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It was a beautiful, quiet, peaceful morning paddling in Ventura Marsh in north Iowa. We saw lots of birds (and one muskrat). It was especially fun watching the curious little Marsh Wrens as they peeked out of the cattails to see the visitors in canoes. See the captions with the photos. [Click images to see larger in a slide show.]                
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We had the pleasure of watching a Sharp-shinned Hawk for about 10 minutes from the car on the side of a residential street in Casselton, ND. It didn’t seem to mind at all that we were nearby and taking photos. [Click images to see larger.]
Here is a short video of the hawk taking a bath. Video taken from the car. Looking back at an early start to my photography career with my Kodak Retinette 1A 35mm camera hanging on my neck. I was 14 or 15 backpacking in Montana with the Boy Scouts. I assume that my dad took the photo of me soaking in the beauty of the mountains. He only used Agfa color transparency (slide) film. This Retinette was my second camera which I used through high school. I had a plastic Kodak Brownie camera previously when I was 12 that melted in the back window of my aunt and uncle's car going across Wyoming in 105 degree heat with no AC in the car. It had my photos of black bears in Yellowstone National Park. I've been taking nature photos ever since.  Paddling the Shell Rock River, with Dale and Jim. Always a relaxing way to spend part of a day. Paddling the Shell Rock River today from Plymouth to Nora Springs (9.5 miles) we saw several Bald Eagles. [Click images to see larger.]        I saw plenty of dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies during an evening walk through the Hansen Wildlife Area prairie, a recent donation to Cerro Gordo County Conservation (there are also many varieties of native wildflowers in this restored prairie). [Click images to see larger.]      It was a beautiful night to watch the full Moon rise over Clear Lake, IA tonight. As the Moon got higher in the sky it gradually got lighter and the reflections on the water got brighter. It was unusual to not have clouds or haze on the horizon. (Now, for those who are going to say this is a fake photo let me explain. This is a single exposure, taken with a 400mm telephoto lens on a crop-frame camera which gives it a 1.6X magnification, making it effectively a 640mm lens. Telephoto lenses have the characteristic of making background objects - the moon - appear much larger in relation to the foreground objects. I also cropped it a bit from the original making the Moon appear even larger.) 
Dale has solo-paddled the Winnebago River in North Iowa in every month of every year for nearly two decades. This film, the third in a series, highlights his Autumn canoe floats, emphasizing river stewardship and passing on the joy of paddling to the next generations. Narrated with his prose and observations of his passion of paddling and nature around him. Video by Bruce G. McKee, written and narrated by Dale Mills, ©2022 www.brucegmckeephotos.com Official Selection of the Iowa Independent Film Festival 2022, and the Siouxland Inspirational Film Festival 2022.
Previous canoeing videos in this series: A February Canoe Float A Spring Sojourn via Canoe In honor of SuperB owl Sunday. Here is a short video of some my photos of superb owls. An adult Great Horned Owl in the crotch of a tree. At this time of year it is likely sitting on eggs. (Taken on private property with an invitation from the landowner. Telephoto lens and cropped. Cerro Gordo County.)
Regular birds at our backyard feeders in the Winter include Blue Jays, Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Juncos, House Finches, House Sparrows, Mourning Doves and probably a few more that I forgot about. We have about 15 feeders and use a lot of black-oil sunflower seed and suet cakes. [Click images to see larger]     I got out to see the lighted holiday tree at the POET bioprocessing plant on Hwy 9, near Hanlontown, IA tonight with a beautiful sunset. [Click images to see larger]
I finally got around to editing a video from last April. Sharp-tailed Grouse doing their spring courting ritual at the Valentine National Wildlife refuge in the sand hills of north central Nebraska. You can see the video at the bottom of this page (click link)  Great Gray Owl at sunset with golden Tamarack trees in the background. Sax-Zim Bog, northern, MN, 11/3/2021. Photo taken from the car, 20-30 yards away. (Thanks to Mike Lentz Nature Photography and Monika Bobek for their suggestions on where to find this guy.) Click images to see larger.    A short video of a Great Gray Owl at sunset. Northern Lights from some lonely forest road in Northern Minnesota, 11/3/2021. This was just a couple of hours after sunset, green on the horizon, a few streaks shooting up and a red/purple fringe. In the early morning dark hours the aurora exploded and sent huge streaks of colored light high in the sky. Unfortunately I was asleep in bed by then. Ah, well. It was a wonderful night. I was happy with the photos that I got, alone in the woods, with the Aurora Borealis and billions of stars (until I got cold, tired and went to bed).  |
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September 2022
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