FRESH PLANTS EVERY DAY

Common Muskrat, Sageville Marsh, Iowa

Muskrats are not total vegetarians but about 95% of their diet is plant material, like cattails or water lilies. During the winter time their fur is thick and looks beautiful, at least when not completely wet.

I went to a pond nearby today, a habitat where I had photographed American Beavers some years ago, but there was no evidence for the presence of beavers today. As far I can remember, muskrats have always been at this pond at the Sageville Marsh, Iowa and I found this cute critter feeding on the ice what looks like the tuber of a water lily. Unlike beavers, muskrats do not store food for the winter. They need to eat fresh plants each day. The pond was still frozen for the most part but the muskrats had made a couple channels from their burrows in the banks of the pond through the mud to reach food under the ice.

Common Muskrats are beneficial for the ecosystem. They are the food source for a number of predators, like minks, and their abandoned burrows provide homes for several other species. They often create open spaces in the water that is used by waterfowl or wading birds.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x, Benro MSDPL46C SupaDupa Monopod, Monopod Gimbal Head    @ 840mm, both photos cropped

WITH A BLUE TINT

Fog in the valley, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wildlife Refuge, Iowa

I came across this moody landscape with some fog in the Mississippi Valley today. The compression effect of the long lens, including the Z1.4 teleconverter, got me all the subtle layers of gray in the distance. The picture was processed in monochrome mode but at the end I wasn’t completely satisfied, the image seemed to be too gloomy, and maybe too depressive. I gave it a little bit of a blue tint and that changed the appearance to something I like much better, at least for today…

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x, @ 840mm

SURPRISE IN THE MORNING

Sharp-shinned Hawk, Little Maquoketa Valley, eastern Iowa

When I get out of bed I first have always a look through the window at our bird feeders and bird baths. No birds were present this morning and that quite often means that a predator is nearby. It took a couple seconds until I realized that our Sharp-shinned Hawk, that we see here during winter time , was sitting right next to the bird feeders on a perch that I had built for our feathered friends. Some of the smaller birds were hiding in a mountain pine that grows right beside the house and some juncos and sparrows were probably under the porch. The hawk knew it and had obviously missed a surprise attack earlier. The raptor was just waiting for another chance to strike.

I grabbed the camera quickly, took off the lens hood, and tried to shoot through the glass of the window. Let me tell you, I was struggling with this situation. First I was too close to the bird and below the minimum focus distance of about 4 meters. So I stepped back about a foot and tried to shoot from a distance through the glass. Usually that doesn’t work well and focus is difficult to obtain. Second, I still had the 1.4 teleconverter attached to the lens and only had the upper part of the hawk without the tail in the frame. The Sharp-shinned Hawk still posed nicely and I quickly removed the TC.

I don’t know how I finally got that shot halfway sharp, while taking the picture under a 45 degree angle through the glass and about a foot away from the window. However, it was a great way to start my day this morning…!

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S

2026, GOOD START WITH MERGANSERS

Common Mergansers, Mississippi River, Sabula, Iowa

Before anything new is written here I like to thank all visitors and readers of my blog for their ongoing support in 2025! I know, there is a lot of great photography in the world wide web you can enjoy every day and I’m humbled that you spent some of your valuable time on my website last year. I wish all of you a peaceful and happy year 2026!

After quite a few gray days we had a little bit of sun coming out today. A good reason to check out the situation 40 miles south on Iowa’s Island City Sabula. During my visit last week I saw some good numbers of Common Mergansers on the open water of the Mississippi River, unfortunately too far away. With permission of the gentleman in the Island City Harbor Store I was able to drive my car out on one of their private dikes and use the car as a photo blind and work with the Common Mergansers. Here are some of my first wildlife pictures in 2026 I’m excited to share with you.

This is at the small entrance to the harbor. The edge of the ice was right there. The mergansers approach it in small groups and one after another dives down with a slight leap and swims under the ice into the frozen marina.

Quite often there is nothing in their bill when they appear again at the water surface but his female had caught a nice little fish. Common Mergansers can stay under water for up to 2 minutes but most of the time they dive for less than 30 seconds (source: allabout birds website).

Watching the birds closely is important if you like to catch the good moments, like when they lift out of the water and flap the wings and shake off water from their feathers.

Here is the bonus shot. This juvenile Trumpeter Swan just swam along the shore with some male mergansers in tow. The head is still gray but the rest of the plumage is already getting snowy white and shows that the bird will be considered as an adult soon. Trumpeter Swans need the open water for feeding aquatic plants and the ice on its bill is proof that this bird had foraged earlier this morning.

