Tuesday ~ March 17, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 17, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Ring-Billed Gull

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

I know I said yesterday that I have eagle images and I do, way more than I can show because you would get tired of seeing them before I ran out.  It was a banner day at Sabula.  I also enjoy photographing Ring-Billed Gulls.   There are lots of them at Green Island and Sabula.  Actually they are everywhere around our area but I never get tired of photographing them as frequent readers of this blog know.

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The first two images were made at Green Island.  There were several gulls there but not nearly as many as there were at Sabula.  I don’t ever remember seeing as many gulls in one place since I’ve been photographing them.

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This guy wrestled with this minnow for sometime before finally abandoning it.  Of course as soon as he dropped it another gull was there to repeat the entire process and this went on for as long as we were there to watch.

All images were shot with the Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens, which is rapidly becoming my favorite lens.  One of the photography blogs I follow is written by Photographer Leanne Cole from Melbourne Australia.    She does amazing work and I enjoy reading about her photography.  She is also a teacher of fine art.  Anyway she recently tried out the Tamron 150 – 600 lens by taking it to the zoo and photographing the animals.

I thought what a great way to try out a lens and put it through its paces before making a decision to purchase.  I’ll have to remember that the next time.  🙂

That’s all I have for  you today.  Enjoy your day.  Drink responsibly and be careful please.

Monday ~ March 16, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 16, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

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Happy Monday!

Lots to show you today with mostly eagles involved.  The image above is the continuation of my story about the eagle taking a bath in the river (which I photographed Saturday.)  The middle image of that post (yesterday) shows him staring at himself in the water.  This was the next thing he did, completely immersed his head in the water.

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What goes in of course must come out.  It was at this point I still thought he was fishing a new way that I have not seen before.  Nope, just washing his head feathers. 🙂

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Imagine him shaking his head in slow motion with the water flying all around.  Okay that’s probably a stretch.  Anyway it was great fun watching him play in the water and grooming himself.  He then flew over to a dead tree sticking out of the water and groomed his feathers.

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Jeanne and I went to Green Island wetlands yesterday.  My good friend Andreas had said there were Sandhill Cranes there and in fact he had captured many images of them on Friday.

It’s a long drive from where we live but for an opportunity to photograph Sandhill Cranes it’s worth the investment.  We arrived at Green Island with great anticipation, unfortunately we found no Cranes.  We weren’t too sad however as there were a large number of eagles in the area and lots of geese.  Jeanne never gets tired of watching geese.

So we drove all over the marsh and then decided since we were this close we would drive further down to Sabula.  We were not disappointed.  There were lots of eagles.  Most of which were too far out on the ice to get a lens on but just seeing that large number of eagles did my heart good.

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For me the first Robin of the year has always been a sure sign that Spring was finally here.  We saw our first Robin of the year yesterday so that was a great feeling.

Lots more images to look through and process.  I hope you like eagles because that’s what I’m going to have this week.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ March 15, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 15, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

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Happy Sunday!

Yesterday afternoon Jeanne and I drove over to East Dubuque to purchase some wine.  On the way across the Julian Dubuque Bridge we noticed a half-dozen eagles flying looking for food.  Of course that got me excited and I was ready to turn around and go get my camera.  She was surprised that I had actually gotten in the car without one.

After we finished some other errands Jeanne had to help with a project at the church and so I got my camera and long lens and went back to the river.  I checked all my normal places and not one eagle, sea-gull, or pelican could I find. 😦

I decided to go up to Mud Lake and see if I could find the owl that my friend Andreas has observed.  No luck there either so I was about ready to head back home when I decided to take a drive around the back of the marina and that’s where I found this guy.  I thought he was trying to catch a fish.  This image is not tack sharp because I just had enough time to grab the camera and turn it on for this shot.

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At first I thought he would fly away with a fish in his talons but he stayed there and struck this pose for me.  I was not prepared for his next actions.  For the next 20 minutes he took a bath in the water.  I have watched small birds frolic in the bird bath at home and have posted some of those photographs.

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But I have never seen an eagle frolic.  I shot 482 images of him taking a bath.  Most of them are the same, with lots of water droplets flying all around him.  I’ll post some more of his antics tomorrow.  It was great fun to watch and just reminded me that many times when you least expect it there is an experience about to happen and I was fortunate enough to capture it.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day.  Be careful.

