Nature clicks #202 - Horned Lark

 

The only place where I was able to make a good click of the Horned Lark before was on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. I have seen it here in Eastern Iowa, I have tried, but never got any photo that was worth to be shown anywhere. Oh no, this one isn’t really either (it’s cropped!), but it breaks the jinx… :-) I love the little devil-like horns of the lark that make for its name. I found the Horned Lark at two locations this weekend and a “great background” wasn’t really an option because they show up in the fields were the snow just melted a day before. Raw earth and not too pretty… ;-) So, what does that mean? The Horned Lark stays on the list of birds that need more work from my side. The goal remains, making a photo that is not cropped and that is tack sharp. Long way to go in this matter…

New member in the "Family Nikon Club"

 

Joan and I had a blast today. We went to almost every possible location along the Mississippi where there is a chance to see birds and other wildlife. Starting in Dubuque, Iowa we went to Bellevue, Green Island, Sabula, and back to Green Island. Joan climbs the steep learning curve of handling and using a new camera system at the moment. My wife always had a good eye for photography and she is a darn good travel photographer. However, she wasn’t always happy with the performance of her old Fuji camera and lens. She finally joined the “Family Nikon Club” and is now the proud owner of a brand new Nikon D5300 with a Nikon 18-140 mm lens. One of the advantages of choosing Nikon is that Joan can also use some of my lenses, although the 18-140 is a nice lens for travel photography. Today we put the Sigma 150/f2.8 plus Teleconverter 1.4 on the DX body of the Nikon D5300. This gave her the equivalent to 315 mm / f4 on a full frame camera , a range that allows already some decent wildlife photography.

What did we see today? Lots of Bald Eagles, some Great Blue Herons, American White Pelicans, hundreds of Canada Geese, Mallards, and Ring-billed Gulls. And there was a “first one” for me. We followed a lark in the Green Island Wetlands and for some reason I thought it was an Eastern Meadowlark. It wasn’t before I sorted through my images at home that I realized that it was instead a Horned Lark.

The photo of these two Bald Eagles was made right here in Dubuque. More of them were sitting in the trees and on the ice looking out for fish.

Antelope Island - Following my goals

Nikon D200, Sigma 10-20 mm f/4.0-5.6, 18 mm (27 mm FX), 1/250s, f/8, -1 EV, ISO 100

Yesterday I talked about some goals I set for myself for the next visit to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The storm moving through the area was definitely helpful to get better landscape images. But how about  wildlife photography? Antelope Island State Park bears great opportunities to shoot birds, bisons, or pronghorns. Not all my dreams came true. I was hoping to put my glass on some Chukars. I saw this colorful bird last year for the first time and felt in love with it immediately. Please have a look in my post from last year HERE if you want. I saw two of them but direction of light and circumstances were not in my favor.

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3, 500 mm (750 mm FX), 1/1000s, f/6.3, -1 EV, ISO 100

Another goal I had was to get a better image of the Western Meadowlark. They are not difficult to find on the island at this time of the year because of their distinctive song performance. I used my little rental car as a blind for this image.

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3, 500 mm (750 mm FX), 1/1500s, f/6.3, -1 EV, ISO 200

A day later the weather was not quite as interesting as the evening before. While looking out for some Chukars I discovered this Horned Lark, sitting on a rock, instead. Direction of light wasn't as good as for the Meadowlark, but nevertheless, I got some images of this wonderful bird.

Thank you for stopping by! Please stay tuned for more…