Too much time in front of the computer lately, so a quick trip to Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in Wisconsin was in order. 

My main target was the OLYMPIA MARBLE, a small white butterfly that doesn’t look like much while flitting about a grassland, but when it lands it reveals the stunning underwings that are marbled with a glittery green/gold.

Because of my research on Mike Reese’s wonderful wisconsinbutterflies.org site, I found several only two minutes after I arrived. Hmmmm, this will be easy, I thought. But I quickly found out that these butterflies are very particular about which flower they land on…and it takes them a loooong time to do so.

Their host plant is Rock Cress (Arabis sp.), a 6-12″ unassuming plant with a few groups of 4-petaled white tiny flower at their apex. And there were many in full bloom in this patch of grassland.

With camera in hand, and flash ready to fire, I would follow a flying Olympia Marble across the prairie waiting for it to land on a Rock Cress after which I’d drop to the ground, prone on the prickly prairie, to get an eye-level shot of a stunning butterfly. But 9 times out of 10 (19 times out of 20?) the little butterfly would already have moved on by the time I was in position. The few times it did begin to nectar, it only did so for a very few seconds, leaving while I was still trying to focus on the very tiny flowerhead. I was left to grunt and groan as I tried to get back onto my feet to pursue it yet again.

Not only this, but I failed to realize that while the mosquitoes had not yet emerged in northern Minnesota, they were out if full force at Crex, and they were joined by their friends the Black Flies. No bug dope in my van. Zero. Despite the 75 degree temps I had to don my wool Ullfrotte jacket. Not comfortable.

I still wonder why the Marbles pass up countless Rock Cress that look perfectly fine to me….What do they know that I don’t? Are some already stripped of nectar? If so, how do they know? Smell? Look? 

Finally I was able to get in position and click off a few frames on a couple occasions. It only took 2 hours but I finally had a satisfying image showing the glorious underwings.

**All photos taken with Canon R5 and Canon 100-500mm lens; f8 at 1/200 second; fill flash with Flashpoint flash and MagMod flash extender at 1/16 to 1/32 power.

Next post: Blanding’s Turtles out for a stroll

Sparky makes two visits (April 21 and April 26) to find out. Highlights include a huge flock of ducks, a late Rough-legged Hawk, 8 species of ducks, Sandhill Cranes. We look for a Canada Jay nest, listen to overhead displaying Snipe and walk the Bob Russell Bogwalk. Sparky also shares about the Sax-Zim Bog connection to a new book about Dutchman Arjan Dwarshuis’s World Big Year record in 2016.

Plus, we find out about the new boardwalk and trail planned for Sax-Zim in 2023.

Churchill Manitoba on Hudson Bay is a premiere destination for bird photography and birding. It is one of the most accessible tundra habitats in North America. Home to Arctic Hare, Willow Ptarmigan, Short-billed Dowitcher, Tundra Swan, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Nelson’s Sparrow, Common Redpoll, Common Eider, Pacific Loon, Red-throated Loon, Hudsonian Godwit, Beluga Whale, Harbor Seal and more.

Cape Merry is an awesome spot to watch the hundreds of Beluga Whales feast on Capelin fish in the Churchill River. Many Red-throated Loons are flying by at eye level!

In part 2 of my June 2022 trip, I take you along on a birding and bird photography trip; Halfway Point, Fox Drive, Twin Lakes Road, Goose Creek Road, Coast Road. We also do some bushwhacking out on the wet tundra looking for birds and nests.

I get a little too close (accidentally) to a Parasitic Jaeger nest. I also takes you along on a zodiac tour of the Churchill River with James of Sea North where we get up close and personal with dozens of Beluga Whales.

(Yes, this was June of 2022…and it has taken me 10 months to finish this part 2 video!)

Birding and bird photography in South Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley part 3. Highlights include Aplomado Falcon along Old Port Isabel Road, Red-crowned Parrot pair in Sabal Palm Sanctuary, nine species of wading birds along the boardwalk at South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center. Sparky also visits Laguna Atacosa National Wildlife Refuge and SpaceX along Boca Chica Road. Sparky gets video of a spastically hunting Reddish Egret, White-tailed Hawk, White-tailed Kite, Clay-colored Thrush, Green Jays and Altamira Oriole. January 2023.

And he goes down memory lane to his rarest mammal sighting ever!

Part 1—Sparky’s Texas Bird Adventure

Leaving snowy Minnesota behind Sparky returns to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas for some birding and bird photography. 

