Goose Goose Duck

I went to Squaw Creek to photograph Snow Geese and Bald Eagles again today. (March 12)

The geese were closer to shore today.  I used a 70-200mm lens for this shot.

Apparently the eagles were sick of goose.  Most of the Bald Eagles were gone.  I photographed this one in the early morning.

I photographed Bufflehead Ducks in the water.

The Bufflehead Ducks are tiny and fly very fast.

After taking a few shots of hundreds of thousands of geese, I decide to try to isolate individual geese.  It was harder than it should have been.  My Canon 1D Mark IV doesn't spot focus very well when it doesn't know which goose to focus on. 

I worked hard to try to isolate individual geese.  I had the best luck when I focused on a goose when there weren't any other geese around it, and then followed it as it flew into an area with thousands of geese.  This image is a good example of this selective focus.

A Rare Warm Day in January

I haven't been visiting Fontenelle Forest this winter.  It has been bitterly cold.  Omaha has been one of the coldest cities in the nation several times.  It has been below -13 degrees but it doesn't feel that warm when the wind is strong.  It seldom gets above freezing during any time of the day.  Today's forecast was for 54 degrees.  It was perfect weather for a walk in the woods.

I didn't expect to see much wildlife.  The deer are hiding - they aren't aware that the hunters have left.  All the ducks, geese and water birds are gone - it's hard to swim in ice.  Most of the birds have migrated.  I usually have more birds at my feeders than I see in the forest this time of  year.  My best chances for wildlife would be a muskrat or a hawk.

I did see a nuthatch, a junco and a Blue Jay on walk to the stream.  I saw plenty of other people enjoying the warm day.  When I was approached parents with a couple kids running everywhere but on  the trail,  I knew that the wildlife would be hiding today.  Apparently not, the father told me that they had seen a beaver walking along the trail.  I knew better than that, the beavers are never out until dusk.  I was sure that they had seen a muskrat.  Even so, if the muskrat was out, it was what I wanted to photograph today.

I carefully scanned the stream as I slowly walked down the path.  No muskrat.  I didn't see the beaver next to the path until I was way too close.  I was too close to focus.  I was too close for comfort.  Why was the beaver out and why didn't it run when it saw me?  Was it that hungry or was it sick?  Did it have rabies?  I backed up as far as I could go and still see the beaver.  The light was harsh and there was plenty of brush in the way so I didn't get very good shots.  He decided to much on one of the few remaining cottonwood and was out of my sight.   

While I waited for the beaver to reemerge, I photographed a distant cardinal.  I took a few shots of a couple of distant bald eagles - the first pair that I have ever observed in the wetlands.  As I waited, I tried to decide what was up with this beaver.  A couple of other people came by and walked within a couple feet of it.  It ignored them until it decided to cross the path and back into the stream.  This was the shot I had been waiting for but the spectators were in the way.  When the beaver left, so did they.

I was totally frustrated and decided to wait to see if it would come out again.  As I continued to wait for a better beaver shot, a hawk circled above.  I took a few shots before it circled away and discovered that the beaver had crossed the trail again.  This time, he found a branch and pulled it across the trail to the water.  I wasn't able to get a clear shot.  Once he was in the water, he nibbled on the branch.  I took photos but conditions were bad.

The weather man was wrong.  It didn't get up to 54 - it got up to 60.  While I was disappointed that I didn't get a good shot of the eagles, I thoroughly enjoyed a warm day without mosquitoes in the wetlands.   If today is any indication, 2014 is going to be a very good year.

A Beautiful Day

You might look at this sunrise photo and feel that I used too much saturation  in Photoshop.  That isn't true.  Even a mediocre sunrise can look spectacular through a super-telephoto lens.  It allows the photographer to focus on a tiny bit of sky with the best color.

This Bald Eagle wasn't going to take any chances.  He was in a tree near the road.  I had less than a second to stop my vehicle and raise my camera to my eye before he had flown away.

The few Sandhill Cranes I saw today were far from the road.   If I were in the blind on the left side of this photo, I would have a better photo.  The cranes have hundreds of square miles to search for food so you could sit in a blind all day without a crane for miles.  You have a better chance in the evening if you rent a blind near the river.  The few blinds near the river cost hundreds of dollars to rent and the cranes often arrive after dark and leave before sunrise. 

Squaw Creek - No Eagles Today

 

I travel to Squaw Creek each fall to photograph Bald Eagles.  The window of opportunity is tied with the arrival and departure of the Snow Geese. The geese don't arrive until it is colder in the north.   As the number of geese increases, juvenile eagles begin to arrive.  The eagle population peaks shortly after the peak of the goose population.  When Squaw Creek freezes over, the geese leave.  The eagles remain until they can no longer find a dead goose to eat.  The Friends of Squaw Creek web site contains a weekly estimate of the number of eagles and Geese.  The most recent count was 227,000 Snow Geese and 57 eagles. http://www.fws.gov/midwest/SquawCreek/bald_eagle_surveys.htm

The water at Squaw Creek is extremely shallow.  It can freeze over night if conditions are right.  Yesterday it was 60% frozen.  The water wasn't as deep this year, so the birds were further off. Unlike most visits, I was able to get in as soon as I arrived.  The geese flew off before Sunrise but should be back by evening.  The weather is still too mild to kill geese, so the eagles had to look elsewhere for food.

I photographed geese leaving.  I didn't get close enough with my super-telephotos to photograph an eagle.  The most exciting shot of the day was a single young Tundra Swan that had a companion Mallard.  The orange light from the  rising sun completely saturated the Mallard's orange legs. I also photographed some sparrows back-lit in some weeds.  I was totally frustrated by a handsome buck deer.  My Canon 1D Mark IV would not cooperate with a center focus in the trees so I didn't get a photo.