BEFORE THE WINTER COMES

A pair of Tundra Swans approaching and greeting other members of the flock. The yellow spot at the base of their bill makes identification relatively easy.

It is a two-hour drive for us along the mighty Mississippi to visit the Brownsville Overlook. This observation point, just ten miles north of the border to Minnesota, is a popular spot in November by bird watchers, photographers, and people who love to see the wonders of nature. Every year thousands of Tundra Swans rest in this area on their way from the arctic region to the mid-Atlantic coast. In addition local and migrating Trumpeter Swans, Sandhill Cranes, Bald Eagles, and ten thousands of ducks are also part of the mix that that can be watched.

A family of Trumpeter Swans. They are larger than Tundra Swans and their bill is completely black.

ENCHANTED HIGHWAY (A SLIDE SHOW)

Taking pictures of other peoples art makes me always hesitate and asking myself, why would I ever publish them? Here I try to put that in context with the Black & White photo “Enchanted Highway”, the only picture of that shoot that I really value. I do a bit of travel photography but mostly publish it in privately distributed books, and that’s where the pictures of sculptures would have a place to live. The photo of the “Enchanted Highway” stands out on its own, but why we would even go there, in the middle of frigging nowhere in North Dakota?

Wikipedia says: The Enchanted Highway is a collection of the world's largest scrap metal sculptures … along a 32-mile (51 km) stretch of two-lane highway in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of North Dakota. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchanted_Highway)

I would agree not to call it a “tourist trap”, because we didn’t really see many people at the end of August 2020, during some of the best travel times.

For my photography friends, here is a little information for those who may consider to include this remote location in one of their future travel plans. If you just travel this road during the day, as we did, the direction of sunlight may not be in your favor. Some of the metal sculptures have their face pointed at Polaris and keeping the sun out of the frame might be a challenge during the day. As you can see in some of the images, clouds help a lot and finding a way to place them in your photo may be beneficial. Towards the end of this 32-mile trip the blue parts of the sky were completely covered by clouds and that was the other challenge to deal with… If time is not a factor and you can stay in the charming little town of Regent, North Dakota , I’m sure sunrise and sunset are your best friends…

BACK-LIGHT

I’m not known as a “people photographer” but when these two young runners passed by I had to make the click. This was a month ago and I walked with our little dog at sunset on the Heritage Trail in the valley below. Due to the wildfires in Colorado, Montana, and California the sun had this hazy, almost dirty appearance and made for interesting back-light on the leaves and logging equipment in the background. While I was still debating with myself if this would be enough for a picture, the girls entered the scene. And suddenly I had a photo that made sense…

JUST LOOK FOR THEM

Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa

This photo was taken more than three weeks ago, down in our valley where the Little Maquoketa River meanders through the fields and meadows towards the Mississippi. I love the moody side of fall, with some leaves still present and fog hiding much of the clutter between the trees. The corn at the bottom of the picture was still waiting to be harvested, which by now is all done. On a gray day like this it is a much bigger challenge to tell a visual story about the season than with bold fall colors all over. It can happen I go home with still an empty memory card in the camera but sometimes the subtle things in the background make the image, we just have to look for them…

A UNIQUE ROCK

Little Missouri National Grassland, North Dakota, September 2020

When we drove by at this solitary towering sandstone rock on the way to the Elkhorn unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the morning, I saw some potential for a black & white image if some elements in the sky would be present. The unique shape of this rock drew our attention and how long it took for wind, rain, and snow to form it from sandstone that ones was a layer of sand on the bottom of a shallow sea, filled with abundant marine life.

While driving back from President Roosevelt’s former ranch in the afternoon a few clouds just moved through and we tried to take advantage of it. I remember that I had the camera slightly tilted to the right to give the grassy slope a little less presence in the photo. Other than climbing up the steep slope, it was an easy click to be made. In post process I applied a red filter B&W preset to make the sky darker and let the rock and single cloud stand out.