Saturday ~ March 14, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 14, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

March-13-2015

Happy Saturday!

Great news, the “duck pond” is thawing out and there is wildlife there.  The bad news is that there is precious little water in the pond.  We will need some bountiful rains early this Spring to help restore the water level.

No lunch meetings yesterday so I grabbed a salad and went looking for some images.  I always go by the pond first and to my delight there were a lot of geese and 4 swans at the pond.

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The geese were closer to me so I captures some images of them first.  The goose on the right kept ducking his head in and out of the water in rapid succession.  He didn’t look like he was trying to eat, more like just enjoyed getting he head wet. 🙂

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The swans proved to be more of a challenge.  After I finished with the geese I noticed the swans were on the far side of the pond.  The only way to get a lens on them was to drive around the pond and then come in on the North bound lane of the highway.  By the time I had negotiated that and pulled up to where I would have a good vantage point the swans had moved to the other side.  🙂

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So back around the route I had originally taken and this time they cooperated by parading back and forth in front of my lens.  It’s like they said, “okay we’ve dinked with him enough.” 🙂

Beautiful day yesterday with plenty of sunshine and a mild 65 degrees.  It sure feels like we’re headed for Spring but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Remember you can click on the image to reveal a larger version.

Thanks for checking in.  I hope you enjoy your Saturday.  There are only 52 of them a year so make the best of it.  Be careful.

Friday ~ March 13, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 13, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

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Happy Friday!

A bit of a mixed bag for you today.  I took another route home last night and encountered a variety photographic opportunities.  I had a car behind me that was obviously in a big hurry and since I wasn’t, I pulled over to the shoulder to let them pass and when I looked further down the hill I saw two eagles on this half-frozen pond tussling over what looks to me like an otter.

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One of the eagles took part of the prize and flew away with it in his beak (which I did not realize until looking at the pictures during processing) while his antagonist won the main prize.  It was quite the battle for awhile.  Interestingly enough our local newspaper had a picture of two eagles fighting over food on the ice of the Mississippi River on their front page this morning.

So I stayed there for awhile watching the lone eagle work on his meal and then continued my journey.

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There are portrait, landscape, wedding, and a large number of other photography professionals and enthusiasts who tend to specialize in one form of photography or another.  I’m beginning to think I’m just a “road photographer.”  🙂

I drive around until something catches my interest and then I stop, photograph it and then back on the road.  I really haven’t found one type of photography that I prefer over another.  I love it all!

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I’ll leave you with this image of this great tree.  I had to make a U-turn to photograph it but I couldn’t resist.  It would have looked better ensconced in a blanket of snow but it is still impressive.  I’ll have to remember where it is and photograph it in the Summer and Fall.

That’s all I have for today.  Should be a warm day here in the lower 60s.

Thanks for visiting the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ March 12, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 12, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

Trumpter Swans

Happy Thursday!

I finally found the swans last evening on my way home from work.  I occasionally see them at the “Duck Pond” in the morning but I never have the time to stop, set up and photograph them so it was a treat to come across them.  I always check the pond on the way home but have never seen them there in the evening so on an impulse I drove across the highway and there they were in a cornfield grooming themselves.

Trumpter Swans

The first image was shot with the Nikon 28 – 300 lens and the shot above with the Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens.  They wouldn’t give me anything but a butt shot and I apologize for that but it was either that or no shot at all.  🙂

Once I had the 600 mm lens on I was using the foot zoom to get a little closer and then I felt the ground getting less stable.  I looked down and I was 2/3 buried in mud.  I had on a nice pair of shoes as well so I spent the next 20 minutes cleaning them up.

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Finally on the way home taking another route I drove past this structure and old windmill.  I had to turn around and photograph it.  I tried it in color and even though I had a nice soft light on it I just felt black and white conveyed more interest about the structure than color did.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ March 11, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

March-10-2015

Happy Wednesday!

Neat thing about this photo other than of course it is a beautiful red barn on a stone foundation is that it was made at 6:15 p.m. with plenty of sun light remaining.  🙂

That plus the fact that it was warm enough not have to wear a coat while walking around.    It looks like we may be on the downhill side of Winter.  But I’ve been around long enough to know that we can still face some wintry challenges over the next few weeks.