QUIET AND PEACEFUL

Mississippi River, Deere dike, Dubuque, Iowa

The warm weather of the last few days made the snow disappear and cleared the Mississippi River from its ice cover for the most part. Rain and a gray overcast kept probably most people at home today and so I didn’t meet a single soul during a hike on the Deere dike that stretches far out into the river. No trains moved on either side along the shores and so it was quiet and peaceful.

I guess I may have been too late for some fog banks above the water, but the overall mood across the Mississippi Valley made me searching for a picture that reflects exactly the peace in the valley I found today.

This navigation light in the river has been more than once my subject and anchor for the eye. Color was literally not present this morning and so it was an easy choice to process the photo as a black & white image. The view goes north, where all the water comes from, the bluffs on the left mark the Iowa side of the river, while the Wisconsin side on the right remains only as a gray band at the horizon.

As I’m writing this the winter comes back again with strong wind, snow, and a considerable temperature drop. Tomorrow things will be different…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200 /f4.  @ 135mm, 1/400s, f4.5, ISO 200

A LAST VISIT

Bald Eagle, Mississippi River, Sabula, Iowa

Today was probably the last time in 2025 I visited the Green Island Wetlands and ”Iowa’s Island City” Sabula at the Mississippi River. The statistics in my picture library tell me that I was 20 times in this area this year. Every season is different and each visit doesn’t lead necessarily to some good photos. Sometimes it’s overwhelming and quick decisions have to be made about where to point the lens next. Other times, like today, it takes a long time to have something in the frame that is worth to push the shutter release button on the camera.

Today it was mostly raptors that showed up since all the water bodies were frozen. I saw three Northern Harriers, a couple Red-tailed Hawks, and along the road to Sabula three American Kestrels.

The click for this Bald Eagle was made right after the bird took off from the ice and flew over to a dead tree where its mate was already waiting.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x,    @ 840mm, 1/800s, f/9, ISO 3200, image cropped

WINTER SOLSTICE

Bankston County Park, eastern Iowa

Today was the shortest day and longest night in the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice. I went out for a walk to Bankston County Park this afternoon, hoping to make some photos along the creek and using the low sitting sun that sent some rays into the valley. It’s not the prettiest place to be at the moment because some restoration measurements are in process, but of course this had to be kept out of the frame.

I wanted to challenge myself today and took only one lens with me, my old, but still fantastic Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZF. It’s has only manual focus and I admit I have neglected this lens recently and didn’t use it very often. The second challenge I put in place was to shoot only in black and white mode, which requires a different approach to visualize the image in the head before the shutter release button is pressed. I felt it was a good choice for catching the mood I found along the river on this shortest day of the year, with no other people around. What do you think?

Nikon Z6 III, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZF, Nikon FTZ adapter

THEY ARE ALL HERE

Male Northern Cardinal, his size guarantees quick access to a bird feeder and respect by any finch or sparrow.

It was a cold morning (-4ºF /-20ºC) and the temperature never got higher than 9ºF /-13ºC in our neighborhood today. With still plenty of snow on the ground the birds have a high demand to eat and keep their energy level up to withstand these cold temperatures. Well, we do our share to support them and keep all bird feeders around the house filled and provide fresh water in three heated bird baths. Sunflower seed and suet feeders are heavily used by the birds and often they are waiting on a nearby perch until it is their turn.

Downy Woodpecker, waiting for its turn to access a suet feeder that was occupied by a much larger Red-bellied Woodpecker.

I spent a couple hours in my warmest winter clothing and tried to make a few clicks during the late morning. The goal is to keep the bird feeders out of the frame, but sometimes that doesn’t work and some final cropping of the picture in post process is required. I practiced with the relatively new BENRO monopod again and slowly but surely the handling becomes an unconscious task and my mind can be focussed on the story telling aspects of the photo again. Nothing spectacular today, but I hope you find some enjoyment by looking at today’s photos from a cold Sunday.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, BENRO MSDPL46C SupaDupa Monopod, Monopod Gimbal Head, some images shot with Westscott FJ80 II speed light.

The best singer during the winter season, the Carolina Wren. Very happy to have a pair in the neighborhood.

A not so common guest below the bird feeders, a Fox Sparrow. They are bigger than any of the other sparrows or finches.

It’s impossible to count the American Goldfinches on a day like this. They are constantly on the move. Although in their winter plumage, the males can still win any beauty contests.

IN FRESH SNOW

The long time and avid reader of my blog knows already how much I love shooting birds and other wildlife when there is fresh snow available. The three photos from today are already a few days old and were made just after we had our second snowfall here in eastern Iowa. The quality of the light is just great when it bounces off the ground from below. And the best thing is, the white stuff covers the brown and gray that you can find on the floor of a deciduous forest at this time of year the year.

