Wednesday ~ April 24, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 24, 2019
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Happy Wednesday!

Talk about déjà vu.  It was a week ago that I posted images of the pelicans at the “Duck Pond.”  I was in Maquoketa again yesterday for lunch with friends and I fully expected them to be gone.  

However on my way out-of-town I discovered they are beginning to look like permanent squatters.

This guy paddled away from me when I first arrived but I just stayed on the observation platform for about 15 minutes and he swam very close to me and didn’t seem to mind the shutter clicking.

Many of the Canada geese are nesting now and they seem to cohabit pretty well with the pelicans.

There were pelicans flying in and leaving the entire 30 minutes I was there.  Busy airport. 🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ April 10, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 10, 2019
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Happy Wednesday!

Had lunch with a couple of my dear Friends yesterday in Maquoketa and on the way back I had to go by the Duck  Pond.  Found this guy and lots of his friends there as well.

There were two eagles at the pond as well.  A mature and a juvenile.  The mature eagle was circling the pond at a pretty high altitude.  I couldn’t get a sharp image of him.  The juvenile was sitting on top of a dead tree but for some reason the auto focus locked on the tree and not the bird.  I have a lot of blurry shots of him.

I did get these two double-crested cormorants however.

I took the foot trail up to the blind to get a better angle on the eagle but he flew so I grabbed some close-ups of the pelicans.  There was quite a large gathering of them at the pond!

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Friday ~ April 05, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 5, 2019
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Happy Friday!

Anyone who has followed my photography over the years realizes that I’m not an avid “birder.”  I don’t study the critters migratory patterns or their habits.  I just enjoy photographing any type of wildlife.  In fact, I haven’t found anything that I don’t enjoy photographing whatever it is.

Remember you can click on any image to reveal a larger more detailed version of the image.

Wednesday I drove down to the river to see the rise in the river and was impressed by how high the river was.  The people of Dubuque were smart so many years ago after a devastating flood of 1965 did a terrible amount of damage.

Many older residents of Dubuque remember the Flood of 1965 as one of the worst in the city’s history. Many areas of downtown Dubuque were under several feet of water, which resulted in damage or destruction of homes and businesses in the path of the floods. Only sandbagging efforts of local citizens kept the main highways open to keep traffic flowing.

Following the 1965 flood funds were sought from the Federal government for the installation of a flood-wall. This flood-wall was finally built-in the late 1960s. When the entire Midwest was prone to widespread floods in 1993 the flood-wall helped keep the city from experiencing serious flooding, while other cities – such as Davenport, Iowa – sustained major damage.

After that I decided it would be a nice drive down to Green Island.  My last visit was less than productive and I had heard that a lot of the migrating birds were visiting the wild life preserve.

I was delighted to see many kinds of wild life in the preserve including the Buffalo Head in the top image.

I always enjoy photographing the Northern Shoveler.  The canals at the preserve were full of water and many areas around the wetlands were flooded.  The Preserve was full of wild life which I enjoyed the three and half hours I was there.

A pair of Northern Shovelers.

I’ll leave you with this Blue-Winged Teal.  At first blush it looked like a small Canada Goose but once I got him in focus I could tell it was the Blue-Winged Teal.

I have many more images to share over the next few days if you’re interested.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ April 01, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 1, 2019
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Happy Monday!

I was in Maquoketa last Thursday and had lunch with a great friend.

As I used to do when leaving work, I decided to take the Hurstville Road out-of-town as it goes past the “Duck Pond.”  I stopped at the observation deck and was going to watch some of the geese being busy building their nests when I noticed a bald eagle sitting on top of a dead tree about 200 yards away.

I thought, what the heck might as well get another image of an eagle sitting in a tree.  Besides there were no obstructions between the eagle and me so it would make a decent shot.  I got out of the truck and got my long lens and even thought about setting up my tripod.

Of course when I looked back at the eagle he was already in the air flying away (or so I thought.)  He actually was flying towards me.  I’ll admit I was a little nervous because I imagined how great it would be to capture a head on shot of an eagle.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get a focus lock on him until he was almost over me as the first two images show.  I’m thankful they were in focus as I figured I was going to have a half-dozen brown blurry balls.

I couldn’t get him in the center of the frame and was lucky to capture about 6 images of various parts of the eagle.  🙂

As many eagles as I have photographed over the years I still get an adrenaline rush when I see them. Such a magnificent creature!

Enjoy your day and be careful.

 

Sunday ~ March 24, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 24, 2019
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Happy Sunday!

Jeanne and I went down to the river yesterday to look at the rise in the water.  Nothing like the Missouri River is getting but still the river is higher than normal.

I have taken and posted hundreds of photos of the critters I am showing today but I find it hard to resist photographing any of them when they let me get this close.  Jeanne actually spotted this guy in the marina as we were headed to the river.  At 900mm focal length I felt like I was right next to him.  🙂

Click on any image to make it larger and reveal more detail.

The ubiquitous Canada Goose is a common subject but couldn’t resist photographing this pair searching for food in at the Mud Lake park.

Finally one of my favorite subjects.  This little ringed-bill gull was waiting on something but after watching him for about 7 minutes he never once moved so this is the pose he offered and the one I took.  🙂

We saw a couple of eagles on the ice but they were too far away to get a decent picture of them.

We decided to eat lunch at a place we had never been to before.  So we dined at 1ST & Main.  Nice restaurant, good service, and great food.  We’ll stop there again.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ March 22, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 22, 2019
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Happy Thursday!

I took a road trip up to Edgewood, Iowa to visit a long time friend of mine.  Turned out that on this day he was in Dubuque for other reasons.  🙂

Found this old guy at Greeley, Iowa.  It won’t be long till it no longer stands.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ March 04, 2019

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 4, 2019
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Happy Monday!

I can say happy Monday because I am retired! 🙂

Yesterday afternoon I had some errands to run so I took my camera with me and then did a little ride through the countryside to see if I could find some photo opportunities.

This image happened by accident.  I saw a large hawk perched on a tall tree limb and I stopped well short to set up my camera and long lens.  I got in position, rolled down the window and as soon as the lens came out of the window opening he took off.  I was disappointed but as I lowered my gaze I saw this deer just staring at me.  🙂

I decided to go by the Buffalo ranch to see if any of them wanted their picture taken.  They weren’t very cooperative and even though he had his back to me I was determined to get a shot of him.

I hadn’t been out in the country for a long time and I was amazed as to just how much snow they have had.  There were drifts higher than the top of my vehicle.  The snow is crusted over with a layer of ice and it was just as cold as it looks in this image.

Enjoy your day and be careful.