Category: Wildlife

That Dude Knows His Birds!

“Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun
But mama, that’s where the fun is”

Seemed like an appropriate intro based on yesterday’s special event.  Hoping all my loyal readers in the States had a chance to witness the solar eclipse.  I opted to stay in the area, so we were only able to experience a 93% reduction.  Somewhat disappointing since 7% of the sun’s light is well… still pretty bright – surprisingly bright.  Still something cool to experience.  Some of my friends traveled further south to witness the total eclipse.  That sounded intriguing until they recounted how horrendous it was to get home after that.  What would normally be about a 3.5 hour trip ended up taking over 6.5 thanks to going 10-15mph on the main highway back.

In light of that (see what I did there – literary genius I tell you hehehe), I spent some time thinking about today’s post topic.  After some deliberation opted to go with something that had a similar “dark” theme. With that said, I bring you this colorful little bird.

Northern Parula Shot at Grand Portage, MN while visiting Grand Portage, MN in July 2017

So you are probably thinking .. “How the hell does this have anything in common with a darkness”.   Or possibly you just realized what song that lyric at the beginning was from and instead thinking to yourself “that has to be the WORST song ever written!”  Either option is definitely appropriate – and sorry for the fact that song is now stuck in your head… “And little Early Pearly Came by in his curly-wurly”  Don’t blame me… thank Springsteen.  Rather than leave you in the dark on this (I kill myself), these shots were taken in near blackness.  Thanks to some fast work on the manual settings, I was able to save it.  This is a prime example why photographers need to embrace the M mode. (I can already anticipate the comment I am going to get from my non-Manual shooting brother Ron)

This Northern Parula was captured while Linda and I were visiting Grand Portage MN back in July.  We are headed out to photograph the waterfall there.  As mentioned in the fox post previously, it was starting to drizzle.  As we were walking the path there, an interesting sound came from a nearby tree.  By then the rain was coming down harder and the thick forest was blocking out what little light was trying to break through.  There are times when you have to focus on someone other than yourself and this was one of them.  Linda had recently done something very nice for my birding checklist and therefore opted to focus on the task at hand – waterfalls.  Onward we went.  Then a stroke of luck happened – Linda couldn’t find here phone.  Hmmm maybe I can cleverly disguise a self-centered act as a chivalrous act for the one I love.  “Oh no, let me run back to the RV and see if it is there… just for your dear.. wink wink”.  Holy crap it worked.  I think she even felt bad I had to run all the way back to the RV.  Off I went with credits in the bank and an opportunity to solve a mystery.

Northern Parula Shot at Grand Portage, MN while visiting Grand Portage, MN in July 2017

Yes, I made the first priority to get the phone.  However, on the way back I kept my eyes and ears on the trail’s edge.  Near the spot I originally heard the mysterious song was a young couple also looking up into a tree.  Turns out they had heard the same song and was investigating the source as well.  Like us, they were unable to spot it.  That is when the young guy mentions that it was the song of a Northern Parula.  Wow, that dude definitely knows his birds.  He then stated, I always love hearing their song, but I rarely ever get to see one.  A quick look at Cornell’s site confirmed they tend to hang out in the canopy.  Seconds after he mentioned that, the source of the melodic chirps decided to come out for a brief visit.  There I was holding big glass in dark forest conditions with a gorgeous bird on full display.  No worries, made some fast adjustments and did my best to focus through the various limbs and leaves.  Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it goes horribly wrong – that day experience came through and the Northern encounter can be forever remembered.  Note, the couple couldn’t believe anything came out on the image  – showed them my LCD and she showed me the black silhouette she got with her camera phone.  I thanked the guy out for the assist on the identification and proceeded on to meet up with Linda with a great sense of satisfaction.  She got here waterfall shots, we found her phone, she loves more even more and I now have a much better picture of a Northern.  Again, the great thing about bird photography is you always have the opportunity to improve on your shots.  If you are curious, here were  my previous inferior captures (link here).

Have to go work on Halloween decorations now – hope you enjoyed reading about our brief encounter with a cute little bird.