NATURE CLICKS #475 - LEAST CHIPMUNK

Least Chipmunk, Little Missouri National Grasslands, North Dakota, September 2020

The Least Chipmunk is the smallest of its kind here in North America but it is the most widespread. We don’t have it here in Iowa but during our trip through the Dakotas and eastern Montana we had a chance to watch these agile little fellows several times. Seeds, berries, nuts, fruits and insects are on their menu and most of the time we saw them chewing or carry something to their burrow.

Sure, this is not a critter that is difficult to photograph but therefore the photo has to be a little different. Light, color, or gesture  This Least Chipmunk was busy finding something in this tree but when he or she paused and observed the surrounding neighborhood, it was time to press the shutter release button of the camera.

1/320 s, f/6.3, ISO 320, @600 mm, with Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head;

VISIBLE DYNAMICS

Little Missouri National Grasslands, North Dakota, September 2020

Some of the questions I wanted to find answers to during our vacation trip were, how can I make the dynamics in the sky at certain times part of my visual storytelling, or how can the fast movement of clouds be made visible in a still image? Therefor I have a lot experimented with neutral density filters. For example in the photo you see here, the Breakthrough 10-stop X4 ND filter extended a 1/40 s exposure up to 30 seconds at f/22. Much can happen in 30 seconds! The wind blew pretty strong that evening and it wasn’t just the clouds that were moving. As you can see, it also blurs part of the grass and the trees. First I thought that wouldn’t work well, but the rocks in the background become the anchor point for the eye. They are there since millions of years and as long as the tripod with the camera is not shaking, they will remain sharp. All the other elements, clouds, grass, sage brush, and trees show movement and let you hopefully feel the wind… 

NATURE CLICKS #474 - ROCK WREN (FIRST SIGHTING)

Rock Wren, Little Missouri National Grasslands, North Dakota, September 2020

It has been two months already since we enjoyed the sighting of a Rock Wren, which was the first time ever that we saw this tiny bird. We had the remote Wannagan Campground, located just west of the border to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, for ourselves and it allowed me to walk around with camera and tripod wherever I wanted to and without disturbing other campers. Actually I was after some Mountain Bluebirds (Click HERE for a picture I took earlier that day) but when an unknown bird call sounded from some nearby rocks, my attention shifted immediately.

The Rock Wren lives in the western part of the US and southwest Canada and the location we found it is pretty much at the eastern border of its range. I just read that male Rock Wrens can have a large repertoire of more than 100 song types. I think that’s remarkable! This bird is not known to drink water, but gets the liquid it needs from food. Their diet consists insects and spiders and they hunt for them between and around rocks. Winters are pretty cold up in North Dakota and the Rock Wren migrates to the warmer regions in the southwest of the US and to Mexico.

Photographically not all wishes became true. The topography of this location did not allow  to get closer with the tripod and so I applied a crop to both photos. The location itself was perfect. Having a Rock Wren on top of a rock, surrounded by some grass stems and sage brush, tells a great story about its habitat in the badlands of North Dakota.

THE NEW “SHOOTING GALLERY”

Tufted Titmouse

Almost “T-shirt weather” and great light made me spent some time behind the camera on our front porch this late afternoon. As mentioned in my last blog post, there is a new “shooting gallery” in place, a little rack that holds a heated bird bath, a few bird feeders, and a couple dead red cedar trees (or at least parts of them), that serve as perches, and of course the places where I would like to make a photo. It is mobile and can be moved to a different location if I see a need for doing so. The idea behind is that I like to use “the gallery” during the “real winter” here in eastern Iowa (for my friends in South Africa and Germany: -20º to -50ºC), means having the camera on a tripod in the house and the birds still right in front of me. Right now I have my doubts that we are already in November, but there is no reason to stay inside and today we had about 22ºC (72º Fahrenheit). Oh yeah, people and animals enjoyed it the same way!

Black-capped Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadees are omnipresent all year long in our woods and it was also a great year for the Tufted Titmouse. We saw a lot of juveniles in late summer but now it is a little more difficult to tell what bird is an experienced adult or offspring from 2020. To be honest, it doesn’t really matter, we enjoy frequent visits of any kind of bird and both species are great to find out about the best settings for the new “shooting gallery”. I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful weekend.

