Nature seems to always be surprising me, even when I don’t know that it is. But I keep learning even if by mistake. Spring time is filled with love in the air, even in Siouxland. Finding these two finches becoming animated a birder friend explained to me the male house finch is courting the female house finch and in the process showing its ability to be a good provider. Seems love the kind of thing that crosses the line of all species. And as the saying goes, “Watch and Learn.”
Sometimes trying to photograph a subject presents challenges of its own, in Siouxland and elsewhere, and “seeing the light” and best understanding the best way, and sometimes only way to make a photograph helps one grow and learn.
A recent visit to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE found some of the animals active as they receive their morning meal or snack. This is most often the case. Even when traipsing about in the countryside animals are more active in the morning hours.
The morning sunlight did a nice job of illuminating the wire fencing surrounding the orangutan enclosure at the zoo. And certain changes at the zoo with access or how close one can get also prevented one from finding a better angle to help alleviate or position oneself to photograph the young primate while it ate and be able to show its face. In addition to the sun, there was the matter of focusing on the face. Today’s AF points are pretty small allowing one to zero on a specific spot to autofocus, but trying to achieve that through the fencing presented its own set of problems. And the little guy did not want to sit still while trying to squeeze every last bit of meal from the package in its hands.
That left me using manual focus which is okay, but I have noticed as one gets older and the glasses go from being a single eye prescription to one that includes bi and try-focal additions, life get interesting.
The Olympus camera body I am currently using does allow one to set bright, colored peakness focusing assistance which helped me make certain the young orangutan was sharp.
Then an older orangutan was eating its meal sitting in a much brighter area of the enclosure and not cooperating by looking my way while I was trying to photograph it. But its mind and tummy was focused elsewhere. The same problems photographing the younger primate sitting in shade applied here as well and I probably made a number of images trying to keep focus and catching a look of the eyes as it fed.
I am one not opposed to practicing my skill set at times and I was getting the hand/eye coordination and seeing and hitting the shutter at the right moment as this orangutan moved about eating. One never knows either, that sometimes nice images can be made with a little patience and practice. While none of the images are stellar, the fact that the younger primate’s face shows keeps the attention on him and his activity of eating even with the distracting sunlit wire fencing.
And then there is photographing your subjects behind glass.
Recently I attended a Loess Hills Prairie Seminar in Siouxland which is going on 40 plus years. But because of previous work commitments in past years, I have never attended one. It is fascinating the wealth of information learned during this outing. The downside is that I couldn’t be in more than one place at a time and so while able to photograph different seminar events, learning about various subjects was limited because of that pesky timeline/time warp continuum thingy.
One of the outings focused on a cemetery I have previously driven past while cruising some of the backroads in Siouxland but had never stopped. The South Jordan Cemetery is an early Negro burial site located in rural Monona County. It was recently placed on the National Register of Historic places in 2021. A long time coming. And just as recently signage about the cemetery was put up. But without attending the hike and talk the information I have found is limited to what is available online.
According to a Wikipedia account African Americans may have made their way to western Iowa using the Underground Railroad. Iowa became a state in 1846 but some believe the Underground Railroad theory is not correct because settlement in this part of the state took place after the Civil War. Of the known 20 or so burials, all but a couple are believed to be African American. Some if not all of the headstones were a bit hard to read, yet, they are there celebrating the lives of people who lived in the area prior to those of us now passing through.
I am still awed by the fact that places my feet have traversed others passed through decades if not a century or two prior. That timeline/continuum of life thingy stands the eons and knowledge that came before and will follow later is there. It’s just figuring out how to access it.
I wouldn’t exactly call myself a history buff, but I do like learning and attending presentations and exhibition in and around Siouxland where I can learn something new, or expand upon something I am familiar with but not necessarily know the entire story, or rest of the story as radioman Paul Harvey used to exclaim.
I recently visited the Nelson Mandela: The Officials Exhibition at the Durham Museum in Omaha, NE. It is slated to finish in early July. I am aware of who Mandela is/was and mostly remember him as a person who spent a considerable amount of time in prison only because he wanted fellow South African citizens to enjoy a free life away from the “colonial rule” that Afrikaners imposed on them after the Dutch colonized the country to its benefits a large swath of the country in the 1600’s.
