POINT IROQUOIS LIGHT

Point Iroquois Light, Lake Superior, Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan ---------

Although we were running out of time towards the end of our trip around Lake Superior we still took every chance to visit lighthouses along the lake shore. Point Iroquois Light was constructed in 1870 and served until 1962. It is now a museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The photo was made at 16 mm with the Nikkor 16-35, f/4 lens and my Nikon D750. Working in black & white gives the image a more dramatic look and was finally my preferred version.

While entering the 20 m tall lighthouse tower the simplicity of the stair case caught my eye. The small window you can see in the upper photo shaped the light of the low sitting sun. Subtle shadows and the imperfections of the paint add charm and make this photo work for me.

NATURE CLICKS #353 - REDDISH EGRET

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ---------

Almost every birder and photographer I met in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve three weeks ago asked me, did you see a Reddish Egret? Yes, I did, I saw two of them! It wasn’t my first sighting of this bird and I have posted here in the blog about it exactly five years ago. I learned that a pair of Reddish Egrets had raised their offspring in the wetlands this year and people were just eager to see them.

I admit that this image was shot in “DX-mode” and in addition it is cropped. Unfortunately it is also not real sharp, with other words, a larger print is out of question. I had no chance to get closer during the short time I had the egret in front of my lens. There was too much water between me and the bird. If it was for a Great Egret, or even a Snowy Egret, I would not post this image here but this bird deserves an exception. Southern California is about as far north this egret goes on the west coast. The Reddish Egret is North America’s rarest heron and is usually confined as a breeder to the Gulf coast (source: National Geographic Complete Birds of North America).

LAKE SUPERIOR - THE WILD SIDE

Lake Superior, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Upper Peninsula Michigan ------

Most of the time during our trip around Lake Superior the weather was relative calm or at least moderate. This is nice for camping, kayaking, and a lot of activities, but it just sucks when you are eager to make photos with some dynamic. Towards the end of our tour, at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, we found what I was hoping for…

NIGHT ON THE BEACH

Whitefish Point Light, Lake Superior, Upper Peninsula, Michigan ----------

I have two more photos from the beach at Whitefish Point Light Station on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for you today. The images were made just seven minutes apart from each other. First of course the glowing clouds after sunset followed by the blue hour shot with the lighthouse in the east. The clouds moved very fast and not a single image looked alike that evening. As you can imagine we were not the only people at the beach enjoying the light and mood of the moment. Thanks to the “content aware healing brush” in Adobe Photoshop CC, people with phones in their hand, taking selfies on the beach, are easy to remove… 😊

Just the beach with some glowing clouds would have been not enough for an interesting picture, at least in my books. The sun sets in more than a million places all over the world every day. I know this sounds sarcastic, but it is true. With the kid on the left, looking for stones to throw from the shore, we get a sense of scale and suddenly have another story telling subject, beside the clouds, in the frame. Even if we don’t know the full story, the presence of another person at exactly this particular spot gives a much better idea how vast Lake Superior really is.

To all my friends and family here in the US: Best wishes for a perfect Thanksgiving!

WHITEFISH POINT LIGHT STATION

Whitefish Point Light, Lake Superior, Michigan

It seems like a long time ago already when we made our vacation trip around Lake Superior back in September. After crossing the border between Ontario, Canada and Michigan in Sault Ste. Marie we visited a few of the charming lighthouses along the southern shore of the lake. Arriving around sunset at Whitefish Point Light Station made for some good photo opportunities. This lighthouse was first lit in 1849 and is the oldest active light on the lake.

All images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

 

NATURE CLICKS #352 - SNOWY EGRET

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ---------

The graceful Snowy Egret has always been present during my visits in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. They are smaller in size than the Great Egret and its black bill and black legs with yellow feet make it easy to identify. The legs of the egret in my photo are only partly black, a sure indicator that this was still an immature bird. The Snowy Egret feeds on fish, aquatic invertebrates, and even lizards and snakes. I watched them hunting for fish together with a large number of Great Egrets, American White Pelicans, and Double-crested Cormorants.

NATURE CLICKS #351 - WESTERN FENCE LIZARD

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ---------

I was asked if there were any other critters in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve beside birds. The answer is yes, although I only saw this nice looking fence lizard in one of the bushes near the border of the reserve. Just minutes later another local photographer showed me a picture of a coyote he just had seen. The same friendly guy reminded me to watch where I go in order not to come close to a rattlesnake. Two species of this venomous snake can be found around the wetlands. Unfortunately I didn’t see any. I also didn’t see any rabbits, cottontails, mice, ground squirrels, bob cats, sharks, or any other kind of lizards. Fish were jumping and I saw for the first time a ray at the bottom of the laguna. The ecological reserve is full of life but one day is just not enough time to explore all of it. I’m nevertheless happy with my image of the Western Fence Lizard. The blue patch at its throat indicates that this is probably a male.

NATURE CLICKS #350 - LONG-BILLED CURLEW

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ---------

One of the reasons I always like to come back to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is the abundance of shorebirds. The Long-billed Curlew is the largest shorebird in North America. It breeds farther north and spends the winter in southern California and Mexico. The first image was made in the late afternoon, less than an hour before sunset. The other picture is from the early morning. Using the soft light in the morning (there was a slight overcast) and the low sun in the late afternoon were key for these photos.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, Better Beamer flash extender

In Bolsa Chica you are not supposed to leave the levees and the gravel trails on top of them. Yesterday I wrote about that the wetlands are still under restoration and the shores are very fragile. I usually respect and obey the rules without stretching them too far. The downside is that most of the time you shoot slightly or even greater extend from above the water level. This doesn’t always lead to a good viewing angle and perfect background. 

