Habits and biology

 

When I told you a few days ago that it will be quiet for the rest of the summer, because the little House Wrens had left their nest box, I did not know that in one of the other boxes at the edge of the woods another female was still sitting on her eggs. Well, since a few days we can hear their hungry chatter and the parents deliver insects and spiders every few minutes. We are very happy that we had four successful broods just within the range of our house this year. The parents approach the box always very carefully, especially if there is a guy with a tripod and camera not far from the nest.

I highly respect their privacy and use the full range of the long lens to make these images. By watching them for a while I knew that the old birds would always first land in a shrub nearby, then fly to a tree branch above the nest, before they finally go to the hole in the box with their food. Knowing the critters biology and habits leads to more photo opportunities and quite often to better results.

Nature clicks #244 - Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

 

Although we have swallowtail butterflies in considerable numbers here in our neck of the woods since quite a few weeks, it’s getting more difficult to make a decent photo of one of them. No, it’s not the light, which can be quite harsh in early August sometime, but they just look frayed towards the end of their life span. The photos I show you today are already a few days old and the butterflies still appeared in their full beauty.

You may look at the images and think, these are two different species, but they are all Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. While the males are always yellow, the females can be either yellow or black. I have not seen a black female very often but it seems this year one is paying us a visit every day.

Thank you for stopping here in the blog. I wish all of you a wonderful summer week!

Nature clicks #243 - Gray Tree Frog

 

This is our “house frog”, a little Common Gray Tree Frog. It lives on our balcony, under a canopy of grape vine leaves and between flower pots that we have outside during the summer. The 4 - 5 cm long (1.5 - 2 inch) frog is always good for a surprise and we see it quite often. The Gray Tree Frog can change its color in seconds and this helps it to blend in with tree bark or leaves. They are nocturnal and spend the day resting in trees and shrubs, or like this one, in the plants on our balcony. One of the most interesting facts is that the frog is capable of surviving freezing of their internal body fluids to temperatures as low as -8°C (17.6°F).

It took me quite some time to figure out how to light my subject and to make these photos in very low light between the branches of a Crassula ovata plant. Luckily the frog was cooperative and didn’t move too much. The best results were obtained by using a camera off flash, pointing upward, and using just the light that bounced back from the grapevine leaves that grow above.

Last dinner at home

 

My instinct told me yesterday, take some pictures of the House Wrens, who were feeding their second brood this summer, because the young birds may leave the nest within the next few days. I’m glad I did, since it happened much faster than I thought. Early this morning I heard the parent birds calling the offspring out of the nest. At 7:30AM it was empty. Later during the day I heard them still chatter in the bushes around here and the parents do of course still feed them.

There is no other bird I have studied and photographed more than the little House Wrens during the last years. They raise the first brood every year in one of the bird boxes in the flower bed in front of our house. For the second one they prefer a hollow gourd that hangs from our porch.

There were at least two young wrens in the gourd, and boy, they were hungry. The little guys were calling for more food all day long and the parents of course delivered…

It will be quiet from now on in the morning for the rest of the summer. But when the snow starts falling later in the year we begin dreaming about the first signs of spring. The arrival and chatter of our House Wrens is definitely one of them…

Nature clicks #242 - Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel

 

What was the key for making this photo? Well, leave Cooper, our dog, in the car! If you don’t know what I’m talking about please read the blog post I wrote two days ago. Here is the link if you missed this one.

The Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel was out again today and it allowed me to get really close with my tripod and camera after a very slow and careful approach. Their original habitat was short grass prairies but these days they are mostly found wherever grass is mowed, like in this matter right beside the observation parking lot at the Dubuque airport.

This ground squirrel is especially active on warm days and this is why I was hoping to see it again today. In late summer the squirrel puts on a heavy layer of fat and stores some food in its burrow. They enter their nest in October, or even earlier, roll into a stiff ball, and decrease their respiration from 100-200 breath per minute to one breath about every five minutes. (source: Audubon Guide App., mammals). I think this is really amazing...

