NATURE CLICKS #478 - SHORT EARED OWL

Short-eared Owl, Mississippi River, Green Island Wildlife Area, Iowa

This is by no means a sharp photo and I’m not talking only about the blurred wings (which I actually like), but the eyes and face are not really sharp either. However, I couldn’t resist to post this image because a Short-eared Owl has been in front of my camera only once before. There was hardly any light left when the owl appeared and hunted along the dike that crosses the Green Island Wildlife Area. With its buoyant flight and constantly changing directions it was difficult to lock on the focus. After watching the Trumpeter Swans (see my last post) I was just about to wrap it up when the owl approached my location on top of the dike. I still had the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 on camera, I used just before for some landscape photography. The only way to get at least a documentary shot was to increase ISO to 1000 and leave the lens wide open (f/4). With a little bit of light on the owl’s face and stretched out wing, the photo gives us an idea about the time when the hunting starts for the Shored-eared Owl. They forage mostly at night and the diet consists of mice, voles, moles, shrews, ground squirrels, small rabbits, and muskrats, but they also take small birds and large insects. Open spaces, like grasslands, marches, and prairies are the preferred habitat and the Green Island Wetlands fall certainly into this category.

AN EVENING IN THE WETLANDS

Trumpeter Swans flying in for the night, Green Island Wildlife Area, Iowa

It was about time to pay a visit to the Green Island Wildlife Area, a wetland at the confluence of the Maquoketa and Mississippi rivers. My last visit was back in September. I avoid Green Island during duck hunting season. Parts of the wetlands are closed for hunting but access is also limited for everybody else at that time. Beside that I don’t think it’s the best idea to run around and be an accidental target for those dudes who forgot their glasses at home…😉

Red-tailed Hawk,   1/125 s, f/9, ISO 400, @850 mm, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG

As expected late in the day several raptors showed their presence. I photographed a Red-tailed Hawk in the same dead tree before earlier this year, and it might be the same one, but this time the bird was already in the shade. I tried it with the 1.4 teleconverter, making it a 850 mm focal length. The result is less tree and more bird. I braced myself against the car window to get this shot.

Bald Eagle,   1/1250 s, f/9, ISO 400, @850 mm (DX mode: 1275 mm), Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG

The compounding effect of flooding during the last ten years has left hardly any trees alive and this landscape has already changed dramatically. Who knows, this might be the last photo of a Bald Eagle on a dead branch of this particular tree. Well, the other trees around don’t look any different… Next year the tree is probably gone. To get this shot I pushed the “tools” and my abilities to their limits. Since the water was covered with ice for the most part the eagle wasn’t there for catching fish, but probably enjoyed the last rays of light yesterday evening as much as I did.

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

The sun gets out of sight a little earlier in the Mississippi Valley than what our phone apps may tell us. After patrolling the gravel roads in the wetlands for any kind of wildlife I returned to the dike for some “after sunset” shots but another lens change came first. Wave after wave of Trumpeter Swans flew in, crossed overhead, and probably landed on the ice of Blakes Lake on the east side of the wildlife area. This bird was almost extinct in Iowa at some point in recent history and seeing so many swans congregating during the winter warms my heart… (I didn’t count but I think it was way more than 100 birds)

Green Island Wildlife Area, Iowa

Finally between the calls of Sandhill Cranes and the hoots of a Great Horned Owl I was able to make the landscape picture that was on my mind. Apple’s Steve Jobs was famous for ending his keynote speeches and then turning around and saying “One more thing…” Well, I have one more too, but will show it in my next blog post. 😊

THE BISON BELOW

American Bison, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, September 2020

You can tell, this bison has fought a few battles during the mating season, which takes place from late July to August. I was actually looking for some Mule Deer near a trailhead in Roosevelt National Park when suddenly this bull showed up. He disappeared into a small canyon and this allowed me to place the tripod near the edge and make a few clicks from above of the grazing bison. Keeping a safe distance to these large animals is important, not just during the mating season, and no photo is worth risking the life of an animal or your own.

