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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.
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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.
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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: 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: 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] Video of Sandhill Cranes dancing:
I call them Winter birds, because Pine Siskins usually spend their summers much farther north, and occasionally show up in our backyard for part of the Winter. Yesterday I counted 53, but I'm sure that number was low, because there were many in the trees and bushes that I didn't count (it helps to have lots of feeders out).They are about the size of a Goldfinch, with a very streaked breast and pointed bill. They eat copious amounts of thistle seed and black-oil sunflower seeds and don't seem to care if they go up the feeder or down the feeder, as long as they get to the seed.
I had an opportunity to photograph the resident education birds at the Iowa Raptor Project near Solon, IA and Lake MacBride State Park. Each bird has a unique story of how it was injured and can't be returned to the wild. They are now education birds open to the public to view the birds and learn about raptors. This is a joint project of Kirkwood Community College and The University of Iowa Recreational Services. [Click the images to see larger and read the descriptions.]
A Dickcissel singing among the prairie flowers. Or perhaps I should say a Dickcissel on a thistle (try to say that five times really fast). They often look like a small Meadowlark (different beak) or a female House Sparrow. They are found singing in the summer along fields, meadows and prairies. While looking for prairie flowers, Dickcissels and other birds (and feeding mosquitoes) a rainbow dropped down from the sky. A nice addition to a beautiful summer day. [Click images to see larger.]
I photographed two Whooping Cranes in North Iowa! According to the International Crane Foundation, there are only 757 Whooping Cranes in the entire world - less than 600 in North America. They are the rarest and most endangered bird in North America and the tallest bird at about five feet tall - at least a foot or more taller than Sandhill Cranes. There are two major flyways: from the Aransas National Wildlife refuge on the Gulf Coast of Texas to Wood Buffalo National Park on the northern border of Alberta, Canada; and from central Wisconsin to the southeastern U.S. These two cranes seem to have strayed off of those flyways. (Well, Iowa is a great place to visit.) I'm guessing that they are part of the group of Whooping Cranes hatched and released by the the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI, but I am waiting for confirmation (see note below photos). They have identification bands and transmitters on their legs. There was no sign of young birds so I don't believe that they are nesting. They have been hanging out with two adult Sandhill Cranes that do have a young colt (chick) - photo below. According to Paul Hertzel, records from the Iowa Ornithologists Union indicate that there hasn't been a successful nesting pair of Whooping Cranes in Iowa since 1888. A special thanks to the person that helped me locate these birds. All the photos were taken from the car with telephoto lenses, so as not to disturb the birds. I would never get out of the car and attempt to approach them. Click the photos below to see a larger and the video below the photos. Video: Note from the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI:
These cranes are 1-17 and 2-17, who were part of last year's costume-reared cohort. 1-17 is a male and 2-17 is a female. They were released at White River Marsh in Wisconsin last year with the other costume-reared birds, but the group of 8 seemed reluctant to migrate on its on so they were split up. 1-17 and 2-17, along with another juvenile 8-17 were driven to Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, and from there they continued on their own to Alabama where they spent the winter. This spring when they began to head back they got slightly sidetracked on their way to Wisconsin. They spent a few weeks in the Springfield, IL area and are now in Iowa! It will be interesting to watch them and see what their movements will be in the next few years! I missed the full Moon rising last night (I should put these things on my calendar), so I got up early to see it setting this morning. The moon set at 6:03 AM, so I needed to be out to the spot where I wanted to take a photo of it setting behind a local windmill about an hour earlier. When I went out in the dim twilight there was a clear, cloudless sky, bright moon and I could see clearly where I need to be, but the moon was still too high in the sky to get the photo that I wanted. Then it happened. Out of nowhere a thick fog rolled in across the fields and I could no longer see the windmill, and the moon was hazy. Ugh! Well, I waited around to see what would happen and as the sun came up, the fog did dissipate a little. I got a few photos, but the moon was rapidly fading away as it sank in the the fog. Not the sharp, clear picture of the moon behind the windmill that I had hoped for. The morning was not a total disappointment. In the road ditch where I was standing to take pictures of the moon there were many wild prairie flowers blooming, Monarch butterflies flitting from flower to flower, and I got a photo of a Dickcissel singing on a fence post. Click the photos below to see larger. Once again on my annual fishing trip to Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota I was able to get a few photos of Common Loons, Bald Eagles and ducks all taken from the boat (thanks to willing boat captains who took a slight break from fishing so that I could snap a few quick shots.) The photos of the Common Mergansers below were a bit of a surprise as I looked at the photos because the drake had fish line wrapped around its beak and may have been unable to eat. I sent the photos the the National Park Service office at the park in hopes that they could use it as a part of their education efforts to remind fisher-persons why they shouldn't throw used, tangled fish line in the lake. (Click an image below to see larger.) Previous Blog postings about Voyageurs National Park:
Bald Eagles in Voyageur's National Park Voyageur's National Park - Loons and more Loon in the Morning Common Loons I took another trip to visit the rare Burrowing Owl in Humboldt county, IA. I watched for about 5 hours from the car and it stayed near the burrow the entire time. About every 20 minutes or so it would stand on the top on the dirt mound at the burrow and vocalize in every direction. I believe that it was calling for a mate, which seems unlikely that he would find one being so far from normal breeding territory. In the images below the owl has his head on backwards, Yes, you are looking at the back side - note the tail feathers. (Click images to see larger and watch the video below.) Watch the short video below... |
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