NATURE CLICKS #309 - MULE DEER BUCK

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Back to the Black Hills and Custer State Park again. Sometimes a photo doesn’t tell the whole story about what was going on at the moment the click was made. And this is OK as long as your picture has a subject and tells the story that is important. Here it is the encounter of a young Mule Deer buck in the early morning sun on a slope of tall grass prairie. This is why I really wanted to go to Custer State Park so badly! It is the place to make pictures like this one. What you don’t see is the presence of a second buck right in front of this one. Within a second I had to make a decision about how to frame the picture. The deer stopped briefly but they were not waiting for a photographer to make up his mind slowly. Shooting them separately led to a better composition and allowed to use the full focal length of 500 mm to get close to the subject. Nobody will miss the second deer in the photo… 😊

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #10

Tundra Swans, Harper's Slough, Mississippi River, Iowa

I like to interrupt my series about our trip to North and South Dakota for a more actual story from right here, the Mississippi Valley. Yesterday, and again today, I drove up north along the mighty Mississippi River in search for migrating water fowl. North of Harper's Ferry, near lock and dam #9, I found what I was looking for. The area is closed to all migratory bird hunting and the birds obviously have figured that out. What I found was overwhelming and I was stunned by the numbers I saw. Several hundred Tundra Swans were present, maybe even close to one thousand. Beside them ten thousands of ducks and coots covered the Mississippi. There was no way to even just guess the numbers. The river is about two miles (3 km) wide at this point and the sanctuary stretches almost all the way across and is about 4 miles long. More than a dozen Bald Eagles were sitting in trees or messed with the ducks. The sound of all the ducks and swans was incredible and the distinctive call of the eagles was music for my ears. With certainty I identified Green-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Northern Pintails, American Coots, Gadwalls, and a single Wood Duck. There were maybe other species further out on the river but even with my binoculars I couldn’t see them clearly. The Tundra Swans have quite a journey behind them already. Their breeding grounds are high up in Alaska and far northern Canada. They are easy to separate from the Trumpeter Swans, who breed here in Iowa, by a small yellow spot on the base of their black bill.

Ten thousands of ducks during migration

The tip where to look for ducks came actually from a couple local duck hunters, who just came back from a hunt and pulled their boat out of the river in Harper's Ferry. They claimed that we haven’t seen the peak of the migration yet because of the mild weather. After I outed myself as a photographer they were very helpful and gave me a good description how to get to the sanctuary.

Bald Eagle

The photo of the Bald Eagle was probably the easiest to make. The low afternoon sun lit the bird just right. The high contrast between the white of the Tundra Swans and the darker colors of the ducks were quite a challenge. Exposing strictly for the highlights was the only way to go for these documentary shots.

NATURE CLICKS #308 - MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

I got the question, did you see a lot of birds up in the Dakotas? Not a lot, remember we were there in October, but we saw some birds we don’t have here in Iowa. I posted recently a photo of the Black-billed Magpie and that was the first time I was able to make a decent picture of this bird. In Custer State Park in the Black Hills we saw several Mountain Bluebirds. Mostly during our photo excursions early in the morning. They like to sit on fence posts or barbed wires and there are quite a few along the Wildlife Loop Road. First there is the fence that surrounds the landing strip of Custer State Park. As soon the sun appears above the mountain ridge the fence on the east side along the road is a safe bet to find Mountain Bluebirds. Further down the road, at the Buffalo Corrals, we were able to watch this attractive bird as well. This is where the second photo was made. In comparison to the Eastern Bluebird, that is very common here in Eastern Iowa, the Mountain Bluebird doesn’t havethe red on its underparts.

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

GETTING UP EARLY: ESSENTIAL

Pronghorn, Custer Sate Park, Black Hills, South Dakota

Getting out of the sleeping bag before sunrise is important for seeing some of the wildlife and for maybe getting the photo that makes the difference. Well, the sun raises and sets 365 days during a year around the world and sometimes I think about what it is, that triggers our desire to snap a picture of something that occurs every day. The quality of light during these times plays probably a big role. We maybe just can’t get enough of it.

Being up early beares another advantage, you have the roads, trails, and locations almost for yourself. Not much interferes between you as the photographer and the critter that may become your subject in a good image.