NATURE CLICKS #473 - RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH

In my presentations about “Story telling in wildlife photography” I always emphasized to start shooting in your own backyard, garden, or anywhere around your place of living. That hasn’t changed and recently I made a few improvements to my own front yard “shooting gallery”, means the arrangements of bird feeders, bird baths, landing and perching places the birds can use during the cold season. Since we came back from our vacation about mid September we watched two Red-breasted Nuthatches that became frequent visitors in our yard. This seemed to be a little early, but however, they were some of the first birds that trusted the new arrangements and rewarded me with some great opportunities for making a click. Regarding light, the place is ideal during the hour before sunset, most likely also the time when I’m done with my day job and when undivided attention to the bird traffic is possible. The Red-breasted Nuthatches never remain much longer in a spot than 1-3 seconds, not always enough time to predict the shot, obtain focus on the bird, and finally make the click. I love when it works out and light, color, and gesture tell the story of this beautiful bird that may hopefully spend the winter here in eastern Iowa.

MEDICINE ROCKS - AFTER SUNSET

One of the numerous rock formations in the state park that are sacred to Native Americans, September 2020

It’s election day here in the US and most people have probably other things to do than browsing through photography and nature websites tonight. But if your blood pressure needs some adjustment, stop right here and have a look at this peaceful scene, shot after sunset in Medicine Rocks State Park, Montana. 😉

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, RRS BH-55 ball head,   @70 mm, 1/160s, f/5.6, ISO100

NATURE CLICKS #472 - NORTHERN LEOPARD FROG

Northern Leopard Frog, Mississippi River, John Deere Marsh, Iowa

I will still post a few more photos from our trip in August / September but today it’s time for a picture I shot this week. It became a habit to take our little dog Cooper for a walk to one of the nature places in the neighborhood during my lunch break. This week I was twice in the John Deere Marsh, a wetland and marsh area at the confluence of the Little Maquoketa River and the mighty Mississippi. The birds didn’t cooperate on Wednesday and as we returned back to the parking lot I only had made one click of some American Coots, who slowly migrate south at the moment and spend some time in this area.

The discovery of a Northern Leopard Frog, nicely sitting on a weathered log that obviously was left from a flood of the Mississippi River some time ago, made up for the lack of birds. The blurred reeds in the background give a sense of location and the weathered, partly black and partly bleached driftwood makes some contrast to the warm colors of the Leopard Frog. Went back to the car with a smile on my face…

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 600 mm, 1/500 s, f/6.3, ISO 320

MEDICINE ROCKS - FINALLY THE MILKY WAY

It wasn’t until almost the end of our trip that it was possible to make a night picture that included the Milky Way. We had many clear nights and light pollution by human-made light sources was very little most of the time in the Dakotas and Montana. But it was the moon that came up every night, bright and beautiful, that cancelled every effort. Finally at Medicine Rocks in Montana we were able to see and capture a little more of the universe we live in. I tried exposure times between 15 and 30 seconds and ISO settings from 3200 to 6400. Only for a few shots I went vertical with the camera but at home, in front of the computer screen, I found that these photos work actually better than all the images in landscape orientation.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, RRS BH-55 ball head, Vello cable release,   @16 mm, 20 s, f/4, ISO6400

MEDICINE ROCKS - A PHOTOGRAPHER’S PARADISE

Our last “base camp” during the trip in eastern Montana was in Medicine Rocks State Park. Medicine Rocks is a series of sandstone pillars with eerie undulations, holes, and tunnels in them. The rocks are considered a sacred holy place by Plain Indians. Archaeological evidence indicates that there has been human habitation at or near Medicine Rocks for about 11,000 years. Many Indian tribes resided there permanently or temporarily. (source: Wikipedia)

I could write a lot more about a place like this but I trust you know where to find more information if you are interested. All what I can say is, it is a photographer’s paradise for landscape and night photography.

On a sunny day the hours around sunrise and sunset are again your best times for exploring this 330 acres (130 ha) area with the camera.