GALLINULE, FIRST TIME WITH OFFSPRING


Common Gallinule with offspring, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Many of the waterfowl is very secretive while they care for their offspring. In particular the Common Gallinule is sometimes hard to spot. You may hear them calling in the reeds but getting the bird in front of the lens isn’t easy. Yesterday I made a short visit in the Green Island Wetlands and for the first time I had an opportunity to see a pair of gallinules caring for two little chicks. Although already late in the day the light was still harsh, the scene was backlit, and exposure was a challenge. As you can see in the second picture, their big feet allow the birds to walk on the leaves of waterlilies and other aquatic plants. The parents did their best to feed the young gallinules and it was fun watching them. I’m not 100% happy with the quality of the pictures. Shooting from the car without a chance to get into a better position with less backlight wasn’t ideal, but I think the story of this exciting moment is still told and I like to share it with you.

Both photos: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens

BIRD UPDATE


Male Baltimore Oriole

My blog has been always about a little bit of photography, some trivia about the subjects I tried to photograph, but mostly about creating awareness what does surround us in nature and how we can protect our natural heritage for future generations. When neighbors tell me, I saw the bird you were talking about the other day in your blog, but didn’t know we even had something that beautiful here, I feel inspired to continue my work.

So what’s going on these days here in our woods above the Little Maquoketa River Valley? 

We see lots of young woodpeckers, House Finches, and sparrows. The young nuthatches are in training for future challenges, and the Barred Owls , who raised an owlet right here next to the house this year, call from different places in our woods. From time to time we see a Scarlet Tanager at a suet feeder, a sure sign that at least one pair has a nest nearby. The House Wrens just started feeding their young ones in one of our nest boxes a couple days ago, while Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and American Goldfinches still have some time before they will present their offspring.

As always in early May we saw a number of Baltimore Orioles, most of them migrate further north, but usually we have at least one pair here during the summer. We are not sure about it this year, because we can’t hear their beautiful songs in the morning. We don’t worry about it too much. If all the orioles we saw this spring will have a nest somewhere north, we are perfectly fine and just look forward to see them again next spring.,,

WOODPECKER OFFSPRING


Young male Downy Woodpecker

We had a bit of rain the last couple days and the air finally cooled down, but I take this any time over the heat and humidity we had recently. However, no matter what kind of weather we have the birds and critters need to feed their offspring. I had some fun this evening standing on the porch behind the camera watching two young Downy Woodpeckers. Sometimes the parents still brought them a seed from the suet feeder but most of the time they tried to figure it out by themselves. They are only a little smaller than the parents but it is the clumsy behavior that reveals who has still to learn the lessons of life.

A little fill flash helped to get the exposure right and bring some colors out because the dark overcast this evening didn’t let much light come through here in the woods.

LITTLE TREE SWALLOWS


It’s the time of the year when many birds raise their next generation. Food is here in abundance and we are all happy if we have less mosquitos and flies around us while spending time in the great outdoors.

Down in Mud Lake Park at the Mississippi River a pair of Tree Swallows took possession of one of the nest boxes. At least three little swallows were in the box and stuck their heads out from time to time in expectation of the next food supply.

As always, I stay away from the nest and use the long lens with its maximum focal length of 600 mm to make the click. I act fast and walk away quickly from an active nest.

CHARMING SWALLOWS


Barn Swallow

My photography friend Kevin invited me for a late morning shooting in his barn on the south side of Dubuque, Iowa today. The barn is actually the home of a couple horses but it also gives shelter to several Barn Swallows. While we watched one of them still sitting on the nest, others were feeding their offspring already. There was a lot going on and we had plenty of opportunities to experiment with our camera and flash settings in order to get some good shots. We both had a great time to work with the birds.

The barn has a few windows and the upper half of the doors were open, allowing some day light to enter the room. The challenge was to incorporate the ambient light while our speed lights were used to freeze the action without making the flash too dominant. I wanted to preserve the warm feeling and colors that we found inside the building and pair it with the charming gestures these beautiful Barn Swallows have shown to us. The current warm weather provides plenty of insects and it never took very long until the adults returned with a bill full of food for their nestlings. What a fun morning! Thank you again Kevin for this great opportunity!

2017 RETROSPECT / 8


Ruby-throated Hummingbird ------  

August is always the month when the bird activities in our woods slow dow. Some of them have raised their offspring already and are on their way south again. Not so much the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. There is a lot going on around the flower beds in the yard and of course the hummingbird feeders are visited frequently by old and young birds.

With hummingbirds I don’t try to freeze the wings of the tiny birds by using a very short exposure time. I think the story of their humming, buzzing, hovering, and erratic moves is much better told when the wings appear blurred. This is how we see it. However, the eye has to be still sharp even if the Ruby-throated Hummingbird’s wings flap with a frequency of about 55 beats per second. The photo above was made in the early evening. The ambient light dictates my exposure time. A hint of flash is only used to boost the colors slightly but not to freeze the action.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender, @ 600m, 1/125s, F/6.3, ISO200

 

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…

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…

MOTHER OWL


Mother owl did not show me her precious offspring this evening. She just sat on the nest and kept her owlet covered. I still don’t know how many owlets are in the nest but I talked to a camper, who had watched the owl since a while, and he told me he has not seen more than one.