Out Foxed

Today’s post is a bit of a deja-vu for Linda and I.  If you recall, back in March of this year I recounted an encounter with a Red Fox (link here).  That observation involved pulling into the parking lot of the Red Rocks Ampitheatre.  Soon after getting the gear out of the car, a human acclimated fox strolled across the parking lot in front of us –  dismissing the myth that wildlife photographers risk life and limb to hone their craft (well, at least not ALL the time hehehe).  Well guess what…

Fox shot at Grand Portage, MN at Grand Portage State Park July 2017

This exact same scenario played out on our recent trip to Minnesota back in July (yes, this year and yes, I know a post that recent is pretty rare around here).  Eventually, we made our way to Grand Portage MN to let Linda shoot another waterfall.  It was overcast with only a slight drizzle which actually works in Linda’s waterfall silk favor – not so much for my wildlife shots so wasn’t expecting to get much in the tin.  That all changed the minute we stepped out of the RV.  As if on command, this Red Fox came strolling out next to the far end of the parking lot. “Well how do you do my little friend?”

Fox shot at Grand Portage, MN at Grand Portage State Park July 2017

Hit the jump to see and read more about our furry friend.

Continue reading Out Foxed

Now Checked 3 of 4

You probably noticed last month I focused a bit more on non-bird related posts (evident by the limited posts to the wildlife version of this blog).   My readers have a diverse range of interests thanks to the many transformations this site has gone through over my 10 years of blogging.  To keep everyone interested, I try my best to provide a range of topics, but clearly our feathered friends get the heavy feature lifting on this site.  That means a bird post is never too far away… take for instance today’s featured subject..

Red-Breasted Nuthatch shot at ?? MN in July 2017

This post comes with a word of caution.  A typical post workday consists of combing through thousands of backlogged images trying to locate something interesting to share with my loyal readers.  Additional time in the digital darkroom making it all pretty like and then some intimate time with a shelf full of reference materials.  Once convinced of the probable ID, a quick screen grab is taken and a request for validation goes out to my brother Ron.  He being a birding aficionado will take a quick look and confirm or call me out for trying to claim a fuzzy picture of a Robin as a Puffin (damn him and his crazy bird skills hehehehe).  That is how it usually works.  As of late, the request goes out and nothing comes back.  Request goes out and nothing comes back.  Sure, there is some claim about him being super busy with his day job, his analytics software, his book writing, his cult .. whoops make that nomography work, his blog, his bird excursions, his Halloween prop building, his family time, his photo process blah blah blah – I need my validations!!!!!  Just kidding of course, he has so many irons in the fire now guessing he has given up all aspirations of sleep.    In the meantime, going with an ID that is pretty certain.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is a Red-Breasted Nuthatch.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch shot at ?? MN in July 2017

It helps of course, that it a) actually has a red breast and b) was spotted walking DOWN a tree.  If you don’t know much about birds, it is a good bet if you see a bird making its way headfirst down a tree trunk, it’s a Nuthatch.  Creepers will do that from time to time as well, however, they are very distinctive brown where the Nuthatches sport a spiffy grey.  Common to my stomping grounds here in fly-over country is the White-Breasted Nuthatch.  That one has … wait for it … wait for it .. wait a bit more for it … just a bit more .. and now .. a white breast.  It does sport some chestnut on the shoulders and lower belly but for the most part white.  Already have the White-Breasted version.  Then there is the Brown-Headed variety.  Yes, they do have a brown head (more like a brown cap from my perspective).  Next time you see a brown capped bird walking straight down a tree – think Brown-Headed Nuthatch.  If not already, you are going to become a birder if you continue reading this blog whether you want to or not.  A little secret – there are photos of this variety in my queue as well so yeah, that one is half checked only waiting to make its debut on this blog.  The last of the 4 is the Pygmy.  That one is still on the hunt list.  Still extremely happy with 3 out of the 4.Hatches.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch shot at ?? MN in July 2017

Just realized the shot location hasn’t been mentioned.  We found this on our recent trip along the Minnesota Lake Superior coastline back in July 2017.  To be specific, at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park near Two Harbors.  After parking in a lot south of the lighthouse, we made our way down to the coastline to get some shots of the building.  Note to future visitors, if are not interested in paying to get up close to it, simply head own to the parking lots that have access to the coast or catch the pull off overlook further south.  While walking down the trail, this specimen flew past me and latched on to the pictured tree.  The lighting was horrible – in the light, out of the light as it wandered up and down the tree.  Ended up only getting a few shots of it, but clearly good enough to claim the new +1.

