A bird with a song more reminiscent of a hiccup, the Henslow’s Sparrow is a secretive little guy, except while singing. Due to habitat loss, this species has dropped in numbers in recent decades and is currently listed as “near-threatened”.
Tag: shaw nature reserve
Shaw Nature Reserve – Photo of the Month
One of my first serious bird photos I made, showing a Red-bellied Woodpecker taking advantage of some Black Gum berries, was honored as March’s “Photo of the Month” by SNR.
“Red-bellied Woodpecker”
Technical details: Canon EOS 50D camera, EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM +1.4x @ 280mm, ISO 400, f/6.7, 1/750 sec
Three Fuzzballs
“No important change in ethics was ever accomplished without an internal change in our intellectual emphasis, loyalties, affection, and convictions. The proof that conservation has not yet touched these foundations of conduct lies in the fact that philosophy and religion have not yet heard of it. In our attempt to make conservation easy, we have made it trivial.”
-Aldo Leopold-
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/160 sec
Nature’s Mouths
“How many mouths Nature has to fill, how many neighbors we have, how little we know about them and how seldom we get in each other’s way! Then to think of the infinite numbers of smaller fellow mortals, invisibly small, compared with which the smallest ants are as mastodons.”
-John Muir-
“Red-shouldered Hawk Nest, SNR 2012”
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/125 sec
Bill’s Day Nature Log 12/15/2012
- Slept in a bit after reading the unpromising weather forecast. Was out the door at 9:00 heading to Shaw Nature Reserve.
- I was a bit concerned with arriving at SNR so late, but then I remembered, if the conditions are anything less than perfect the majority will stay away. I saw only a few folks on the trails.
- Weather conditions were quite poor for bird photography: very windy, mostly cloudy with fast moving clouds causing constantly changing light.
- Not very birdy. Even usual favorite spots were quite slow. Looking for winter sparrows and BRCR, but finding neither.
- Officially one of my favorite things: walking through a recently burned area. Love the smell of the wildfire, the still-smoking embers, watching the Flickers pick through the ashes, assuming they are picking up half-cooked grubs and other goodies.
- I would love to take a year off of everything and follow the Flickers. So many questions that I would like answered: Why does it seem that whole groups or population? move in and out of areas. One week, I’ll see dozens, then I won’t see a one for a month. Why are they so often seen on the ground, even in turf? What is the nature of these relatively large groups they seem to stay in? Are they closely related?
- I did see a few Wild Turkeys plucking around a recently burned section of new savannah.
- Water in creeks!
- Spring Peepers being quite vocal.
- Kentucky Coffee Tree seed pods were dropping. Of course I took one. Ate a bit of the resinous and sweet goo that covers seeds.
- I noticed the large river bottom prairie has been planted with trees! Something in the red-oak family. I’m sure the expert habitat restorers know what is best, but I enjoyed this area and the habitat edges it provided. Usually overflowing with birds and one of the best spots for insects I know of. We’ll see what it will turn into.
“Eastern Bluebird, SNR, Autumn 2012”
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/6.3, 1/1600 sec
- Left for RMBS and arrived with a couple hours of light left to photograph the Trumpeter Swans. Lighting and background clouds were quite nice.
- A distinct Tundra Swan could be heard constantly in the larger group. It never did come close enough to take that “species distinction” shot.
“Changing Skies”
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/7.1, 1/2000 sec
- First good workout with complete gear package of 500mm and the new Sidekick mount. Worked beyond expectations. So glad I decided to get the Sidekick, although I hated to make another expenditure so soon following lens. So much better than trying to use ballhead alone for lens support.
- Worked great on monopod and BH-30 ballhead for ~4 mile hike. Very stable support for monopod.
- Also worked great on tripod with BH-40. I can’t imagine a much better support for this combo.
- Many thanks to Iris Dement for the lyrics to use for the title of the pic below. These are a pair of obviously worn birds. Most of the birds today came in with muddy feet, being out in the fields feasting on “wasted” grain.
“I Never Dreamed Today Would Come, When Love Was Young”
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec
Mondays Are For The Birds – Red-shouldered Hawks
Although I still have quite a few images from this year’s nest in my “to process” list, this one may be my favorite pic for the year. In this image the smallest chick, who was always the last to be fed, is looking up at mom and seeming to wonder where her share of the latest kill was. Mom is taking a break after tearing apart and passing out the meat. She has a look around before taking again to the wind to find more. While watching the nest I was always excited to see this small one be able to swallow down a large piece of meat and I was always prompted to send the camera’s mirror flapping.
“Hungry Eyes”
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/160 sec
Defining Irony
Who or what is your favorite Halloween story or character from pop culture? Many of us would say “The Exorcist” or give you the name, Freddy, Jason, Leatherface or Tammy Faye Bakker. Before you say another word, let me tell you what I did this Halloween evening. I spent a little more than two hours in a dentist’s chair getting three fillings and a root canal. “The horror!” Actually, my dentist is great and much better than I deserve. After spending the first 25 years of my life making candy, cookies and ice-cream the staple of my diet (no exaggeration, trust me) and exercising less than optimal dental care, I have been paying the price to the dentist for the past 12 years or so. The thought of all those wonderful Halloweens coming back to haunt me in this way! Ironic horror, or not ironic at all?
