I’m glad I created these pictures of our House Wrens yesterday morning. When the food the parents bring to the young wrens gets really big, like this moth, we know the time the offspring will leave the nest is near. I saw at least three young wrens jockey for the “window spot” and for the best meals. Well, they left the nest box yesterday evening. Unfortunately I wasn’t there when it happened. It was the second successful brood for the House Wrens in one of our nest boxes this year. But who knows what happens next? We have several pairs in our neighborhood and during some years we witnessed fledglings leaving the nest last week of August…
BEATING THE MUDDY LOOK
Going for the sun
Earlier this summer I saw this bunch of turtles warming up in the sun on a log in a pool near the Mississippi. The water had a brown color and the turtles looked a little muddy too. The reflections of dead trees and turtles created a pattern that I liked. I knew this could be worked out in a black and white version of the image and here is the result.
THE SHORT MOMENT
Ruby-throated Hummingbird at a Tiger Lily
This immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird is gleaning for tiny insects on the Tiger Lily in the garden. The lilies don’t last very long and a lot of things have to come together for such photo. Knowing that the time was perfect and the quality of the ambient light was right is one thing, but waiting for the moment for about an hour is the less predictable part. If you miss the two or three seconds the hummer spends at the flower, well, you may have to wait for another hour…
SUMMER AT ITS PEAK
Tiger Swallowtail
It is this short moment during the summer when flowers and butterflies look at their best. Today we had two Giant Swallowtails and two Tiger Swallowtails feeding in our patch of prairie and garden flowers. A light overcast made for a balanced ambient light and just a very subtle hint of flash was used to pronounce the colors of phlox and Tiger Swallowtail.
HE LET ME KNOW…
Young Raccoon, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa
If I talk about a visit in the Green Island Wetlands, south of Bellevue, Iowa, you may expect pictures of waterfowl, shore birds, or raptors, but today I have an image of an immature raccoon. While I saw many birds on the water or between the reeds yesterday, I wasn’t too excited to make the click, due to harsh light or too much distance, but often for both reasons. Some four-legged critters performed, including a white-tailed deer and this young raccoon. As soon I stopped on the opposite side of the road and put the camera in position, the little guy started growling at me. I got it, I was the intruder in his space and the raccoon had every right to let me know about it… Cute, nevertheless…!
FEEDING THE SECOND BROOD
Male House Wren (German: Zaunkönig) waiting for his turn to feed the offspring with a good size spider
Our House Wrens are currently feeding their second brood. The little wrens grow rapidly and started making noise in the nest box. The parents are great, coming in with spiders, caterpillars, and insects every few minutes. The first brood this year was successfully raised already in June and behind the house, at another nest box, is a second wren couple busy feeding their offspring. The warm weather we had lately provides an abundance of supply for the little birds and we just enjoy watching them from our porch during “cocktail hour” in the evening.
1/40 s, f/6.3, ISO 200, @ 600 mm, -1/3 EV, flash -5.0 EV; with 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;
NATURE CLICKS #464 - IMMATURE BALD EAGLE
Young Bald Eagle from 2020, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa
Normally I don’t walk right up to a raptor that close, but I didn’t see the juvenile Bald Eagle perched on a low branch in the tree until I was just in front of the bird. I showed a photo back in April of the adult Bald Eagle still sitting on the nest and probably keeping a young one warm (Click HERE if you like to see that post again). Well, less than three months later the juvenile has pretty much adult size. For the first four years of their life Bald Eagles don’t have the iconic white head and white tail feathers. I moved in slow motion after I saw the eagle and the bird accepted my presence for about fifteen minutes before it took off and flew to another tree.
For today’s “lunch walk” with our dog Cooper at Mud Lake, down at the Mississippi River, I took the long lens on camera with me. It proved to be a good decision again, although noon hour in July is often not the best time for wildlife photography. I didn’t see the parents at all today but I’m sure they still bring food to the young bird.
NATURE CLICKS #463 - RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD
There is no boring moment when watching the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feeding on the flowers or drinking from the feeders. No doubt that the nectar of the Bee Balm is their favorite food at the moment. The flowers may have passed their prime but still deliver plenty of food. The immature birds already feed independently and there is a constant coming and going. Immature males and females look essentially the same in their first year, both resembling adult females. During the late summer many young males acquire some random red iridescent feathers on the throat.
I like to shoot with relatively long exposure because I want a nice blur of their wings. Just the same way as you can see them when they hover at a flower. The flower bed was in the shade already this evening but a hint of flash helps to bring out the iridescent colors of their feathers and helps to “freeze” the part that needs to be sharp, the eye of the hummer.
