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…

The owl is back

 

This is not a photograph to brag about but it is one that still made my day. Joan and I went on a little “spotting tour” after work today. With daylight saving time in place now the evenings are longer and allow more outdoor activities. The snow is melting rapidly and it felt nicely having temperatures above freezing.

Within an hour we saw several Bald Eagles, an American Kestrel, some other raptor that we couldn’t identify, thousands of starlings, and we heard and saw the first Red-winged Blackbird! Hey, spring is finally coming!! ;-) We made the final stop at Mud Lake, down at the Mississippi River. And there it was, a Great Horned Owl was sitting in the old eagle’s nest, the same place as last year. She didn’t move much and we were wondering if she was still sitting on the eggs. I reported several times last spring here in the blog about one young bird, and hopefully we will see at least another one or more this year. Making photos from the owl in the nest isn’t easy because the nest is quite high up in the tree. The image below was made after the owlet had left the nest. They climb on nearby branches and trees after 6-7 weeks and start flying after 10 weeks.

Fox and owl stories (brief update)

Before I go on a business trip tomorrow, with probably no opportunity for nature photography, I like to give you a brief update about the animals I follow very close at the moment.

Yesterday I was very concerned about the well being of the little foxes in our woods. A big Barred Owl was sitting in a tree within sight of the den. This was the first time that I have seen a Barred Owl during real day light. We hear their call "Who-cooks-for-you" all the time but have seen it only at dusk or at night. The owl flew away when it saw me. We had seen only one pup outside of the den lately and I was wondering if the owl was a successful fox hunter. Today I definitely saw two different fox pups. One has unfortunately a heavy injured eye and is probably half blind. It acted normal but I have my doubts that this little fox will have a very long life. The second one looked very healthy but peeked only briefly out of the den.

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

Yesterday evening Joan and I went to Mud Lake at the Mississippi River but we were not able to find the young Great Horned Owl. I looked at every tree in the neighborhood of the eagle's nest where the owl was born but with no success. I went back today after 7pm and found it immediately sitting on a low horizontal branch near the water. The last sunlight was falling on its right eye and I was able to make a few clicks. That was the best unobstructed view of the owlet so far.

News from the Great Horned Owl and talk about quality of light

 

Both photos were made about the same time, 7pm, just a day apart from each other. Yesterday we had ideal weather conditions for bird photography in Mud Lake Park at the Mississippi River. Almost no wind and warm and crisp sun light. The only problem was the little owl who did not cooperate with me. It hardly peeked out of the nest and most of the time the eyes were covered by some of the sticks from the nest. Just seconds before the last sun was on the nest it came up a little higher and I was able to make a clean shot as you can see here.

Today was totally different. The great news is that the juvenile owl was outside of the nest and was sitting in a neighbor tree. Making a picture was quite a challenge. Strong wind moved everything. The branches were shaking, the feathers of the owl looked like in a wind tunnel, and the light just sucked because dark clouds were moving in. What a difference the quality of light and a little more wind can make!

It is amazing how big this juvenile Great Horned Owl already is. I learned from a retired lady, who is at the nest more often than me and who made photos of the owl as well, that the bird was born in March. As you can see pretty soon the leaves will be out and I wonder if it will be even possible to get an unobstructed view to the bird. The trees are at the edge of a small campground and the season started today. It isn't a busy place but I hope the birds will tolerate the increase of traffic.

Nature clicks #146 - Great Horned Owl

 

Circumstances that were not in my favor prevented me from sharing last Sunday's big thrill with you earlier. After more than eight years living here in Eastern Iowa we discovered for the first time a nest of the  Great Horned Owl. We have heard the hoots of this big owl many times before, especially during their mating time in November-December, but we saw it only ones, and only as a silhouette in a moonlit night. The Great Horned uses abandoned nests of other hunting birds and the one I found near the Mississippi was the nest of a Bald Eagle. First I saw briefly a young bird on the nest and was already happy because I thought it was a young eagle. Can you imagine my excitement when I discovered the adult owl in the nest after getting a little closer?

Here is the warning. All images are heavily cropped, and I mean heavily. This is something I usually try not to do with my wildlife photographs. So please bear with me and the quality of the photos I like to show you today. I spent several hours near the nest. The juvenile was mostly hiding in the nest but the adult kept an eye on me the whole time. It was very windy and the owl's ear tufts were always in motion. Ones in a while the young owl would climb up to the rim of the nest and I tried to capture those brief moments.

After a while the adult took off towards the Mississippi and I didn't see it again that day. The juvenile Great Horned Owl spent most of the next three hours in the safety of the nest, not visible for me. The light became really good in the late afternoon and I was just hoping for another moment while patiently waiting. Well, the little owl didn't do me the favor. Clouds moved in and I just called it a day. And then everything happened very fast. I had packed my tripod, the camera was stored in the car already, and suddenly the sun hit the big tree for a short moment. I looked back and there was the owl, peeking over the rim of the nest. Damn, not enough time to get the tripod set up again. I just took the camera and fired three shots before the little owl disappeared again. And those were the shots with the best light all day long...

P.S.: I went back this evening and the young owl was peeking again over the edge of the nest. Can you tell I'm thrilled about my latest wildlife encounter....? :-)