A GANG OF FOUR

Young Raccoons, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa -------- 

When it’s time to leave the Green Island wetlands I usually drive slowly down the gravel road on the left hand side and scan the water canals, ponds, trees, and bushes for any sign of wildlife with my eyes. The camera rests in my lap, turned on, and ready to shoot. Don’t worry about me driving on the wrong side, the road is straight and wide and there is not much traffic at all. If another car shows up on the horizon or in the rear view mirror, I stop and wait until the car has passed and the dust from the road has settled again.

Yesterday evening on my way out I saw some movement in one of the trees ahead. First I thought it was a mink but as I came closer it became clear that a gang of four young raccoons had a feast on the berries of a mulberry tree.

I hate to crank the ISO at the camera beyond 400, but I had no choice and went up to ISO 640, still shooting as slow as 1/80 s at 600 mm. Noise reduction in post means loss of detail and with the fine hair of a raccoon it has its limits, at least for my own photography.

Most of my previous photos of raccoons were taken around the house, on the roof or balcony, or catching them while they robbed our bird feeders. With other words, I’m very happy to have finally some images that have no men-made elements in the frame.

The four little guys were obviously listen pretty good to their mama. I never saw her, she stayed somewhere below in the bushes, but after five minutes of watching the gang they all climbed down at the same time and disappeared in the underwoods.

The “cuteness factor” of young critters is always high and I hope you don’t mind seeing a couple more photos sometime in the near future.

EASTERN IOWA AT IT'S BEST

June has been a “lean period” in regards of my photography endeavors so far. Not my fault, work has been in the way one more time. That has changed this evening when I finally went to the Green Island Wetlands again, and as you already know, this is one of my favorite areas for wildlife photography here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. At this time of the year, early mornings or evenings are the times when birds and critters come out of their hiding places. In addition the light is a lot more “workable” as during the times in between (of course, I’m not talking about the night… ;-) . I had some exciting moments today, but let me start with a view across the wetlands during some quick changes in the weather pattern. 

Especially friends in Germany have asked before, how is this area laid out? This photo, taken from one of the levees that I call “snake alley”, (more about this in a later blog post) gives you an idea how this part of the Mississippi backwaters has been dammed up. The river doesn’t flow through anymore and the water level and flow is managed according to environmental and other requirements.

My wife Joan may tell you I’m crazy showing you a landscape picture after coming back with a memory card full of exciting wildlife moments. I like to get it settled and will post about critters and birds here shortly. So, please stay tuned…

NATURE CLICKS #378 - BALTIMORE ORIOLE

Male Baltimore Oriole -------------

Shortly after their arrival from Central America in early May we see the Baltimore Orioles every day. They like to feed from orange halves and drink from hummingbird feeders that we provide. They need to replenish their reserves after a long distance migration. It is not uncommon to see up to ten different birds the same day here in our woods. Now, in early June, we still can hear them and maybe spot them high up in the trees, but they hardly come down from the tree tops anymore.

GOING BACK TO THE VAULT

Black-necked Stilt, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, California

Live stood in the way for any new photography during the last few days. I like to keep my blog up to date in regards of the season, but if I can’t find the time to shoot new pictures I have no reason to panic. It doesn’t hurt to dig out some images from the vault that are a few weeks or even months old.

Back in April I was in one of my favorite locations to photograph birds, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve near Huntington Beach, California. By the way, a good photography friend of mine from Germany might be there in the next few days (Hi Maren!) and I wish her nothing but the best light for her time in this great location!

As I was about to call it a day, a pair of Black-necked Stilts did everything to attract my attention, just next to the parking lot. The wind from the Pacific swayed the bushes in front of the lens and almost all pictures I made have this green disturbance left and right. My favorite shot, the one you see above, was cropped to “portrait orientation” in post. This leaves all the green, left and right, out of the frame but I had to sacrifice a lot of pixels. So is this all bad? Not really, at least not for this photo in my blog today… 

PREDICTING THE OUTCOME

Mississippi River, Finley's Landing , Iowa

This is what you get at this time of the season when you go down to the Mississippi River and find a spot that has all the supporting elements for a photo. Exposing strictly for the highlights and predicting how they will effect the composition of the image is key for the outcome. Colors don’t play a big role in this picture, green and yellow dominate, but all the different tones of the lush vegetation tell the story about the transition from spring to summer.

LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP

Eastern Gray Squirrel

I have to admit, it’s a love-hate relationship between our Eastern Gray Squirrels and us.  After they have emptied a bird feeder with sunflower seeds within a couple hours or have ripped apart a wooden seed storage box on the balcony, my sympathy level for the squirrels is not very high, to say it mildly…

But then there are these moments, when they make these ‘innocent’ gestures, and all their ‘crimes’ are forgiven in a heartbeat… 😏 😊

SERIOUS BUSINESS

Female House Wren

While the male House Wren is singing his heart out each morning (see my last blog post), the female is doing some serious business now. The males actually start to build the nest, way before a female even makes a commitment, but it is a loose collection of grass and twigs and they usually build more than one. The females choose and finish the nest to their like before they lay the eggs. Our wren in the front yard is obviously giving it the last touch and making it soft and comfortable.