I would like this barn better if it had a shingled roof but you have to take what you get.

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I drove over this small stream and noticed the interesting ice pattern that had gathered near the corner of the stream and thought it would make an interesting image.

On a side note and I’ve never done this before, but I have a couple of pieces of photography equipment I’m getting ready to sell.  Before I put them on eBay if anyone is interested you can email me here at the blog.

1st item is a Nikon D610 full frame DSLR 24.6 MP camera with battery grip.  2nd item is a Sigma 50 – 500 mm OS 5-6.3 APO HSM lens.  both pieces of equipment are in mint condition.

That’s it for today.  Sorry for the “for sale” items but I wanted to give my loyal readers first opportunity.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ March 09, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 9, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Mallard Ducks

Happy Monday!

It’s been a while since my last post.  I would say that part of that was because of a busy work schedule but part of that was just being lazy as well.  I hate to admit it but I let a couple of good photography days slip away in favor of rest and relaxation.  😦

Yesterday Jeanne and I went out looking for some wildlife photos.  First of course we went to our favorite places and there was nothing.  On the way back from the river we spotted these Mallard ducks swimming in some little pools of water from the melting snow.  Any port in a storm I guess.

Canadian Geese

Then we tried a couple of other places that didn’t yield any luck when we happened by these Canadian geese gathered on a frozen body of water.  There must have been fifty or sixty just congregated for whatever reason.  There was no open water for them to swim in nor any discernible food source so I’m not sure what the big attraction was but there they were none-the-less.

I noticed in post production that the one on the left has a metal band on its leg.

Flying Canadian Geese

Finally we went on the Wisconsin side of the lock and dam to check things out.  We heard these geese honking and I was lucky enough to capture them as they flew over.

So not exactly what I had in mind when we set out but I’m happy anytime to photograph ducks and geese so it was a good afternoon.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ March 05, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 5, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

March-04-2015

Happy Thursday!

Actually today is my Friday as I’m taking a day off tomorrow to work on a project and help a friend.

I have often talked about being in a rut on this blog with my photography and the above image made me laugh this morning.   I was attempting to load in onto the page and when the image finished up loading it was the same building and wagon but with a lot more snow on the ground.  When I looked at the meta data on the image it was from two years ago on March 5th so I had selected the wrong year.  🙂

Ironic that I would choose to shoot the same landscape on virtually the same day of the month.

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This guy was not happy with me photographing his property, even though I was across the road on public property.  He looks harmless enough here because I was safely ensconced inside my car.  Prior to that he was showing me his pearly whites and giving his best mean dog impression.  In conflict resolution I feel it is always best to avoid direct physical contact.  🙂

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Amazing day yesterday.  Helping people help themselves has always been what attracted me to the career I’ve chosen.  That happened a couple of times yesterday and it is very gratifying to be useful.  It’s what I love about the work I do.

2 below zero with a windchill of -15 when I went out to get the Queen’s paper this morning.  I did not dilly dally.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog and your support.

Enjoy your day, stay warm and be careful.

Tuesday ~ March 03, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 3, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

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Happy Tuesday!

“It’s a post in the ground, in the snow.  Why take a picture of it?”  I could not answer her because I really didn’t know other than to say it was interesting to me and for me spoke to the desolation and cold of Winter.  How’s that for high brow? 🙂

Busy day yesterday with no time for photography.  Celebrated my good friend’s birthday with lunch at the Mexican restaurant.   I love Mexican food and I always have the taco salad, the problem is I usually eat too many chips and I also eat a good portion of the bowl, which plays havoc with my blood sugar the next day.  😦

Not to worry it’s still well below what the minimum acceptable level is it is just high for me.

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Final image from our Sunday photo run.  This old railroad bridge is fun to take images of.  I did this from the Illinois side of the river.  You can walk up close to it on the Iowa side and in fact walk on it if you like (not recommended.)  This is the bridge I was trying to get some aerial images of when I lost my Phantom.  If you didn’t see that post click here. 

That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoy your Tuesday.  It’s snowing here, which means an interesting commute.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Be careful and be aware.