at f/6.3 and 600 mm, the background is nicely blurred and flowers leave no doubt that the bird is in a perfect environment, with plenty of nectar from host plants, even if our feeders won’t be there.

BACK IN THE WETLANDS (PART 2)

Male American Goldfinch

Here is another photo from yesterday’s trip to the Green Island Wetlands. You can’t miss the goldfinches between the grasses, thistles, and everything that produces seeds. I know, I had a picture here in the blog less than three weeks ago with some facts about this late breeding bird. Click HERE if you have missed it or like to read it again.

BACK IN THE WETLANDS

Family of Pied-billed Grebes, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

It was about time to go back into the wetlands at Green Island. On a sunny day it doesn’t buy you much to be there before 6:00PM, when the light gets softer and warmer. The water level is still very high but for the first time in months no roads or dykes were flooded and the area was complete accessible again.

I talked to an old farmer in his eighties, who owns land adjacent to the Green Island Wetlands, and he told me that the numbers of ducks and geese are the lowest he has seen in a long time. This might be due to the fact that many nest sites were under water for such a long time and still are.

Well, some life can still be found. There were large families of Wood Ducks and the young Canada Geese have almost adult size. I counted three successful broods of Pied-billed Grebes along the main dyke. The one above is my favorite image of this evening, three little chicks stayed close together while their parents dived for food and delivered promptly when they had success.

Paddling is not the best idea at this time of the year. An abundance of water plants, duck weed, and algae make it difficult to move in the backwaters. We have done that before, it’s not impossible, but the fun of paddling is cut in half to say it mildly. I did not regret to leave the kayak at home. The low sun created some dappled light in the foreground, making the “green mess” not so dominant, and with some puffy clouds in the blue sky the picture got some depth and tells today’s story about a perfect summer day along the Mississippi River.

Trumpeter Swans

About 7:45PM I drove slowly back on the main dyke and this pair of Trumpeter Swans enjoyed the last sun of the day as much as I did. Maybe they just found each other this season. Trumpeter Swans often mate for life and most pair bonds are often formed when they are 5-7 years old. More to come… stay tuned!