This is the image I had actually in mind for yesterday's post but then the encounter of the little foxes made the news first. This Bald Eagle has its nest near Mud Lake at the Mississippi River. I have seen the bird several times already and got an idea where the new nest is located up in the hills. As you might remember, the eagle nest at Mud Lake is taken by a Great Horned Owl now and my guess is that the eagles just chose another location for their nest.
Today a photographer's dream became true. I wrote here in my blog about the Red Fox who comes through our yard every day and tries to get a hold of a squirrel or a bird. I always thought it would be totally cool if I ever would find the fox's den and see a pup. I was dreaming for several years about this...
Our neighbors saw the fox with one pup in our backyard earlier today. That was actually great news for me. I went onto our bluffs in the woods behind the house and tried to help finding their two little dogs, who were missing since several hours. I didn't find the dogs (still missing as I write this) but discovered four little fox pups outside their den on the steep slope of our property. I was thrilled! There isn't much light left at 7pm in a forest and getting this picture pushed me to the limits. My camera doesn't deal very well with ISO800, noise is inevitable, and shooting a 500 mm lens (750 mm on a DX sensor) at 1/60s is not really the key to success. However, I held my breath and got a shot that I like to show you. I hope I can say, more to come...
The tip came from the blog of my photography friend Dave Updegraff this morning. He shared that a large number of American White Pelicans were at the 16th Street Basin in Dubuque. I thought I give it a try and went there even twice today. I'm actually not a big fan of this pond, it is surrounded by busy roads and therefor a very noisy location, but it was worth both trips. Have a look and enjoy these majestic birds...
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.
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....? :-)
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... :-)
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.
Ok, no post last week. I have been on a business trip and despite driving more than a thousand miles I was not able to make a single click. I guess I made up for this yesterday and spent almost seven hours in the Green Island Wetlands near the Mississippi. It was a great day to be outside in the warm sun. Lots of wildlife seemed to enjoy the spring weather as well.
As the title of my blog suggests, my blog is not just about photography, it is also about sharing wildlife encounters and locations with you and if you live in or near Eastern Iowa I like to encourage you to go out and see the wetlands yourself. Right now, during bird migration is the best time to be there.
Not all animals come within a range where a click can be made but here is a list of what I saw yesterday:
Painted Turtle
Red-tailed Hawk (two at the same time but I screwed up and didn't get them in focus :-( )
Lesser Yellowleg (more to come)
American White Pelican (A large scoop has arrived but was too far away for my lens today)
Song Sparrow
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Bufflehead
Wood Duck
Wilson's Snipe (A first sighting for me! More to come)
Canada Goose (of course!)
American Coot
Muskrat (more to come)
Northern Leopard Frog
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Turkey Vulture (Finally got some good shots of this bird)
Great Egret (To my surprise I saw a single egret. Have never seen one so early.)
Red-winged Blackbird (they took possession of their breeding grounds and have spread everywhere)
There is a lake in the backwaters that was covered with thousands of waterbirds. I'm sure there were some more species I have not listed here. There is no way accessing this area of the wetlands without scaring them because you can't use the car as a blind and the area is wide open.
Making an image of the Painted Turtles is always a challenge in bright sunlight. You may ask, why didn't you use a polarizing filter to eliminate glare and reflections? Well, I don't have an 86 mm filter that would fit the Sigma 50-500 and I have no intends to get one. It does not happen very often that I miss the polarizer on the long lens and most of the time there wouldn't be enough light to keep the shutter speed in a manageable range anyway. Laying down in the dirt makes for a more interesting perspective and also helps a little with the glare on the turtle shell.
I haven't been able to sort through all images from yesterday's shooting trip but there will be more to come. So please stay tuned! ;-)
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!! :-)
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.
