AN EVENING AT THE POND

American White Pelican, Sageville Marsh, Iowa

It was about time to get out again and hold a camera in my hand after a busy week. The goal was to look after a mostly night active critter this evening at Sageville Marsh, a small wetland area not far from home. I will not reveal yet what it was, but a photo and blog post will be postponed until probably tomorrow. The reason is the great display of an American White Pelican on my arrival at the marsh around 7PM. The gesture and long reflection of the bird on the water triggered my desire to make this click across the pond. By the way, it was the first time ever that I saw a pelican at Sageville Marsh. With an overcast during that late time of the day it is probably not an exaggeration to call it low light. I shot this in full frame mode FX with the bird in the center. In post process I finally cropped the image to about DX dimensions and took the bird out of center. I do that to get the brightest part of the lens on the subject and have still a decent arrangement in the frame. This little trick has helped me before to handhold and maintain autofocus at shutter speeds of 1/60s or even slower with the long lens.

CLOUDS, EAGLES, AND COOTS

Green Island Preserve, Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, B+W F-PRO Kaesemann High Transmission Circular Polarizer MRC filter

At arrival in the Green Island Wetlands today I was greeted with some nice puffy clouds. Usually I approach the area with the long lens already attached to the camera, ready to use, but this was a good reason to get the wide angle lens and polarizer out of the bag. Last year’s vegetation is rotting away and pretty soon new growth will dominate the lakes, ponds, and marsh land in the Mississippi Valley. 

Immature Bald Eagle

While driving deeper into the wetlands I found a large congregation of Bald Eagles, more than 30 birds that were perched on trees or logs in the water. Seeing a few is always guaranteed but I couldn’t figure out why so many at this time of the year? Some were messing with each other but most just sat still on their perch, like this immature eagle. It had to do something with food. They mostly feed on fish and the fish population certainly didn’t grow in the wetlands since last week. So, why so many at the same place?

American Coots, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S

And maybe here lies the answer. Large shoals of American Coots, thousands of “marsh hens” occupied the lakes within the wetlands. They kept very close together while moving in the shallow water and feeding on plant materials, aquatic invertebrates, or worms. I have seen Bald Eagles sitting in a tree and feeding on dead coots at other times before and maybe the large numbers attract more eagles than we see usually in Green Island along the Mississippi.

NATURE CLICKS #488 - RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER

Female Red-bellied Woodpecker, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Iowa

It is mating season and most obvious is it by the birds that call for a mate or try to impress the other gender. Woodpeckers are among them and as soon daylight creeps above the horizon they make their presence known by drumming against a well sounding tree trunk or branch and by ratting calls, mostly by the males. Well, they need to eat too and suet feeders are like a magnet that pulls them within the reach of a lens. Of course, a feeder is not the best place for a photo but during the time the woodpeckers approach it, there are plenty of opportunities to make a click.

NATURE CLICKS #487 - KILLDEER

Killdeer, Green Island Preserve, Iowa

It looks like they are always motionless but the Killdeer can actually run pretty fast as soon they spot something to eat, like an earthworm or insect. It is one of the first bird species that returns after the winter and before you see them, you just know they are there because of the loud cry they can emit, “kill-dee” or “kill-deeeah-dee-dee”.

I have reported about Killdeer many times here in my blog before and if you use the search window you can compare older notes about this large plover. Last Sunday I watched a pair  feeding on earthworms that came out of the ground after the rain.

DUCK DAY

Male Northern Shoveler, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Today we left the rain finally behind us but an overcast made me scratching my head and wondering if it is worth to make another trip to the wetlands. Gray sky and bird photography do not always go well together, especially if the sky is reflected on water. I did it anyway and thought a scouting trip for shorebirds, like sandpipers, wouldn’t hurt. To answer that question first, I saw only one Greater Yellowleg and a group of unidentified sandpipers, all of them too far away for a photo.

The number of ducks has increased and the first Canada Geese were sitting on nest sites. It was fun to watch immature Bald Eagles, honing their skills for catching fish, and pelicans circling with great elegance above. I counted 14 Sandhill Cranes and some showed their elaborate courtship displays to either form mating pairs, or between mates to maintain their pair bond. With other words, it was still a great day for bird watchers.

Pair of Blue-winged Teal

It is mating season and some of the ducks don’t fly away immediately as soon they become aware of us. Other things are on their mind and while they look most beautiful right now, it is the best time of the year to capture their picture. The challenge today was to keep the sky and water with sky reflections out of the frame whenever possible. In addition the green of new grass and reeds helps to hide mud and decaying clutter from last year’s growing season. 

