birds – A Thousand Acres of Silphiums

A Bit of Batting Practice

birds, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

For the WGNSS Nature Photography Group’s January outing we headed to Carlyle Lake in Illinois. Our primary target was the dam’s spillway. I have had a lot of fun at this location photographing Bonaparte’s Gulls and American White Pelicans during past winters and these species are what we were hoping for on this trip.

Being a spillway with the dam and infrastructure surrounding it, the backgrounds are definitely challenging; however, it is not impossible to handle. The images below showcase one method we could use to handle this situation. With the rising sun at our backs, I noticed the light was hitting these mostly white birds perfectly. By exposing precisely for the whites and a little exposure manipulation in post-processing, it was possible to turn the darker concrete walls of this section of the spillway nearly black, which allows the birds to pop off this background as seen in the images below.

Predicting the movement of birds in a typical winter is difficult and this winter, where seasons have been changing on a daily basis, is pretty much impossible. On top of that, water levels in the lake and spillway channel were a couple feet below normal. The spillway gates were releasing just enough water, which I believe limited the numbers and size of fish falling through. So, it wasn’t surprising that we found almost nothing but Ringed-bill Gulls (RBGU) fishing in the spillway.

Ring-billed Gulls are considered 3-year gulls, meaning that they have a plumage transition for the first three years of their lives before they develop into the typical adult plumage. In addition, there is considerable variation within these years, e.g. a 2 year old gull may look different from a 2.5 year gull. Given I am no expert, I have made some captions with my best guesses on the ages of some of these birds.

Another method of dealing with ugly backgrounds at this location is to focus on the fishing activities or other opportunities where the water will be the background of the image.

Many nature photographers would consider this a bust of a day and would perhaps head back home to watch a meaningless football game. However, I like to look at this as both an opportunity for practice and to potentially learn something new about a species taken for granted and usually ignored. I liken opportunities such as this to batting practice in three ways: 1) It gives you a chance to hone your skills – this is high-speed action photography with challenging backgrounds and dynamic lighting. If you haven’t mastered your camera’s exposure and autofocus settings, you will likely struggle getting the images you envision, 2) It’s a lot of fun! Whatever species you find in a spillway like this, there will likely by plenty of birds fishing, giving plenty of opportunities to capture those fleeting moments, and 3) with a species like the RBGU, you won’t likely come away with anything to brag about. These aren’t eagles or owls or some rare species that will be all the talk on social media.

I really enjoyed watching the gulls catch and position their fish in flight for the head-first swallow. I was fortunate enough to catch this in action in several of my photos – they literally give them a little toss and catch them again so that the head is facing towards their mouth. It was also interesting to watch a few who knew the fish was too large to ingest and subsequently released back to the water.

As I alluded to above, I had a lot of fun shooting these gulls. The feeding opportunities were not as plentiful as I usually find at this location, but by staying alert and ready I came home with some photos that I really like.

Ring-billed Gulls were not the sole fishers we found. We also had several first-year Herring Gulls shown below. Unfortunately these birds did none of their own fishing, but seemed content in attempting to steal the catch from the RBGU.

Thanks for visiting!

-OZB

Sharp-shinned Hawk

birds, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

During a WGNSS Photography Group outing to the Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center back in November of 2025, we had some nice luck with a Sharp-shined Hawk. My best photos to date of this species.

A New Season for Shorties

birds, wildlife, wildlife photography

Here are some of my favorites from a couple trips to a new-to-me Short-eared Owl location in southeastern Illinois.

WGNSS Visits Snake Road – October 2025

birds, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

The Webster Groves Nature Study Society’s (WGNSS) Nature Photography Group headed to the LaRue Pine Hills in mid-October to visit the famous LaRue Rd, better known as the “Snake Road.” Our targets for the day were snakes, of course, along with any other herps that we could be fortunate enough to find. Unsurprisingly, the snake of the day was the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus), of which we found close to 15 individuals. We found several different frog species and a real good number of cave salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga).

Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)

A short ways from the main road, we came across a small grotto. Looking closely with a light, I was able to find at least five cave salamanders resting on different shelves. After about 15 minutes on my knees, working out how to best light and photograph these guys, I finally focused my attention towards the back end of this small cave. There I noticed a medium-sized cottonmouth with its head raised that was apparently watching me the entire time, about a foot or so behind the salamanders.

Cave Salamanders and an unexpected guest. Can you find the cottonmouth?

We were joined by our friend, Stacia Novy, on this trip, who provided an unexpected treat! She brought along her two Aplomado Falcons that we had an opportunity to photograph, pet, and watch eat. Unfortunately, strong winds and a few soaring Bald Eagles that would not leave the area limited the amount of flight time the birds had, but we really appreciated the opportunity.