GET IT RIGHT IN CAMERA (PART 2)

Eastern Gray Squirrel, 1/800 s, f/9, ISO 400, @850 mm, DX mode (1,275 mm)

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

Although with a totally different aspect, I’m picking up from my last blog post today, “Get it right in camera”. All photos are from last weekend. Way too many times I do have to crop some of my wildlife images, mainly because of too much distance between the camera and the animal. There has been progress over the years but it remains a challenge and I’m not always up to it.

Black-capped Chickadee, 1/400 s, f/9, ISO 400, @850 mm

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

Well, there is a piece of gear in my bag that can help to get closer and fill the frame without cropping, but I admit, it hasn’t seen the light of the day much lately. I’m talking about the SIGMA 1.4 teleconverter that compliments the SIGMA 150-600, f5-6.3 and can extend its focal length from 600 mm to 850 mm. On a camera with a half size sensor or in DX mode on a full frame camera, like the Nikon D750, you can even get the angle of view of a 1,275 mm lens. Wow, this is a lot more than the naked lens can provide!

Red-bellied Woodpecker, 1/1250 s, f/9, ISO 400, @850 mm

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

Of course there is a downside. With a maximum aperture of f/6.3 at 600 mm the SIGMA isn’t the fastest lens anyway, but with the teleconverter attached it becomes a f/9! This needs a lot of light for a good function of the autofocus system. But if the focus locks on, this lens / teleconverter combination delivers a sharp picture. It’s not the perfect solution for “low light” wildlife photography. But if the sun comes out and you have the great contrast, colors, and light this time of the season has to offer, you might be suddenly closer to your subject and after a while you don’t even know where the “crop-button” of your photo editing software is located…😉

NATURE CLICKS #477 - WILD TURKEY

A gang of Wild Turkeys, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND, September 2020

I guess you saw that coming, Wild Turkeys in my blog right at Thanksgiving holiday here in the US 😉. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota is a good place to watch them. Quite often they show up near the road and most pictures can be made from the car, which serves as a mobile blind in this matter. We saw a number of large families, which shouldn’t be a surprise knowing that a nest usually has 10 to 15 eggs, sometimes even more.

Thanksgiving might be a little different for many of us this year but I hope you still can enjoy it. If nothing else, go out with your camera and come back with some good pictures!

NATURE CLICKS #476 - BIGHORN SHEEP

Bighorn Sheep, Roosevelt National Park, North Unit

Joan and I were happy to watch and photograph Bighorn Sheep in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park again. During our first visit in 2015 a ranger told us, you will be very lucky if you can find the Bighorn Sheep. They spend most of their time in the canyons of this badlands area and therefor not easy to spot.

Well, this year we found a splendid ram and four ewes grazing on the grassy slope above a canyon. We spent about 20 minutes with the bighorn sheep before they disappeared into the valley. Enough time to work with these amazing critters…

Male bighorns can be dangerous and are able to kill a human if threatened, so maintaining a safe distance is a good idea. There was a small ravine between my tripod and the animals and I felt safe to be that close. The first image is uncropped and gives you an idea about the real world at 600 mm focal length, while the second photo didn’t have a very interesting background, just plain grass, and I felt a slight crop would benefit the outcome. The sheep gave us a look ones in a while but most of the time just ignored us and that is always a good thing if you are close to a wild animal.

BEFORE THE WINTER COMES

A pair of Tundra Swans approaching and greeting other members of the flock. The yellow spot at the base of their bill makes identification relatively easy.

It is a two-hour drive for us along the mighty Mississippi to visit the Brownsville Overlook. This observation point, just ten miles north of the border to Minnesota, is a popular spot in November by bird watchers, photographers, and people who love to see the wonders of nature. Every year thousands of Tundra Swans rest in this area on their way from the arctic region to the mid-Atlantic coast. In addition local and migrating Trumpeter Swans, Sandhill Cranes, Bald Eagles, and ten thousands of ducks are also part of the mix that that can be watched.

A family of Trumpeter Swans. They are larger than Tundra Swans and their bill is completely black.