1/100 s, f/6.3, ISO 400, @ 600 mm, -2/3 EV, flash -3 EV; with 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;
WEEKEND THOUGHTS
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
The story of our Ruby-throated Hummingbirds can be told in different ways and I’m very happy if I’m able to show them in their natural habitat. I have lots of photos of the hummingbird going back and forth drinking from one of our feeders. When I make a sharp picture, and of course do not have the feeder in it, I’m happy too. But is that really where to go with my photography about hummingbirds? Sure, I can fiddle forever about the technical aspects of a photo, but many technically perfect pictures lack the story about the animal. Still alright, if you contribute to the perfect bird guide book or app, but very few of us nature photographers do, and what’s left is just good storytelling about the animal.
Thanks to Joan’s gardening efforts we have over 50 Bee Balm flowers in the front yard at the moment. Prime food for the Ruby-throated Hummingbird! They still get the most energy out of the hummingbird feeders, hanging from the edge of the porch, but for a good photo the flower environment beats anything else.
SAME CLOUD AGAIN
I still have my thoughts at this anvil cloud that took our attention last Monday at the night shooting event of the Dubuque Camera Club. I can’t really say I had a black & white image in mind this time, when I took a number of pictures of the cloud. I love this form of expression and finally wanted to give another photo of this series a trial.
Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, RRS BH-55 ball head, Vello cable release, @122 mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO100
HOT SUMMER NIGHT
I was not the only one who tried to capture the magic of this sun-filled anvil cloud, hanging in the sky to the north last night. I saw other fellow photographers pointing their lens in this direction during our night shooting event. First I tried it with the wide angle lens between 16 and 35 mm but had the feeling there were too many other things present that distracted from the subject. I found my way to tell the story about a hot summer night in the Midwest by zooming in to 105 mm and leaving just a small sliver of prairie and trees in the frame to give it some sense of place.
A sign and a small part of a bright concrete trail were removed with “content-aware fill” in Adobe Photoshop. This function has greatly improved since one of the last updates and is a very powerful tool for “romancing” a landscape by cleaning up from man-made garbage.
Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, RRS BH-55 ball head, Vello cable release, @105 mm, 1/250s, f/8, ISO100
LIGHT PAINTING ON THE PRAIRIE
Prairie at night, Mines of Spain Recreation Area, Dubuque, Iowa
Last night the Dubuque Camera Club had its “end of the season” meeting. Quite a few members were brave enough to defy the heat and came out for some night shooting to the picknick shelter at the Butler trail. This part of the Mines of Spain Recreation Area is mostly open prairie and allowed for good social distancing. I had fun with some light painting on the prairie grass and trees.
Despite some light pollution from the city of Dubuque, the stars were visible and as I framed one of the shots an airplane approached the DBQ Airport with full lights on. Photography friend Pamela Brandt assisted with a second light source (thank you again Pam!) and at the end some pictures were on the memory card that I liked.
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, RRS BH-55 ball head, Vello cable release, @16 mm, 30 s, f/4, ISO200, Manual mode
SMOKE AND LIGHT
Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, @ 72mm, 1/160s, f/5.6, ISO400, matrix metering, underexposed by -1 stop
I trust you all had a nice Independence Day here in the United States. We spent this sunny and very warm weekend tent camping with the grandkids and their parents and had an enjoyable kayak trip with them. Of course, eating a good dinner is important after such exercise! Shortly after the fire in the grill got started we watched how the smoke made the sun beams visible that came through the canopy of the trees. Oh, I can’t bypass such a photo opportunity… 😊
Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, @ 95mm, 1/200s, f/4, ISO400, matrix metering, underexposed by -1.3 EV
NATURE CLICKS #462 - TAWNY EMPEROR
The Tawny Emperor is not as common as its sister species, the Hackberry Emperor (see my latest post about it HERE), although they can often be found together because they share the same habitat and food source. As already mentioned in my earlier blog post, we have hundreds of butterflies here in our woods since at least a couple weeks. We can sit in the sun for a while and they will land in your hair or on your legs. Joan and I debated why we see so many more this year than any other year before. We don’t know, but maybe the mild winter played a role. However, we enjoy the presence of butterflies up on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa River Valley here in eastern Iowa.
By the way, this was not shot with a macro lens. I had the Sigma 150-600 on camera for some hummingbirds this weekend and while waiting for their performance, this Tawny Emperor in the front yard became suddenly the subject. As always, I’m not an “eye ball photographer” but the lines of the hostas leaves and the emperor lined up perfectly and some water from the last shower was left on the leave. Summer in eastern Iowa…
MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2020 #3 - COLOR CONTRAST
American Lady, Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa
A mostly hazy and humid day ended for us with a trip to several locations along the Mississippi River right here in Dubuque, Iowa. Just as we stopped to enjoy a clearing wind breeze and to have a look at the Julien Dubuque Bridge, the “American Lady” came back from a river cruise. The warm light on bridge and boat made for a nice color contrast to the sky and its reflection on the water.