River stories, part 3

 

After the adventure with the Bald Eagle (see my post from yesterday) I paddled down the Mississippi River for about an hour. I have never seen the big river so quiet and peaceful as last Monday night. There was almost no wind and only a couple boats passed by in the far distance. The river is here about 2.5 km (~1.5 miles) wide and it almost felt like being on a lake. At my turning point the low sun came out from behind a band of clouds and threw some golden light onto the big patches of water lilies. A levee separates the main channel of the Mississippi from the actual Mud Lake area and it is easy to paddle back to the boat ramp upstream on the other side because there isn't much current.

Thousands of Red-winged Blackbirds had already settled for the night and were sitting on the water lilies. There were lots of young birds and I could tell that the Black Birds had a very successful breeding season. You can see the red wing band on this male juvenile blackbird already and it was very impressive to paddle right along these big flocks of birds. They  will migrate down south soon and their arrival here in early spring next year will be again the ultimate sign that the winter will be over soon. If you think this was all for the day you are wrong. ;-) The best encounter came a few minutes later. But this will be in part 4 of my little "River Stories", so please stay tuned....

Mental break

 

I haven't made a single click during this holiday weekend so far and to be honest, I don't even feel bad about it. We enjoy the beautiful weather with some kayaking, reading, and keeping a couple dogs happy. I try to stay away from my computer as much as possible. The weather is just too nice to be inside, even if I have some photography projects that I like to move forward. Well, none of them will run away and having a mental break is all what I'm looking for this long weekend... Enjoy your Sunday!

2012 – Looking back, part 8

 

I can't move on with my 2012 photography review without talking about the main reason I came back to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. I really wanted to work on the birds, especially shore birds. American Avocets were there in big numbers, which doesn't mean it was easy to get the photo. I set my tripod to its lowest possible height, just a few inch above ground and put my belly in the sand. That sounds easy as long you don't know that the beach (or better salty mud strip along the shore) was black and covered with probably billions of little brine flies. It might be disgusting for some folks but the flies are your ticket for making the click because many birds feed on them. The good thing is, they don't bite.

I have never done this before but it was a great lesson about the birds and their behavior, and I wanted to learn what is possible and what doesn't work with the camera really low to the water level. You may ask, why can't you do that at the Green Island Wetlands here in Iowa? The difference is the elevation of the surrounding land. At Green Island you have to work almost everywhere from the top of the road or trail, which is usually quite a bit above water level. There is no flat beach.

Another bird that we have here in Iowa during the summer  too is the Yellow-headed Blackbird. Their habitat is the reed belts along the shore of the Great Salt Lake. You can't miss these wonderful looking birds, they make a lot of noise, but it is not easy to get close to them. I still haven't been able to make a frame filling picture of a male like this but at least I got some "environmental portraits" with a little more environment than I desire. Yes, I could make a crop, but I'm at a point with my wildlife photography where I don't want to make this compromise anymore.

Antelope Island - part three

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3, 420 mm (630 mm FX), 1/320s, f/6.3, -0.5 EV, ISO 100

Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake is home for a herd of Bisons. They were too far away for a picture on both days. I normally don't hesitate to make a long hike if I have a chance to see a particular landscape or animal. But I only had about three hours in the evening each day and wanted to make the best out of it.

Another beautiful animal are the Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) on the island, and so I concentrated on a little herd. Although it is often called "Pronghorn Antelope", the Pronghorn is not an antelope. They are endemic to North America, and are the only living members of the family Antilocapridae.

The little herd was slowly moving and my memory card filled quickly. I chose the image of the buck, walking up the mountain slope in best evening light, for this post.

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3, 500 mm (750 mm FX), 1/500s, f/6.3, -1 EV, ISO 200

The maximum aperture of the Sigma 50-500 is f/6.3 at 500 mm focal length. Shooting wildlife in the last rays of sun is quite challenging with this lens. Pumping up the ISO much higher than 280 is not really an option for the Nikon D200. Despite mine is "only" four years old, it is considered already older generation and does not handle noise as good as today's latest models. Of course, I have software to reduce the noise, but this is still not the same because some sharpness is always lost in the process.

Nevertheless, I couldn't resist to snap some pictures of the Yellow-headed Blackbirds that were making a lot of "real" noise in the reeds along the lake shore. It was windy, the reed grass was swaying, and the birds were constantly moving around. But it was killer light, and so I tried, and tried, and tried….