Why did the pheasants cross the road?

These can be tough game birds to try to photograph. They spook easily and are constantly on the lookout for predators and photographers to flee. I spotted this trio of wild birds in a gleaned farm field in northern Missouri and only managed to snap off a few frames as they took off at a sprint.

D.




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Snow Goose Video

A quick video of the snow goose migration at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Missouri. Shot December 2010. Video shot with Panasonic GF1 with 20mm f/1.7 fixed lens. 720p HD AVCHD format.



Dress warm and carry an umbrella, but be careful if you wear a down jacket. They might take special aim at you as they fly overhead...


D.
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Honk Honk Honk

Two ducks in a sea of geese.

I had the chance to head to one of my favorite places in the state for viewing wildlife: Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge north of Kansas City. I got there at the tail end of the snow goose migration, and it was a sight to behold.

Liftoff.

A gaggle of 250,000 geese were on their way through to warmer climes. I watched for hours as they milled about and took off in small bunches to fly around get the blood pumping before landing for a rest again.

Migration.

In the evening just before sunset, they took off in huge flocks over the course of about 45 minutes. I figured they were just getting the blood flowing before settling in for a night of single-digit temperatures. I was wrong.

Fallen.

When I got back the next morning, there were maybe 5,000 geese left. The eagles feasted on the carcasses of the ones that didn't make it. I can't believe that many birds just hauled out at one time. The sound was impressive. I'll try to post a video in a few days.

D.

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Least Bittern Nest

 I had the pleasure of exploring Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge by airboat earlier this summer. Our goal was to find a few Least Bittern nests and see what wetland wildlife was active. These interesting little birds stalk wetlands and marshes and have a very cool method of camouflaging themselves among the reeds. They can point their long beaks skyward while rotating their eyes to see what is in front of them. The coloration of the mature birds blends extremely well with aquatic plants and they can be very hard to see. Least Bitterns are an amazing example of adaptation to an environment.

I was out with a biologist and he was doing a bird count to see what species and how many were in the wetland. This lends a sense of scale for how small the nests are. He picked up a baby to examine it briefly.



We found three nests that morning. The biologist said that often the adult birds will be aggressive in defending the nests and will refuse to move. This was later in the season and the adults flew away as soon as we approached.



This is a pretty poor photo of an adult Least Bittern, but it is all I have and was taken while buzzing through the reeds at 20 miles per hour. This is the only adult bird I was able to photograph that day. They were very skittish.



I only include this photo to show what an adult bird looks like, since the photo itself is pretty embarrassing.

D.

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Baby Hawks Update

I just wanted to share an update on the baby hawks from a previous post. These little things grow fast. I first photographed this family on May 20, 2010. The "before" photo is from that first day, the "after" photo is only 12 days later on June 1, 2010. And the biggest one had already left the nest! I went back two days later to see what sort of development had taken place and only one young bird remained. I think this was the runt of the nest because it was constantly being pushed down and food taken by the two other siblings. I feel I was very lucky because I actually got to see this one leave the nest and take flight.



The bird looked a little unsteady and hopped/flew from branch to branch to a clear spot before taking off.


























...pause for silhouette...



Take a breath, gather some nerve...and gone. So long little hawks!

I've been back a couple more times, but haven't seen the family since. It was a very rewarding experience just to watch and enjoy. I learned quite a bit about their habits, and I am in awe at just how fast they matured. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that this nest gets used in the future!


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Baby Hawks

I got a call yesterday from a woman who said she had a hawk nest in her backyard and that it looked like the babies were going to fly at any moment. Always skeptical of phone calls promising a great photo opportunity (I've been burned too many times), I decided to check it out since it was only a few blocks from my house. I was not disappointed. Walking up to the house to investigate before unloading my gear, I was greeted by three downy heads poking out of a nest right by the house. It was pretty nice because I could tell that the hawks were somewhat used to being around humans and didn't seem too bothered by people walking by and talking.



The mother hawk soon brought a morsel to share.



There's nothing quite like the taste of mole to pique some interest.



Making sure the little one is doing the job correctly.











A family resemblance.






Setting out for another hunting expedition.





The more dominant of the young ones imitating mom.



Getting right up the edge of the nest and making a show, but having second thoughts.


It was very interesting to see after only a short time that the birds followed a very predictable schedule. The babies would call, a few minutes later the mother would show up with a mole or squirrel or snake, everyone would eat, mother would leave, much rough housing and playing was involved, some wing flapping and shedding of the downy feathers, babies would settle in and sleep for 30-45 minutes (I'm assuming since I couldn't actually see them, but they made no movement or sound) and the whole process would repeat itself.

My goal is to get some photos of the little ones leaving the nest for the first time. We'll see if I can time it right. I'll post more if I can manage to catch them again before they leave.


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Anticipation

I had some time to kill while working in St. Louis last week and decided to see what I could find in Forest Park. Thankfully, I had the forethought to bring along the 500mm f/4 lens. One thing that I readily admit is that I am no wildlife photographer. Photographing birds and mammals is a skill I am still working on. It takes a lot of patience, time, and...er...patience.

So I set up at a little wetland area at Forest Park and just sat and watched the sun come up and listened to the birds when a group of wood ducks started swimming in. While photos of waterfowl on the water are nice, I really like well-executed shots "on the wing." The action as the water splashes right at takeoff, or the way a goose's foot kisses the water as it steers in on final approach is something I love to watch. I new as soon as the wood duck spotted me, he would get spooked and take off and I'd have my shot. Sure enough, events unfolded just as I thought they would. The only problem...I didn't anticipate.



I had the lens pointed right at the guy. He took off and all I got was water and feet. Should have led him a bit to get the whole body. Sigh.

After a few minutes, another group of woodies swam by. The female went up onto land first, and of course I missed that.



But I could tell from her body language that she was about to leap again to another rock and this time I'd be ready. I aimed right at her and flipped the big lens to manual focus so it wouldn't accidentally lock on to the rocks behind her and ruin the shot. Turns out I didn't need to worry about that at all since I managed to ruin the shot myself.






When will I learn? Well I had another chance a few seconds later.







Ok...keep going.






Yes...I'm trying to overcome my urge to stay right on you...leading just a bit...



Finally. Nothing stunning. Will never be seen in print. But at least I finally started to anticipate.


I played around and watched several more pairs of woodies and mallards move through when I decided to see what was going on in another part of the small marshy stream.














Pretty. I new as soon as this one saw me I would only have a split second to read his body language, figure out which way he was going to fly, recompose, and press the shutter.















I think I twitched my nose or something and that was enough to set him off. The windup...




And he's off! Now I'm starting to get the hang of this...a little. I'm no wildlife photographer. But I'm trying. A few more years of this fumbling, and I might get a bird photo that is actually publishable!


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