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.

Grebe showing off

 

This immature Pied-billed Grebe was only one of many young birds I saw last weekend in the Green Island Wetlands. First it splashed all around and cleaned its feathers for several minutes. It seemed to tell me, look, I can clean myself all alone already.

Than it flapped its wings in order to dry them or just raised them up to let the sun do the rest. And last, it showed off and let me know that it can conduct an orchestra... Well, I know, this is probably asking too much for a little bird but it obviously made this pose that looks like it would conduct a bunch of musicians... :-) Don't you think?

On the photography side, the light at 4:30PM was still very intense but had already a warm touch. It was necessary to dial in an exposure compensation of minus one stop in order not to blow out the highlights on the light parts of the feathers.

This is the best I'm able to get from the wetlands at the moment. The carpet of algae is definitely not an eye pleaser and shooting from slightly above, the only way you can do it there if you use the car as a blind, is never a good angle for a great image. However, after another week of traveling I was happy to be back in the wetlands and I hope you enjoy the photos of the juvenile Pied-billed Grebe and the little story they tell. More to come...

Nature clicks #175 - Yellow-headed Blackbird

 

From the standpoint of being able to present this bird to you the image makes me very happy. From a photographic view, well,  not so much. And here is why. There are ten-thousands of Red-winged Blackbirds here in Iowa. You can find them along almost every road or railroad track and it is not so difficult to make images of them. It is a totally different story with the Yellow-headed Blackbird. I know only one location in Eastern Iowa where I have found them so far. Some birders may know a few more places but what I'm trying to say is, they are not abundant here. Every summer (except last year during the draught) I found one or two couples in a small pond in the Green Island Wetlands. Before you may see them you usually can hear them. Their call is very distinctive, almost like a crow, but they hide mostly in the lower parts of the reeds in this small lake. The problem is the distance that I can't overcome because this blackbird always sits in the same area in the middle of the pond. There is a dead tree in the reeds that is the birds main perch. This tree was down last weekend and luckily it felt towards the shore. The male blackbird still uses the branches to perch and is now about 6-7 feet closer to the best shooting location on the shore. However, this is still not close enough for a frame filling image with a lot of detail. Sure, I zoom in a little bit but it doesn't deliver necessarily more detail in the feathers of the bird. With other words, I still wait for the image I like to make...

I talked with a guy who lived in Green Island in his younger years but still comes back to enjoy the beauty of its wildlife. He told me that in the old days Yellow-headed Blackbirds were found almost everywhere in this area. It is my concern that this beautiful bird may disappear one of these days. My observations tell me that a lot is done to please hunters and fishermen but very little is done to protect bird habitats that really need our attention...

Sure signs of summer

 

Can you tell it becomes summer here in Eastern Iowa? In the wetlands along the Mississippi River it becomes a lot more quiet. The ducks and geese are hardly visible anymore because they raise, feed, and protect their offspring. A sure sign that the hot time of the year is approaching fast are the water lilies that started blooming in numerous places. Looking at them makes you calming down. They are beautiful and the life in the macro world on top of it is abundant. It s hard to imagine that just three month ago the same spot was still covered with a thick layer of ice....

Nature clicks #174 - Double-crested Cormorant

 

The Double-crested Cormorant is a summer resident in the Mississippi Valley. It seems that a few may use the Green Island Wetlands as their breeding grounds. At least I see more of them than during the years before. That doesn't mean it is easy to make a photo of this bird. Quite often they take off as soon they see something approaching, like a car, and many times they were gone even before I came in a reasonable distance for a picture. The grass beside the gravel roads that go through the wetlands is very tall at the moment and maybe this helped to camouflage my approach this time. I was able to make a few clicks while the cormorant was still swimming but it finally took off. At most places in the wetlands you have to shoot from slightly above the water level and if the sky puts nasty reflections on the water the pictures do not look very flattering. Here I was lucky that the cormorant had just entered an area without reflections of the sky.