A couple photos of Stacia with her bird

Afterwards, the group headed to one of my favorite breweries – Scratch in Ava Illinois. Stacia brough one of the Falcons to the outside location and we had a most unique partner to go along with our wood-fired pizzas and beer.

Grassland Bird Nesting

Bird Species of Conservation Concern, birds, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

Back in early June of this year, the WGNSS Nature Photography Group travelled east to Pyramid State Recreation Area in Perry County, Illinois. Here we met with Stacia Novy, a wildlife biologist working with Southern Illinois University. Stacia’s goals are to find and identify grassland bird species nests, collect morphometric, embryonic and maturation data on eggs and nestlings, and to document fledging and depredation rates. Stacia is a true professional and she took care in how we approached nests and got our photographs. She finds dozens of nests each year and collects important data used for conservation and habitat management decisions.

Stacia Novy (on ladder) collecting data on eggs and nestlings

Approximately 60% of all of North America’s grasslands have been destroyed due to agriculture and other development purposes. Unsurprisingly, grassland species in general are the most at risk birds from this loss of habitat. The numbers of these obligate grassland species have declined by 40% since 1970.

An egg buoyancy/density test is performed to determine egg age and potential viability

Due to high incidence of predation, grassland bird species must be quite careful about where and how they place their nests. Stacia showed us the types of vegetation different species like to use and how they attempt to camouflage their nests. It takes a lot of work and diligence to find these nests and we appreciated Stacia sharing some of these with us.

Here are some of the photos I took with my cellphone of some of the species we were fortunate to be able to see.

A Brown Thrasher parent staying on the nest until the last minute

Another Gray Catbird nest we found this day with newly hatched chicks

Beautiful eggs inside a Redwing Blackbird nest

The even more startingly-blue eggs of the Dickcissel

The same Dickcissel nest days later. Photo by Stacia Novy.

The nest of one of my top five favorite birds – the Bell’s Vireo

The same Bell’s Vireo nest days later. Photo by Stacia Novy.

Mississippi Kites at Weldon Spring C.A.

birds, Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

Here are a couple from a birding hike that Miguel and I took along the Lost Valley Trail at Weldon Springs Conservation Area back in May. The light was harsh but the story unforgettable. We watched this adult pair take turns perching and soaring above the treetops. Eventual the female called in the male that resulted in a few matings. On the last one we watched, this juvenile came in to their tree to try and break it up. Eventually the male lost his patience and went after the juvenile. I’m not sure if this might be their chick from last year or an unrelated individual.

Right before “dad” had to dish out some punishment

Eastern Kingbird Nest – Part 5 – The Movie

birds, Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

I did not take a lot of video footage during my brief time at the nest, but I did get some interesting enough footage to put the following together. Available in 4K on YouTube. Enjoy!

Eastern Kingbird Nest – Part 4 – The Rest

birds, Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

I processed all of these, so I might as well share them. This is the remainder of the images from the second day I spent photographing the Eastern Kingbird nest at Logger’s Lake.

Eastern Kingbird Nest – Part 3

birds, Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

A few of my favorites of the Eastern Kingbird nest photographed at Logger’s Lake.

This first batch consists of the begging brood with a parent sitting nearby, usually just after delivering an insect. These guys never stopped their food response. If a parent was in sight, they were begging.

I was surprised to find that the parents would sometimes bring in berries to feed the brood. I do not know which species the berries came from.

Just as automatic as the begging response, nearly every instance of a parent bringing a food item, one of the young would present the adult with a fecal pellet. The parent would usually wait and watch for this event and be ready to grab it as it was being eliminated. It then would take it away from the nest to be disposed, assumedly as part of a predator defense strategy.

A parent decided to meet the other parent on its perch to take the prey item back to the nest itself.

Here the chicks are gaping, not as a begging response to a parent bringing in food, but as a cooling method as the sun is in position to shine down directly on the nest.

Eastern Kingbird Nest – Bird Nest Entomology

birds, Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

It’s funny when I think of some of the interactions I’ve had with friends who are specialists. I remember multiple times when bringing up insects in the field with birders, that I would hear some form of the reply “they’re just food for the birds.” Alternatively, when on an insect outing, you’re lucky to have an entomologist lift their head from the ground to see or listen to an interesting or rare bird. And the botanists? Well, let’s just say they typically have a very specialized set of interests.

One of the things I love about spending lots of time watching and photographing bird’s nests is that, at least with good enough optics, you can often be fortunate to identify the food that the parents bring to feed their young. This sure beats killing a bird or causing them to regurgitate in order to identify their prey.

Being a tyrant flycatcher after all, these kingbirds do not typically bring in the caterpillars that are so often the main prey that passerines feed upon. Instead, the kingbirds prefer taking their prey on the wing, which means any arthropods that can fly. Here are a few images where I can get a good idea of the identification on the insect prey.