Yikes, way out of pictures – let’s hunt up some facts.  First off, the Red-Breasted Nuthatch is nimble enough to walk  straight down tree trunks, but you know that now don’t you hehehe.  Only other worthwhile tidbit from Cornell’s site is they utilize “resin globules” obtained from coniferous trees to protect their nests from predators.  Immediately thought Ghostbusters and being slimed.

Time to wrap this post up.  Hope you enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures of my new +1

The Deadly Skies

Amazing how fast this month went.  Seems like days ago when I was relaxing by the pool with a smugness born out of knowing I had successfully made it to the standard post quota for another month.  Add in  a healthy dose of training runs, a local birding run, an out of state birding vacation and an agility dog show we find ourselves right back in the fire trying to closing it out.  The good news is I have plenty of fodder to choose from these days having done some overtime in the digital darkroom.  If you thought the last post was fresh, this set of pictures still has the chemicals dripping off them.

Peregrine Falcon spotted in Bellevue Iowa Locks July 14th, 2017

First off, a bit of an apology.  This set of pictures is not my best work.  Even with The Beast (200-400mm) I was barely able to reach the subject.  The fact it is good enough to even tell it is a bird is amazing in itself.  However, I was not going to leave without getting something to verify my new +.5 encounter.  Hopefully, you are in agreement that the shots that were obtained are sufficient enough to ID this deadly feathered predator as a Peregrine Falcon.  Technically this isn’t the first time a Peregrine has appeared on the blog so giving myself just a .5 instead of a whole 1.  While closing out a Yellowstone trip back in February of 2016 (link here), I added a single shot of a bird and asked for verification of whether it was a juvenile Peregrine.  My brother Ron did provide feedback confirming the juvenile.  Now I officially have the adult version producing the full +1 yeah!

Peregrine Falcon spotted in Bellevue Iowa Locks July 14th, 2017

Hit the jump to read a bit more about this deadly bird

Continue reading The Deadly Skies

Fly In Food

I’m back!  Sorry for the long delay in getting a wildlife related post out.  It isn’t that I haven’t been productive this month, just decided it was time to  give a little love to my loyal readers on my other blog.  Since those posts were neither furry nor feathered animal related, they were not replicated to this more narrowly focused social outlet.  In an effort to provide some compensation you get to experience something rather rare in my blogging world…
Tree Swallow Feeding, Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, Goofy Ridge IL July 01, 2017

Ummm, definitely not rare in the sense this blog has a very heavy leaning to our feathered friends.  Nope, this oddity relates to “when” not “what” nor even “where”.  Typically the shots featured here are produced from a queue that currently spans over 2 years.  This a result of a horrible backlog that makes me break out in cold sweats every time the thought of that queue comes to mind.  No need to find a towel to dry off for this post! (keep telling my wife I need and intern ha)

Tree Swallow Feeding, Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, Goofy Ridge IL July 01, 2017

Hit the jump to read more about this incredible birding experience!

Continue reading Fly In Food

Obviously a Woodhouse

Let’s do this!  I’ve had a pretty full day starting early and ending late packed in between with a healthy dose of exercise, yard work and some bonus time out on the range.  Now I am just sitting here catching my breath and thought what the hay, why not use some of that down time to take some future stress off.  Yep, the June monthly quota is finally conquered as of this post (please, hold your applause until the end).  How about we close this out with a … wait for it … wait for it… a bird post!

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay shot in Red Rocks Ampitheatre in May 2014

No big surprise there eh?  This particular post has a bit of a twist to it.  On one hand this Western Scrub-Jay has already been featured on here on the blog back in September 2014 (link here).  That would imply that this is not a new check in my North American Birding Life List.   However, thanks to a decision, this particular specimen has a nuance about it.  To set the stage, this Jay was shot at the Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.  I have had the privilege of birding there a couple of times now and both times left quite an impression.

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay shot in Red Rocks Ampitheatre in May 2014

Hit the jump to learn the secret about this bird!

