Category: Birds

Sandhill Cranes Video

11/7/2019

This has been a multi-year project, with several trips to the Platte River area in central Nebraska to photograph Sandhill Cranes. My trips have primarily been for still photography, but I would usually try to shoot some video as well, when I remembered. Many of the videos were from blinds at the Crane Trust Nature Center near Alda, NE, and the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon, NE. Others from the roads in the area. It is a wonderful experience in the late Winter and early Spring to see hundreds of thousands of Sandhill Cranes, and if you are lucky maybe an endangered Whooping Crane.
Here is a short video compilation of several trips.

Sandhill Crane Photos
More Sandhill Crane photos
Whooping Crane Photos

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Backyard Birds

10/14/2019

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I had fun watching a lot of migrant birds in the backyard. Many were attracted to puddle in the yard where this Cedar Waxwing was splashing around. Several Yellow-rumped Warblers were also all over the yard. [Click images to see larger]

Cedar Waxwing

Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Voyageurs National Park Association 2019 Photography Contest

10/2/2019

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Two of my photos submitted to the Voyageurs National Park Association 2019 photo contest each received an honorable mention recognition. I also see that they are using my 2018 3rd place winning photo of a Common Loon as their promotional image for the photo contest. You can see all of the winning entries here - https://www.facebook.com/pg/VoyageursNPA/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10157893002155229&__tn__=-UC-R
[Click images to see larger]

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Burrowing Owl Photo

10/2/2019

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[Click to see larger]

I was pleased to see that my photo of a Burrowing Owl in a Humbolt county, IA, corn field last year was used on the cover of the 'Iowa Bird Life', the journal of the Iowa Ornithologists' Union (Summer 2018 issue). https://iowabirds.org . It appears that his head is on backwards as he is looking 180 degrees to the rear. The photo was taken from the car with a 600mm lens.
It is very unusual to see a Burrow Owl in Iowa. This lone owl dug a hole early in the spring before the corn field was planted and sat there fro a couple of weeks calling for a non-existent mate. The owl eventually disappeared, I hope moving on to a better environment.
In this same issue of Iowa Bird Life a couple of other photos I submitted were also used.

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Paddling at Ventura Marsh

8/26/2019

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It was a quiet morning in the Ventura Marsh as I slid my kayak in to the water for an early morning paddle. Let me rephrase that. It was a calm morning, but anything but quiet. The air was alive with the sounds of hundreds of birds, frogs, toads and the hum of cars and motor boats in the distance. As I quietly paddled to try to get some photos the Great Blue Herons kept a watchful eye on me and noisily squawked their displeasure as they flew away long before I got close to them. When I paddled in close to the cattails I was thrilled to see several little Marsh Wrens. I really get a kick out of seeing them cling to two different cattails or blades of grass as they surveyed the area for bugs. The little Swamp Sparrows were seen in the same area. A couple of new birds for me were a 'Sora' ( I saw three) and a 'Virginia Rail'. They foraged in the shallow water at the base of the cattails and quickly disappeared in to the heavy cover as I approached. There were many Wood Ducks, but they saw me long before I saw them and all I really saw was their tail feathers as they made a quick getaway. As I paddled in and around the backwaters and channels of the floating cattail bogs there were dozens of birds that I could hear but didn't see including several Trumpeter Swans. A lone Osprey flew lazy circles overhead causing the ducks and Cormorants to scatter. A couple of years ago the DNR drained down the marsh to kill out the carp, but guess what, they're back. Several times a large carp would boil up next to the kayak and scared the whoop out of me. Fortunately I have a very stable hybrid kayak or I might have tipped as I jumped in my seat. All in all it was a beautiful morning to be out enjoying nature.
[Click images to see larger]

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Zirble Slough

7/29/2019

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Cerro Cordo County Conservation is draining out all of the water from Zirble Slough to allow aquatic plants to get re-established for a better environment for birds and wildlife. Then they will allow it to naturally fill again. As the water is very low for awhile it has been full of shorebirds pecking in the mud for insects and whatever else they eat. There was a lot of wildlife there the morning that I visited.
[Click images to see larger]

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Another Prairie Photo Outing

7/24/2019

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(Photo by Jeanna Petree)

Last evening we had a North Iowa Photo Club outing to take photos of prairie flowers, birds insects and more in a private prairie in North Iowa. It was a beautiful evening and fun to see how the other photographers approached taking photos in this location. The highlight for me was first time photos of several Bobolinks and one Dickcissel, both are birds that normally only found in prairie areas. There was a nice fiery sunset to top off the evening.
[Click images to see larger.]