Nature clicks #241 - Gray Catbird

 

The Gray Catbird is not an uncommon bird in most parts of the United States during the summer. Its catlike “meow” call, that gave the bird its name, can be heard along forest edges, marshes, or streams. They often imitate the call of other birds, like jays, swallows, kingfishers, or grosbeaks (source: iBirdPro app). The catbird prefers low, dense vegetation and that’s why it is quite often not so easy to make a decent picture of this summer resident. Their gray color does not provide a lot of contrast in a low light situation, like in the dense bushes and trees as we have them here in Eastern Iowa, and focus is hard to obtain sometimes. I had countless tries to make a picture of the Gray Catbird during the last few years but this is the first time that I like the outcome. Not that there isn’t any room for improvement but I’m happy to present this image to you. Yes, this doesn’t have the “wow” factor, gray is probably not the favorite color of most people, but my concern as a nature photographer is to create awareness for all the species that need our attention in our local and global ecosystems.

Guard of the hole

 

This was supposed to be a photo of a 13-lines Ground Squirrel but instead our dog Cooper took the center stage. We were at the observation parking lot at the airport again this evening. There is a burrow in the slope of the hill where I have photographed these little critters before. While waiting for an airplane to land one of the ground squirrels stuck its head out of the hole. The instinct of the Rat Terrier in Cooper (he is probably a mix of Rat Terrier and Blue Healer) took over and he started chasing the little squirrel immediately. The squirrel disappeared rapidly with a loud squeal. For the next forty-five minutes the dog guarded the hole with utmost attention but I guess the squirrel had better things to do than messing with Cooper… ;-)

Nature clicks #240 - Giant Swallowtail

 

During the last 2 -3 years we did not have so many butterflies up on the bluffs here as during the seven years before since we lived above the Little Maquoketa River Valley. In 2014 it seems we see a lot more again. I don’t specialize in this kind of photography but when I saw four Giant Swallowtails at the same time feeding on our Purple Coneflowers I could not resist and grabbed the D300s with the 150, f/2.8 lens attached.

The Giant’s are probably not as shy as some of the other butterflies and let me come close sometime. They are one of the largest butterflies in North America.

Peak of action, the very short breaks while they are feeding, and watching the background were the key for these shots. I hope you enjoy.

Back to manual focus

 

For a photo like this, a Fritillary butterfly on a Purple Coneflower, I would usually pull out my macro lens, the SIGMA 150 mm, f2.8, and then follow the insect like a madman. It just doesn’t always work very well, especially on a very warm day when butterflies never seem to stop in their movements. I tried to do something different by attaching a 1.4 teleconverter to my Sigma 50-500, giving it a 700 mm focal length and having the whole rig mounted on the tripod. With the teleconverter the lens does focus only manually. This is how we have done it back in the old days and I realized how much autofocus has spoiled us over the years. So, why did I use such a long focal length and put up with manual focus and a much slower lens (this image was shot at 700 mm, equivalent to 1050 mm on a full frame sensor, 1/60s, f/9, and ISO200)? The answer is, because of background control. The slow approach (camera on tripod, manual focus) made me to visualize the shot long before I hit the shutter release button. I made only a few clicks until I had what I wanted…:-)

Nature clicks #239 - Map Turtle

 

I haven’t made a single click last week and I couldn’t wait to go out again on the Mississippi today in the kayak and with the camera in my lap. This photo is as fresh as it gets. It is the first time that I had a chance to make a photo of a Map Turtle. They are usually the first ones to dive into the water as soon an intruder appears. It took three carefully executed approaches before I was able to come close enough without that the turtle jumped off the log.

Last weekend in the Green Island Wetlands I came across this female Painted Turtle. It was obviously moving between two ponds but took a rest in the middle of the gravel road. After making a couple clicks I took the turtle and carried it off the road. The Painted Turtle can be found all over in Iowa while the Map Turtle is only supported in the larger rivers of Eastern Iowa.