Nature clicks #173 - Green Frog

 

The Green Frog is found only in the eastern half of Iowa. I read that they seem to compete with bullfrogs and in Iowa they are rarely found where bullfrogs are common (source: The Salamanders and Frogs of Iowa by J.L. Christiansen & R.M. Baily). However, in the Green Island Wetlands both species can be found. This one here came to the boat ramp where we launched our kayaks. I wished I had a different lens with a polarizer on camera to eliminate some of the reflections on the frog's skin but other than that I was happy with this photo opportunity.

More impressions from the wetlands

 

You may say, "Just one picture? We still like to see a little more from the wetlands!" Ok, here are a few more. The Mississippi has a pretty high water level at the moment and so have the Green Island Wetlands. All the little islands and big parts of the woods are submerged and it was a very interesting experience to paddle in places that are usually above the normal water level.

Taking pictures from the kayak is a totally different game. There is always a little fear to drop the gear into the water and of course holding the D300s with the Sigma 50-500 steady without shake is not easy at all. The wetlands are wide open for the most part and approaching ducks or coots undetected is nearly impossible. We had an encounter of a Barred Owl that got attacked by a number of blackbirds. Everything happened so fast that I wasn't even able to point the lens at the bird. However, it was exciting watching it.

Our dog Cooper isn't always sure about the whole kayaking experience but as you can see he is very relaxed most of the time. I think he just doesn't enjoy wearing his life vest. We put it on for him so we don't have to worry about him so much in case something happens.

We enjoyed paddling on a channel surrounded by large trees and somehow it reminded us of the mangrove forests of the South. There were lots of birds up in the trees and we tried to identify them by their calls. We saw a Prothonotary Warbler, a first sighting for Joan, but the photos I made did not deserve the attribute sharp :-(

Did we see some wildlife other than birds? Yes, we did, but this will be for another post here in the blog, so please stay tuned...

Nature clicks #172 - Black-crowned Night-Heron

 

I realized today again that I still have a lot to discover and to learn about the wildlife here in Eastern Iowa where we live now since almost nine years. It wasn't until tonight that I found out that I made an image of a Black-crowned Night-Heron last Sunday in the Green Island Wetlands. For some reason I thought it was a different heron that I had seen before but this one was really a first sighting for me. It was actually a couple of them. Didn't see the second bird, which was hidden behind a tree stump, until something disturbed them and they flew away to a different location behind the trees in the background. They are primarily nocturnal but some may feed during the day as well. They are seen often standing still in the water for long periods of time and hunting for fish that swim by too close. I have to keep my eyes open. I like to see the Black-crowned Night-Heron again and maybe get a closer look at this wonderful bird.

Nature clicks #171 - Tree Swallow

 

It looks like this is the year for making photos of any member in the swallow family we can find here in Eastern Iowa. I'm happy to show you these pictures of the Tree Swallow. It was fun watching  them last Sunday in the wetlands catching insects in flight but also seeing them coming to the ground foraging on spiders and insects. Because of their speed it is impossible (at least with my technical means) to make a sharp image of a swallow in flight but when they land on the ground comes the chance to make a click. Tree Swallows return to their nesting grounds long before other swallows come back. I don't know why it took me so long to present you an image of this pretty bird...?? ;-)

Nature clicks #170 - Common Yellowthroat

 

The books say this is one of the most numerous and widespread warblers in North America. For me it was the first sighting of it during a six hour bird watching and photography "session" in the Green Island Wetlands last weekend. I was actually in position for some other birds (I will post about them shortly ;-)  ) when both, the male and female Common Yellowthroat showed up right in front of me. It was very windy and my photos of the female bird didn't turn out sharp and even this one of the male is at the edge of quality acceptance. Being in my car and using it as a blind was definitely  a necessity to make the click but at the same time it prevented me to move in closer for better focus and closer distance.

This warbler usually stays closer to the ground but conceals in vegetation. The Common Yellowthroat is found all over the United States and most of Canada during the summer. They live in marches, near streams, and in swamps and they are vulnerable to loss of habitat due to wetland drainage.