Sometimes when trying to photograph wildlife at various parks and preserves in Siouxland I swear they really work at trying to avoid me and my endeavors. A red-headed woodpecker a year or so ago would always land near me and make its call. And just as I raised my lens it would fly off, only to land nearby and start the process over again. I guess on some mornings I was cheap entertainment.
Watching wildlife feed and stalk its food sources is fascinating. And although some of these birds are the same species I have photographed many times before, they still give me a challenge in capturing their movements. Autofocus is great, but sometimes that muscle memory and manual focus is a needed skill. But with age and glasses, technology is still welcomed. And I am happy to utilize focus peaking when manually focusing. Most mirrorless camera bodies now incorporate that feature, which is great for crowded subject fields as well as shooting in low light situations.
When I began in earnest in photographing birds and other critters a few years ago in Siouxland, I began to slow down and observe the little creatures as I walked about nature preserves like Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve and the antics they displayed at various times. Sometimes it’s in watching them that these characteristics become apparent and entertaining to a certain extent.
A white-breasted nuthatch danced around a couple feeders, checking out its surroundings before giving into the temptation of a meal. Making certain its foray would end well and not imperil it as hunger made it move closer to a food source. I thought it was quite a “floor show” as the small bird danced about, attaching itself to the feeders, retrieving a morsel, flying away, devouring that morsel, then returning for another. All the while contemplating its advances to the food. Maybe humanities ancestors did the same when hunting for food in the beginnings of time, as opposed now to visiting a restaurant and getting in line at a buffet. Then returning again and again until sated.
Sometimes it isn’t until after the fact when I have been out traversing Siouxland that I run across various images that may or may not have anything in common. By themselves they may be simple, nondescript kinds of photographs. And some folk may think that anyway even as a collective. But collectively images should have something in common.
It’s possible that even a tenuous element(s) can create a common factor. I find color is one such element. And it mostly depends on how one sees color and if color then becomes the main subject matter, relegating that actual subject of the photograph as a secondary subject. Beauty and art is in the eye of the beholder. Andy Warhol proved that time and again.
As spring officially ticks closer via the calendar in Siouxland, I always anticipate seeing the American Robin singing and hanging out in backyards. To me, when the presence of robins occurs, it is a sure sign that warmer weather is here for the year until it’s time for winter to return.
Robins will sometimes hang out in this area of Siouxland until the cold becomes too much. Many times I will find them south in the Omaha, NE area which isn’t all that far south, but evidently far enough and warm enough for the creatures. Winter is still on in this area even as I have relatives somewhat complaining about more winter in their neck of the woods, the Siouxland region seems to be a magnet for the snow and cold, and sometimes just the cold.
So, wishing a speedy return of the robin and the warm weather it will usher in and hopeful it is sooner than later.
It’s always interesting to revisit places I have previously photographed while out and about in Siouxland. Time of day, time of year, varying types of weather. As the joke goes in much in the country, “Just wait five minutes and the weather will change”. Spirit Mound is one such place I have frequented over time. It was one of the stopping over points during the Lewis and Clark expedition as they traveled the west for then President Thomas Jefferson, later known as the Louisiana Purchase.
One never quite knows what one might find upon another visit. Different seasons definitely gives one a different look and view. Spring and summer plants are growing while fall they begin to dial back and winter it’s either brown or white. Add in a little fog and hoar frost and it is very white.
And while an individual photograph may not knock one’s socks off, collectively they tell a bit of a story and give a more expansive view and idea about a place. Spirit Mound is not an exciting destination to visit, but depending on the circumstances and time of year, it can be a pleasant and quiet place to enjoy and contemplate life as it continues moving forward.
I am trying to anticipate a little bit what some of my favorite animal haunts might be like this coming spring and summer. With a severe drought in progress the last 2-3 years a lot of places have dried up. This winter has brought some relief with added moisture, but with frigid temperatures is that moisture soaking into the ground or just evaporating in the sunshine.
As a novice kind of birder, it is challenging to get close to these critters to be able to photograph them. Using a long telephoto lens helps, but still there is some distance between where they are and where I can stand or hide. Some of the nature preserves have blinds, others do not. Some days my patience does well, other days, I just keep walking.
