Bird report and more signs of spring

 

Following a hint from my photography friend Dave Updegraff I went to Dubuque, Iowa this evening. There is a pond near the Mississippi, called “16th Street Detention Basin”. At my arrival about 15 Bald Eagles were sitting on the ice or flying in circles. I watched them for several minutes but suddenly they all took off and flew towards the river. I guess it was dinner time… Except for one juvenile, that kept circling above for a couple more minutes. I wrote this before, I do not like this place because it is so damn noisy due to the traffic in this area, where several streets intersect. However, this pond provides a resting and feeding place for many birds that come through the Mississippi valley. The other news is that the American White Pelicans have returned. I saw a squadron of 25 birds soaring up the river. If this is not a sure sign for spring than I don’t know what is… ;-) It was warm again today but the river had still its ice cover. This may change any minute.

The Great Horned Owl was still sitting in the nest at Mud Lake Park. No sign of a young owlet yet. I’ll keep you posted how this may develop…

2013 – Looking back, part 4

 

I hope you don’t mind if the retrospect of 2013 goes for a few more posts into the new year. I know, the world turns fast but I like to share with you what got accomplished in 2013 and try to determine where I like to head with my photography endeavors.

This image was made in June of last year, and it is just one of many photos made that day. It was the first time that I had the feeling to come a little closer to virtual story telling in my wildlife photography (see the original post from June 2013 by clicking HERE). What a blast it was to watch the American White Pelicans in their collective effort of catching fish in the Mississippi River. I have never seen this before with so many pelicans doing it together (20 - 25 birds). Another reason why this session at the river was important for me is the fact that I didn’t have to crop most images. Get it right in camera is always the goal but I still can’t make this claim for all my photos I show here in the blog. Why is this important? Well, try to make an 18” x 12” print (and I don’t call this a big print!) with a photo that got cropped by 30 - 50%. The quality is just not acceptable because the lack of detail. Most may not see this in a photo with 900 pixels at the long side, like they are downsized here for the blog, but the hour of truth arrives after revealing the prints made from a heavily cropped image. “I haven’t cropped much!” is definitely something I like to say at the end of 2014… :-)

Pelicans had a feast today

 

I shot a lot of images this evening down at the Mississippi River at lock & dam #11 in Dubuque, Iowa. It was absolutely exciting to watch the American White Pelicans hunting for fish in a collective effort. They have a great hunting strategy by rounding up the fish and driving them literally into each others bills. There must be a lot of fish coming down the river because they were very successful.

Sorting through all the pictures can be very time consuming but I like to find those that tell the story about a feast at the Mississippi today the best... I hope you enjoy! Wishing all friends and visitors of my blog a great weekend!

Nature clicks #148 - American White Pelican

 

The tip came from the blog of my photography friend Dave Updegraff this morning. He shared that a large number of American White Pelicans were at the 16th Street Basin in Dubuque. I thought I give it a try and went there even twice today. I'm actually not a big fan of this pond, it is surrounded by busy roads and therefor a very noisy location, but it was worth both trips. Have a look and enjoy these majestic birds...

Nature clicks #92 - American White Pelicans, I'm getting closer...

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

What a great day we had yesterday for being outside. I spent seven hours in the Green Island Wetlands. Light was a little harsh in the first half of the afternoon but nevertheless there were lots of good opportunities to watch all kinds of critters. The water level is higher than it was a week ago and some mud banks are flooded again. Looks much nicer. American Coots are in the wetlands in large numbers and with the arrival of Green-winged Teals I had another first sighting again.

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

If you think Bald Eagles are majestic, just watch the American White Pelicans soar high on thermals. It is very impressive to see them flying with their slow and deep wing beats but watching them soaring in big formations is stunning. Another great experience is to see a squadron of pelicans fishing together. The problem at Green Island is that you can't come even close if you rely on your car. I like shooting from my car because, as I have written before, it works like a blind and most birds don't see it as a thread and and they don't fly away. The pelicans need a different tactic. They prefer the lakes in the wetlands that aren't accessible by car. I made a little hike and a very slow approach to a lake shore across from the pelican's resting and fishing place. This was already very late in the afternoon and the light was wonderful.

