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.)

Ready to leave the nest

 

Today the young House Wrens left their nest, at least at one of the two bird boxes we have installed for them in our front yard. Early in the morning one little wren was already outside of the box, sitting on a branch, but he may have returned later. There was a lot of calling going on by the adult wrens during the day and this happens usually when they try to lure the offspring out of the nest. This evening I saw one juvenile wren leaving the nest box and finally flying into the trees around. The mother still continued to feed the rest of the gang at least a few more times. I left home for half an hour and after my return it was quiet in the nest box. The first brood in 2014 had left the nest.

When I made the first two images this morning during a thunderstorm I had already the feeling that the young wrens were about to leave the nest soon. Didn’t know it would happen that fast. The parents will probably take care for the offspring for a few more days and than hopefully get ready for another brood. A few days ago I saw one of the males already building another nest in one of the other boxes we have in the yard and he was calling for a female’s attention like crazy…

Fishing frenzy

 

I have withheld these images from your eyes since last Saturday. A business trip didn’t allow me to work on my photos for a couple nights. I went to the lock and dam in Dubuque and found a group of about 30 American White Pelicans just below the dam at the exit of the lock. It is fascinating to watch these large birds fishing in an almost organized manner.

The second image shows were the difficulties are with this location. The pelicans feed right at the exit of the lock and disappear quite often behind the concrete wall that forms the side of the lock. I don’t like having this wall in the photo and so the edge of the wall is in many pictures almost identical with the left hand side of the photo. This, unfortunately, limits the room for composition sometimes.

However, things develop anyway very fast because the pelicans move constantly around and there were lots of nice gestures of the birds I was able to capture. I shot for about an hour and this was great fun again.  Their bill can hold 3 gallons (~11 liter) of water. After they catch some fish they point the bill downwards, drain the water off, raise the bill and swallow the prey.

We just read in the IOWA OUTDOORS magazine that the pelicans have started to built nesting colonies again on some protected Mississippi islands a little further south from here. It says the population is at about 1,500 pelicans now. They were absent since 1909. I like news like this…

Nature clicks #234 - Pileated Woodpecker

 

The Pileated Woodpecker is the #1 on my “most wanted” list for bird photography. It is the largest woodpecker North Americas (other than the near-extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker). We have them here all year long, at least one pair. Most of the time we can hear its “cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk” but it is not very often that we see this big guy and it is even more difficult to make a picture. I have never seen a Pileated Woodpecker coming to a suet feeder, like any of the other six woodpecker species we can find here, although my books say they do come to feeders. The last time I made a photo of this wonderful bird was in 2010, so it was about time to get a new and maybe better image.

This morning I heard the woodpecker’s call several times from a tree near the house. I grabbed the camera, went into the woods, and was very happy to find a female sitting on a branch high up in the tree. She gave me a few minutes before she took off…

Looking for a new generation

 

It became kinda quiet here in the woods around. We don’t see so many bird activities as just a month ago. Many species moved further north where they will spend the summer and those that are here sit either on their eggs or feed already their offspring. Maybe it just seems that there are less activities because of the lush vegetation we have here that covers the birds a lot better than in early May.

It takes sometimes a little effort to make a photo of the young birds but sometimes they just show up when you don’t expect it. In any case, approaching the offspring has to be done with utmost caution in order not to disturb them or the parents that feed the young ones.

When I was working with the Cliff Swallows a few days ago I suddenly heard something chirping right beside me. It was this young House Sparrow and I was clearly too close to the bird. I took quickly a couple shots and moved away so that the parents were able to feed the young sparrow again.

This young Red-winged Blackbird wasn’t even aware of me. I was well hidden in my car and used the long lens for this shot. Shooting out of a blind, and you know I consider the car my “mobile blind”, has the disadvantage that sometimes you can’t really change the shooting angle but in this matter I found the gap between leaves, flowers, and grass. This photo was made when the mother approached the little guy with an insect in her bill. She called it but the young blackbird just opened its bill and didn’t move.

