Nature clicks #229 - Nashville Warbler

 

I still have a backlog of photos that I like to show you here in the blog. Not so much because of image quality but I like to wrap up my series about the warblers that we have seen in our woods in May. The Nashville Warbler is one of them. I had three sightings between May 12, and May 19 2014 but none of them ended with a photo that I’m halfway satisfied with. I just could not get it sharp. The photo may work here in the blog but if I would try to make a larger print there is just not enough sharpness.

It was the first time that we saw this bird but I guess we have to wait until next year, or maybe the migration in the fall, to make a photo with a little more detail. For now we are at least happy that we have seen the Nashville Warbler, the jinx is broken ;-) …

Nature clicks #228 - Eastern Kingbird

 

I spent some time this weekend in the “Swiss Valley”, a nature preserve that features 476 acres (193 ha) of woodlands and prairie, just a few miles southwest of Dubuque, Iowa. Catfish Creek meanders through the valley and the whole preserve is a great area for watching wildlife, fishing, or other outdoor activities. I have been there before but mainly in late fall or winter. The preserve has also a nature center with many nice displays about wildlife, ecology, and history of the area and the Dubuque County Conservation Board has their administrative office there.

I had some nice conversation with Jenny, a Naturalist of the County Conservation Board, and within a few minutes I learned a lot about the possibilities that the preserve may have for wildlife photography. I don't really know why I have neglected this area in the past...  :-?

I hiked a little on both days and it didn’t take long until I saw a Yellow Warbler and an American Redstart. I have introduced both birds here in my blog recently. While crossing the creek on one of their small suspension bridges I saw this Eastern Kingbird perched on a branch of a big oak. It is one of the larger flycatchers and with all the insects near the river Swiss Valley seems to be a perfect habitat. Despite its name the Eastern Kingbird can be found almost from coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada.

Let’s talk photography. The photo has a little bit of a background problem. I was shooting without a tripod through a gap between some other branches and didn’t have much space to change my position. I’m not a fan of the bright spots between the leaves of the oak. First I fired a few shots without flash and then the Kingbird didn’t move and gave me some time to mount the speedlight to the camera. However, I finally liked this photo, which was made without flash, the best. Not so much because how the bird was lit, but because of its gesture, with the head turned to the side.

Nature clicks #227 - Milk Snake

 

Sometimes it is just bizarre how close the good things are situated to the sad moments. Yesterday I found for the first time a Milk Snake here up on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa River. I’m always happy if I discover a new species that has its habitat in the woods around our house and if you followed my blog since a while you know that I get excited about it. The snake was laying on the road just in front of our driveway. Pretty soon I found out that it was dead. There is probably nobody to blame ( I really hate the thought that somebody drove over it on purpose!). Our road is a private loop and not very busy. The survival chance if a critter crosses the road is probably a lot higher than at any other public road. There was no visible injury, but if somebody accidentally drove over it it probably would have killed the Milk Snake.

I was hesitating if I should post this image. It’s not really wildlife anymore but at the other hand my blog is also about documenting what happens in our environment and how human intervention influences the nature here in Eastern Iowa. I placed the snake on some of the rocks we have here and made the click. Oh no, I’m not proud, I’m just dealing with a sad reality and I pay my tribute to a critter that deserves a much better display than this...

Nature clicks #226 - North American Deer Mouse

 

We have a critter here that we can find all year long but I still have not been able to make a photo of it until this week. The North American Deer Mouse occurs over a large geographic area and in many different habitats. More than 100 subspecies have been described according to the “Audubon guide for mammals” app that I used for identification. They live in the woods around here but take sometimes advantage of bird seeds they can find around our house. Most of the time we see them only for a second or two before they disappear. This one sat at the edge of our driveway and just watched us for several minutes.

The only way to make an image that is halfway interesting was to bring the lens down to its eye level, means laying flat, belly down on the asphalt…

Rewarded patience

 

I haven’t been out shooting for the last two days. A busy work schedule and another, not photography related project needed to be finished. At least there are a lot of things left from the last three weeks that I can post.

The big wave of warblers that came through here during there migration is history but some of the warblers stay here in Iowa during the summer. The Yellow Warbler is one of the most widespread warblers in North America during the summer, which does not really mean you can find it at every other corner. However, last weekend, after making the photos of the Cliff Swallows, I spent some more time in the Little Maquoketa Valley. The public trail that follows the valley was an old railroad track and is now used for all kinds of recreation activities. Having mostly private land on both sides, that is usually zoned by a barbed wire fence, doesn’t really allow to follow a bird very far, unless it stays near the trail. After spotting two Yellow Warblers a couple times at the same location I simply put the tripod legs in the ground and waited for another opportunity. Finally my patience was rewarded. The fence prevented to get closer but I believe this environmental portrait of the warbler tells the story about the lush growth that takes over the bird’s summer habitat.

