ANOTHER WINTER MORNING


The skies had cleared yesterday morning and the air was crisp and clear. The snow still sticked to the trees on the ridge above our house. The branches of the little red cedar in the foreground were bent under the load of snow and the morning sun made for a nice contrast. Winter can be nice around here…

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR,  @70mm, 1/400s, f/8, ISO100

ICY, ICY…


Winter holds us in its claws but every day is a little different than the one before. Yesterday we had some icy rain and most of the oaks around here were still covered with a glass-like ice layer today. This afternoon I stepped outside for a couple minutes and exposed myself to the cold wind. The low sun made the branches shining like silver and this was of course my subject for this artsy-fartsy picture.

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR, @70mm, 1/100s, f/29, ISO100

3 BIRDS, 3 THOUGHTS


Northern Cardinal

I have three photos and three little stories or thoughts for you today. It all accumulated during this week as much as the snow did here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River Valley.

All three pictures were made in the ‘backyard studio’, which means around the house. I did a “mini class” on bird photography with speed light during our “flash workshop” at the last meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club. However, no flash was used to boost colors this time because the giant reflector, called ‘snow’, took over this function. I was really happy to see some great results on social media of other photographers who applied some of the ideas I taught to their own photography (John Leicht, you are on the right track!).

This Northern Cardinal is part of the gang, joining us every morning and evening. Not a great gesture, but look at the shaft of light that hits this fellow during sunset time…

Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker (hybrid?)

I have photographed this guy before. Usually male Yellow-shafted Northern Flickers have a  deep black mustache but this must be a hybrid between a red-shafted (hence the red mustache) and the yellow shafted Northern Flicker (hence the yellow undertail). Not really uncommon, but the line where both races overlap is usually much further west. Any thoughts from other birders about this topic are more than welcome.

American Robin

When I moved to this country almost 15 years ago and started to learn about the birds of North America I quite often heard, the American Robin migrates and we don’t see them here in this part of the Midwest during the winter. The reappearance in March, or even April, was celebrated as a sure sign of spring by many people. I thought this was true for a long time, but during the last 4-5 years I have always seen American Robins during the winter. This season, now with temperatures way below 0ºF (-16ºC), the robins still come to the water sources we provide. A bird will show up only at feeders if either food, water, and/or exceptional safety are nearby. In case of the robins, they don’t eat really any of the food we provide. Ones in a great while I see an American Robin feeding on a suet feeder that we have out there for the woodpeckers. What draws them in is the abundance of juniper berries from the Red Cedars that grow on the limestone bluffs above the valley here. I guess this kind of food must make them very thirsty…. I refilled both of our bird baths with more than a gallon of water (2x 3.87 liters) today. Sure, part of it is the low humidity, letting the water evaporate more quickly, but it is amazing how much liquid these birds can consume within a short period of time.

GREEN ISLAND WETLANDS IN THE WINTER?


First snow in the Green Island Wetlands

I had a nice audience last night for my presentation about storytelling in wildlife photography, with some great questions afterwards and the emails and messages I received today tell me that people received some inspiration for their own photography. This made my day!

I introduced some of my favorite shooting locations, and the avid reader of my blog knows already, the Green Island Wetlands along the Mississippi River play certainly an important role in my endeavors. Actually Joan, our dog Cooper, and I went there for a little hike last Sunday. We had some fresh snow on the ground and most water bodies were covered with a thin layer of ice. I’m sure the duck hunters were not so happy about that because we didn’t see any.

Bald Eagle

So what can we find at this time of the year under winter conditions in Green Island? We saw several hawks, a few Song Sparrows, and for the first time ever a coyote on top of a levee. Unfortunately he had seen us earlier and during the two or three seconds we watched him I was not able to make a sharp image. Ten minutes earlier this Bald Eagle posed nicely against the blue sky and later we saw the bird with its mate sitting in another tree further away.

Beside all that, the lakes and backwaters had some nice blue color and the cracks in the ice and the snow painted some surreal patterns. As mentioned in my presentation, it’s difficult to come back from the wetlands with an empty memory card…

NATURE CLICKS #405 - PINE SISKIN


This little finch is actually more of a winter guest here but we don’t see it very often in our woods, maybe due to the lack of conifers. However, this female hangs around with the American Goldfinches since about two weeks, who are currently present in large numbers. I don’t have very many photos of a Pine Siskin and most of them were made with the bird at a feeder or at a bird bath. I’m happy to have finally some shots without any men-made items in the frame.

NATURE CLICKS #394 - AMERICAN TREE SPARROW


The photo is already two days old. Life stood in the way for posting here in the blog. That is not a big deal because it was three years ago when I had the last time an American Tree Sparrow in front of the lens. Wednesday night along the waters of the Deere Marsh at the Mississippi River I found a “grove” of them. When I walk on top of the dyke towards the river with our little dog Cooper I usually take the camera with me. This location is always good for some discoveries.

The American Tree Sparrow is here only during the winter time. Their breeding range is in northern Canada and Alaska. Speaking of winter, we have some snow in the forecast for tomorrow. When the ground is covered with snow, the tree sparrows will beat tall weeds with their wings and feed on the seeds that may have fallen down. I thought this is an interesting fact, I just learned from my favorite bird identification app on the phone, iBird PRO. Enjoy your weekend!