The last one was made in the grass of an empty campsite. Two of these birds just landed in front of me while I was walking and looking for birds in the trees. I just laid down and made this eye level shot. Unfortunately I still haven’t figured out what kind of bird this is. I thought it was a young robin but back home and after looking at other pictures of juvenile robins my doubts grew. I still work on it… :-)

Back at the great architects

 

I spent the last two evenings down in the valley at a colony of Cliff Swallows I found about three weeks ago underneath a bridge that crosses the Little Maquoketa River. Since then the swallows were so kind to built some new nests on the outside of the bridge so I didn’t have to climb underneath anymore, between big boulders and the mud of the river. The nests are still under an overhang of the bridge and it is necessary to throw some additional light at them for a good picture. For now I used my speed light mounted directly on top of the camera and it delivered some acceptable results. I may try my little softbox the next time and use it off camera for an even softer light with less shadows.

Cliff Swallows are some amazing architects who build their gourd-shaped nests out of mud and the darker color of some parts told me that they still work on them. The whole colony was very busy catching insects. We have gazillions of annoying little gnats here at the moment and some mosquitos as well, so there is food in abundance. Standing beside the river with a tripod for a long time requires the use of some bug spray on your skin to make it halfway bearable. Other than that, it is a lot of fun and very interesting to watch their interaction with each other.

It didn’t look like that they had laid their eggs yet. The swallows came repeatedly back to their nests, rested for a little while, and went out again for another feeding frenzy.

I can’t let this opportunity, to have these beautiful Cliff Swallows relatively close to our home, pass by and I hope I’m able to see them raising their offspring soon. I’ll keep you posted…

Nature clicks #233 - American Mink

 

Remember, yesterday I talked about that by leaving the camera at home during a kayak tour last Friday I missed the opportunity to shoot an American Mink that I saw along the shore. Well, today I got another chance at a total different location. This evening I went down into the valley in order to continue to work on another bird project (I will report about this later this week). While still just getting ready for shooting and firing the first test shots I suddenly saw an American Mink on the other side of the Little Maquoketa River. The critter moved very fast over logs and through the bushes that grow along the water and I never got a chance to even focus on the mink. Just across from my location it climbed a big cottonwood tree and disappeared in the canopy. A woodpecker flew out of the tree and I got concerned that the mink was after the bird’s eggs or offspring. Nothing happened for about a minute. I didn’t see it anymore. Suddenly the mink climbed down with something in its mouth and disappeared somewhere in the thick bushes above the river bank. Everything happened very fast but I was able to make five clicks. At home I saw that this American Mink had killed a young squirrel, probably right in its nest. Well, this is nature in its purest state and for me it was very exciting to watch.

The photos are not necessarily good wildlife photos but they are important documentary shots for me. It was the first time that I was able to make a photo of the mink and now I have a foundation to built on… :-)

Nature clicks #232 - Philadelphia Vireo

 

An eventful and very nice weekend is behind us, although not much photography was involved. We finally got our kayaks out and paddled on the Mississippi. On the first tour Friday evening I left the camera at home and of course, missed my chance to make a photo of a mink that I saw climbing over drift wood along the shore. The lesson learnt was, never, I mean never ever leave your gear at home when you go out into nature… :idea:  Joan joined me on the second trip Saturday morning. We had a really good time but a chance like the night before did not repeat. We saw some herons, an egret, muskrats, and lots of turtles. The photography results were mediocre, nothing I like to show here…

Instead I show you for the first time a Philadelphia Vireo. I still have some photos with birds from last month that I haven’t been able to identify yet. I made several shots from different perspectives of this Philadelphia Vireo and even if not all of them are tack sharp, or sometimes a branch covers parts of the bird, every image can be helpful for identification. At this particular picture you can’t see it but another one shows clearly that the vireo’s bill has a little hook at the upper mandible. This was the final hint for me in this matter.

I have never seen this vireo before, they come through here only during their migration to Canada, but I’m very happy that we can add another species to our list of birds that we have seen here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River.

When it all comes together...

 

I love when it all comes together, the light, the gesture, and the story telling of a wildlife photo. I told you yesterday that this Semipalmated Sandpiper had a considerable injury on its left hand side and under its wing. The photo I show you today is my favorite of the whole shooting session, which lasted about thirty minutes. The click was made after the bird took a bath and dried and preened its feathers in the low, but still powerful evening sun. It was only a brief moment that the sandpiper tilted its head over the injury, like it would tell me, I don’t like to show this. The click made my day…