I explore Estero Llano Grande & Bentsen state parks and find some great stuff including roosting Pauraques, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Tropical Kingbird (what a great name!), Red-crowned Parrots, Gray Hawk, White-tipped Doves, Hook-billed Kite, Least Grebe, White-faced Ibis, Cinnamon Teal

It has been 35 YEARS since my first trip here and 15 years since my last visit, and I share some memories from 2008 when Ryan Marshik and I participated in the Valley Land Fund photo contest. 

One of my goals is to add species to my “Photographed List,” which stands at 525 species for the ABA area (north of Mexico in North America). In this episode I add 4 new species and improve on my photos for 8 more species. I don’t find the Social Flycatcher so I do not add any Lifers to my ABA birding list.

Stay tuned for Part 2 when I rent out an entire Texas ranch for bird photography!

On a whim, Sparky stops by Crex Meadows in western Wisconsin on his way home from a conference in St. Paul…and despite the initial BLAAH light and heavy overcast, he stays and the light suddenly turns magical…WHAAT!

Sandhill Cranes and Trumpeter Swans are the avian highlights.

Sparky tries shooting through the red fall foliage to create some unique and creative wildlife photos.

All photos taken with Canon R5 and Canon 100-500mm lens

YouTube video and gallery below.

http://www.sparkyphotos.com (My photo galleries)

Is it possible to get into the heart of a Western Grebe colony and witness the amazing and complex courtship of these water birds? It certainly is….if you use a floating blind/floating hide. In this episode of Shooting with Sparky he and Ryan take you out to central North Dakota’s prairie pothole region where spring bird courtship was in full swing! Western Grebes were the star of the show, performing their courtship rituals right in front of us including the “weed-dance,” “dip-shaking,” and of course, “rushing.”

Bird photography/Bird video from a floating blind is not an easy thing…but the Canon R5 makes it MUCH more possible. The animal-eye tracking works wonderfully when shooting at water level.

Other birds encountered included Eared Grebes, Red-necked Grebes, courting Forster’s Terns, American Avocets, Dunlin, and we visit an old friend at their nest, the Ferruginous Hawk.

http://www.thephotonaturalist.com

http://www.sparkyphotos.com

Virtually Live 25 S2E10

In this episode of Virtually Live from the Sax-Zim Bog, Sparky Stensaas shares his favorite sightings from the last month, including FIVE SPECIES OF OWLS, MINK, BOBCAT, ERMINE & WOLF! All in the Sax-Zim Bog of northern Minnesota from early February through early March.

Encounters with FIVE different owl species in Sax-Zim are highlighted… An adorable Northern Saw-whet Owl hunts below a feeder; A Great Gray plunges into the snow and pulls up a vole; chickadees help him find a Barred Owl soaking up the sun at Fringed Gentian Bog; a Snowy Owl NOT on a power pole!; and a Northern Hawk Owl returns to the Bog and performs and preens for the camera.

Sparky also shares some ETIQUETTE for watching and enjoying Great Grays without disturbing them.

In additIon, we watch a Mink hunt for fish, see an Ermine in hunting mode and enjoy a Bobcat just sitting there.

We also make a stop at the Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center to see what’s happening there: Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls in slow motion.

And lots more!

Though I do still enjoy a beautiful “bird on a stick” frame-filling portrait, more satisfying to me now is a wider field of view showing the bird or mammal in its native habitat. It tells more of a story about how and where that critter lives. Here are my favorites from 2021

We had about three days of GORGEOUS rime ice in early January 2021. It coated everything in a huge area of northern Minnesota. Rime ice is basically dense fog that freezes. That is how it differs from hoar frost. In hindsight, I should have spent A LOT more time looking for subjects amongst this crazy backdrop since it only occurs rarely. I did find this Common Redpoll out my living room window though. Its red cap adds a much-needed splash of color to the scene.

Maybe this is less “bird-in-the-landscape” and more “specks on the horizon” but the two flocks of geese (squint real hard!) add a lot to this rural western Minnesota farms cape.

It is not everyday that you can take a winner image while taking the garbage cans out to the road! Here three tom Wild Turkeys are in full display mode for the numerous hens just out of frame. I like the backlit feathers and aspen catkins.

I didn’t even notice the moon until well into my trip to North Ottawa Impoundment. Then I had the “aha” moment, and started taking hundreds of photos pointing my camera straight up into the azure blue spring sky. I like this wider image that has the moon in line with the Snow Geese, and I also appreciate that the line of migrating geese goes from upper left to lower right corner of the frame.

Hey, this IS the native landscape for Rock Pigeons! They live/nest in this old warehouse in Superior, Wisconsin. I just like the symmetry of the windows as well as the texture and colors of the weathered boards and tin siding…oh, and the pigeons add to the photo too.