THE PILEATED

Female Pileated Woodpecker, April 2020

It doesn’t happen very often but this week I didn’t press the shutter release button of the camera at all so far. Another project took most of my attention and time but hopefully this will change during the weekend. This photo of a female Pileated Woodpecker at the bottom of a dead oak tree was made about a year ago. This week I heard their calls every day and saw two Pileateds in the woods behind the house. It is the only woodpecker that has not visited our suet feeders in all the years we live here. This crow-size bird is actually present all year long but it is rare that I have one in front of the lens. April is still a good month because without the leaves we still have a clear view between the trees. I’ll keep trying…

EVERY SPRING…

Bloodroot, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa

Easter weekend and the last couple days have been warm, or at least mild, and nature responds to that. Wildflowers started blooming in large numbers. We went on a hike through ‘Lost Canyon’ and ‘Valley of 13 Caves’ in the Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area here in Dubuque County on Easter Sunday. Well, we could make similar pictures in the woods behind our house here in the Little Maquoketa River Valley, but it was nice to get out and explore something away from home. Yeaah, I say that every year, I’m not a flower photographer, but at the end it’s hard to resist to look for the light and make a click whenever nature’s beauty unfolds in front of the eye…

Hepatica, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa

‘SUPER RESOLUTION’ - ANOTHER TRY

Mesa Arch, Canyonland National Park, April 2008

Here is another photo I gave the treatment in post process with the new enhancement feature in Adobe Camera RAW that allows to quadruple the image size. This shot was made in April 2008 at Mesa Arch at Canyonland National Park in Utah. Yes, that is the spot where photographers sometimes pile up on top of each other early in the morning to get an iconic sunrise shot. Google it and you will know what I mean.

I like the company of other photographers but I’m still not a fan of crowded places. We spent the time before and around sunrise that day at the Courthouse Towers, a rock formation in nearby Arches National Park and had it all for ourselves. Joan and I moved on late morning and arrived at Mesa Arch about 1pm. Of course, not the best time for good light but a few clicks were made anyway just for the memories. I used a Nikon D200, which in 2008 was a very good 10MP DX camera. I believe the first digital Nikon full frame camera (FX) was the D3, that just had hit the market in 2007. With other words, most people used cameras with a half size sensor (DX) or smaller. The lens was a SIGMA 18-50, f/2.8. Not a bad lens but kinda soft in comparison to the glass that is now available. With 3872 pixels on the long side of the image I never felt it was worth the effort to work with the RAW file and try to extract more detail out of a relatively hazy scene. 

The picture became now another candidate to try the new ‘Super Resolution Feature’ in Camera RAW. The enhanced original file has 7744 pixels at the long side and working with Vibrance, Dehaze, and other contrast enhancing sliders I was able to get some details in the photo I didn’t even know they were there. The photo can now be printed at a resolution of 300ppi almost 26 inch (~650 mm) long and with a lower resolution, like 240ppi, a 32” (~820 mm) wide picture will still look decent.

I just thought I share my new gained experience with the new software with you and give you another example what can be done with older and smaller pictures. I repeat what was said in yesterday’s blog post, I’m impressed about the outcome.

TRYING ‘SUPER RESOLUTION’

Peregrine Falcon, Bellevue State Park

Before someone gets excited, this picture of a Peregrine Falcon was taken five years ago below the rockface at Bellevue State Park. I drive by there any time on my way to or from the Green Island Wetlands. There is a nest box mounted to the rocks that has been used by peregrines before. The last time I saw a bird was in 2019. Unfortunately I haven’t spotted a falcon this year yet. Maybe I haven’t spent enough time and left always too early…?

The reason I dug out this image from 2016 is the new ‘Super Resolution Feature’ in Adobe Camera RAW. It allows to enlarge a low resolution photo to a resolution four times its original size. It doubles the horizontal and vertical resolution. I tried that with a few older pictures already to see what is possible and I have to say I’m pretty impressed how the software boosts the apparent resolution, powered by machine learning, and enhances the details.

How can we use this technology to our advantage? If your current ‘state-of-the-art’ camera isn’t your first digital camera, you probably have older photos in your library that were shot with a 10, 6, or even 3 megapixel camera model. So the 3MP picture can become a 12MP version. This will allow much larger prints or you can crop the picture much more if you really need an enlargement of an important detail in the shot. Don’t take me wrong, I’m still an advocate for GET IT RIGHT IN CAMERA! However, we all have taken pictures that didn’t turn out perfectly sometimes, but contain valuable memories for us.

Back to the Peregrine Falcon. The bird was high up in a tree and there was no way to get even a foot closer. I had the lens at 600 mm focal length with the camera set to DX mode, which results in an angle of view that is equivalent to a 900 mm lens. The falcon was still only a small part in the photo. It was the first time I ever saw and photographed a Peregrine Falcon, a moment I wouldn’t forget. With the new ‘Super Resolution’ I was able to crop the photo and bring this memory back and share it with you.

If you like to read and learn more about this feature and how to use it in combination with Adobe Lightroom, here is the link to a great article that has a lot more details: https://lightroomkillertips.com/how-to-take-advantage-of-super-resolution-from-lightroom-classic/

NATURE CLICKS #486 - BLUE-WINGED TEAL

After five or six of gray and mostly rainy days this week the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. Joan, dog Cooper, and I took a ride in the car, heading south in the Mississippi Valley. A strong blowing wind had definitely an influence on the appearance of birds around the river and wetlands in the valley. Beside the usual suspects we saw a lot more ducks than during the last couple weeks. That doesn’t mean the photo opportunities have increased at the same rate. However, we came across two pairs of Blue-winged Teals. The leading male was already outside of the frame but the other three ducks stayed close together. Colder air temperatures than during the last weekends kept heat shimmer in bay and obtaining focus across the water wasn’t so difficult.