Continue reading Obviously a Woodhouse

Canvasing Kentucky

It’s coming down to the wire, but with this post, I am pretty sure I can hit the quota for another month.  Would hate to end a long multi-year streak because of Halloween decorations – wait a minute, that might actually be a valid reason seeing as how I was spending most of the night trying to learn how to make molds.  It is obvious to me that some key steps were left out of all the YouTube videos I was watching before trying it out myself.  As always, I’ll leave the details for a future project post (foreshadowing… after some trial and error I’ve now been able to fill in the missing details and a second attempt turned out very nice!).  Luckily, sleep isn’t that big of a deal for me so with the Halloween work out of the way, I can still bring you tonight’s featured duck…

Canvasback shot around Kentucky Dam April 2015

That there is what you call a Canvasback Duck.  This particular specimen was found near the Kentucky Dam while on a trip we took down there to do a little birding back in April 2015.  In case you are wondering, it is a well known fact in the photography world that you have to let images sit in the chemicals for at least two years before they will develop.  Talk about the disappointment when you wait that long, come back into the darkroom and find out your chemical balance was off – back to the drawing board – another 2 years and fingers crossed you have something good enough to post on your blog.  Admittedly, this set is a bit soft around the edges, but still better (mainly because they are closer) than the previous time I had a post on this duck (link here). If I recall correctly, that other post was from Henderson Bird Viewing Area in Henderson Nevada – If you  call yourself a birder and have not been there yet – shame on you hehehe.  As mentioned, this one was a little closer to home.  The Canvasbacks are pretty easy to identify in the field.  Although their coloring will pretty much lead you right to them, it is really their profile which makes them stand out.  If you look from the side they have a downward sloping profile from the crest of their head to the end of their rather large snoz.  You might have a tendency to get them mixed up with the Redheads due to the similar color palette, but if you pay close attention to the bill you will notice that the Redheads have a brighter grey bill that looks like they were used for writing instead of quills back in the day (they have a black tip),

Canvasback shot around Kentucky Dam April 2015

The Canvasback pretty much has all of Central America up through Northern Canada covered somewhere during the seasonal migrations.  Being April guessing this one was doing some final fishing to build up energy for the trek up North.  Not a lot I can really tell you about this duck due to my go to reference site (Cornell) being pretty light on the details.  Apparently they breed in prairie potholes – we prefer to call them muddles in these here parts.  They are clearly on the larger end of the diving ducks.  They also carry a least concern conservation classification – yea!

Canvasback shot around Kentucky Dam April 2015

Only other tidbit is they got their name thanks to being the preferred seat covering for old Model T’s.  Luckily, modern society found the fine rich feeling Corinthian Leather (Ze Plane, Ze Plane! – for the record, if you get that reference you are old)….. What.. you want me to check the accuracy of that?  Hmmm… oh wait, my bad, they were given the Canvasback moniker from their preferred food during the nonbreeding season – the wild celery buds and rhizomes.  You know you preferred my definition better .. come on … there you go.  Just to prevent any future uncomfortable moments  (for you!), I probably wouldn’t base your entire theme or post graduate thesis on the contents of this blog.  Somewhere along the line information in my head may get slightly distorted.  My brother knows I blame my grade school for filling my head with lies (take for example the Brontasaurus and who knows what the hell Pluto is these days).

All I have for you today – hope you enjoyed this “purdy” duck.

The Loony Bin

Hope you enjoyed the previous post on that creepy bug.  After that short break from the aviary features we are going to bring you right back to regularly scheduled programming.  That’s right, back to those feathered wonders we group into the category of waterbirds … because they are birds and often found in water, which is really just a clever way of not having to tell you if it is a Duck or not – Duck being what we call something two away from a Goose (okay, lame joke, but admission here is free).  Since no one is apparently laughing at my joke, let’s get to today’s feature.

Common Loon shot around Kentucky Lake - April 2015

I find these particular birds intriguing from the dead on perspective.  If you are not a birder, it is well known that most birds look like a total dork from head on – don’t believe me, look at a Green Heron from that perspective and you will immediately know what I am referring to.  Pretty sure the Loon is more appealing due to the eyes being more forward on the head and the fatter neckline give it a more beefy feel.  This specimen is from the Common Loon family and was spotted in a small river in Kentucky back in April 2015.  We were doing some birding in and around the Kentucky Dam area and found a nice trail that followed the river.

Common Loon shot around Kentucky Lake - April 2015

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this sleek looking bird.

