Nature clicks #203 - American Kestrel

 

The photo of this American Kestrel is already a week old. Any time I can make a better image of a particular bird or other critter than the last one before I feel that I climbed the ladder one step up. My post “Nature clicks #197” in February was the first time I was able to show a picture of the kestrel but I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the shot (click HERE to see the older photo). Improvements in wildlife photography don’t come to you automatically. You may have to try over and over again. I really searched for kestrels during my little evening or weekend trips and finally got a better, although not perfect, shot of this wonderful falcon. I still had to crop the image. They like to sit high up on power lines along the roads and most of the time fly away as soon the car stops. A lot of things have to come together to make these kind of clicks. If I see one and it is on the passenger side of the car, I turn around and approach the bird from the other direction. If you try this make sure nobody is behind you! I have the camera in my lap and it is turned on already. I take it in my hands while still rolling, stop the car, focus through the open window, and finally fire the shutter release button. If you are lucky the bird gives you a few seconds but quite often they take off as soon the car comes to a stand still. I’m sure you can’t do this in downtown Chicago ;-) but on the small county roads and gravel roads we have here in Iowa I feel comfortable to work this way. However, having an eye on the road and in the rearview mirror all the time is essential for your own safety and the safety of others.

Simple task today

 

The photo was made this evening in icy wind but with soft sunlight at the 16th Street Basin in Dubuque, Iowa. I removed a couple small spots on the water, no crop, high-pass sharpening, done deal. I wished it would be always that simple… :-)

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…

Nature clicks #200 - Northern Flicker

 

Surprise, surprise (not really), we had some fresh snow on the ground this morning… I got up early to take advantage of the great light, provided by a slightly diffused sun and the snow as a reflector. First I followed some fox tracks in the snow back to the rocks and the valley behind the house. The tracks in the snow told me that the fox had checked the old den from last year and I wonder if we will see another litter of fox pups again. Second, the light made the colors of the moss on the rocks pop and in combination with the snow it was worth a few clicks to me.

Back at the house I set up the tripod with camera and long lens attached on the porch and it took only a minute and the woodpeckers showed up. I counted four Downy, one Hairy ,and three Red-bellied Woodpeckers. However, the star of this early morning was a male Northern Flicker. We have here the eastern form of the flicker, the yellow-shafted, as you can easily identify by the second photo. It is this time of the year when most of the birds get a color boost because of the mating season. I wrote it before, this is the first winter in the last ten years that we have seen the flicker all winter long. Usually they have been here only a few days in very early spring.

It took only a few hours and all the new snow melted away. The old one is getting icy and may take still a while to disappear.

It is my 200th blog post “Nature clicks”. I started this category four years ago and it became the stage for photos and information about critters and other things in nature that got my interest. I think the Northern Flicker with its wonderful colors is a great bird to celebrate this little milestone in my ongoing photography journey. Thank you to all my friends and visitors of this blog for stopping here regularly or occasionally!

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…

Nature clicks #199 - Female House Sparrow

 

It’s hard to believe but I have never made a decent photo of a House Sparrow around here. The truth is that we don’t see them very often in our neck of the woods, so there aren’t too many opportunities for a photo. Last week, when the winter struck again with snow and cold temperatures, a couple of these little birds paid us a visit at our bird feeders. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a hold of the male sparrow but this female posed nicely for a few seconds and so I made the click. I know some people may say, it’s just a damn sparrow, but sparrows play their role in our ecosystem and that’s why they deserve our attention as much as any other bird, at least in my books…

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.

Nature clicks #198 - White-breasted Nuthatch

 

Yes, this photo was made today! It snowed again last night and most of the day today and staying home was probably a wise decision because of the road conditions. My daughter told me today that the snow bells and crocus bloom already over in Germany. Well, ours here are still under a heavy layer of snow and ice… I admit, I’m a little jealous!

I haven’t posted an image of the White-breasted Nuthatch this season yet, although they are here all winter long. This one wasn’t moving much for several minutes, a sure sign that a hawk was nearby somewhere in the trees around. Every woodpecker or nuthatch tries to stay on the opposite site of a tree, away from the hawk, while the raptor is in the area. This gives me usually an idea where to look for the hawk. I hope I don’t bore you too much with another winterly photo but there wasn’t much else to shoot today, at least outside…

Nature clicks #197 - American Kestrel

 

While cruising around this weekend and scouting for the first signs of spring I came across this male American Kestrel. The falcon was sitting up high on an electrical line beside a gravel road. If it would have been a bird that I had photographed many times before, I would not have made the shot because the distance to the bird was fairly long and there was nothing I could do about it. Because it was the first time that I had a chance to point my lens at a kestrel I had of course to make the clicks. Needless to say that the image is cropped quite a bit. I have seen other kestrels before, so it wasn’t a first sighting, but now, after the jinx is broken, I look forward to find another opportunity that hopefully may not require to crop the photo in the post process. Happy to add another species to my Iowa Wildlife gallery  :-)

For Tarja Alma

 

This photo may make you believe that spring has arrived. The truth is that the ground is still covered with a heavy layer of snow in most places. However, down in the valley of the Little Maquoketa River I discovered the first Eastern Bluebirds today.

This photo is for you, Tarja Alma Exner. Welcome in this world. It is wonderful to have you.