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

The high contrast between their white and black feathers requires a good amount of exposure compensation in order not to blow out the white completely. I prefer a darker tonality for my style of photography, and dialing in negative values (in this matter -1.5EV) is common practice anyway. It lets the colors pop and I never have to touch the saturation slider in Lightroom or Photoshop.

More to come, stay tuned…

Bird migration - new arrivals

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

This photo gives you maybe an idea what problems the photographer had to face in the Green Island Wetlands today. First, the wind was blowing very strong and even shooting from a car wasn't easy. The wind was shaking the car quite hefty and my keeper rate for sharp images dropped below average. Second, there was always some dust in the air and changing lenses was not really the smartest thing to do. I left my 50-500 on camera all day long. And third, the birds kept a good distance to the levees where I was shooting from.

Here comes the good news. Migration is in full swing and many birds that will spend the summer here in Eastern Iowa have already arrived. I had a blast watching the White Pelicans furiously fishing, even if it was quite a bit away. I saw from a distance a group of Northern Shovelers. Too far for a picture but this will change soon. The image below is from last year.

I worked for an hour along a mud bank with a season of Killdeer. Many clicks, some of them sharp, but I still don't really like any of them. Mud is not the best background and today it reflected the blue sky in a way I didn't like. It was way too harsh. Shooting from the car on top of the levee means you always shoot from slightly above. I was not able to eliminate the reflections by changing my shooting angle. Leaving the car is not really an option. The birds tolerate the car, but as soon you get out they will fly away.

Last not least, I made a first sighting today. It was a small group of Greater White-fronted Geese. I didn't know that until I had a closer look at the pelican photos on my screen at home. The photo above shows three of them on the left hand side. There were actually three more outside of the frame. The original files have enough resolution to zoom in and to identify the birds. They are probably a subspecies, flavirostris, the "Greenland" White-fronted Goose. This subspecies is darker and have an orange bill instead of pink.

On my way home I stopped briefly at the Mill Creek Ponds, west of Bellevue, Iowa. A pair of Trumpeter Swans made it home again, as already during the last two years, and it looks like I can continue my reports about them at this location. I really wonder if this is the same pair (probably) and if their young one made it through the winter? I also saw two male and a female Hooded Merganser in one of the ponds. Looks like new photo adventures are just waiting for us…

Big surprise

My friend Dawei sent me a message this morning that the Bald Eagles were on the ice around Credit Island in Davenport, Iowa yesterday. I have never been so far south for eagle photography but I decided to give it a try today. I was not disappointed, there were many eagles in the trees and on the ice but I may write about them later this week.

Today I just like to tell you about a big surprise I had. I tried to focus on an eagle sitting on the ice when I saw three White Pelicans coming up the river. Great! I saw a chance to get them in the picture together with the Bald Eagle. All what I had to do was to wait a few more seconds until they would show up in the viewfinder of the camera. Suddenly the pelicans changed their mind, turned around, and moved down the river in the other direction. S#@%!!! I ran sideways into the bushes and fired a few shots through the branches. This is what I got. :-( No, this is of course not a good photo but I wanted to share it with you anyway. I really wonder if this is a sign for an early arrival of spring. With the mild weather we have this year it might be difficult to tell anyway if the winter is over or not ;-) More to come from today's shooting in Davenport…

Nature clicks # 64 - Brown Pelican performance

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500, f/4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Here are a couple more pictures that show how great the light was for short periods of time last Sunday at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. The Brown Pelicans are one of the many reasons why I like to go to this place.

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500, f/4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

These majestic birds are fun to watch. One minute they just swim slowly in the laguna and a moment later they go up in the air and dive furiously head first into the water. It is a breath taking spectacle when they perform their hunt for fish. I had the camera with the Sigma 50-500 on the gimbal head mounted to the tripod but that was not the best way to shoot them in flight. Handholding would have served me probably better.

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500, f/4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Nature clicks # 11

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500, 1/3000s, f6.3, -1EV, spot metering, ISO320

For the first time I watched Brown Pelicans. I was totally thrilled to see these majestic birds feeding on fish in big numbers. They are a good subject to practice with the long lens when they just swim and wait for the fish. Both images were taken in the morning when the light had still a warm tone.

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500, 1/1000s, f6.3, -1EV, spot metering, ISO320