Nature clicks #90 - Finally, a pair of Wood Ducks

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

Everything in nature is early this year due to the extremely warm weather we have here in Iowa. Last year I reported my first encounter of a Wood duck on April 11. I had a very obstructed view but was very happy to see this pretty duck for the first time. Click HERE if you like to see the older images and what I had to say about them. Since this first meeting with the Wood Ducks I envisioned an image with both, male and female, and of course in great light. Today luck was on my side. I saw this pair of ducks in one of the canals at the Green Island Wetlands. It took some efforts to get this shot. Wood Ducks are extremely shy and like to hide in the shadow of the trees. However, the birds were actually in backlight and the background was way too bright for my taste. I thought this image was worth the extra work and I used my software mix of Adobe Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS4, and NIK Color Efex Pro 4 to eliminate all distracting lights and "shiny spots" in foreground and background. Why did I use NIK Color Efex Pro? Take it for granted, I don't touch the colors of the animals in my wildlife photography. Period. But NIK's CEP has a filter called "Darken / Lighten Center". This is one of my favorite filters, that allows to darken or lighten the borders or the center of an image. You can set the point of center and also its size. Isn't that the same like applying a vignette to the photo? Kinda, but I think it is much more subtle and can be placed right at your subject within an image. I just can't get the same results by applying a vignette either in LR or PS. The above photo needed a little more than just this filter. The background was dull and blown out. The application of a graduated filter in LR may keep your eye on these wonderful Wood Ducks…

I hope you enjoy. Have a great Sunday!

Nature clicks #89 - Garter Snake, early appearance

I was able to spent some time in the Green Island Wetlands again. Didn't have much luck with birds today but saw lots of Painted Turtles that were out of the water and enjoyed the sun as much as I did. Unfortunately the water level in the wetlands is very low right now and if that persists we may not have the same good shooting opportunities for waterfowl as in the spring last year. We will see.

This Garter Snake crossed my way today. It stopped and gave me the time to get out of the car, to go on the ground, and to make some clicks. Back home I checked my photo library, just to find confirmation that March 16th is the earliest I have ever seen a Garter Snake in spring during the last eight years I lived in Iowa.

Nature clicks #88 - Killdeer, but just good for my own documentation

I wrote about that I didn't like any of my Killdeer shots from last Saturday and about what the problem was. A friend of mine asked me, are they really that bad? Ok, here is one of them (and believe me, it's one of the better ones). It shows you how bad a background can become if you shoot into the mud from above. In addition there is some glare on the mud that isn't helpful either. Yes, it is acceptable as a documentary shot for my own library about Iowa wildlife but it will definitely not make it into my portfolio. ;-)  I know I still have some work to do with the wonderful Killdeer…

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…

Sunday morning with the Downy Woodpecker

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

Circumstances were not in my favor this weekend and except for a few clicks around the house Sunday morning I got nothing done. Nature's best reflector, the snow on the ground, was out again and made for some pretty good light. I counted five Downy Woodpeckers here today, which means they all made it through the winter so far. Good news, but not really surprising because of the mild weather we had during the last few months. The image was made from the tripod with my KIRK ball head and INDURO GHBA gimbal head attached. This combination has served me very well in the past and is a good solution for an amateur with limited budget like me. I tried something different today and mounted the gimbal head to the left hand side of the lens. It is a little more difficult to rest the left hand on the lens barrel while shooting but for some reason my keeper rate was very high today. It may have been just the good light which made focussing easy but maybe it is a way that works better in general for me. I will try more and find out about it. I made many, many pictures of the "Downy" before but I always enjoy working the smallest woodpecker that we have here. They hardly sit still but are not as skittish as, for example, the Red-bellied Woodpecker, and make therefor for a good subject to practice long lens shooting technique.

Nature clicks #87 - Sandhill Cranes, first sighting this year

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

Let me tell you, I saved the best from last weekend for the last. I watched the first pair of Sandhill Cranes in the Green Island Wetlands last Sunday. It was so nice to hear their unmistakable calls and to see them searching for food in the wet fields and marches. They maintained a pretty good distance between me and them. There is a water filled canal on each side of the dam I was shooting from that can't be crossed and it is up to the cranes to move closer. It didn't happen, although I spent quite some time there.