MOTION BLUR FOR STORY TELLING

Male House Wren

How can we tell the story about the male House Wren, who sits on a perch near the nestbox and sings and chatters like crazy to impress one of the females? Knowing a little about the biology of the critter helps to answer the question. When the wren performs, he holds the upper mandible relatively still, while the lower mandible goes up and down with lightning speed. By using a relatively slow shutter speed (between 1/60 s and 1/160 s) I was able to freeze the eye and upper mandible while the lower one has a slight motion blur. We can use a real fast shutter speed and a powerful flash light to freeze every little feather on this wren, but there is a chance it may look like the wren is yawning, and this would be a totally different story we tell with our photo. A little hint of flash was used for this image to make the color of the wren’s bill stand out, but not to freeze the action.

NATURE CLICKS #377 - EASTERN KINGBIRDS

I just returned from a 4-days business trip to St. Paul and Duluth, Minnesota. As always, I took the camera gear with me but a densely packed schedule did not leave any spare time to get the camera out of the bag. So, today’s image is still from last weekend.

It payed back to visit a spot in the Green Island marshes where I had seen an Eastern Kingbird, a large flycatcher, last year and so it wasn’t a big surprise to find a pair of Kingbirds in the same area again. Love was in the air between the two birds and I had some good opportunities to make a click. There was some water between us and the birds and the only way to get it right in camera was to use the DX crop mode (900 mm lens equivalent). 

NATURE CLICKS #376 - YELLOW WARBLER

The photos of the Trumpeter Swans in my post from yesterday were a bonus. We were actually out to find some warblers after several days with rain and very little sun. But here was the challenge, Joan recovers from a foot surgery and so hiking or walking was out of question. The search for the little neotropical birds had to be done by car only.

We saw some waterfowl that we didn’t expect to see but it wasn’t until we were on the way out of the Green Island Wetlands when we spotted this Yellow Warbler. It has a wider range than any other North American Warbler and there is a good chance that this bird will stay in the wetlands during the summer.

SEVEN CYGNETS

Trumpeter Swans, Mississippi River, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa ----------    

As the long time reader of my blog may remember, I have watched and photographed swans here in eastern Iowa since 8 years, but I don’t think I ever have been so close to a family of Trumpeter Swans. Seven little cygnets were guarded by their parents today in the Green Island Wetlands. I’m not sure if this muskrat mound at the shore of one of the canals was the actual nest site, because I don’t remember seeing any swans there a week ago during my last visit. At our arrival the whole family preened their feathers, probably getting ready for a little “Sunday cruise”. Indeed, a few minutes later they all took off and swam deeper into the wetlands and out of sight.

HOVERING

Allen's Hummingbird

We have not seen the sun during this weekend yet. Time to release another photo from my visit at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California a month ago.

1/320 s, f/9, ISO 200, @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

 

THE TWO ASPECTS

Female Orchard Oriole  --------  

I have mentioned many times before how important the story telling aspect is for me in my wildlife photography. I prefer the environmental picture of an animal over the close up view. There is nothing wrong with a close up view, it is just not my personal preference. How the female Orchard Oriole gleans little insects from underneath the fresh leaves in the light of the morning sun is such an example. The photo is pretty much straight out of camera, no crop, just a slight correction of the white balance. The fall off from the lens around the edges works for this image, so I left it as it is.

On the other hand I love when a photo has an artistic appeal. To be honest, I didn’t realize when I pressed the shutter button for the second photo that the shape of the oriole’s head is perfectly framed by the fork of the cedar branch. To pronounce this effect even more I cropped the picture on top and left hand side and removed a story telling element in the lower right corner. Yes, there was an orange half and the story was actually about how the orioles approach this source of food at our feeders. My final version of this photo the more artistic approach doesn’t need the orange. It works perfectly without it.

In a perfect world both sides, the story telling and the esthetic aspects come together. These are the rare moments because nature isn’t always predictable, but aiming for them will stay on my agenda.

Male Orchard Oriole

WOODPECKER COMPETITION

Red-headed Woodpecker ------

There is enough food for everybody available but today the woodpeckers acted like there was no tomorrow. It seems the “new kid on the block”, the Red-headed Woodpecker who hangs around here since a few days, wants to establish a dominance over all his cousins.

Hairy Woodpecker

Two Hairy Woodpeckers are permanent residents on our bluffs here and usually nobody messes with their long and sharp bill. They are about the same size as the red-headed but even they went out of its way.

Female Red-bellied Woodpecker

Four Red-bellied Woodpeckers are part of the gang and can be very expressive and vocal if they dislike something. However, especially the younger birds, like this female, have been chased today by the red-headed “bully”.

Downy Woodpecker

The seven or eight Downy Woodpeckers are the cool girls and boys in our woods. They are much smaller in size and wouldn’t have any chance in a fight with their cousins. They stay away from the chase and come only to our feeders when the bigger guys need a break.