NICE WHEN THEY MOVE AWAY

We had a big thunderstorm with very heavy rain and strong winds a couple nights ago, leaving us without electrical power for a day and hundreds of broken trees and branches on the ground in our area. Today’s photo of a developing storm cell was made already last weekend after our paddle tour in the Green Island Wetlands. This kind of weather is not unusual here in July but not every cloud is as beautiful as this one. And yes, it is always nice to see them moving away from us…😉

I had only the long lens with me but it can deliver some good results for landscape photography. Zoomed out to its minimum focal length of 150 mm I had enough to leave most of the not so pretty lake surface out and still have my subject, the nice anvil cloud, in its entirety in the viewfinder.

1/640 s, f/8, ISO 100, @150 mm, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,

BREEDING ACTIVITIES

Female House Wren, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa

We have two identical bird boxes in our front yard that have been used since many years by meanwhile several generations of House Wrens to raise their offspring every summer. At the moment we can see different activities at each one of them. A pair of wrens feeds their babies in box #2. We can hear the chirping, but we haven’t seen the juveniles yet. Pretty soon, as they will grow bigger, the juveniles will stick their heads out of the hole in anticipation of food from the parents. At the moment the parents come back with food about every 5 - 10 minutes.

No, not food, just nest material!

Bird box #1 is right in front of our porch and nest building activities took place already in May. I can’t watch it all the time but it seemed we lost a brood a few weeks ago in this box. Today I watched a female doing some “fine tuning” of the nest. As you can see the wren has some soft “cotton” from a cottonwood tree in its bill. I can’t think of any better natural material to upholster a nest for holding the fragile little eggs of a House Wren. This all might be very boring for some, but watching this so close since many years has not lost its appeal to us…

NATURE CLICKS #381 - BANK SWALLOW

Bank Swallow, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

A photo of a Bank Swallow has been on my “Most Wanted List” since quite some time. It was the only missing in my bird gallery of six swallow species we have here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. This picture is at least a starting point but it isn’t the image I have in mind. One of its best identification field marks is not visible, the brown breast band, that makes it easy to identify this species. The photo was taken again from the kayak during our tour at Mud Lake on the big river a few days ago. I had no chance to change my position with the boat and was just hoping the swallow would maybe turn around, but this did not happen. It is the fun of photography, whenever you have a decent shot, there is always room for a next step and improvement.

LOW ANGLE

American Coot, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa  -----

Nothing beats the low angle you can get while shooting from a kayak, especially in an area like the Green Island Wetlands. Because the dykes and roads are much higher, the camera is always elevated above the water level while shooting from the shore. The downside is, it is more difficult to navigate to a different position if some vegetation is in the line between you and your subject.

We took the boats out again today but didn’t see nearly as many birds as last Sunday. I’m happy if I come back with at least one shot that I like and this American Coot was the star today. Coots are very good swimmers but their feet are not webbed. Their toes have lobes on the side of each segment. I knew this before but I wasn’t really aware how big their feet actually are. It’s the low angle for this photo that helps to tell the story much better, not just about their feet but also the habitat they live in.

NATURE CLICKS #380 - GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER

Great Crested Flycatcher, Mississippi River, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Photographically seen it is a pitiful picture with lots of distractions, but my interest in birds makes me showing it anyway. So, lets treat it as a documentary shot…😉.

It was in 2012 when I had seen the last time a Great Crested Flycatcher. Yesterday, on our kayak paddling tour in the Green Island Wetlands, we saw this bird again and there were even a couple of juveniles. Unfortunately I was not able to move in the right position with the boat to get them in the frame. This adult flycatcher was high up in a tree and one of the reasons I used the word “pitiful” for this image is the fact that I had to crop it to death to make it halfway work, at least here in the blog. The photo connoisseurs among you may wrinkle their nose but I hope some birders and nature lovers can get a kick out of it…

NATURE CLICKS #379 - PROTHONOTARY WARBLER

Prothonotary Warbler, Mississippi River, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa ------  

Another great day here in the Mississippi Valley today. Joan and I took again the kayaks out for a trip on the water. This time we paddled deep into the backwaters of the Green Island Wetlands. We had it all for ourselves and except for the occasional honking of a train far away it was all about listening to the sounds of nature. My excitement grew rapidly when Joan pointed out a small yellow bird on a log in the water. I have only seen and photographed a Prothonotary Warbler once before and that was several years ago.

