SUNSET AT THE BOAT RAMP

Joan and I checked out the canoe access near Motor Mill, Iowa around sunset last Friday. We had pitched our tent at the campsite and looked forward to paddle the Turkey River on Saturday and the Volga River on Sunday with our kayaks again. Despite heavy damage on trees and parts of the river bed in both rivers from the flooding about a week ago, both paddle tours were very delightful and we had no problems.

Some people had left their rental kayaks and canoes at the boat ramp and these made for a great story telling element in this photo.

STILL IN GOOD SHAPE

Giant Swallowtail, Little Maquoketa River Valley near Durango, Iowa ----

How would summer be without butterflies? During the last few days we saw a couple Giant Swallowtails, a Red Admiral, and one Tiger Swallowtail. Not all of them look photogenic. Some have missing tails or parts of their wings. I’m not sure who is in charge of that. Maybe birds tried to prey on them, but it is not so uncommon to see a swallowtail with missing parts of their wings. However, this Giant Swallowtail was still in pristine shape, with a wonderful dark color.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG, @ 1/1600 s, f/4, ISO400

 

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER RUNWAY

I went back to the Dubuque Airport on Saturday. The pilots used a different runway for starts and landings, far away from the observation point of the Dubuque airport, and out of reach for a decent photo. I drove on a small gravel road that leads to the end of the runway and tried my luck again. I arrived there just in time to watch three P-51D’s taking off.

Most of the T-6’s trained in formations of four for the AirVenture in Oshkosh and when they come in for landing the photographer gets four chances in a row for a picture. I missed a few but I like this shot because I pre-visualized where I wanted to make the click, right between the two clouds.

When I took this photo I didn’t really know what I had in front of my lens. This is ‘Doc’, one of only two flying B-29’s in the world. If one of my valued blog readers is interested in the amazing story about this airplane and its restoration, here is the link: http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/restoration-doc-flies-again-180960367/

AIR SHOW PREPARATIONS

Last week the noise of airplane engines around here reminded me that the big EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin is coming up next week. As always during the last years the Dubuque Airport hosts a number of WWII airplanes and their crews to prepare for the air shows.

Aviation photography is not really my main interest but I always like to use this opportunity to practice handholding of the camera and long lens. The same skills used for shooting a moving airplane can be used in wildlife photography. All the airplanes have propeller engines and the only way to get a full circle of the prop is to shoot with about 1/60 s exposure time. This is easier said than done and the amount of garbage I have produced was much higher than during any other time of the year. Friday evening the planes used the landing strip near the observation point at the airport and this allowed for a number of pictures that filled the frame without any significant cropping. More to come…

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, @ 1/60 s

WORKING WITH LUMINAR

Lake Superior, Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario, Canada ----

We have this typical end-of-July-weather right now, very warm and way to humid for my taste. I haven’t been out much for photography this week, except for the daily “yard exercise” with the birds that hang around the house. But of course, I don’t want to post about our house wrens or hummingbirds every other day.

About a month ago I reported about trying out Luminar from Macphun for the post process in my landscape photography. Well, I really like it so far and decided to use it as a Photoshop plug-in instead of the old NIK collection, that will not be supported by Google in the future anymore. The Macphun website has lots of short videos that make it easy to learn about all the different filters and techniques. Luckily there are enough untouched pictures on my hard drive to explore the ins and outs of Luminar. And this is what I do right now to beat the “hot-summer-blues”…😊

This photo was made on a dark and stormy day in Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario, Canada. Lake Superior was in a “bad mood” that day back in September 2016. The dominant color was gray, and all the other colors appeared muted. Luminar helps to improve the tonal contrast and reveal the colors as they appeared in reality. I still have a long way to go with this new software but I like what it does for my landscape photography so far.

THROUGH THE FENCE

Red Fox (captive) --------    

This photo has nothing to do with our main activities last weekend. We went out camping to the Volga River Recreation Area near Fayette, Iowa and paddled the lake and finally the Volga River this weekend. It was a gorgeous tour and time well spent. The river had a good water level and was much faster than other times in July according to the park ranger. Unfortunately I’m not brave enough to take the D750 on a river tour with some whitewater challenges. With other words, no images from the paddle tour.

On our way home we stopped at the Conservation Park and Iowa Welcome Center in Osborne. Beside a lot of other interesting places, like an arboretum, a nature center, and a pioneer village, the center has a native wildlife exhibit. Owls, hawks, a black bear, wolf, coyote, and other animals that can’t make a living on their own in the wild anymore are hosted in this facility.

To be honest, I’m not a big fan of animals in captivity, although I understand the value for education. I’m just not excited anymore. However, the light on this Red Fox intrigued me and making a picture with the fence between me and the critter was a challenge I could not let pass by…

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