TWO NICE ONES

Swing bridge across the Mississippi River between Sabula, Iowa and Savannah, Illinois

The Canadian Pacific Railway, who operates the rail traffic across the bridge between Sabula, Iowa and Savannah, Illinois, has some of the ugliest looking engines in our area. Most of them look very old and worn out. One reason why I hardly make pictures anymore of their trains.

Last weekend I made my usual stop at the railroad bridge and within a minute I heard a train slowly approaching, going eastbound. Big surprise, the train was pulled by two nice looking, fire-truck-red painted engines. A perfect scene with the blue sky above and some blue reflections on the water of the Mississippi. The trains cross the bridge very slowly, giving the photographer plenty of time to crank out a number of shots. The barge traffic on the river is just about to resume but during the winter trains are the most important means of transportation for grain, ethanol, coal, and other goods in the Upper Mississippi Valley.

If you missed my photo of the 115-year old swing railroad bridge two weeks ago, here is a direct link back to the previous blog post.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4, @66 mm,   @1/640s, f/8, ISO100

SECOND APPEARANCE

Hard to believe this was almost a week ago. A few days earlier our crocus and snow bells showed their first blossoms until they got all covered again during a snow storm last Monday. So, here is a couple photos from the second appearance of spring flowers in our yard this year.

It’s not really macro photography but the old SIGMA 150/f2.8 macro lens is still in my bag and finds employment for shots like this. Most modern lenses focus much faster, but if the camera is locked on the subject, this lens delivers still tack sharp results. Another reason for me to use this lens sometimes is the Minimum Focusing Distance (MFD), which is 15 inches (0.38m). A ‘killer tool’ for any detail shots!

NATURE CLICKS #485 - BUFFLEHEAD

Buffleheads, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Preserve, Iowa

Without any doubt the Bufflehead is one of the prettiest ducks we enjoy watching at this time of the year. It is the smallest of the diving ducks. They feed on insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and seeds. Their prey is swallowed underwater. Soon they will move on to their breeding grounds up in Canada. They nest in cavities that are mostly made by woodpeckers, in particular Northern Flickers.

It looks like it isn’t difficult to photograph this duck but they are very fast and hardly ever come to a total standstill. Another male Bufflehead was trailing behind those three and both pairs were very busy feeding in the shallow waters of a lake in the Green Island Preserve yesterday. As so often, with the ice just gone and warm air over the water, heat shimmer effects the focus of the camera and my keeper rate for sharp images was not as high as usual.

GULLS WITH CHARACTER

Ring-billed Gull, Mississippi River, Sabula. Iowa

The local nature enthusiasts and photography friends may probably say, oh, just a Ring-billed Gull, we have so many of them. It’s true, but I always give the more common species a chance to be presented here in my blog. There is a few ingredients for a photo like this. Last weekend the remaining ice in the little marina of Sabula, Iowa had this dark blue color that makes for that nice background and you only see it in the old ice of a season. A blue sky is mandatory and of course, the gulls have to cooperate. And if you have in addition a nice light from the side, the camera has to come out of the bag for sure.

It was actually pretty busy. The birds caught little fish and argued about them a lot. some of the birds are really characters. This one looks like the cat that had eaten the canary. It just had gobbled down a fish, looked up into the sky for the other competitors, and seemed to think, haha, you didn’t get it, I did! Can you tell I had fun making these photos?

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BACKGROUND (AGAIN)

Greater Sandhill Cranes, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands

Who can blame me? The transition between winter and spring is the most exciting time of the year for a lot of nature lovers and photographers. For the third weekend in a row I went back to one of my favorite wildlife spots in the area, the Green Island Preserve wetland area, about 40 miles south and part of the ecosystem of the Mississippi River. It was not as busy with ducks and geese as last weekend, but still a great place to enjoy wildlife, chase the light for a good image, or just inhale the sounds and moods of the season.

After trying hard on a pair of Sand Hill Cranes without an image even worth to mention, another pair of cranes gave me later finally quite a good display. The challenge in spring is always finding a good background. The cranes forage not so much in the water but in the marshes and probe with their long bills in the mud between reeds and grasses from last year. In addition the access to the Green Island marshes and lakes is almost everywhere from a slightly elevated position, on top of a dyke or the road. This makes the lens pointing towards the ground even if it is only a slight angle.

So, what’s different with today’s photo? The Sandhill Cranes were on top of a dyke. I was in the car on the road and a body of water between me and the birds. With other words we were on the same eye level. The area behind the cranes is lakes, marshland, more dykes, and flat overall. The trees in the back are about two miles away and border the Mississippi River. This is the kind of background I like to have. It gives a sense of location and even the grasses around the cranes become part of the story and leave no doubt about what time of the year the photo was taken. I wish the cranes would feed more often on top of the dykes…😉