One of my photography friends wrote me in an email that he hopes the spring shooting season will start soon. For me it has started with the arrival of the cranes, it doesn't need more than this...

Nature clicks #86 - Red-tailed Hawk in flight

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

A long wanted shot made it finally onto my hard drive last weekend. This Red-tailed Hawk hovered over a snow covered slope in the Mill Creek Valley near Bellevue, Iowa. I stopped the car and started handhold panning while standing in a puddle of a muddy gravel road. I didn't really care, the hawk was more important than the condition of my boots at that moment. The hawk scanned the slope almost systematically for prey and came several times back to my location. Not as close as I would have liked to, but at least it presented its body for a brief moment in best light. I will not keep it as a secret that the photo is cropped but it is sharp enough and retained some detail after the crop. I believe it payed back that I have practiced a lot during last month on the Bald Eagles. I was happy to make my first picture of a sitting hawk two weeks ago and now I'm glad to have a few images of a Red-tailed Hawk in flight.

Checking out a new location

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

The best time of the year to watch Bald Eagles here along the Mississippi is during the winter, when ice covers the river and the eagles gather at the dams. Locks and dams have been built for navigation, not for flood control, and they are sometimes the only places that are not frozen over and allow the eagles to feed during the cold season. Because of the mild winter we didn't see many eagles in December and January but opportunities have been good during the last few weeks.

The image above was made less than a mile south of dam #11 in Dubuque, Iowa at the 16th Street Detention basin. This pond has seen lately some heavy construction as part of a restoration project that will improve flood protection in Dubuque. Despite still ongoing landscape work many birds took already possession of the pond, located just a stone throw away from the Mississippi.

My buddy Dave made some nice shots there of a group Great Blue Herons last Saturday. I stopped at the pond again on Sunday to study the light for future "shooting adventures". The visitor access is on the  north side. I can tell, the layout hasn't been designed by a photographer… ;-) Oh well, we have to be flexible, right? I went to the south side, an industrial area and quite a bit above the water level (Yaiks!). However, having the sun in my back was so much better. Four eagles were sitting in one corner of the pond that was still covered with ice. Once in a while they took a turn and were circling over the lake. If you can manage to keep the wires of a power supply line that crosses the pond out of your frame (Yaiks again!  ;-)  ) you may get lucky and make a click like the one above or even better. I should not complain too much. I'm happy for the people in the city that don't have to go too far for watching some wildlife. Right now everything looks still "bare naked" at the pond while construction is still not finished. But seeing already many ducks, geese, herons, gulls, and some eagles is a good indicator that this pond will become a great place for future bird watching and photography experiences.

Just me and the geese...

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

It was a good weekend for wildlife photography, especially in the late afternoons on Saturday and Sunday. I stopped briefly at Dubuque's 16th Street Detention basin, a pond known for good bird watching. I met my photography friend Dave Updegraff there who was testing his new lens on some Bald Eagles and Great Blue Herons. We had a little chat and after that I moved on to my favorite wildlife shooting area along the Mississippi, the Green Island Wetlands. The ice  is melting rapidly and I was hoping to find Bald Eagles feeding on dead fish, like I had seen it last year. Surprisingly I didn't find any eagles there at all. My theory is, because of the mild winter the ice wasn't frozen as thick as last year and as a result less fish died. No fish means no eagles. I will consult a biologist sometime to find out if that is true.

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

As the ice disappears the Canada Geese move in. I was there both days, Saturday and Sunday, and it seemed the number of geese had increased quite a bit from one day to the next. If you are a follower of my blog you already know that it doesn't really matter to me what kind of critter is in front of my lens, if only the light is right. And it was great light. I spent two hours until sunset to watch how the light unfolded. I pushed the limits of handholding the camera by shooting ISO 100 the whole time. It was nobody there, not even people driving through. Just me and the geese. Time well spent…

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

Nature clicks #85 - Female Northern Cardinal

 

Nature unfolded its best reflector today, with other words we had fresh snow on the ground. Not much, but enough to boost light and colors.

This female of a Northern Cardinal is a permanent resident in our woods around the house. I can recognize her easily because her colors are slightly lighter than other female cardinals that stop here. I waited almost motionless near this elm tree for quite some time in order to make this photo. Cardinals are extremely shy and don't come close very often.