As always, shooting with the long lens from a kayak, while the kayak is moving, is quite a challenge and the number of misses is of course much higher. The only reason I show the second image here in the blog is for identification. It shows the colors of back, wings, and tail better. The head and eye of the warbler are clearly out of focus and usually a picture like this has only one valid place, the digital trash can. Well, sometimes we need an exception from the rule…😉

IMPORTANT STEP IN A BARN SWALLOW’S LIFE

Juvenile Barn Swallows, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa ------

The great weather we had lately continued and there was no doubt that paddling on the Mississippi River was a good choice today. We had some good German friends here a week ago and we told them that they are in paradise here in eastern Iowa. Paddling twice this week the same trip that they did last week makes me believe my own words 😉.

Almost back from our tour today and approaching Mud Lake Park we suddenly saw three juvenile swallows sitting on a piece of drift wood. I let the kayak carefully slide into a field of Arrow Heads, a water plant that is very common along the river. Parking the kayak between the plants makes it more stabil, increasing the chance for a sharp image. After I made some quick static shots the adult Barn Swallows suddenly arrived. The young swallows stretched their necks and called for food but the adults did not deliver. Immediately I thought I was the problem, maybe I was too close to the immature birds? But after watching the situation for a little while I figured out that we just witnessed an important stage of a young swallow’s life.

The adults didn’t care much about my presence, they just tried to encourage their offspring to catch their own food. They approached them, but didn’t feed them. I shot like a maniac. Being in a kayak doesn’t deliver always a sharp image but I got a good share. It all became clear when all juveniles suddenly took off and joined their parents in their efforts to catch insects in flight.

OLD BIRD, NEW GOALS

House Wren

Earlier this week it became clear that our House Wrens will finish the incubation of their eggs pretty soon and yesterday I finally saw the male deliver tiny insects and caterpillars to the nest. I study the wrens since many years and always get excited when they start feeding their offspring in one of our nest boxes.

The question that I ask myself is, what can be improved in my photography after all these years of aiming the lens at the little House Wrens? The biggest goal is to get closer with the camera without disturbing the birds. Since I shoot with the full frame sensor on the Nikon D750 I have to get a lot closer than with the old Nikon D300s, which has only a half size sensor. The reward is an image that can be printed much bigger with more detail. Finding better spots where to place the tripod without putting stress on the birds is key. Knowing their biology and behavior helps to understand when it is time to back off or stay away.

Looking at my older pictures I realized that many shots were made with the wrens sitting on a perch, which is usually dead wood. So another goal I set for myself is creating more photos with the birds in natural vegetation, without that it distracts from the subject too much.

The snacks became bigger already today...

I love to shoot with an overcast. It beats the harsh sunlight we have here during the day quite often by far. The downside is, it requires a longer exposure while keeping the ISO in the basement and obtaining a sharp image is a lot more difficult. Mastering 1/50 or 1/60 s with a 600 mm lens, even on a tripod, requires practice. As you can see, it doesn’t get boring with some goals for improvement in place , even with a tiny bird that I have photographed many times before…

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #9 - DUCKLINGS

Mallards can be found everywhere along the Mississippi and usually I point my lens at them only if there is an extraordinary light situation. While working with the pelicans a few days ago I couldn’t resist to make some clicks when this female duck with her offspring swam by in the choppy water just in front of me. Young birds are always fun to watch.

I had the camera up on the tripod. This was ok for the pelicans, who were a little further away than the ducklings, but for this shot I should have lowered the camera closer to the water surface.

1/800 s, f/6.3, ISO 100, @600 mm, image slightly cropped, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

LITTLE FISH - BIG FISH

Do you see the tiny little fish in the pelican’s beak dancing and saying good bye to the world? Maybe not, especially if you read this blog on a cell phone. But it is there and in full size of the original image I can even see its eyes.

Do you see the really big fish in this pelican’s beak? No, I can’t see it either but the gesture and the big bulge in its throat pouch leave no doubt that this guy just swallowed a big catch.

Both images tell the story about another fishing frenzy of the American White Pelicans down at the mighty Mississippi. Each of the them in a slightly different way.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #8 - PELICANS

American White Pelicans, Mississippi River, Lock & dam #11, Dubuque, Iowa ------    

Earlier this week I noticed a squadron of American White Pelicans near the dam on the Mississippi in Dubuque, Iowa. I found them today at the same place, next to the down stream gate of the lock. This is a location with good photo opportunities and I have been there many times before during other years. The pelicans prefer this place for their fishing and feeding. The best time is mostly the late afternoon, when the sun is still above the rocky bluffs but already low enough for some awesome warm light. At my arrival at the river we still had some overcast and I used a hint of flash to bring out the orange of the pelican’s bills. Later the sun came out and other than that, it’s all about gesture and making sure the concrete wall of the lock on the left hand side is not in the frame…

This was the moment of “game over” for the pelicans. The gate had opened and a barge was moved out of the lock. The guy on the left seems to say, we need another plan…! 😉

WORKFLOW FOR LANDSCAPES

Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa --------    

It was quiet here in the blog for a week. We had good friends from Germany visiting and although the camera was always with me while we showed them Dubuque and the Mississippi Valley, there was no time to write a new blog post.