The first photo was made five minutes after the sunrise picture. The Pronghorn buck is still in the shade of the mountains but his ears and horns are backlit by the morning sun. What a great moment!

The last photo was taken the day before and the metadata reveal that the click was made about an hour after sunrise. Still good light, but you can already tell with every minute it became more and more difficult to work an animal like the Pronghorn Antelope with the camera due to the high contrast. As always, a click on each photo opens a larger version on black background for better viewing. I hope you enjoy!

NEXT BASECAMP - THE BLACK HILLS

Sylvan Lake, Black Hills, South Dakota

We really enjoyed our time in the Badlands, South Dakota but after a few days it was time to move on. The mountains and wildlife of the Black Hills were waiting for us and the Game Lodge campsite in Custer State Park became our next base camp. The Black Hills have a big variety of landscapes to offer, from mixed grass prairies to granite outcroppings, like at Sylvan Lake. Ponderosa pine forests are a big part of it but othervaried forest communities can be found as well.

My desire to spend time in Custer State Park was triggered by an older issue of the BT Journal, a quarterly magazine, produced by famous wildlife, landscape, and aviation photographer Moose Peterson and his wife. The subtitle says, “the journal for taking your photography to new heights!” Hands down, the BT Journal is one of the best sources for exact that. Moose Peterson’s profound knowledge about locations, the wildlife, and sharing his photography skills with us is invaluable. I have studied the October 2012 issue of the magazine, The Black Hills - A Photographer’s Paradise, many times before and it bought us a lot of time, because we knew already where to look for critters and locations.

Grace Coolidge Creek ran right in front of our tent but there was only a very small time window in the morning when a shot like this was possible. For the rest of the day the creek was in the shade.

The campsite is just a stone throw away from Wildlife Loop Road and being out there before sunrise or coming back after sunset isn’t difficult to manage. Other destinations in the Black Hills are also not too far and this makes the State Game Lodge area a great base camp. If camping is not your cup of tea you can stay at the State Game Lodge or some other ones nearby.

HAWK ON THE HUNT

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Everywhere where prairie dogs are present in the grasslands of the Dakotas there is also a good chance to make a photo of one of the predators that have prairie dogs on their menu. Beside coyotes, black-footed ferrets, or rattle snakes there is probably always a raptor not very far away. We didn’t see any ferrets or snakes but many birds of prey. This one here is probably a Red-tailed Hawk. There are several subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk and the differences between an adult and immature bird can be quite remarkable. This is the reason why I don’t put this post in my “NATURE CLICKS” series. I’m simple not a hundred percent sure about the identification of this raptor. However, it is always exciting to get close and watch them, and this counts more for me than any photo in the books…

NUCLEAR MISSILE SILO

Today’s post is not so much about the endeavor to make a high quality photo but about our history and the desire to learn about it. Just outside of Badlands National Park is the Minuteman Missile National Historical Site. Part of it, and just a few miles down the Interstate to the west, is the former launching site and silo, Delta-09, for a Minuteman II nuclear missile.

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was established in 1999 to preserve two Minuteman II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) sites: Launch Control Facility Delta-01 and a corresponding underground Launch Control Center and Launch Facility (Missile Silo) Delta-09. Minuteman Missile is the first national park unit specifically designated to commemorate the Cold War. From 1963 until the early 1990s, Missile Silo Delta-09 contained a fully operational Minuteman Missile, bearing a 1.2 megaton nuclear warhead. The Delta-09 missile silo was one of 150 spread across western South Dakota. In total there were 1,000 Minuteman's deployed from the 1960's into the early 1990’s. In 1991 as the Cold War was coming to an end, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) was signed by US President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Both sides agreed to dramatically reduce their nuclear arms. The missile in the silo is unarmed today but it was armed with a W-56 warhead of 1.2 megatons of explosive force. That destructive power is equivalent to one-third of all the bombs used during World War II, including both atomic bombs. (source: National Park Service brochure and website)

Joan and I use every opportunity to go into visitor centers or museums beside the nature adventures during our trips. This one left quite an impression on us and delivered lots of information to talk about and to digest. From a human standpoint, what a waste of resources on both sides of the political landscape and understandable only in the context of history. After I was discharged from the military more than 36 years ago in East Germany, I would never have dreamed about that I ever would look into the silo of an American nuclear missile…

Everybody can probably make these two shots with their smartphones. The glass that covers the silo these days returns some reflections but we get the idea. The second photo shows the glass covered silo and in the foreground we can see the steel and concrete cover of the Ultra High Frequency antenna that allowed to launch the missile from an airborne command in case the control centers were destroyed already by a Soviet nuclear attack...

