Nature clicks #209 - Northern Shoveler

 

I can’t resist to show you this photo of a male Northern Shoveler that I made last Sunday in the Green Island Wetlands. It took me several years to get this close to this colorful duck. It was slowly swimming along the shore and foraged by dabbling in the shallow water. They feed on tiny crustaceans, insects, mollusks, seeds, fish, and aquatic vegetation. I had to move my “mobile blind”, the car of course, several times to make this shot finally. It all came together, gesture of the bird, light, and colors…

Light at its best

I can’t really tell how the quality of light was during the day because I spent most of it behind my desk, trying to finish a work project. However, early in the morning and early evening we had some awesome light for wildlife photography today. The first two images were made at our “woodpecker tree #2”. It gets the early morning sun at this time of the year because the trees have still no leaves. The critters must like it too because it was still quite cold this morning and they all posed well for my pictures. The two other photos were made this evening down at the Mississippi. Again, great quality of light for this Northern Flicker and the Blue-winged Teals. I hope you enjoy.

We wish all of you a wonderful Easter weekend!

Nature clicks #204 - Bufflehead

 

I try this bird since several years and this is how much I got so far. The Bufflehead is one of those pretty ducks that are extremely skittish. We see them every spring during migration time, mainly on the Mississippi River, but every photo I made before showed only some white dots on the water. They keep their distance from the shore as soon they sense some movement. The Buffleheads have their breeding grounds in Canada and the Mississippi Valley is obviously one of their migration routes. I have updated my EASTERN IOWA WILDLIFE GALLERY recently but I guess I have to do it again… :-)

River in motion and other news

 

The first photo is already three days old. The ice on the Mississippi started to break up and just got jammed across Mud Lake because of the dam a couple miles down the river. The other image is from today at almost the same spot. The main channel is clear now and only the quieter backwaters and the marina are still frozen over. There were even a few guys ice fishing on the ice of the marina this evening.

Hundreds of Canvasback moved in (the photo shows only a small fraction) and will probably continue to go further up the river. Unfortunately I haven’t been able yet to get my lens close to them. I’m not crazy enough to step on the ice of a big river in motion… ;-)

The other news is that I saw clearly an owlet in the nest of the Great Horned Owl. The mother wasn’t present at my arrival at Mud Lake Park but a fuzzy looking young owl peeked over the edge of the nest when I pulled into the area. After watching the ducks on the river I checked the nest again and the mother had returned. The owlet wasn’t visible anymore. I guess the mother bird ordered it back into the safety of the deep nest. I’m excited about maybe having the opportunity again to make some photos of a young Great Horned Owl in the next few weeks. We will see…

Nature clicks #178 - Wood Duck - juveniles

 

If there is anything special about the first image it is just the fact that I was able to make it and as a bonus, making it with killer light. Wood Ducks are extremely shy and it is very difficult to get close to them. It was already 7PM last Saturday when I saw these three juveniles down below the levy in the water. There was obviously no mother nearby and they just stayed and tried to camouflage with the mud and algae carpet on the water surface. As good the algae and water plants might be for the ducks, they kill an image like this. Background is key for a good wildlife photo and this one looks just yucky, despite the great light on the young ducks.

I was wondering if I saw the second brood already when I watched only a few minutes later this female Wood Duck with twelve tiny ducklings swimming across another pond in the wetlands. Water fowl lives a dangerous life and many predators, from hunting birds to foxes and big fish that try to catch a young bird from down below, can have an impact of how many birds will make it into an adult life. Finally the hunting season in the fall is not helpful for some of the bird species that are in a decline anyway. It makes me sometimes sad to see that only two or three ducklings survive but I know it is part of understanding nature in its whole complexity.

Earlier in the spring this year I saw very few Wood Ducks in the Green Island Wetlands and wondered if this was the result of the dry summer with low water levels in 2012. I guess they were just hiding better than other years... ;-) I'm very happy now to see all the "Kindergarten" activities in the lakes and ponds along the Mississippi River.

Bird migration week

 

I have been at the Mississippi River almost every evening this week. Bird migration is in full swing and the interested bird watcher has a good chance to see many birds that are only here for a very brief stop. The distance is quite often too big for a good quality image and many shots were made only for my own documentary and records.

This shot of the Greater White-fronted Geese is from last Saturday. It was made in the Green Island Wetlands and is heavily cropped. I was back there on Monday and they had moved on already on their journey to Greenland or Northern Canada. Instead I had my first sighting of four Snow Geese but they were even further away and no picture will be published this time.

The Northern Shovelers are really good looking ducks and a few stay even here during the summer. Beside them I saw Buffleheads, Canvasbacks, Lesser Scaups, Blue-winged Teals, Green-winged Teals, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Wood Ducks, and the first pair of Killdeer.

Good places for bird watching are the John Deere March at the Mississippi River behind the big Deere factory here in Dubuque as well as Mud Lake Park, just north of it. The main channel of the river is free of ice, only the remains of some ice floes on this little island tell still the story about winter. There is still ice in the shallower backwaters but this may change during the next few days.