LAGUNA AT SUNSET AND THOUGHTS AROUND IT

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ---------

The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is full of life but it isn’t a prime area for landscape photography. The water of the laguna looks clean and clear but the land around is still bare and muddy. Few trees can be found. However, these wetlands are under restoration and this will take time. It may not yet be the prettiest, but it is one of the most interesting restoration areas where I have ever put the legs of my tripod in the sand. Behind the beach buildings is the Pacific Ocean, between the beach and this part of the laguna is the busy Pacific Cost Highway, and behind me and the camera is the larger part of the laguna. Oil wells are within the borders of the reserve and the laguna is surrounded by rows of expensive looking homes. It is always kinda noisy from the highway and of course air traffic. Three major airports are not very far. And still, it is an oases within a densely populated area that provides food and breeding grounds for many species of birds, some of them rare, and other wildlife. In Bolsa Chica I always realize how fragile our ecological systems are. A single oil spill can be devastating. Bolsa Chica’s restoration to a functioning wetland has been one of the biggest attempts on the west coast. Sure, this is not inexpensive but the progress I have seen since 2010 and meeting very many people enjoying the wetlands last Sunday tells me that this is money well spent. Here in eastern Iowa we have similar projects on a smaller scale (i.e. Mud Lake and Deere Marsh at the Mississippi River), and they all make sense if we want that our children and grandchildren have still the chance to watch wildlife at its best in the years after our generation is gone.

Pointing the lens towards the sunset over the ocean and exposing strictly for the highlights makes all the clutter disappear in the photo. It still shouldn’t blind our eyes for the environmental problems this world is facing…

NATURE CLICKS #349 - BLACK PHOEBE

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ----------

The Black Phoebe is the other phoebe that we don’t see in the eastern part of the US (see my post from yesterday). It is a permanent resident in the southwestern states. The area in the ecological reserve where I found this bird doesn’t have any trees and the barbed wire fence was obviously the best perch the phoebe could find to look out for insects. It wasn’t my first sighting but this was the closest I have ever been to a Black Phoebe.

The sun was almost at its highest point when the click was made. A hint of flash helped to overcome the harsh light situation, not much different than shooting a portrait at the beach…

NATURE CLICKS #348 - SAY’S PHOEBE (FIRST SIGHTING!)

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ----------

I have reported and showed pictures several times over the years of the Eastern Phoebe, the only phoebe in North America that lives in the eastern part of the continent. Back in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, California last Sunday I saw for the first time in my life a Say’s Phoebe. Most of my photos were shot with the bird perched on a barbed wire fence, closer than this picture, but I really like this shot because of light, background, and gesture. Like the Eastern Phoebe the Say’s flies from a perch to catch insects, like many other flycatchers. The bird is not difficult to identify and I was very happy about my encounter, but wait, there was another one…, well, this is for my next blog post. So please stay tuned…

RAPTORS AT BOLSA CHICA

Osprey, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California

During all my previous visits in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve people were telling me about a pair of Ospreys that nest in the wetlands, but I never saw them. This time I got a little more lucky and spotted actually two birds several times. This one here was perched on a dead tree, not far from the water. The laguna provides plenty of food for all kind of birds and it is not only the Osprey that hunts for fish. I also saw a Northern Harrier soaring along the shore early in the morning. Unfortunately it hit me a little by surprise and I missed the shot. Well, next time…

NATURE CLICKS #347 - BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California --------------

One of the best bird encounters I had in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve last Sunday was the presence of some Black-crowned Night-Herons. I have seen and photographed them only once in the Green Island Wetlands here in the Mississippi River Valley. Some other photographers told me that they had seen lately even the Golden-crowned Night-Heron, who is there only occasionally during migration. My luck didn’t stretch out that far but I was very happy seeing the black-crowned. It was already close to mid day when these shots were made and I came back later in hope for softer light, but the herons were gone.

Sometimes we have to compromise, especially if the time to work with a particular species is limited. The background was really critical. The location of these dead trees, where the herons had perched, was near the border of the preserve, just in front of a residential area. Houses are never a great background for wildlife photography but in my second picture I couldn’t hide the fact. Usually I try to zoom with my feet and move around for a better background but more dead trees and other obstructions really limited my chances. Well, I’m still happy…

BACK IN BOLSA CHICA

Great Egret, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California --------  

Last Sunday, after four years of absence, I was again in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, a wetland area near Huntington Beach in Southern California. This was my fourth time since 2010 and I never came back disappointed. It is a great place for bird watching and photography.

My strategy has been always to arrive on location before sunrise and to leave after the sun disappeared behind the horizon line of the Pacific Ocean. I took a lunch break for some much craved fresh seafood in the early afternoon, when the light is usually not at its best in Southern California, but returned for the warm light in the late afternoon.

I talked with a lot of people in the preserve, other photographers, bird watchers, or locals that were in for a walk along the shore of the laguna. Everybody was extremely friendly and helpful with hints where to find some particular birds. I was told we are kind of between seasons in Bolsa Chica. While some winter residents have already arrived, many are not there yet. However, I had a great time last Sunday in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. Some of the birds we never or hardly ever see here in Iowa and as a result I have at least one species on my memory card that I saw and photographed for the first time. I’ll talk about this in one of my future blog posts.

The Great Egret is a bird that we see here along the Mississippi River during the summer. It was the gesture of this bird, while on the hunt for a fish, that made me choose this image for today’s blog post.