STEALING THE CATCH

16th Street Basin, Dubuque, Iowa

Snow and ice are melting rapidly here in eastern Iowa. Only in the backwaters of the Mississippi River or places where the water doesn’t have a lot of current, the ice still covers the surface. At ‘16th Street Basin’ in Dubuque, a pond built for flood water protection, only a small strip along the shore had open water today. Probably too small for the Bald Eagles to catch fish but they used the involuntary help of another bird to fill their own stomachs. A whole bunch of Ring-billed Gulls was also present at the pond and they caught fish quite successfully. Well, all what the eagles had to do was scaring the gulls away and literally steal the catch. It happened several times while I was there and it was really fun to watch all the action, although I felt somehow bad for the gulls...

Ring-billed Gulls

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens

NATURE CLICKS #320 - NORTHERN SHRIKE

Ok, today’s post isn’t so much about a good picture but about a first sighting for me. While working this week in Dallas, TX the temperatures have raised way above freezing here in eastern Iowa and today I went back to one of my favorite wildlife areas, the Green Island Wetlands, next to the Mississippi River and south of Bellevue, Iowa. I have not seen a Northern Shrike before and it didn’t matter that the bird was too far away for a good photo. I was just happy to see it for the first time. The Northern Shrike is supposed to be here only during the winter. Their breeding grounds reach from northern Alaska across the northern parts of Canada.

STOP FOR THE LIGHT

Chicago O'Hare International Airport (click on image for larger size)

 

I was flying back home from Dallas, TX with a stop-over in Chicago O’Hare very early today. Usually there isn’t much time between flights but when I saw the light unfolding, with “angel rays” over the skyline of downtown Chicago and some great reflections on the tarmac and the parked aircrafts, I couldn’t resist to get the camera out of the bag and make this shot through the glass of the terminal window…

NATURE CLICKS #319 - EASTERN BLUEBIRD

Here is another visitor of the “backyard studio”, a male Eastern Bluebird. It came actually not alone, a female joined the bird bath as well, but they sat so far apart from each other that I decided to focus on either one of them separately. We have never seen them eating at a bird feeder yet but obviously they enjoy the heated bird bath. It isn’t the first time that we saw Eastern Bluebirds here in February. I know it is silly to say that, with all the snow on the ground at the moment, but when the bluebirds show up here, spring is not that far anymore… (Can you tell we are a little tired of winter ??)…😉

EARLY VISITOR

White-throated Sparrow,  Little Maquoketa River Valley near Durango, Iowa

Winter was telling us today that is not over yet by letting it snow pretty much all day. As a result we had a lot of activities around our bird feeders. It was a nice surprise to see a White-throated Sparrow, who visited several times. We are at the northern edge of their winter range according to my field guides, but it is the first time that we have seen one in February. Other years my earliest photos were made in April.

It’s not a tack sharp image but I thought I show it anyway, because beside photography my blog has always been about sharing wildlife encounters and locations.

FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW - THE GREAT HORNED OWL

It was a cold day due to some icy wind. It didn’t stop me to take Cooper, our little dog, down to Mud Lake at the Mississippi River after work. Not that I was really longing to go out into the wind but it is the time of the year when the Great Horned Owls lay their eggs. And yes, for the fourth year in a row an owl sits in the old eagle’s nest. Photographically it is not so interesting because you can’t see much of the owl, but as a bird lover I’m very excited.

The photo below shows the young owl that grew up in the same nest last year. The shot is from April 27, 2015, taken after the owlet had left the nest already.

April, 27, 2015

UP EARLY

Black-tailed Prairie Dogs

I shot a ton of pictures of Black-tailed Prairie dogs during last year’s vacation in the Badlands of North and South Dakota. The ones that stood out for me are those that show the critter with a great gesture or in beautiful light.

The whole prairie dog town was out of their dens already shortly after the sun raised over the mountain ridge. They probably tried to warm up a little after a long night and watched us very carefully while we moved closer with our cameras.