During our ongoing travels we discovered two more former missile silos. We would not have recognized it as such in the middle of grassland and prairie without the visit at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site…

NATURE CLICKS #307 - AMERICAN BISON

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Lets talk about some big animals today. The American Bison is without any doubt the most iconic animal in the American west. They ones roamed the plaines and prairies by the millions but less than 1,000 bisons survived the massive killings in the 19th century by the white men, and today’s herds are the descendants of those few. We read, I believe in one of the information centers, that about 250,000 bisons live toady in private and public herds in North America.

Badlands National Park has a herd and we always found it in the Sage Creek area, not far from the campground. Except for the mating season the older bulls roam more solitary or in small groups together. Because of their beautiful fur and massive appearance they are a great subject for wildlife photography.

Making a photo has to be done with utmost caution. Don’t be fooled by their relatively slow movements. They can move very quickly and will outrun you easily with a speed up to 50 km/h. We have seen videos of bisons throwing people around within the blink of an eye, and every time we have been out west during the last ten years, we saw someone walking right up to a buffalo with a camera or smartphone in their hand. Well, stupidity never dies…

Most of the time we used the car as a blind and the 500 mm focal length of the lens maintains a distance that the critter will accept and not feel threatened. However, the most important thing is to always keep an eye on the animal and watch its behavior.

This photo of a male bison bull, laying in the grass, was made after a long day out in the field, driving around and searching for critters. I love the shot of this older bull, with mud in its face, burs sticking to its fur, and a horn that tells the story of heavy use…

ENDLESS SKY

This is the tent of a campsite neighbor at Sage Creek Campground in Badlands National Park. We had of course no control over the brightness of the light in their tent but I gave it a try anyway and included the sky with all its stars. The campground is in a remote location but there is unfortunately still some light pollution from the town of Wall, known for the “World famous Wall Drug store”.

If I remember this right, we had only two or three nights without seeing the stars during our trip through the Dakotas, but in the Badlands we probably enjoyed it the most.

A black background may help to view this image, and if you click on the photo you can see all the stars that were recorded by the sensor in the camera.

NATURE CLICKS #306 - COYOTE

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

The howling of a Coyote is one of our favorite nature sounds and even here in the woods of eastern Iowa we can hear it at night quite often. Seeing one, not so much, they know how to hide during the day. The open prairie and grasslands in South and North Dakota make it more likely to see one and it took only one day until we saw the first Coyote in perfect light of the setting sun. What a thrill to see this guy hunting for another critter, maybe a mouse or chipmunk.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

NATURE CLICKS #305 - BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

The Lakota knew this landscape as mako sica and early French trappers called it les mauvaises terres a traverser. Both means “bad lands”. However, if you take some time to visit, the Badlands will reveal themselves as a landscape with great biological diversity and you will find out that it is full of life.

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

The Black-billed Magpie is a great looking bird. We have seen them in every part of the western half in South and North Dakota during our trip. That doesn’t mean we had a lot of photo opportunities. Quite often they flew away as soon we stopped the car and left us no time for pointing a lens at them. They built nests with domes on top and unlike most birds, they can use scent to locate food.

NATURE CLICKS #304 - ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIGHORN SHEEP

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head

Joan and I spent quite some time searching for, watching, and photographing wildlife during our trip in the Dakotas. Since it was our third time in Badlands National Park we had already a pretty good idea where to look for critters and this time we had again some wonderful encounters and joyful experiences. For those of you who like to go there sometime here is the tip, try Sage Creek Rim Road, the gravel road that leads to the primitive Sage Creek Campground. You may find wildlife along the Badlands Loop Road, where most of the tourists travel as well, but it isn’t always easy to park the car and work the critters with your camera along this busy road.

Finding and getting close to the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep was on my bucket list for this trip, and boy, we have not been disappointed!! We were still a little early for the rut and these two rams were standing peacefully side by side, watching the herd and having an eye on the photographer.

