Category Archives: Nature
Weekly Photo Challenge:Solitary
Friends, this Great Blue Heron is fishing alone . They don’t like company when they are seeking food in the lake. A solitary figure for our weekly photo theme: solitary. He stalks the shallows along the shoreline and with a quick jab catches a small fish which he swallows whole and head first. He has been in Crex all summer and i see him in the same area every day. He has some rust stains on his blue feathering from the water. til Tomorrow MJ
Prairie Grasses
Friends, some fall grasses going to seed in Crex Meadows. I think the grasses are almost as pretty as the flowers you just have to get very close to see their beauty and get the light behind them to bring out the colors. This Indian grass (top) and Big Blue Stem (below) are indicators of a tall prairie eco system, and they both grow 4-5 feet high in parts of Crex exposed to full sunshine. Big Blue Stem has a turkey foot shaped seed head at the top of a dark stem as seen in the image below. til Tomorrow MJ
Natural Watercolors
Friends, Hawk ridge yesterday, but no birds. The sky was almost clear when i got there, but a storm blew in and covered my car with pea-sized hail. After the storm, i shot some fall foliage cause the sumac was gorgeous up on the ridge. More experiments with moving the camera during the exposure. I think this looks like a watercolor. Below is an experiment with the under layer moved and the top layer more sharp, a paper birch changing its clothes. til Tomorrow MJ
The Arrival of Fall
Friends, We had our first hard “Freeze” last night announcing the arrival of fall. This image is a true “fall image” of Crex Meadows, the Greater Sandhill cranes coming in for a landing on the marsh. I think they look like little parachute jumpers coming down to earth. Soon the marsh will be alive with thousands of Cranes calling to each other and all talking at the same time, they are such special birds. Too bad they don’t stay with us all year long, but their arrival makes the fall a busy place for us wildlife photographers. Then with the first snowfall, they are gone. 😦 , leaving me sad and faced with ice and snow for 4-5 months. Below is an image of the color that is invading the Meadow, the sumac is one of the first to change from green summer finery to fall red. Going to Hawk Ridge today to get some more hawk portraits. til Tomorrow MJ
Redtails and Redwings
Friends, this young red-tailed Hawk is perched on a birch tree branch in Crex Meadows. This is about as close as you can get to these birds when they are in their natural environment. I also have images of him from the front and you can see his white bib and splotched belly band that marks him as a red tailed. We had some frost last night and temperatures down to 25 degrees F, so fall is technically here. Below is an image of the red-winged blackbirds gathering for their trip to the south. til Tomorrow MJ
Pièce de résistance- Red Tailed Hawk
Friends, this Red tailed Hawk is indeed the best of my hawk images to date. His crouched pose and withering stare show his predator character very well. You can be glad you are not a mouse or vole scurrying across an open grassy meadow where this bird can see you. From research data, it appears that these birds may be susceptible to the West Nile virus, so swat the mosquitos and save the redtails. til Tomorrow MJ
Smallest Falcon
Friends, this smallest of the falcons is an American Kestrel. This is a male bird having blue-gray wing feathers and a brownish back, the female has a totally brown back and lovely brown wings as seen in the image below. The female kestrel has the remains from her breakfast on her beak. Yes, I could edit it away with Photoshop, but I choose to leave it as a reminder of their struggle for food and survival. Often they will hunt from overhead wires and hover over their prey, then dive to capture a small bird or mouse. The two black slashes on their face are called the sideburns and mustache :), til Tomorrow MJ
Broad-Winged Hawk
Friends, this beautiful baby is a broad-winged Hawk and they are migrating in great numbers over Hawk Ridge. The day this was taken over 5000 passed over the ridge, and on the ninth of september over 15000 were counted over the ridge. They tend to leave the nesting area in large flocks and can form “kettles” as they circle in the air. Their diet is a varied one ranging from frogs and lizards to small birds, even on occasion they may eat a large insect. They are very numerous in the air, but they rarely visit the lower reaches of hawk ridge so this was a rare treat at the educational area. Hope you enjoy this pretty bird, til Tomorrow MJ
Young Harrier
Friends, this close-up shows the juvenile Northern Harrier facial structure. He was captured at Hawk Ridge in Duluth Minnesota and banded. While the educator had him in hand, i shot his portrait. This bird has a facial disc that helps to concentrate the sounds of prey very similar to owls. His rusty coloring will change to gray as he ages. His antics around the Crex Meadows are especially evident in the fall as he hunts the migrating birds and ducks. He circles low over the cattails looking below for prey, then dives down to catch them in his talons. Below is a Harrier hunting over Crex. til Tomorrow MJ
A Double-Header
Friends, this small hawk, the sharp-shinned is a second year bird and her eyes are turning from the yellow of a first year bird to orange. The vertical strips on the front have now turned more horizontal and her cap is starting to turn from chocolate brown to gray. Below is a more mature bird with the red eyes and more gray on her cap. You can compare these more mature birds to the sharpie from yesterday’s post of a sharpie that was hatched this spring. til Tomorrow MJ
