Fishing frenzy

 

I have withheld these images from your eyes since last Saturday. A business trip didn’t allow me to work on my photos for a couple nights. I went to the lock and dam in Dubuque and found a group of about 30 American White Pelicans just below the dam at the exit of the lock. It is fascinating to watch these large birds fishing in an almost organized manner.

The second image shows were the difficulties are with this location. The pelicans feed right at the exit of the lock and disappear quite often behind the concrete wall that forms the side of the lock. I don’t like having this wall in the photo and so the edge of the wall is in many pictures almost identical with the left hand side of the photo. This, unfortunately, limits the room for composition sometimes.

However, things develop anyway very fast because the pelicans move constantly around and there were lots of nice gestures of the birds I was able to capture. I shot for about an hour and this was great fun again.  Their bill can hold 3 gallons (~11 liter) of water. After they catch some fish they point the bill downwards, drain the water off, raise the bill and swallow the prey.

We just read in the IOWA OUTDOORS magazine that the pelicans have started to built nesting colonies again on some protected Mississippi islands a little further south from here. It says the population is at about 1,500 pelicans now. They were absent since 1909. I like news like this…

Thoughts about story telling

 

I’m thankful to my photography friend Dave Updegraff because he made me thinking about my opinion that the 16th Street detention basin in Dubuque is an awful place to shoot. I still think it’s noisy there, but it is a location that serves as a place for birds to feed and rest. I can see why people enjoy it, because it is just adjacent to downtown Dubuque. Joan and I spent some time there last Saturday, and again, just me almost four hours on Sunday. The south side is further away from Highway 151 (less noisy!) and there was a spot where the ice had melted already

Yes , the main actors were the Bald Eagles (at least for most people) but the Great Blue Herons made some nice appearances. The uninspired viewer of this image may say, it’s a bird with long legs near some water,and ok, it must like to eat fish… The more observant viewer can read a lot more of the story by looking at this photo… For example, the image was made at a body of water that had some man made structure (dam, wall, dock, lock??), it was windy (look at the waves…), the birds must visit this place regularly (white excrements on the concrete…), Great Blue Herons eat not just little fish…, and there is some ice in the lower right corner (telling you about the season when this image was made…). For me these are all information on the side, but hey are part of the story. I hope the photo screams… caught in killer light, great bird action, beautiful bird…. ;-)

Successful catch

 

Here is another picture of New Year's Day's visit at lock and dam #14 in Le Claire, Iowa. There were times when nothing happened. The Bald Eagles were just sitting in the trees and the photographers tried to stay warm. But as soon one eagle takes off for catching fish, the action starts and you have to make decisions what bird you like to follow with the camera. The light was great and I put my attention to a small spot below the trees where the eagles usually rest, and where the warm light of the low sun is reflected. The area has a lot of distracting background to offer. From a steel tower of a phone company to ugly branches and buildings, you name it. I try to make photos of the Bald Eagles since three years now and I'm not interested anymore in pictures where an antenna or branch cuts the neck of the bird or a shiny metal roof is part of the image. The fish the eagle holds in its talons is small, you hardly can see it, but the picture tells the story of a successful catch in wonderful late afternoon light. It was a great way to begin another year... :-)