Nature clicks #147 - Osprey

 

I'm very happy to introduce you to another bird that will make it into my Iowa wildlife gallery. I have seen Ospreys before over in Wisconsin but not here in our direct neighborhood at the Mississippi River. The heavy rain the last two days kept me grounded but the evening before this wonderful Osprey was hunting for fish in the marina of Mud Lake Park. The marina is not open yet and no boats are at the docks. I had a hard time to get a sharp image because the autofocus was at it limits in the low light of the evening. For me it is ok since it is a "first sighting" but I like to go back as soon we are done with all the rain and gray clouds here and try to get another and better shot of this large raptor.

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....? :-)

Nature clicks #145 - Turkey Vulture

 

Many people believe the Turkey Vulture is an ugly bird because of its naked head and neck. They feed mainly on carrion and this may not always be a pleasure to watch but it is the naked head and a very sophisticated immune system that protects them from disease associated with decaying animals. Their wingspan range is smaller than that of a Bald Eagle but it looks also very elegant when they soar over the slope of a valley or elsewhere. We have them here from spring to late fall and it is no surprise if we see sometimes more than 30 birds circling over an area.

I never thought it was easy to make a picture of a Turkey Vulture and have tried it many times before with mixed results. It needs some good light from underneath to get the details and without blowing out the sky if they are in flight.

This vulture was busy with a roadkill, a dead raccoon, when I approached it carefully by car. It is amazing how much power they have. This one dragged the carcass several feet while I watched it and tried to bring the car in a position where I could shoot out of the window. They are very shy and I had to come back three times before I was able to come close enough for at least some detail in its face. Being real close is mostly good for wildlife photography but I like this shot that is more of an environmental portrait. It shows the vulture with its main food source and clearly makes the statement that this country road in the Green Island Wetlands is part of the bird's habitat. Still more to come from last Sunday's excursion, so please stay tuned... :-)

Nature clicks #144 - Lesser Yellowleg

 

The Lesser Yellowlegs have their breeding grounds in Northern Canada and Alaska. We have this sandpiper here in Iowa only during migration. Last Sunday I shot pictures from noon until after 6PM. As always the quality of light gets so much better in the late afternoon and early evening and that's why I show you a couple images that were made closer to the end of daylight. They feed on aquatic insects and other invertebrates and they move permanently and probe with their long bill in the water. That means a lot of shots are slightly blurry and end up in the trash can of my Mac. It is all about peak of action, the brief moments between steps or when they lift their heads for a fraction of a second, when you can make the click. Setting the camera to 7 frames per second helps to freeze the right moment. I have a lot more to come from my shooting in the wetlands, so please come back here and check it out.

Bird migration week

 

I have been at the Mississippi River almost every evening this week. Bird migration is in full swing and the interested bird watcher has a good chance to see many birds that are only here for a very brief stop. The distance is quite often too big for a good quality image and many shots were made only for my own documentary and records.

This shot of the Greater White-fronted Geese is from last Saturday. It was made in the Green Island Wetlands and is heavily cropped. I was back there on Monday and they had moved on already on their journey to Greenland or Northern Canada. Instead I had my first sighting of four Snow Geese but they were even further away and no picture will be published this time.

The Northern Shovelers are really good looking ducks and a few stay even here during the summer. Beside them I saw Buffleheads, Canvasbacks, Lesser Scaups, Blue-winged Teals, Green-winged Teals, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Wood Ducks, and the first pair of Killdeer.

Good places for bird watching are the John Deere March at the Mississippi River behind the big Deere factory here in Dubuque as well as Mud Lake Park, just north of it. The main channel of the river is free of ice, only the remains of some ice floes on this little island tell still the story about winter. There is still ice in the shallower backwaters but this may change during the next few days.

I will be in different parts of the country for the next seven days but I'm glad I had the chance to see the birds going north. I wish all friends of my blog a wonderful Easter weekend. Go out and make some clicks and let me know what you find!! :-)

Nature clicks #143 - Red Fox on the run

 

I have seen this female Red Fox many times during the last few months here in the woods and even in our driveway. It is a great looking canine. Making a picture of it is a different story. She does not wait until I come outside, and if I do, she will just run away immediately like in this shot. As you can see, nothing is really tack sharp but that is acceptable for this kind of an image and I really like the quality of the wintry light that makes her colors pop.

Nature clicks #142 - Purple Finch

Purple Finch, Female

I thought I have shown it all for this winter season but there is still something new. A couple weeks ago I already thought that bird photography with great light from down below (because of the light bouncing from the snow on the ground) is no longer possible. Wrong! The winter with all its features has still a grip on us. Since we moved here to Eastern Iowa in 2004 we saw every winter a lot of Purple Finches dominating the feeders around the house. Not so much this year! There was only one single female that was present all the time together with the American Goldfinches and a huge flock of House Finches. We wondered if she was just not in good shape while the other Purple Finches moved further south last fall. Since about two weeks we see a lot more Purple Finches, mostly females. Yesterday Joan and I heard and saw the first Red Winged Blackbirds (for the locals: at Bergman Park, near Asbury, IA), usually a safe sign of the upcoming spring. To make a long story short, it is just great to see the seasonal changes while still keeping the advantage of the wintry light.

Nature clicks #141 - Blue Jay

 

This is an image I tried to make all winter long. The Blue Jays are extremely shy and skittish. They move fast and sit usually in a particular spot no longer than a second or two.

Not that I need a bird book to identify these birds, their size and color make it very easy, but I still like to learn more about any animal we come across here. I don't get paid for what I'm writing now, nor do I get a freebie, but I really like to recommend an app for iPhone and iPad that I use all the time. I know there are some nature lovers that read my blog because of the information about nature and not so much about the photography facts. This is for you guys (well, for the photographers too ;-)  )!! If an iOS application ever deserves a five star rating it would be iBird PRO 6.1 (at least for me!). This is a great field guide to have with you all the time.

Why do I mention this? I just found a fact that I didn't know but thought it is quite interesting. "The Blue Jay's coloration is not derived by pigments, but is the result of light refraction due to the internal structure of the feathers; if a Blue Jay's feather is crushed, the blue disappears as the structure is destroyed." (source: iBird PRO 6.1). I didn't know this until today but I always wondered about the good luminosity of the blue feathers in any picture I previously made, no matter how bad the light was. Oh gosh, I love science!!! :-)

Nature clicks #140 - Northern Cardinal

 

We had a conclave of Northern Cardinals here all winter long but they usually show up very early in the morning and late after sunset when the light is not sufficient for bird photography. Today they changed their mind. A short but intensive snow shower hit our area today and covered everything with white for a couple hours. As many other birds the cardinals gave our feeders a try and I was actually able to make a few clicks in great light.

Nature clicks #139 - Eastern Gray Squirrel

 

I had recently an image of an Eastern Gray Squirrel here on the blog but can you really blame me if I like to show you a couple more if they were shot in really great light? Snow is in general a nice reflector to get some light underneath a critter but if the sun is out it gets even better and the colors come out in a much better way. Some pixel peepers may say, but wouldn't it be better to color correct the snow so it doesn't look so bluish? I'm a big a fan of leaving it just the way it is. The blue is the reflection of the sky and there is no other color that tells the story about cold temperatures better than blue.