Nature clicks #225 - Cliff Swallow

 

Back in early May I reintroduced you to several of the swallow species that we can find here in Eastern Iowa. If you missed this post but still like to have a look, just click HERE and a new window will open and will bring you back to this post. One species was missing, the Cliff Swallow, although I had seen it in 2013. Luckily a few days ago I recognized some swallows flying under one of the bridges that cross the Little Maquoketa River down in our valley. Pretty soon I identified them as Cliff Swallows, mainly by the distinctive spot on their forehead. I came back last Sunday, prepared to climb under the bridge into the mud of the river bed. They were in process of building their nests out of the mud that they can just find below in the river.

I think it is fascinating to watch these little architects how they do this. For them the structure of the bridge is a perfect place and a great habitat to raise their offspring. The building material is right below, the bridge protects them from predators and weather, and they have plenty of food available because of all the insects that call the river bed home. The only concern that I have is a big river flood, as we have seen it before, when the water level may reach the lower parts of the bridge. This would cut them off from the nest and may put their chicks in danger.

I shot these images in an awkward position on a steep slope under the bridge for about thirty minutes. The mosquitos were biting, it was muddy and slippery, and I was concerned, not so much about myself, but about my gear falling into the river. At the end I was very happy about to see the Cliff Swallows again and bring home some decent photos that tell a little story about these master architects.

Nature clicks #224 - Yellow-throated Vireo

 

Yesterday I mentioned my first sighting of a Yellow-throated Vireo in the Green Island Wetlands. I didn’t plan to show you this image because the bird was too far away and I cropped the heck out of it. The tree was on a little island in the water and I had no way to get closer, but it was important for me to make the click in order to find out what kind of bird it was. However, my friend Jeanine from Johannesburg in South Africa was asking if I had made a photo of the vireo since she had never seen one either. So here it is, not much detail and sharpness, and as I said before, it is cropped to death so you can at least see the bird in this photo. I have a second picture that shows the Yellow-throated Vireo more from the side but a shaking branch in front of the body makes it only useful for identification purposes. Well, this is how it goes in wildlife photography. Sometimes it takes several years before another, better chance comes again but if you don’t try again and again , you will never make the photo of your dreams…

Visit in the wetlands

 

It has been three weeks since I had my last visit in the Green Island Wetlands. The water level in the Mississippi River is still very high and this effects the wetlands as well. It was relatively quiet yesterday afternoon. I have not seen a single duck, not very many Canada Geese, and the strangest thing was that I didn’t see any goslings. I really wonder if the flood has destroyed some of the nests. This all doesn’t mean there was nothing going on. Some Great Egrets stood either in groups or alone in the water and hunted for fish and frogs. I saw a Yellow Warbler, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, an Eastern Kingbird, and even had my first sighting of a Yellow-throated Vireo.

This muskrat looks like it is dozing but it was actually feeding and chewing on plants in the water under a carpet of duckweed.

Probably thousands of Red-Winged Blackbirds have finished their nests and the females sit on the eggs right now. This female here was irritated by my approach because I drove by very slowly with my “mobile blind”. She left the nest but returned within a minute. The first photo was made as she entered the nest again and pretty soon the breeding business continued. The males sit on higher perches, like trees or the remains of last year’s reeds, and watch out for predators. I have seen them in the past defending their territory very aggressively against crows or even eagles.

Nature clicks #223 - Indigo Bunting

 

It took me a long way from my first photo of an Indigo Bunting in 2005 (with a point and shoot camera at that time) to the one I can show you today. Blue is my favorite color, no wonder that this little finch with its brilliant, almost iridescent, blue plumage was on my personal "most wanted list". We see them usually here in May but unlike other birds they don’t tolerate our presence very well, and so I have many bird feeder shots or pictures that show the bunting in the grass and far away from my lens. I was sitting on the ground aiming for some hummingbirds in the bushes when this beautiful Indigo Bunting landed on one of the perch sticks that we installed. The woods and grassy slope in the back make for a dark background but they are far enough to give a decent bokeh that lets the bird stand out from its surroundings. I hope you enjoy.

Nature click #222 - Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 

It has been an amazing spring for bird photography and right now I’m still in a position to make choices what pictures to publish and which one have to wait or will never be seen by the public eye. So let me start with some photo from earlier this month and finish with a brand new one from today. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak shows up here during the first week in May after a long journey from central or northern South America. Sometimes we see up to eight males in early May and they like our sunflower seed feeders a lot. Usually they stay for a couple days and then move on to Minnesota or Canada.

However, there is always at least one or two pairs left that will spend the summer here and raise their offspring. I looked in my archive but this is the first female with such a yellow chest. Most often the males get all the attention because of their bold black, white, and red color pattern but I think the females are very pretty as well. The photo of the female was made this morning and maybe we will see a young grosbeak sometime soon…