NATURE CLICKS #475 - LEAST CHIPMUNK

Least Chipmunk, Little Missouri National Grasslands, North Dakota, September 2020

The Least Chipmunk is the smallest of its kind here in North America but it is the most widespread. We don’t have it here in Iowa but during our trip through the Dakotas and eastern Montana we had a chance to watch these agile little fellows several times. Seeds, berries, nuts, fruits and insects are on their menu and most of the time we saw them chewing or carry something to their burrow.

Sure, this is not a critter that is difficult to photograph but therefore the photo has to be a little different. Light, color, or gesture  This Least Chipmunk was busy finding something in this tree but when he or she paused and observed the surrounding neighborhood, it was time to press the shutter release button of the camera.

1/320 s, f/6.3, ISO 320, @600 mm, with Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head;

NATURE CLICKS #474 - ROCK WREN (FIRST SIGHTING)

Rock Wren, Little Missouri National Grasslands, North Dakota, September 2020

It has been two months already since we enjoyed the sighting of a Rock Wren, which was the first time ever that we saw this tiny bird. We had the remote Wannagan Campground, located just west of the border to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, for ourselves and it allowed me to walk around with camera and tripod wherever I wanted to and without disturbing other campers. Actually I was after some Mountain Bluebirds (Click HERE for a picture I took earlier that day) but when an unknown bird call sounded from some nearby rocks, my attention shifted immediately.

The Rock Wren lives in the western part of the US and southwest Canada and the location we found it is pretty much at the eastern border of its range. I just read that male Rock Wrens can have a large repertoire of more than 100 song types. I think that’s remarkable! This bird is not known to drink water, but gets the liquid it needs from food. Their diet consists insects and spiders and they hunt for them between and around rocks. Winters are pretty cold up in North Dakota and the Rock Wren migrates to the warmer regions in the southwest of the US and to Mexico.

Photographically not all wishes became true. The topography of this location did not allow  to get closer with the tripod and so I applied a crop to both photos. The location itself was perfect. Having a Rock Wren on top of a rock, surrounded by some grass stems and sage brush, tells a great story about its habitat in the badlands of North Dakota.

THE NEW “SHOOTING GALLERY”

Tufted Titmouse

Almost “T-shirt weather” and great light made me spent some time behind the camera on our front porch this late afternoon. As mentioned in my last blog post, there is a new “shooting gallery” in place, a little rack that holds a heated bird bath, a few bird feeders, and a couple dead red cedar trees (or at least parts of them), that serve as perches, and of course the places where I would like to make a photo. It is mobile and can be moved to a different location if I see a need for doing so. The idea behind is that I like to use “the gallery” during the “real winter” here in eastern Iowa (for my friends in South Africa and Germany: -20º to -50ºC), means having the camera on a tripod in the house and the birds still right in front of me. Right now I have my doubts that we are already in November, but there is no reason to stay inside and today we had about 22ºC (72º Fahrenheit). Oh yeah, people and animals enjoyed it the same way!

Black-capped Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadees are omnipresent all year long in our woods and it was also a great year for the Tufted Titmouse. We saw a lot of juveniles in late summer but now it is a little more difficult to tell what bird is an experienced adult or offspring from 2020. To be honest, it doesn’t really matter, we enjoy frequent visits of any kind of bird and both species are great to find out about the best settings for the new “shooting gallery”. I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful weekend.

NATURE CLICKS #473 - RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH

In my presentations about “Story telling in wildlife photography” I always emphasized to start shooting in your own backyard, garden, or anywhere around your place of living. That hasn’t changed and recently I made a few improvements to my own front yard “shooting gallery”, means the arrangements of bird feeders, bird baths, landing and perching places the birds can use during the cold season. Since we came back from our vacation about mid September we watched two Red-breasted Nuthatches that became frequent visitors in our yard. This seemed to be a little early, but however, they were some of the first birds that trusted the new arrangements and rewarded me with some great opportunities for making a click. Regarding light, the place is ideal during the hour before sunset, most likely also the time when I’m done with my day job and when undivided attention to the bird traffic is possible. The Red-breasted Nuthatches never remain much longer in a spot than 1-3 seconds, not always enough time to predict the shot, obtain focus on the bird, and finally make the click. I love when it works out and light, color, and gesture tell the story of this beautiful bird that may hopefully spend the winter here in eastern Iowa.