I will be in different parts of the country for the next seven days but I'm glad I had the chance to see the birds going north. I wish all friends of my blog a wonderful Easter weekend. Go out and make some clicks and let me know what you find!! :-)

Nature clicks #90 - Finally, a pair of Wood Ducks

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Everything in nature is early this year due to the extremely warm weather we have here in Iowa. Last year I reported my first encounter of a Wood duck on April 11. I had a very obstructed view but was very happy to see this pretty duck for the first time. Click HERE if you like to see the older images and what I had to say about them. Since this first meeting with the Wood Ducks I envisioned an image with both, male and female, and of course in great light. Today luck was on my side. I saw this pair of ducks in one of the canals at the Green Island Wetlands. It took some efforts to get this shot. Wood Ducks are extremely shy and like to hide in the shadow of the trees. However, the birds were actually in backlight and the background was way too bright for my taste. I thought this image was worth the extra work and I used my software mix of Adobe Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS4, and NIK Color Efex Pro 4 to eliminate all distracting lights and "shiny spots" in foreground and background. Why did I use NIK Color Efex Pro? Take it for granted, I don't touch the colors of the animals in my wildlife photography. Period. But NIK's CEP has a filter called "Darken / Lighten Center". This is one of my favorite filters, that allows to darken or lighten the borders or the center of an image. You can set the point of center and also its size. Isn't that the same like applying a vignette to the photo? Kinda, but I think it is much more subtle and can be placed right at your subject within an image. I just can't get the same results by applying a vignette either in LR or PS. The above photo needed a little more than just this filter. The background was dull and blown out. The application of a graduated filter in LR may keep your eye on these wonderful Wood Ducks…

I hope you enjoy. Have a great Sunday!

Hot and humid wildlife shoot

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-70 mm, f/2.8G AF-S ED

Yesterday evening I met with my friend Dave Updegraff for a wildlife shoot. I know Dave since last year's Worldwide Photowalk. He organized and led the walk in Dubuque, Iowa. We have been in contact since and I'm a loyal reader of his photography blog. We met at a pond near La Motte, Iowa and some followers of my blog may remember, this is the location where I shot pictures of Trumpeter Swans many times before.

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3

I was there a little earlier and scouted the area for wildlife. The swans were unfortunately not really close and I had to shoot completely against the sun to make the click above.

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3

Sometimes it just helps to turn around and look for other things. While I was still waiting for Dave, this male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was foraging on the clover along the gravel road. I did something I had never done before. I used my Sigma 50-500 for working a butterfly. The picture will not win the price for best sharpness (the 50-500 just can't keep up with the Sigma 150mm, f/2.8 that I use normally for macro shots) but I did not want to miss this opportunity because of a lens change. The hazy light of this hot and humid summer day was perfect for the shot and even if this lens is not known for a good bokeh, I liked how it turned out in this image.

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3

Dave and I decided to walk to the other side of the pond and try to get the glass on a pair of ducks. I have never seen this kind of a ducks before and none of my books gave the answer. I believe they are hybrids and hope to find out by doing more research. A dark weather front moved in quickly and pretty soon Dave and I were running out of options for a fast shutter speed. Dave shoots with the Tamron 200-500, and like my Sigma 50-500 the maximum aperture is 6.3. As written in other posts before, I don't like to pump up the ISO above 280, because of the limited noise handling capabilities of my Nikon D200. The picture above was made at 1/25s and I'm surprised I had at least one shot I'm able to show here.

Dave let me try out his Nikon 24-70, f/2.8 for some test shots. I can't rave enough about this lens and the picture of him behind his D700 was made with it.  I had a great time shooting and having conversation with Dave and I hope we can do it again soon.

Did I mention how hot and humid it was yesterday during our wildlife shoot? Read Dave's post and you will know… ;-)

Nature clicks #31 - More from the wetlands

 

I really had a good time again last Saturday in the Green Island Wetlands. The location became familiar during the last couple months and I believe this is key to better images. Not that I think that my photography is top level, it just isn't, but I know that I made some progress.

I found two pairs of Wood Ducks again. I know where to find them now, but they are extremely cautious and fly away as soon I stop my very slow moving car. Someone may wonder why I use the car. The area is wide open and the birds can see you long before you may see them. The car works as a blind and many birds seem to tolerate it. Not so the Wood Ducks! They were hiding in a corn field across the wide water filled trench beside the gravel road. I have a picture of the female duck too but didn't like the quality. Well, another reason to go back and try it again.

I wrote a few days ago how difficult it was to approach Painted Turtles that were basking in the sun on a log in the water. It is a piece of cake when you meet them on land. I just laid down in the dirt and was even able to use the 150/f2.8  ;-)

There is another animal I have tried to put my glass on for a long time and at different locations. I never liked the results, until last Saturday. This Muskrat didn't seem to mind my presence. It was chewing on fresh sprouts of (probably) reed. Later I saw it with a whole bunch in its mouth swimming towards its lodge. Unfortunately my position was a little higher than the water level and there was old grass between the muskrat and me. But I'm still glad I got a set of usable images.

Nature clicks #25 - Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers

Nikon D200, SIGMA 50-500 @ 420mm, 1/125s, f/6.3, -1/2 EV, ISO 100

Yesterday I promised that I would reveal my new discoveries from last Saturday in  the Green Island Wetlands. For the first time I saw a pair of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa). My "National Geographic - Complete Birds of North America" says, "Wood Ducks are usually found in heavily wooded swamps." You can tell by looking at my picture that there is some truth in that sentence ;-)  . It was extremely difficult to get the glass on those birds. To be honest, I was surprised that this shot of the male duck turned out ok. It would of course be nicer to have an unobstructed view, but at the other hand it really shows how good these Wood Ducks were hiding in their natural environment. I will never try to get a better picture if the well being of the animal is at stake. And these ducks were already quite nervous.

Nikon D200, SIGMA 50-500 @ 420mm, 1/400s, f/6.3, -1 EV, ISO 100

The second discovery was a pair of Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus). They were also very shy and it took me four carefully executed approaches to get this shot. The sharpness is not perfect and that sets the goal for another time. I had them earlier much closer but they were on the "wrong side" of the dam, means they were backlit.

The time was flying fast and the light became better with every minute. More to come...