Continue reading The Loony Bin

Little Boy Blue is a Lucky Dude

Not exactly lighting up the stage when it comes to posting this month.  Seems like one thing after another as of late.  This weekend was mainly focused on the Illinois’ Toughest 15K race in Peoria.  I’ll leave the details for the race recap post, but I can safely say that race owned me this year.  Made it through, but the body let me down in the wicked humidity.  Need to retool the body a bit and hopefully get a lot more heat conditioning training runs in before the next July (expect it to be even hotter for that race ugh).  Regardless, there’s a quota to tend to and no time to waste.  Luckily I have most of the pictures processed for the rest of this month’s post so the hard part is behind me.  With that, let’s bring out the Blues.

Eastern Bluebird couple shot at Jubilee State Park in May 2015

To be more specific, that would be an Eastern Bluebird couple.  This elegant pair was captured not far from my house in Jubilee College State Park near Brimfield IL back in May 2015   That park is pretty much my stomping ground for birding and running (better bring your hill climbing muscles if you want to explore or run a lot of that park).  On that particular day I had parked at the end of the main campground road and spent most of the morning following a Kickapoo Creek feeder that runs through the heart of the park.  For the most part not a lot of birds made it into the tin that AM so decided to call it an early day and head back to the truck.

Eastern Bluebird couple shot at Jubilee State Park in May 2015

As I neared the parking lot I spotted the female (the more drab of the two if you are not familiar with this particular bird) staring intently at the ground from atop a nearby fence post.  Curious, I kept my distance and took in the scene wondering what was so interesting to Ms. Blue.  It didn’t take long to figure it out – after about 30 seconds she launched from her perch, took a low trajectory path just above the grass and scored a tasty morsel for herself.  For some reason I didn’t think to have the camera ready and missed it completely – sometimes you just have to live in the moment and simply enjoy life in motion. As if that wasn’t cool enough, not long after that, a bright blue flash came gliding through the same area of the field and demonstrated its predator ability as well.  Those two were going to eat well that day!

… but wait…

Eastern Bluebird couple shot at Jubilee State Park in May 2015

Turns out this Bluebird couple was taking care of a new brood!  The male was the first to deliver the special package while the mother looked on – between you and I, I think she was just showing off that her catch was bigger than her husband’s!  It is about this time that the male discovered The Beast pointed at it… and more importantly pointed in a threatening manner at his family.  Guessing I looked like a giant bug that would definitely one up his wife’s recent score.  Not wanting to disturb his family or cause any undue stress, the glass was lowered and officially called it a successful day.

Eastern Bluebird couple shot at Jubilee State Park in May 2015

It wasn’t lost on me that there was a bit of irony as I left the parking lot – hehehehe.

Time to hit the hay – no worries, I’ll be back soon.

Nuts!

Wow, I feel like a true slacker.  Something like the 15th of the month and I have not cranked out a single post yet.  Normally I would feel worse than I currently do when in this situation, but the calendar has been full to the brim as of late.  Getting close to Halloween (ask my wife, any day of the year is close to Halloween to me), so working hard on new animations for the Trail of Tears, grass up to my knees in our back lot and a big race coming up in a mere two days.  At least the last of the taper runs are done for that race – pretty darn hot out there as of late making those a total sweatfest.  Still shame on me for once again getting behind on my posts.  Maybe I need a swift kick in the nuts I mean pants to get me going!?!

Speaking of Nuts (hey, these lead ins don’t right themselves you know hehehehe!)

Clark's Nutcracker spotted in Rocky Mountain National Park in May of 2014

How do you like that fine specimen?  For those of you who don’t spend their spare time buried in bird reference books, that there is a Clark’s Nutcracker.  It was shot in the Rocky Mountain National Park back in May of 2014.  Yes, I know it was more than three years ago – I cringe every time I think about my backlog.  A backlog that has grown significantly as of late thanks to no less than two bird outings in the last 3 or 4 weeks and another one a few weeks away.  Of course, my brother Ron and I never came upon a Clark’s since those outings were local.  You have to travel a bit to see these charcoal creatures.

Clark's Nutcracker spotted in Rocky Mountain National Park in May of 2014

Hit the jump to read about and see a few more pictures of this monochrome bird.

Continue reading Nuts!