NATURE CLICKS #472 - NORTHERN LEOPARD FROG

Northern Leopard Frog, Mississippi River, John Deere Marsh, Iowa

I will still post a few more photos from our trip in August / September but today it’s time for a picture I shot this week. It became a habit to take our little dog Cooper for a walk to one of the nature places in the neighborhood during my lunch break. This week I was twice in the John Deere Marsh, a wetland and marsh area at the confluence of the Little Maquoketa River and the mighty Mississippi. The birds didn’t cooperate on Wednesday and as we returned back to the parking lot I only had made one click of some American Coots, who slowly migrate south at the moment and spend some time in this area.

The discovery of a Northern Leopard Frog, nicely sitting on a weathered log that obviously was left from a flood of the Mississippi River some time ago, made up for the lack of birds. The blurred reeds in the background give a sense of location and the weathered, partly black and partly bleached driftwood makes some contrast to the warm colors of the Leopard Frog. Went back to the car with a smile on my face…

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 600 mm, 1/500 s, f/6.3, ISO 320

NATURE CLICKS #471 - WOODHOUSE’S TOAD

Woodhouse’s Toad, Makoshika State Park, Montana

This was a new species for us that we discovered in Makoshika State Park, Montana. Here in Iowa this toad can be found only in the very western part of the state, while they are not uncommon in many other states further west. I did what I always try to do, take a few “safety shots” from the side and slightly above for later identification and then work with the critter from a better perspective. Lying on my stomach and having the camera on eye level with the toad leads to a much better photo that puts the viewer into the world of this animal. I don’t move an animal to a different place for a better shot and dealing with the grass for an unobstructed view is part of the challenge to make the click. The Nikkor 24-120, f/4 was the lens of choice because it allowed me to get much closer to the toad (minimum focus distance 0.45 meter / 1.5 ft). The 70-200, f/4 has more focal length but the minimum focus distance is 1 meter / 3.28’ ft. Less distance equals fewer grass stems. It was an easy decision…

Woodhouse’s Toads are mostly nocturnal and feed on insects and small invertebrates. It wasn’t quite dark at 6PM but maybe the toad was on its way to a new hunting ground. No matter what it is, but we are always happy to find a new animal species that hasn’t been on our radar.

BIRDS AT MAKOSHIKA

Orange-crowned Warbler, Makoshika State Park, Montana, September 2020

Wherever we go on vacation we always keep track what kind of birds or critters we see, even if not every encounter leads necessarily to a photo opportunity. A place like Makoshika State Park in Montana, with Pondarosa pines, red cedars, grasses, and shrubs provides food for many birds and other animals. We had a remote campsite on a ridge above a canyon and many tree tops were on eye level. This gave us a good position and view for birds who may have been otherwise high above our heads. This sounds easy but the biggest challenge was to manage the harsh light. Other than that, you can sit in your camping chair, read a book, and just wait until warblers, kinglets, or nuthatches show up. Most of the time you hear them way before you see them…

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch, All photos: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

NATURE CLICKS #470 - NORTHERN BOBWHITE

Male Northern Bobwhite, Durango, Iowa

I had actually planned to continue with more photos from our trip through the badlands of the Dakotas and eastern Montana but yesterday the sighting of a Northern Bobwhite got me all excited. The first and last time I had one of these “New World Quails” in front of the lens was in May 2007, just a month after I started shooting seriously digital with a Nikon D200. The Cornell Lab Website ALL ABOUT BIRDS writes:  Bobwhites have been in sharp decline throughout the past half-century, likely owing to habitat loss and changes in agriculture, and they are an increasingly high priority for conservation.   I guess I can confirm the fact of decline in population!

The bird is easy to identify and when I saw this male crossing the road while driving downhill into our valley I hit the brakes hard. Driving with the camera in my lap and the bobwhite posing nicely for a few seconds, I got the shot. Unfortunately I had only 200 mm focal length, hence that cropping of the photo was employed.

This wasn’t really far from our neighborhood and I wonder if the population of the Northern Bobwhite here is larger than I thought. I’ll keep my eyes open…