"What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of the buffalo is a question never again to be answered, and perhaps not even asked." -Aldo Leopold
Known for their tendency to hang upside down while foraging for prey, the Golden-winged Warblers are partial to early successional habitats. Pressures from habitat changes and from the closely related Blue-winged Warbler have forced a downward shift in overall numbers of this species.
These guys were seen for several days this spring taking advantage of our pond. Listed as threatened on the IUCN red list, the Rusty Blackbird population has dropped by more than 85% since their numbers were recorded. Poisoning and habitat loss are the suspected reasons.
During migration in the StL area, Swainson’s Thrush are by far the most common Catharus Thrush to come across. They do not, however, nest in Missouri.
These guys are a challenge to photograph as they are rarely seen anywhere except in dimly lit tree cover.
Here are just a few more photos from the aborted Gnatcatcher nest that we found this spring. Steve and I jointly found an active and very successful nest of the same species at SNR recently. I will hopefully get to those photos before first snowfall. 😉
No, I do not mean catching a bird on the wing or some split second sports action in camera. Sometimes the landscape photograph has equal timing requirements and this one will serve to remind me of what could have been and to be ready and prepared whenever in setting. I hiked to the top of Hughes one early spring evening with the full kit. Arriving at the top, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of clouds for a potential sunset shot, but I can never be in the dumps at this location no matter what nature is presenting. So I just decided to sit and enjoy the silence and see what may come my way. Not paying much attention I suddenly noticed a fairly small, beautifully pastel-colored cloud popped out of nowhere and was positioned in the perfect place, just in a perfect frame along with blooming Service Berry in the foreground. Of course the gear was where it was nice and safe – all wrapped up in the camera bag. I could tell this cloud was ephemeral and sprang into action.
Pulled the tripod off and extend the legs, unzip, pick lens, attach lens to camera, attach polarizing filter, attach shutter release cord, attach camera to tripod, shoot, I forgot the graduated neutral density filter, which one do I need, OK, how to compose? Compose? Just hurry up! By the time I had everything ready and was hitting the shutter the cloud has diminished by more than three fold and lost all of that wonderful color. I then identified that irritating high pitch noise I was hearing. I was screaming.
My grandparents have had nesting House Wrens for a number of years now. Next to Cardinals baseball watching these guys go about their daily business is their next biggest form of summer entertainment. This past Mother’s Day I brought the big lens and made some images.
It is amazing to hear what large and complicated songs come from such a little package. This guy’s melodies were bouncing off of all the neighbor’s houses.
Here one of the parents is visiting the nest box. I believe they had eggs in the nest at this particular time.
Here is a little bit of photo talk (like I am qualified to give advice). These ultra-telephoto lenses have a long minimum focusing distance, or the minimal distance the lens must be to achieve focus. On my 500mm, this is close to 17 feet! In the case of shooting this male Wren as he scans his territory, I was able to put a chair next to the screened porch and was probably 10-12 feet from him. I was prepared and had a strategy to overcome this issue, I just didn’t think I’d ever get close enough to a feathered target to need it! Out popped an extender that moves the lens a few millimeters further from the camera’s sensor. Through the physics of optics that I will not try to explain (like I could if I wanted to), the minimal focusing difference drops low enough to get sharp focus of the close bird!
As with everything in photography there are compromises to be had with every advantage. The good thing is there is no loss of image quality here, because you are adding no extra lens elements. The extenders are simply extra space holders. The losses here are the inability to obtain far distance focus (at infinity or thereabouts) as well as losing just a bit of light.
These guys never stop building and redecorating the nest.
I have heard the chicks recently fledged and the parents are already on the wing. Maybe next year I’ll try to get some shots of the chicks on their first days outside the nest.
I don’t know why Acadian Flycatchers are always screaming for a pizza. Have you ever watched one of these try and bite a piece off? Not a fun sight.
So those photographers who use Flickr, what is your final opinion on those changes they sprang on us? It has turned my world upside down. I can’t stand the damn thing now and I am looking into alternatives. I never thought I’d be saying that.
Twenty years from now…
“…you want me to tell you that story that happened that night at Falling Spring? You sure? Alright, it’ll be your sleepless night.
Me and my cuz were giggin’ frogs down in that beaver pond one spring night when out of the blue we saw a fella wearin’ a strange hat walkin’ alone. We asked him what he was doing out here all alone and where he came from. He answered he came from a place with tall buildin’s and he was searching for answers that nobody had.
He stood there, the palest, most pathetic creature you’d ever seen. Paler than the moon standin’ above us, when all of a sudden eery red lights started comin’ from inside that old mill shack! Now, we had been standin’ outside there fer hours and hadn’t seen a soul inside or out. Before we could think, a sound that was louder and more fierce than a 10′ tall hoot-owl started and the trees began moving back and forth, even though there tweren’t a bit a breeze on the air to be had!
My cuz and I had grabbed our poles and slowly backed ourselves out to the road and the safety of the truck. We looked over to where the stranger had been and noticed he was walkin’ towards the old shack! We shouted something to the effect of what the Sam Hill are you doing? He replied that he was going to see if the agnostics were right. I couldn’t get at what he was sayin’, and we couldn’t get him to stop movin’ towards that obvious poltergeist.
The last question I asked was what his name was. He said something like Beelzebub, Bufford, Ozark Bill, or somethin’ like that. The last time I saw him he was walkin’ inside and stripping down to the suit he was born in. The lights got brighter and hotter. So hot and bright I had to turn away. We heard a screech worse than a Tom cat trying to mate with a pot belly stove and all of a sudden everything went back to normal.
As we were making dust away from that place I heard a really sweet, low and soft voice singing…
‘Way down in Missouri where I heard this melody
When I was a little feller on my mommie’s knee
The old folks were humming the banjos were strumming so sweet and low‘
Early this May, Steve and I had the good fortune to visit a couple spots along our St. Francois Mountains the day after a front brought about three inches of rain to the area. One of these spots was the Einstein Dam at Silvermines Recreation Area (St. Francis N.A.). The power of the water surging through the breaks in the dam was mesmerizing. A sense of near vertigo became apparent as I stared into the sheet of water that dropped nearly ten feet downstream. I knew Steve would have almost no chance if he slipped into this torrent, but my photo needed some scale! So I asked him to have a seat on the edge.
We arrived with little light left, but tried to take it all in while I made a few images. We had visited the previous autumn when the water was much lower
Imagine dropping into this in your kayak? We pondered if this would be advisable or not. If you think it doesn’t look all that bad from this photo, be sure to watch this.
Water moving in every conceivable direction!
This image of a mamma Summer Tanager visiting her newly developing nest was taken a few weeks ago. She should now be busy raising young. I have decided not to invade her space unless I can get to this location and set up in a blind before first light. Unfortunately, this would be quite the feat at this time of year. The drive to Hawn SP, where the nest is located, is about 1.5 hours from my front door. I wish her luck and thanks to Steve who found the nest and provided a great map and directions for me.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 