Bunnies! - gestures and light

 

As deeper I dive into wildlife photography as more I become aware that a simple gesture of an animal can make the difference between a great photo and a not so great photo. If the animal doesn’t “cooperate” at least some great light can make the difference. This is especially true for critters that everybody has seen before or that are relatively common.

We can find the Eastern Cottontail at several places around here and these photos were again made at Finley’s Landing down at the Mississippi River. But that doesn’t mean it is easy to make a good click. The best way to make it happen with these young bunnies is to let them come to you. Simple sit and wait for your chance.

I used my car as a blind again and after a while they didn’t run away and came very close to the vehicle. I enjoy watching the cute cottontails chewing on some fresh grass or chasing each other in the evening. And as I said, if the gesture is right or the light is killer, the click has to be made…

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.

Nature clicks #238 - Killdeer (on the nest)

 

This isn’t my first image of a Killdeer sitting on eggs but it is definitely the one I always wanted to make. Will talk about this later.

This is in a corner of a big parking lot in the Green Island Wetlands but these birds love to lay their eggs there since I started watching them several years ago. It makes me always very nervous watching this, even if the parking lot is not busy this time of the year. It is mainly used for the trucks and boat trailers during the duck hunting season in the fall. However, beside me other people come out there to watch birds or to fish and it is easy to destroy the eggs without even knowing it.

Quiet often one of the adult birds tries to lure you away by running in a different direction or by sitting in an empty spot and pretending to be on the real nest. This one wasn’t moving and when I approached the bird carefully it lifted its body up and I was able to snap a picture and saw at least two eggs underneath the Killdeer.

The key for the photo was to put the belly down on the gravel and support the lens with a foam roll (“boat noodle”) that I use usually as my support on the car window. I remembered that the background was always the biggest problem with my older pictures and I crawled around the bird until I found the position where I acquired a liking for background and direction of light.

On the water again

 

A nice holiday weekend lies behind us. The weather was mild, but not hot, and we took the kayaks to the Green Island Wetland Preserve for some paddling and exploring new routes in this backwater area of the Mississippi. The water level in the river was still way above normal, which is not necessarily bad for paddling in the backwaters.

Many birds take care for their offspring and you may not see them much out in the open water. It is always a challenge to take the camera with the long lens into the boat but if everything comes together the results can be very rewarding. Shooting on eye level with a bird that swims or just sits along the shore leads to a more interesting perspective than shooting from an elevated road along the shore.

This pelican didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence as I approached it carefully and with very slow paddle strokes. I really wanted this photo because of the nice background with the blooming bushes and the story it tells about the fact that every island and peninsula is flooded.

Update - Iowa Wildlife Galleries

 

It was about time to update my EASTERN IOWA WILDLIFE galleries. You can find them by clicking in the side bar on the left. The gallery for birds has now many of the migrating birds that came through here earlier this year and in the gallery for mammals are new additions as well. Check them out if you like…

Nature clicks #237 - Northern Water Snake

 

When I go on a photo trip in the evening or during the weekends I have my eyes open for any critter out there that tries to make a living in the Mississippi Valley. Two days ago I discovered this Northern Water Snake in the marina of Finley’s Landing down at the Mississippi River. It was swimming very fast and so it was almost impossible to focus the lens on the reptile. But suddenly the snake stopped, probably because it sensed danger by my try to follow it at the edge of the water.

Northern Water Snakes are nonvenomous but they can bite if handled. They may briefly grab hold while twisting the body, producing more laceration than most other harmless snake bites. These snakes can be found in all of Iowa except the north-west and north-central parts. They eat fish, frogs, and salamanders. (source: “The Snakes of Iowa”, by Dr. J.L. Christiansen and Dr. R.M. Bailey).

Looking at the final photo on my computer screen I thought it was interesting how the snake supports its body while resting on two stems of reed. It’s the little things in nature that amaze me the most quite often…

Let the weather dictate what to shoot

 

This post was supposed to be published last night already but another line of thunderstorms rolled over the country and I rather preferred to unplug the computer. We have the typical June weather with intensive periods of sun interrupted by thunderstorms and rain. The best way to deal with it from a photography standpoint is to go for the right subject, clouds when a storm is near or wildlife during overcast and sunny periods.

There are two ways to attract hummingbirds to a yard, you either hang feeders with artificial nectar (sugar dissolved in water will do it) or you plant flowers that the hummingbirds like because of its nectar. We do both. Joan has done a great job of planting a patch with Monarda, better known as Bee Balm. This flower attracts the little birds not just because of its color but it is obviously a good source for the liquid food they need.

Making a sharp image of a hummingbird in flight is kind of a challenge. Their wing beats can go up to 100 beats per second. The key is again using “peak of action”, the short moment when the body is not in motion while they hover and drink out of the flower. I’m using a fill flash for the colors and therefore do not shoot in continuos mode. As always, the eye has to be sharp in wildlife photography. The motion blur of the body and wings tells the story about what kind of dynamic these tiny birds have…

Nature clicks #235 - Belted Kingfisher

 

This photo is hopefully a starting point. I try to make a picture of the Belted Kingfisher since a long time. It is the most skittish bird you can imagine. I found a pair of kingfishers today at Finley’s Landing, a marina and campsite down at the Mississippi River. I had no chance to get closer for this shot, there was water between me and the dead tree where the male kingfisher was perched. It is not so difficult to find them. Often you can hear their loud, penetrating rattle before you see them.

I know the image lacks some detail due to a heavy crop and the long distance that puts my SIGMA 50-500 to its limits. However, I’m not unhappy about the picture because it shows a typical scene, with the kingfisher high up on a perch, which is of course quite often a dead tree, and the lush green of the forest in the background. I usually have the patience to stand or sit and wait for a better opportunity but this was at 7pm and daylight was fading away quickly. I guess I have to try it again and maybe start a little earlier since the daylight time is becoming shorter again with every day…

Kindergarten in the woods ;-)

 

There is a lot going on in the woods here again. Many young birds try to find their way around. The House Wrens from our second nest box left their nest finally Saturday morning. One of them found its way into our house but after five minutes I was able to catch the little guy and release him into the wild again. The male wrens are in full courtship again and try to impress a female by singing near any possible nest place. I have never seen the wrens using the same nest for their second brood and we will see what they do this year.

This is a young House Sparrow and the parents were nearby, still taking care for the offspring. It is the first time that we had House Sparrows having a nest somewhere close by.

I was happy to see five juveniles hopping around their parents on the ground today. This photo was made while a big thunderstorm moved into our area and it became quite dark. The fill flash makes the important, story telling parts standing out, the wide open beak and the eye of the young sparrow, as well the bill of its mother that stuffs the food into the throat…

(P.S.: In the first version of this blog post I said the sparrows in the last image were Chipping Sparrows. A closer look at some of my other photos made me recognize my mistake. They were all House Sparrows.)