The photo of the Mourning Dove was made during the early morning, with a little bit of an overcast present, but a hint of flash reveals the nice color nuances and texture in the bird’s feathers.

The White-tailed Deer come quite often out into the open shortly before sunset and that gives us a chance to make the click at the edge of the woods, with the deer nicely lit by the warm sunlight against the cold snow in the background.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x, Benro MSDPL46C SupaDupa Monopod, Monopod Gimbal Head

NATURE CLICKS #617 - NORTHERN PINTAIL

Northern Pintail, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

Although it’s tempting to focus only on the biggest attractions of an area with wildlife, like the large numbers of geese in the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, all the other birds we were able to watch deserve some attention as well. The Northern Pintail is one of the most beautiful ducks and their unique body features make it easy to identify them. Both of my photos today show males and I was wondering if they used Hagerman NWR just as a place to rest while still migrating further south to Mexico.

SNOW / ROSS’S GEESE AT HAGERMAN NWR, TEXAS

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

We skipped the first snowstorm here in Iowa and spent instead a few more days in northern Texas. Our campsite was in Eisenhower State Park at Lake Texoma but the real destination of this trip was just half an hour away, the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. It was two days of intensive bird watching and photography. The highlight at this time of the season is a large number of Snow and Ross’s Geese that come down from the arctic regions and spent the winter in the wetlands of Hagerman refuge.

Snow and Ross’s Geese, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

The Friends of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge have an excellent website and they perform a weekly bird census, that is mainly done for research but helps to prepare for such a trip as ours and gives you an idea what to look for. https://friendsofhagerman.com/

I like to share a few photos from Tuesday last week and the bird census for that day shows an estimate of 6000 geese that were present, Beside that, over 80 species of birds were counted by the volunteers. We have of course not seen all of them but still enough to make it two memorable days.

Snow Geese, Blue morph with a white in the background

Maybe something had spooked the whole flock of geese and suddenly they were all up in the air

The photography can be overwhelming at times. What tells the story better, the flock of geese as a whole or the shot of some individuals? It is not always easy to separate the birds from each other in the viewfinder and getting an impression about the large number of birds seems to be important as well.

The geese feed on fresh wheat in the refuge, planted by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

AFTER THE RAIN

Historical stockyard in Fort Worth, Texas

This photo may leave the question, what is really the subject here? Is it the remains of the old stockyard in the foreground, the impressive clouds in the background, or even the rainbow that appeared while the rain front moved out of the area? For me it is the overall mood of the weather, combined with the warm light from the low sitting sun on the wood of the livestock pens. None of each mentioned element in the frame would stand out on its own, it’s the light and colors that bring it all together for a memorable image.

GREETING AND WARNING

Black-tailed Prairie Dog performing a "jump-yip"

Prairie dogs are highly social animals and within a family group many ways of greeting or alarming each other are performed. We visited the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge a couple days ago and found two prairie dog towns in the grassland among several other habitats, like a lake and marshy areas. We love prairie dogs and despite a pretty harsh light situation around their burrows we couldn’t resist to point the lens at these funny and entertaining ground squirrels.

Black-tailed Prairie Dogs greeting each other, Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge near Azle, Texas

NATURE CLICKS #616 - NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD

Northern Mockingbird, Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge near Azle, Texas

Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Turkey Day, as some prefer to say! Instead of showing a picture of a Wild Turkey I can present you a photo of a Northern Mockingbird. It was shot yesterday in the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge near Azle, Texas. The mockingbird is the state bird for several states, including Texas. It was a lifer for me and this bird has been for a long time on my ”most wanted list”.

WATCHING EACH OTHER

White-tailed Deer, Mississippi River, dam #9, near Harpers Ferry

A hike on top of dam #9 at the Mississippi River, which is north of Harpers Ferry, didn’t lead to any good bird photography today. Well, that doesn’t really matter, the weather was just gorgeous and being outside under a blue sky in November is priceless. Walking back to the car at the Iowa access to the dam (the lock is at the other end on the Wisconsin side) I saw a deer crossing the dam. I didn’t expect to see it again when I came closer, but here it was, standing in the grass below the dam. The beautiful looking doe lifted its head and became aware of me, but still gave me a little time to put the monopod on the ground, frame the shot, and make a few clicks. The background shows the deer’s habitat quite well but it’s also busy. I tried to minimize the impact of the busy background without loosing the story and cropped the final photo a bit on three sides.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z TC-1.4x, Benro MSDPL46C SupaDupa Monopod, Monopod Gimbal Head    @ 840mm, 1/320s, f/9, ISO 1600, image cropped