Take care of your teeth, kids.
Today’s photo is not really representative of autumn, but it is an example of something I’d prefer to be munching on these days and about as close to a Halloween image as I could come up with. This sulfur shelf polypore is more commonly known as chicken of the woods. It is so named due to a texture that is similar to that of chicken meat. The one sample of this I took for eating was quite tough; most often the outer edges of the youngest leaves are most fit for eating. I do look forward to trying this again with a more sophisticated recipe. Unfortunately I had my bird equipment on this outing and this was as best an image I could make of it.
What is my favorite horror movie moment? This Bill Murray character. “I’m sure I need a long, slow root canal”
I’m going to go cry now…
“Sulfur Polypore”
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 1000, f/5.6, 1/400 sec
Mondays Are For The Birds – Red-shouldered Hawks
Monday greetings, human. Another great day at work instead of taking pictures of birds. I heard the migratory songbird fallout was quite nice around the St. Louis area today. Good thing I was at work. One or two days a week being able to do what I want just doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. I will have a week’s vacation coming up next month, but that seems a long way off.
Anyway, I’m finally getting around to processing some photos of the Red-shouldered Hawk nest I photographed over several weeks this past May. Here, this little one is showing off one of those innate behaviors. I’m sure those of you with human babies wish they could do something like this a lot earlier than they do. Have a great week.
“Red-shouldered Hawk Nest”
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF400mm f/5.6L USM lens, ISO 640, f/6.3, 1/250 sec
Promise of a New Day
“Dawn at Shaw Nature Reserve”
Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens @ 92mm, ISO 160, f/18, 1/13 sec
First of all, I hope the title of this post doesn’t give too much away about my love for everything Paula Abdul. ;=) My hope for this post is to present the possibilities of experiences that Shaw Nature Reserve offers the nature lover, hiker, birder, artist, or anyone trying to escape the confines of modern culture and everyday life. SNR is located in Gray Summit, MO, about 30 minutes outside the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is an easy to get to spot to find yourself in a well-managed and diverse range of native Ozark habitats.
I love spending the early morning hours at SNR. I have spent many a Saturday morning, having arrived before first light, with the entire reserve to myself. I try to have a plan for those ephemeral golden hours where I can pretend I am the only person on the planet: macro photography of wildflowers, a hawk’s nest, a particular landscape image, etc. More often than not the weather or light or my desire to put some miles on the trails forces me to forget my plans and try to take advantage of the best available opportunity.
Everything in nature seems to be fully awake at dawn and just like the opportunities for the photographer the stimulus for the senses at dawn are almost infinite. During this morning the frogs were still advertising, song birds – Towhee, Field Sparrow, Carolina Wren, and Redwing Blackbird are singing their unique songs, the Barred Owls are talking to one another. The light and colors of early morning are constantly changing and the brisk temperatures and fog in the air are pleasant on the skin and a joy for hiking.
Being a little windy on this particular morning I knew that my goal of photographing spring wildflowers would be a bit frustrating. I also felt that need to walk so I started on the trails knowing there would be ample opportunities for some early morning landscapes. This section of this trail emerges from denser woods to a savannah-like habitat with a cattail pond. I tried several compositions and focal lengths and this one was one of my favorites with a Redwing Blackbird perched facing the sun.
So, please join the crowds and make a visit to Shaw after 10:00 in the morning. Maybe I’ll see you on my way out. ;=)
Spring has Sprung. Winter MIA and Presumed Dead
I spent the majority of the day at Shaw Nature Reserve in Grey Summit, Missouri. Mother Nature is busy transitioning to the next phase. As the photo shows, I found harbinger of spring as well as spring beauty and a couple of very early blood roots in bloom. It’s nice to get out looking for wildflowers this time of year because there are so few I can identify them all! Over the next three months or so, Shaw NR will have an ever changing cycle of blooming spring-ephemerals, then the summer plants start! The bird life I witnessed today also suggests that nature is moving on even though old man winter was playing dead beat dad this time around. I had my first Pheobe and Field Sparrow of the year. I love listening to the Field Sparrows sing their bouncing ping-pong ball type of advertisement song across the open savannahs and woodlands. It was also entertaining watching and listening to the Eastern Bluebirds who were busy building their nests in the boxes provided them across the reserve. Yellow-rumped Warblers were seen in increasing number and the Woodpeckers could be seen and heard in every part of the preserve all day long. The weather was fantastic today, although the sky was that boring, uninterrupted Robbin’s egg blue without a single cloud. The morning was chilly though still, with no wind, which is so important for macro photography. The best part of the day was finding the location of this year’s Red-shouldered Hawk nest. This pair of Hawks or their descendants have nested in the same section of SNR for at least the past five years. I’m glad I found the location this early. It seems to be in a good location for making some good images. It looked like there were already eggs in the nest and I can’t wait to get back and watch and take some photos.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 