Maybe somedays I am not the most observant person, focused on some thing in particular and excluding other sights that should also command my attention. I have ventured out in a limited fashion this year in Siouxland looking for critters and migratory birds but to me it seems that the migration passed me by or is not following a pattern of what I have observed in years past, which could easily be the case.
I have ventured already to some familiar places looking for migratory birds in December and January but have not found much of any thing. Even local wildlife that hangs out at such places. And my birding skills are vastly inferior to others I know, not seeing flying geese or other birds isn’t the same as finding certain species of song birds that pass through the area and are no larger than say a house sparrow.
I never mind getting out and taking a look, but am ever hopeful that my interest my at least afford me an opportunity to pull my camera out of its bag and make a couple of photographs. Of course, in the kind of weather as we have been having, I fault no feathered visitor in finding a warmer, more user friendly place to shelter in and hang out until conditions are better for its journey. I bitch and moan a bit about getting out in sub degree weather to look for these guys, and am not the “one on the road” traveling to a destination looking for fair winds and smooth sailing.
Depending on where one walks at times it is possible to meet and greet another trails in Siouxland, my hope is always that it’s a critter of some kind. Of course, coming across them in warmer weather is always a plus and sunshine makes the images snap a bit more that shooting on an extremely cold day with a grey overcast sky.
But it’s also true that I won’t meet any passersby on a trail if I am not actually walking on the trail looking for them. Temperatures have recently been creeping upwards towards the mid 30’s and the hard, crusted, ice encased compacted snow has begun to melt a little bit. But then, weather folk say more rain, they snow is on the way. Winter is still here and thoughts of spring will continue to be just that, thoughts and dreams.
As I began photographing more birds both near home and in parks around Siouxland I began to pay more attention to the perches these feathered folk use. Sometimes it is very sturdy and at others it seems to follow that phrase “any port in a storm” where they may situate themselves as they take stock of the surrounding area. Birds in some of the parks have sometimes more choice for perches, as often times these places also provide a kind of prairie habitat which is generally not available in neighborhoods within a community.
And photographing in these two different places create their own challenges. In a neighborhood one can sit a spell, especially near feeders and birds will come and go and possible give more opportunities to photograph them as they rest on a perch before heading to a feeder. Whereas in the park’s meadow area the birds can see you coming from some distance off and I have found one is only able to get so close necessitating the use of a long lens often times with a teleconverter to make an image of the bird “in the wild” so to speak. And of course as in so many things, timing is everything. Sometimes the act of bringing a camera to one’s eye will spook a bird so one needs to be aware and judge how close and how long one wants to hold a lens up into a position to get a photograph of a particular subject.
In the meadow areas using a tripod or monopod is just another piece of gear to carry for some distance, possibly a few miles while hiking, which is not always fun and tiring. So trade offs are made while one “enjoys” oneself out in nature with possibly the benefit of a photograph of some creature also enjoying the day.
Every January in Siouxland the Dakota Farm Show takes place at the Dakota Dome on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD. All types of mostly agricultural type vendors attend to show interested parties, mostly farmers and those of like minds, what goods might help make their lives more productive and easier to pursue.
This year it seemed attendance was limited at the farm show because of bad winter storm weather that occurred during the week of the event. A winter storm sweeping across the entire United States and bringing very cold temperatures, blowing wind and snow storms that dumped tremendous amounts of the white stuff in various parts of Siouxland. Although speaking to some vendors attendance picked up the middle day of the three day event when the wind wasn’t blowing the snow as hard and the sun began peaking out from behind grey, cloudy skies.
One interesting note, although I didn’t photograph it, was one young woman reading a book, while most others, of all ages, were perusing their phones while waiting for folk to stop by and see what products might interest them. And missing this year from past years were large tractors with tires standing taller than most people and other “large scale” equipment pieces, except for a shed installation. It is understandable though that traveling in challenging weather conditions is less than ideal for some inventory compared to just moving smaller boxes to set up a display. And interests and products change from year to year, depending on the needs of those agricultural people (read farmers) who use it.
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 