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

This is one of my favorite images during this trip. It shows the herd moving along the grassy slopes beside Sage Creek Rim Road and leaves no doubt about where this image has been made. The avid reader of my blog knows that I often like to go for the environmental shot and because of the typical landscape in the background, there is very little doubt that this was shot in the Badlands, South Dakota. It would have been a “butt-shot-only” image, except for the wonderful pose these two young rams put on display. They are too young to play a role in the upcoming rut but they like to test their power against each other.

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

When the bighorn sheep are comfortable with your presence they stick their head into the grass and do the “sheep thing”, eating and munching. Getting the shot may need a lot of patience. Remember, while eating every muscle in their face is in motion and the head moves around all the time. It is hard to get a sharp shot and the prairie grass covers quite often part of the head. The terrain in the Badlands sometimes allows you to shoot from below or at least at eye level with the critter. Waiting for the brief moments when the head comes up, either to watch out for a potential predator, or like in this case, for just chewing on a taller piece of prairie grass, can lead to the picture you have in mind. More to come...

BACK TO THE BADLANDS

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

No, I didn’t go back literally to the Badlands, South Dakota, I just like to continue my little stories about the landscapes and wildlife in the Dakotas last October. 

The rock layers of the Badlands have been built over millions of years. The highest peaks are “only” 28 - 30 million years old and belong to the Sharp Formation, while the oldest rocks down below we can see today as a result of erosion are roughly 70 million years old. One of the most colorful formations are the 67 million years old Yellow Mounds. After the sea drained away, the black ocean mud was exposed to surface weathering. The upper layers of this mud developed into a yellow soil called Yellow Mounds. The gray formation above is the Chadron Formation and these sediments were deposited about 34 - 37 million years ago. Interestingly there is a gap of 30 million years in the geological record in between, the result of non-deposit and erosion. Excuse my excursion but I think this is just mind-boggling… 😆

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

The photographer could care less (but he doesn’t) and the Yellow Mounds formation is just perfect to tell a visual story about the geology and age of the Badlands. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a few rain drops that day and it was a blessing for working the landscape with the camera. You can’t get these colors on a day with bald blue sky and sunlight that burns the hell out of everything. Every focal length, wide or close, seemed to work and could lead to an image. It was just a matter to answer the question, what’s my subject, before pressing the shutter button…😉

NATURE CLICKS #303 - COMMON RAVEN

You won’t believe how long it took to make this photo of a Common Raven in a parking lot at one of the overlooks in Grand Canyon National Park. I did not have a long lens with me and capturing some details of the black feathers in the harsh light was quite a challenge. I shot this image with the 24-120 after the raven landed on a pick-up truck and faced the sun. In situations like that you can really learn that the camera can handle only about 5-6 steps of light while the human eye is able to see more than twice as that. The raven tried to impress a mate and didn’t mind my close presence. I wished I had a more natural background but at least I managed not to have any other car in the frame. This was the first time that I had a chance to make a photo of a Common Raven (we don’t have them here in Iowa) and so I’m ok with this image. It sure leaves room for improvement…

STAY LATE, BE REWARDED

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35, f/4 @ 35 mm, 1/160 s, f/11, ISO 200

The question is, how can we beat the harsh light at the Grand Canyon in Arizona when there is no single cloud expected for the whole day and be finally rewarded with some good images? It is simple, be there before sunrise or during sunset. The first didn’t work for me, my hotel was too far away to make it, but I probably would have kicked myself later, if I had left the canyon too early. There are many overlooks and locations that are good for shooting during sunset. My choice was Navajo Point near the east entrance of the National Park. The Colorado River changes direction in this area, you have a deep view into the tribal lands of the Navajo nation, all the way to the Vermilion Cliffs at the horizon, and the watch tower at the Desert View visitor center sits on top of the steep canyon walls. I watched the shadows creeping up the canyon walls facing to the west and tried many different focal lengths from 16 mm to 35 mm. Not using a tripod made me actually very flexible (my luggage space was limited and I left it at home) and so I shot from a variety of different angles and positions, with and without foreground. The setting sun is not in this image, but the long shadows that quickly took possession of every sunny spot tell the story about a gorgeous evening at the Grand Canyon.