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, @ 600 mm, 1/400 s, f/6.3, ISO 400

 

CHIPMUNK-OUT-OF-THE-DEN-DAY


Eastern Chipmunk - first appearance this spring

Oh, you never have heard about a ‘Chipmunk-out-of-the den-day’? Ok, it is my invention… 😊 For me spring does not really start until we have seen the Eastern Chipmunk around the house. During the winter, the chipmunk may enter long periods of torpor, but does not truly hibernate. We see the chipmunk very seldom during the winter. Despite we had a mild one this last season we didn’t see this critter at all until today.

With no leaves out yet the light is crispy and clear, even here in the woods, when the sun comes out in April. Yes, we finally saw the sun today! The challenge is the high contrast, even during the last hour before sunset. You got to watch the highlights and make sure they are not blown out in your photo. It is a good time to learn and practice exposure compensation...

WHEN THE FOG LIFTS


Here is another photo from my brief shoot yesterday morning at the Heritage Pond Dubuque. The ice in the foreground covers actually another small pond just north of the parking lot and next to the Heritage Trail. As the fog started lifting and the sun came through, all the gray seemed to disappear. Within a couple minutes the colors came to life, telling the story about that the days of winter may be already numbered. The hawk, sitting high up in the tree, wasn’t planned but became part of the story.

The ice on the pond doesn’t really reflect how warm it was here during the last few days. I saw 23ºC (73ºF) today on the thermometer and we are still in February. However, there is a “blizzard watch” for parts of Iowa in the forecast for tomorrow and things can still change back to ‘real’ winter quickly…

GREAT LIGHT BUT STILL ADDING SOME MORE


Red-bellied Woodpecker -----------

Winter is back here in eastern Iowa since a couple days. Time to put the best reflector nature provides for us to work. Yep, I’m talking about the fresh snow on the ground. The quality of light becomes very good for bird photography as soon a little sun hits the snow. The reflection from underneath the bird, even if they sit a little higher in a tree, makes the big difference to any other time of the year. In addition I’m testing a new flash extender that made it into my bag of tools. I’m not ready to talk about it today but might be soon. My flash extender of choice was the Better Beamer for many years (click HERE to see how it looks like). So why throwing more light at the subject if the overall conditions are sufficient? “Tree hugging” birds like this young male Red-bellied Woodpecker like to stay quite often on the shady side of the tree. I still can expose halfway correctly but a little hint of flash (and I mean a little hint) will reveal the beauty of all the colors in its feathers.

This is the tree I call “Woodpecker-Tree #1” in our front yard. A suet feeder is nearby and this tree is quite often the starting point for the birds approaching this feeder. The Red-bellied Woodpecker seemed to be in some competition today about the best spot with another woodpecker, a Northern Flicker. As you can see, it was all about display. Catching the colors and gesture was important to me to tell the story with my photo.

NATURE CLICKS #322 - DARK-EYED JUNCO


Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4, @ 120 mm, 1/640s, f/5

Yeees, we got it all back! As you can easily see a huge area of clouds moved through here today and left us with a fresh cover of snow. With the snow came the Dark-eyed Juncos back, who had left us already during the last days with warmer temperatures. This medium-sized sparrow has twelve subspecies and can have many geographic color variations, but here we see mostly the “slate-colored”. The Dark-eyed Junco is my #1 “winter indicator”. In late fall or early winter they show up usually a few hours before we get the first snow. The juncos we see here in Iowa during the winter breed probably in Canada or northern Minnesota.

The photo was made through my office window, hence the slightly softer appearance of the bird. I have a small bird feeder next to the window and I use a deer antler for the birds to perch.

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

HAVE TO LIKE IT


Pronghorn, Custer State Park, South Dakota

We are in northwest Iowa again and spend time with our family. The winter becomes “serious” and temperatures getting really low here right now. Today we had about -15˚C and tomorrow we expect -25˚C / -13˚F with a windchill down to -40˚C / -40˚F. Minus 40 is the magic number where the temperature on the Celsius scale meets the one on the Fahrenheit scale…

Joan, Cooper, and I went out this afternoon for a little hike and I tried to make some pictures that tell the story about winter. After all, looking at them later on the computer screen, I didn’t like the results. This happens and I don’t blame the weather for it. I rather show nothing than a picture I don’t like. So, this is why a photo from the archive is used for today’s blog post. Not even partially related to today’s article, but at least it is a photo that I like… 😉

SUN IS OUT, FINALLY


Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

A very chilly morning today after a relative warm Christmas but for the first time this weekend the sun came out and the sky cleared. We are in Cherokee in northwest Iowa and spent the weekend with our family. A daily habit is a walk around Spring Lake, located in a nice park of the city. 

The Nikkor 16-35, f/4 was on camera and choosing f/16 created the sunburst effect and depth of field throughout the whole image. The photo doesn’t have a clear subject but the long shadows of the trees on the ice triggered my desire to make this picture.

EARLY SNOW


I don’t remember that we ever got so much snow in November within a day since Joan and I live here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa Valley. It sure looked pretty in the morning and even later, just before sunset when these photos were made, there was still some snow in the trees.

The farmer who works the small fields along the Little Maquoketa River, was a little late with the harvest of his corn this year. I saw the combine and tractors with trailers Friday morning getting the job done. Well, it was obviously not too late and the people that “plowed” the fields with their snow mobiles just a day later must have thought the same. I know, the sun in this picture is a little “burned out” but I wanted this picture for today’s story. I can promise you it will not end up in my portfolio… 😉!

Down in the valley the Heritage Trail, follows the highway to Dubuque, Iowa. The snowmobilers were obviously very happy about the early start of the winter season and used the trail heavily. The photographer found his pleasure in the light of the evening...