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Common Loons at Voyageurs National Park

6/4/2019

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If you have followed my posts previously you know that I go on a fishing trip to Voyageurs National Park near International Falls, MN every year and try to get some time for photography while I am there. Here are a few of my Common Loon photos on Lake Kabetogema from this year, taken from the fishing boat while my buddies were trying to fish. I'm glad that they briefly tolerate my photography obsession long enough for me to get a few photos. [Click the images to see larger]

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Orioles

5/24/2019

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Baltimore Orioles and Orchard Orioles at the Cupola Inn Bed and Breakfast. There are lots of Orioles here across from the road from the Winnebago River. They tend to nest in hanging nests in the trees above the river, and they flock to the grape jelly feeders at the B&B - a delight for guests They also like to perch on the weather vane with the cow that is on top of a cupola near the feeders. I took all of these photos from the car - my mobile photo blind, parked in the driveway.
[Click images to see larger]

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Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt

5/9/2019

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A fat, wet Racoon wandering in the cat-tails along the side of the road , mama Canada Goose taking the goslings out for a stroll (the other adult and a few more goslings were just out of view of this photo), a busy Lark Sparrow with a beak full of nesting material, and a Killdeer. The Killdeer lay their eggs on the ground, often among rocks or gravel. When confronted they will walk away from the nest area displaying their tail feathers to try to distract and draw the visitor away from the nest.. Just a few of the critters and birds that I saw while driving through the Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt, Polk County Conservation. Photos taken from the car - my mobile photo blind.
[Click the images to see larger.]

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Ventura Marsh Birds

5/2/2019

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Yellow-rumped Warbler - I went out paddling in my kayak this morning in Ventura Marsh to take photos of whatever birds I could find. While slowly navigating through last year's cattails to get closer to some Yellow-headed Blackbirds I found myself surrounded by dozens of migrating Yellow-rumped Warblers (if you have an old bird book they used to be called Myrtle Warblers, but I guess Myrtle didn't like being associated with a yellow-rumped bird). Actually there are now two subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warblers - 'Myrtle' is the eastern variety and 'Audubon's' in the mountainous west.

There were many Yellow-headed Blackbirds being very acrobatic hanging on to last year's cattails in Ventura Marsh. Photo from my kayak.

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Early Spring Birds

4/15/2019

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I was out for an early morning drive and found this Belted Kingfisher along a county road sitting in a tree over a small creek. Of course when I stopped the car and opened the window to take a photo he flew off. I waited for about 45 minutes and eventually the Kingfisher came back to the same tree where I could get a few photos from the car before he flew again.

The Hermit Thrush is one of the early migratory birds that we see in the Spring. I saw this one at the Lime Creek Conservation Area. Photo from the car.

Wood Ducks on a pond by the road on an overcast day. They are one of my favorite birds. The color on the head of the male are really beautiful, especially in the sunshine. These were taken from the parked car, but I really need to take some time to try to get closer to some Wood Ducks for some close up pictures. If you search my photos there are some that I have taken previously, but who knows, the next ones may be better.

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Great Horned Owlets

4/10/2019

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I spent a morning with a couple of puffed up Great Horned Owlets, in north Iowa, stretching their legs and wings and probably getting close to fledging the nest. We had a bit of a staring contest from about 30 yards away. I watched for about 3 1/2 hours and did not see any adult owls, but I'm sure that they saw me and were keeping their distance.
[Click images to see larger, and play the video below.]

Watch the video:

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Sharp-tailed Grouse

4/3/2019

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A male Sharp-tailed Grouse [click to see larger]

I have never seen Sharp-tailed Grouse, so since I was going to be in in Nebraska to photograph cranes I made reservations with Calamus Outfitters in central Nebraska near Burwell to go out in a blind before sunrise to photograph the Sharp-tailed Grouse doing their courting activities. To the left is a male Sharp-tailed Grouse, trying to impress a female. Their mating display includes loud clucking vocalizations along with a little shuffling of the feet dance, pointing their tail feathers straight up in the air, putting their head low to the ground, puffing out their purple neck sacks and spreading their wings. There may be several males doing this display at one time to entice a female and hopefully the opportunity to breed. It happens on a grassy prairie area called a 'Lek', very early in the morning before sunrise, the end of March and early April. They are very similar to Prairie Chickens. We walked quietly out to the blind in the dark to get ready to watch and photograph the display. The lek was on a grassy knoll and here was a stiff wind blowing from the north so of course most of the birds were on the other side of the knoll where we couldn't see them from the blind. We could hear them clucking and only a few came up to the top of the rise where we could see them and get some photos.
[Click the images to see larger, and view the video below]

Video - Male Sharp-tailed Grouse doing their mating dance, trying to impress a female:

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Sandhill Crane Migration 2019

4/2/2019

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I have made multiple trips to central Nebraska over the years to photograph Sandhill Cranes. This year was a late spring in the area and the cranes didn't come in to the Platte River until late and bunched up more than they have in years past. There were record numbers at one time estimated at around 650,000 cranes the week that I was there the last week of March. It is always an amazing sight to see and hear, even more so when there are so many. The have an interesting dancing ritual where they puff their chest out, spread their wings and jump straight up in the air - often chest to chest with another crane. This can be territorial, establishing social relationships and/or bonding. See the last three photos and the video below.
[Click images to see larger]