The exhibit takes a deep dive into the man’s past, history and what led him to become the leader to free his fellow citizens and help them obtain the rights so long denied them by early occupiers, often mainly by force. The reading was fascinating but also the images that accompanies the exhibit showing a young Mandela who actually spent most of his life out of public view. Firstly, hiding from those who wanted to harm him, and later, in prison, after defying the ruling administration of the country and encouraging his fellow countrymen to stand up and seek their freedom.
I personally like history, more so when I learn something new and its purpose served the greater good and the “good guys” won. Some days during in recent years, I just have to wonder. Those who say they are the good guys and winning, are a bit suspect.
I have attended the Tulip Festival for many years in Siouxland which occurs over a three-day period. The community of Orange City celebrates its Dutch Heritage with sometimes well over 20,000 visitors in one day. A review of the various areas of the Netherlands are represented by folk in the regalia they wear which depicts what part of the country and the status of the folk wearing the outfits.
While that is educational, one of the better parts in my opinion is the street cleaning. It can never be clean enough.
The burgermeister or mayor, walks the parade route and then declares it untidy and a “band” of boys appear and begin to pour water onto the streets and each other followed by young and girls and often their mothers sweeping to make the street/parade route presentable for visitors to enjoy the parade.
Sometimes when driving about Siouxland I don’t always stop to visit places I thought I should. Then one day, I do. Nothing spectacular, or special on such a dreary day, but a chance to visit a place I have passed by a few times. If not now, when? This day was that day.
Everyone seems to have a routine when it comes to the end of day and the sun sets a little lower in the sky before dropping behind the horizon as nighttime falls. Even in Siouxland it seems critters use the remaining daylight hours to enjoy the moment before the coming night.
I enjoy driving about this time of day, and if parked somewhere in the country, the bird song fills the air almost up until evening is fully descended. Restoring a sense of calm and quiet, it’s a pleasant way to end one’s day. As the days get a bit longer there will be more time to enjoy the countryside and its residents if they care to share with a visitor passing through.
In my neck of the woods in Siouxland there seems to be a single or pair of Cooper’s Hawks that live about the area. I see one, rarely both, flying above or landing nearby, sometimes closer than I personally would like.
The weather this particular day had been off and on with a rain shower, although mostly off in the immediate area. So I was surprised when the hawk showed up looking a little ruffled and damp. Possibly getting caught in a down pout nearby and then finding a place to do a little drying off. The towel guy wasn’t available this particular day.
While out driving about some backroads in Siouxland I always feel so lucky when I come across wildlife and they take the time to acknowledge me, in a cautious way, as I try to take a few photographs from a distance to see if I can. I shoot a lot of frames these days because I know how fleeting some of these moments can be. Also, driving slowly on the back roads with minimal if no traffic is helpful in that I can pull to the side or shoulder safely and slip out of the car seat to get a better vantage point or angle and not feel like I am a contortionist behind the steering wheel.
This young deer came up from out of a field not far from where some Turkey Vultures were gathered eating carrion on the roadway. The deer looked about warily, walked a bit, ate a bit and then walked some more, stopping and starting as it found the greens it was looking for before disappearing off the roadway down into another field safe for another day.
With the wacky weather found in Siouxland and throughout the country, sometimes I wonder what particular season I am in. I believe spring stopped by here and then thought the seasons had jumped to summer, only to return to spring a couple days later. And while attending an event in Omaha I stopped by the Lauritzen Gardens where I felt certainly that spring had arrived.
I believe I arrived a little late, again, to see a field full of a million or more daffodils if one believes the signage. I did find telltale signs that the flowers were there. And a helpful garden “gardener” pointed out some other spots to check out while walking about the acreage so I could see a bit of spring, if not in my immediate area near home.
Even though it is a garden maintained for the purpose of area folk coming for visits, I admire the care and planning and execution of the variety of plants, flowering throughout the seasons, well except winter, outside that is. My green thumbs wilted and moved on years ago. So I appreciate the hard work and skill and care that creates this bit of a quiet haven within a city.
I live in the Siouxland area that encompasses a wide swatch of land in northwest Iowa, northeastern Nebraska and southeastern South Dakota. The people that inhabit this area are generous folk and your basic honest, Midwestern people you like to have as neighbors. I explore the area and share observations, mostly photographic, sometimes through video, and and short text. All images and video are copyrighted material of the author.
Jerry Mennenga, Sioux City, Iowa
jerrylmennenga@yahoo.com
lostinsiouxland 