SCALE AND PROPORTION

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, South unit, North Dakota

If you follow my photography since a while already you may have recognized that I hardly ever have people in my landscape pictures. This is just my style and the way I like it. But sometimes I make an exception. The two young men are clearly not the subject of my photo but their presence and size helps to give some scale and proportion to my subject, the rock formations of this canyon, illuminated by the setting sun. I have the same image without the two guys but finally I like this one better for said reason.

On a side note, the two discussed having a wedding shoot between these rocks and how they wanted to do it. I thought it was a great idea and out of the ordinary.

TWO NEW THINGS

A few days ago I told you I was working on a new piece of photography gear and that I was in the process of testing it. So here it is, a flash bracket that mounts to the food of a long lens and elevates the speed light above the lens barrel. It allows to turn the camera quickly by 90 degree with the flash still remaining above the lens. Yes, there are tons of flash brackets out there. Some are very flimsy and some of the better ones are very expensive. I enjoy building stuff out of wood or metal and designing and building this piece of gear was a fun little “winter project”.

There is another addition I like to introduce today and you can find it right here on my website. Since a long time I wanted to add a gear page to this website and if you click on the link in the side bar of this blog, it will direct you right to it. Please feel free to check it out!

CHANGING WEATHER

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

I followed the Mississippi River north to Guttenberg, Iowa today. Temperatures above freezing made the snow pretty slushy but the next blizzard is already on its way. The clouds tell the story of changing weather…

The photo was made from the overlook just south of Guttenberg and you can see that the ice on the main channel of the river is not very solid.

NATURE CLICKS #318 - BROWN CREEPER

According to my field guides the Brown Creeper is supposed to be around here in eastern Iowa all year long. This photo was made in the Mines of Spain, a mostly wooded recreation area south of Dubuque, Iowa. So far I have photographed this small bird only during winters or in the early spring. And I admit, I still haven’t been able to make a tack sharp image I could be very proud of. The bird blends very well in while creeping along tree trunks, always from the bottom upwards. They are almost always in motion and it is very difficult to lock the focus on. The picture has a little motion blur too, despite a shutter speed of 1/800s and fill flash for bringing out its colors. With other words, the Brown Creeper still remains on my “most wanted” list…

TEST SHOTS WITH A TITMOUSE

Tufted Titmouse

Yesterday I had planned to go back to LeClaire, Iowa for some more shooting of Bald Eagles but unfortunately other things stood in the way. My friend Dave Updegraff posted some good pictures in his blog from this location and obviously the weather conditions and action of the birds were really good this time. I guess I have to wait for another chance.

I used the gray overcast today to work on a new piece of photography accessory, which I had in mind as a “do it yourself” project since quite some time. I won’t reveal what it is until it is finished, it almost is, and I will show it here in the blog hopefully soon. However, some testing was required in order to find the best design and this Tufted Titmouse in one of our trees made for a perfect subject. The titmouse is another bird that we can see here in our woods all year long.

YOUNG EAGLE'S CATCH

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, gimbal head

On my way home from a good customer of mine in Davenport, Iowa I stopped at lock and dam #14 in LeClaire, Iowa, the same place I have reported from many times before about Bald Eagles. There were by far not so many photographers as last Saturday (see my blog post about the last visit by clicking HERE).

The light was kinda mediocre but I want more practice with the new SIGMA 150-600 Sports lens. During the short time I was at the Mississippi River I just tried to explore the capabilities of this lens , even under not the best light conditions.

I show you what I think was the most interesting picture that made it onto my memory card today. This immature Bald Eagle caught the fish out of the water and headed straight to a tree . Younger eagles are not always successful in their fishing efforts but this one knew it hit the jackpot. The claws holding the fish became my subject, but the photo would have ended up in the trash can, if the eye of the bird would not have been visible or even just been blurry.

NATURE CLICKS #317 - PURPLE FINCH

Female Purple Finch

Any time I look through one of our windows I check for not so common birds or critters that may pay us a visit or just pass through our woods. In the last couple days I have seen a few Purple Finches around here. Surprisingly I saw only females so far. During the summer they are up in Canada or northern Minnesota but we see them on occasion every winter here in eastern Iowa. The females did obviously not stand for the bird’s name with their brown-streaked body but I think they are pretty. The males have a pink-red head, throat, and rump. Hope to see one of them too sometime…

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light