Thursday evening we went for a cruise on the Mississippi River, followed by some beer and food on the deck of “Catfish Charlie’s”, a popular restaurant at the river. I could not stay in my seat when the setting sun put some magic on the clouds and boats in the marina… 😊

For this photo my usual landscape post process workflow was applied to the RAW file. I start in Adobe Lightroom for small corrections of the shadows and highlights if necessary. Many landscape photos benefit from the use of the Dehaze slider and sharpening and noise reduction are of course mandatory. If necessary “spot removal” is applied to get rid of any spots from sensor dust in the camera. I than open the file in Photoshop as a Smart Object, a layer that has the RAW data embedded. This allows me to make changes at a later time in case I change my mind about any previous adjustments. The NIK Color Efex Pro 4 plug-in is still my best friend when it comes to romance the image. Most of the time I enhance the tonal contrast, color contrast, and darken the edges of an image slightly. There are tons of filters in CEP but I only use what benefits the photo. It is easy to overdue things. 

Google, who owns NIK, has recently announced that they will not longer support this product. With other words it may stop working when a new operating system comes out or Adobe makes changes to their software. This is the reason that I currently test Macphun’s software Luminar. I use it the same way as the NIK collection, I apply it as a filter to my smart object. This is a non-destructive way to work with the photo and if I want to make changes at a later time, I can always revert to the original file and settings. Many other photographers write good things about it and have already replaced the NIK plug-ins with Luminar.

The last step in my workflow is “border police”, the removal of anything around the edges that distracts from the subject, like a small branch sticking in from the side or a piece of paper that is just an eyesore in the photo. This all sounds like a lot of work for anybody who is new to post processing but usually I do not work longer than 5 - 10 minutes on one of my landscape pictures. The trick is to work with presets that I have created or copied from other photographers. I use them in Lightroom, Photoshop, and with the NIK software. Luminar is new to me. It comes with a number of presets but finding the right settings for my own photography may take a little time...

NATURE CLICKS #378 - COMMON GALLINULE

Common Gallinule, Mississippi River, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa ----------

The Common Gallinule is often confused with the American Coot, but it is easily distinguished by the red shield-like plate above its bill. This chicken-like marsh bird has unwebbed feet but is nevertheless an excellent swimmer. They are also known under the name Common Moorhen. You may hear their loud squeaks, clucks, and screams before you even have a chance to see one. It took me several years to make my first photo of a gallinule and it wasn’t until this summer that I made a few pictures that can be shown in public without embarrassment. They spend the winter in the southern Atlantic states of the US and in South America.

LOOKING FOR A SHADY PLACE

Young Northern Water Snake, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa ---------

We have seen a steep decline in the number of snakes during recent years, not just here in our woods above the Little Maquoketa River Valley. I have no explanation for that and when I talked to an officer from the DNR a few weeks ago he didn’t know either. We have great habitat for snakes, with wood and rock piles for hiding, and over the years we have recorded five different species here. Unfortunately since about 3 - 4 years we hardly see any. However, at least near the Mississippi River I see occasionally a Northern Water Snake.

This image was made last Friday in the Green Island Wetlands on one of the dykes that I call “snake alley”, just because I have seen snakes there more often than at any other places in the wetlands. This was a very young snake, probably not even two foot long. After a couple clicks from the car I got out and wanted to get low on the ground with the camera. The snake saw obviously its chance to get some shade and squeezed itself behind the left front tire before I was even out of the car. So, what now? I started the engine and moved carefully forward in order not to harm the critter. Well, that worked, when I got out of the car again the young Northern Water Snake was already in the water next to the dyke…

SEVEN, ALIVE AND WELL

Trumpeter Swans, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Just minutes before I had my encounter with the four young raccoons (see the blog post from yesterday), I finally found the pair of Trumpeter Swans with their offspring I showed you on May 21st. All seven cygnets were still alive and well. I thought immediately that the story in this picture only works if I have all seven in the frame. They were right beside the road and in order to get them all in the picture I shot with the shortest focal length the SIGMA 150-600 offers. This was only possible at the moment just before the whole family entered the water.