As you can easily see the light had no character today. Yes, we had another day with mostly a deep overcast. I hope I can show you some more photos of a young Great Horned Owl soon.

UPDATE ON THE GREAT HORNED OWL


March 21, 2017  -------   

I have been several times at the nest of the Great Horned Owl at Mud Lake last week. As the two photos show the conditions can be very different from one day to the next.

Five days ago, March 21, great late afternoon light hit the nest. Mother owl didn’t change position at all. I recognized a ball of gray-black feathers on the right. This is probably the remains of some prey, possibly an American Coot, that she or the male owl had bagged.

March 26, 2017

This image is from today, March 26, 2017. The rain had just stopped and the owl still looks quite wet. She sits very high in the nest and that makes me believe that her offspring has hatched already some time ago. Here is a time table of my first sightings of an owlet at the same nest for each year:

2016: March 28, a second owlet March 31

2015: March 16

2014: March 28

2013: April 14

It looks like we may see some new life soon. I will try to visit the nest more frequently during the upcoming week.

Both photos were made with the Sigma 150-600, at 600 mm in DX-crop mode of the Nikon D750. This is the equivalent viewing angle of a 900 mm lens. I use the DX mode if I can’t go physically closer to my subject.

2016 RETROSPECT / 5


Hooded Merganser with offspring, Green Island Wetlands, May 2016

One of the most memorable moments this year out in the field chasing the wildlife was the encounter of a female Hooded Merganser with her offspring. Everybody likes a picture of young ducklings but it was the story telling gestures of the female that led to my best photos that afternoon in the Green Island Wetlands next to the Mississippi River here in eastern Iowa. I have written about this here in the blog but I think there is nothing wrong including another photo of this great moment in my 2016 retrospect series.

NATURE CLICKS #336 - WARBLING VIREO


Warbling Vireo, Mines of Spain, Dubuque, Iowa

Today I watched a pair of Warbling Vireos in the Mines of Spain, the big recreation area south of Dubuque, Iowa that includes woods, prairie, and wetlands. I worked with the birds for almost two hours and it was just a good feeling to go out shooting again after mostly traveling during the last five weeks. The vireos were busy catching spiders and insects for their offspring always in the same tree. Finally I saw one juvenile just before I left the area. It flew from the tree down into the grass and waited to be fed. It obviously had just left the nest. The parents were in constant call contact with the young bird the whole time. They were catching a lot of insects and I was wondering if there was even more than just one juvenile.

It is always a great feeling if a picture of a particular species in my BIRD GALLERY can be replaced with a new and better one. In most instances it means there was improvement in my photography. Previous photos I made over the years of the Warbling Vireo had way too much distance between the camera and the subject, so they had to be cropped. Not good! This time I started with still a safe distance but didn’t really move the tripod much the whole time. As a result the birds got very quickly used to my presence and came closer and closer.

AGAINST THE RULES


Canada Geese, Green Isand Wetlands, Iowa

The Hooded Merganser wasn’t the only bird taking care for their offspring last weekend in the Green Island Wetlands. I saw several pairs of Canada Geese with little goslings, mostly between 2 - 4. The female goose incubates the eggs, but other than the mergansers both parents are involved in the care taking for the young ones. Canada Geese mate for life.

This family had just crossed the road in front of me, from one pond into the next lake. I know, butt shots are supposed to be rude but Ansel Adams said already, there are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs…

I saw the story in this photo when I made the click. One parent was leading the way, the other one kept an eye on me and made loud warning noises. Fill flash helped again to bring out the colors of the goslings and to overcome the gray of the overcast. There are only a few reflections of the sky on the water and the green of the algae infested water dominates the background. Many things came together in this image and that’s why I like it.

NATURE CLICKS #333 - HOODED MERGANSER WITH OFFSPRING


When I took the pictures of the Sora I posted yesterday a big smile was already in my face. A little earlier I watched this female Hooded Merganser, surrounded by six tiny feather balls. They were swimming in one of the canals parallel to the gravel road that goes across the Green Island Wetlands. The mother was pushing them and made sure all six little mergansers kept up with her. They goofed around a lot and sometimes mom had to stop and wait. Finally, pretty close to the end of the canal, the whole train stopped. They had reached obviously their nest site. As little as they are, it must have been one of their first excursions with the mother. So, where was the male with its beautiful crest and white patches? Well, as soon the female begins to incubate, the male abandons her...

NATURE CLICKS #324 - GREAT HORNED OWL


Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, gimbal head

Yesterday evening I was greeted by a chirpy little owlet, sitting at the edge of the big nest, down at the Mississippi River at Mud Lake Park. I quickly set up my tripod and watched the bird through the SIGMA 150-600mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, zoomed out to its longest focal length. For a while I thought there was a second owlet in the nest, but after looking closer at my pictures on the screen of the NIKON D750 I found out that mother owl just “took a nap” deep down in the nest, while the juvenile enjoyed the sun. What a great moment when she finally went up and left no doubt about who is in charge. I’m so happy to see that we have for the fourth year in a row the pleasure of watching a Great Horned Owl raising her offspring.