Porcupines are relatively easy to find in late spring in the Sax-Zim Bog due to the fact that they feast on willow and aspen catkins relatively low in the woods. I framed this fella with blobs of yellow by shooting through a flowering willow with a larger aperture.

I do love this shot….BUT…I wish I had left the tern more space on the right so I could crop it so the bird was more to the left of the frame.

The “Badlands” are really a land of plenty for the many critters that live there. Though it appears to be an inhospitable landscape, there is no shortage of wildlife that call it home such as this curious (cautious?) Cottontail.

Gilded Flickers are close cousins to our Northern Flickers, but they are only found in their preferred Saguaro cactus habitat in Arizona and extreme SE California. They even excavate nest cavities in the prickly cacti.

Dusk in the floating blind. I thought shooting time was over, but I noticed the thunderheads turning pink on the horizon and wondered if I could get some ducks in the foreground. It didn’t take long before I maneuvered the blind into position for a raft of four Blue-winged Teal. But before I could get a shot, they jumped into the air and were gone. But I got lucky, as this frame turned out to be my favorite.

Nighthawks are rarely seen in the full sun of daytime. They are primarily a bird of dusk when they take wing to suck up flying insects in the air. That tiny bill opens to reveal a huge gaping mouth, which is all the better for inhaling mosquitos.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

I intentionally included the meandering tracks of this early-returning pair of Trumpeter Swans as it lent a bit of visual interest. This would be a killer shot with more dramatic light.

You don’t often see Tufted Titmouse in Minnesota, and when you do they are usually tucked into an evergreen. I like the out-of-focus leaves that make orangish blobs of color that match the buffy sides of the titmouse.

You build it and they will come. That is certainly true of the impoundment project called North Ottawa. Now every spring, tens of thousands of geese state here on their way north. Quite a sight, and an even more impressive auditory experience.

I HAVE to get down here to photograph this nest in early spring next year. I love this shot, but it would even be better with the spring green of just-emerging leaves to warm up the scene. Big bird, big nest, big tree.

On their way back to the Arctic, Rough-legged Hawks hunt open areas all over the upper midwest.

I just like the gray of the Great Gray amongst the white branches of the aspens. Last year’s leaves add a pop of subtle color.

This picture really shouts, “North Dakota.” A land of open country, grasslands, empty spaces, and prairie birds such as this lone Sharp-tailed Grouse.

A River Otter sighting can brighten a gloomy spring day.

Northeast winds had stacked shards of blue ice along the shore at Lighthouse point on Lake Superior. I used a small aperture to keep the Red-breasted Mergansers in focus while giving some detail to the ice.

I just like the leading lines of the Ocotillo that bring the eye to a stunner of a bird; the Varied Bunting which is in full song.

Montana isn’t the only ” big sky country”! North Dakota has its share of vast skyscapes. A lone Yellow-headed Blackbird sings to the sky its melodious song….STOP…let me rephrase that…A lone Yellow-headed Blackbird croaks out its grating call to any other blackbirds that might be nearby.

Not many other birds share the same habitat as the White-throated Swift! Crevices in bare rock cliffs is where this relative of the swallow nest. And this one is swooping up into its retreat on the one and only Devil’s Tower.

I just LOVE birds perched on rusty barbed wire…and especially if there is an old wood fence post in the frame as well. Jackpot! Black-throated Sparrow in the Chihuahuan Desert on the Arizona-New Mexico line.

I like this photo of Evening Grosbeaks in white-barked Aspens …but I would LOVE it if there were a few more in the center of the frame…and if the others were looking into the center. Oh well.

Just a tiny bit of rim light illuminates these Black-tailed Prairie Dogs at sunset in Teddy Roosevelt National Park. Moody!

Yellow bird amongst yellowish grasses in a snowy scene. An early-arriving Eastern Meadowlark is greeted by an April snowstorm.

Maybe a portrait and not a bird-in-the-landscape but kind of in-between. Enjoyed a wonderful morning in the sagebrush flats south of Pinedale, Wyoming, and the surprisingly colorful Sagebrush Sparrow was a species I’d never photographed before.

Just allow me one more “bird in frosty landscape” shot.

The water has been rising in central North Dakota for years. The last time I visited this spot six years ago, this tree was still on dry land! A lone Western Grebe confirms that this is now a permanent lake.

It is always fun to stumble upon a Great Gray in a spot where you don’t expect them. This was an early morning jaunt in the Superior National Forest to look for Moose (which I did find). I love its perch and wanted to include the whole thing in the photo.

What can I say? I like birds in frosty landscapes!

Well, this concludes my “Top Tens” of 2021 posts. Now I better get out there and start shooting so I will have some Top Tens of 2022 to share next year!

All photos taken with Canon R5 and Canon 100-500mm lens