Today’s post is a macro shot I made last week, at the prairie I recently discovered. This place is a gem!

Bumble Bee on Common Horse Gentian (Triosteum perfoliatum) wildflower

On my Friday kayak outing, I noticed an extraordinary Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) activity. When I arrived and launched the kayak, ~20 minutes before sunrise, I immediately saw several muskrats swimming about. A while later, I decided to sit and watch the activity to see what was going on. It didn’t take long! One pair of muskrats would swim out ~50 feet from their hut, dive, and stay underwater for ~30 seconds. They would then surface with a mouthful of nesting materials, which I immediately identified as some American Lotus stalks and lily pads from last year, with an occasional fresh Lotus pad (the American Lotus is just now beginning to lay down their pads and some shoots are even beginning to grow up out of the water). They would swim back to their hut with the material, diving as they approached the hut. After 1-2 minutes, they would repeat this activity. Looks like love in the air for the muskrats!

Here are a few images I took of the Muskrats in action:

And after several trips with nesting material, this Muskrat decided some “fresh cut greens” would be nice:

I realize that snakes are not wildlife favorites of many people, but they do play an important part in our ecosystems. Many snakes help control rodents and pests, while some help to control insects. This post deals with the water snakes. Typical prey of the water snakes include frogs, fish, and sometimes juvenile turtles and small mammals. No matter how “disliked”, they play an important on keeping nature in balance.

In the areas where I kayak, I sometimes run across water snakes. Fortunately, we are located north of the boundary where the venomous Cottonmouth lives. In our area, we have 2 types of water snakes: the Diamondback Water Snake (Nerodia rhombifera rhombifera) and the Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon). The Diamondback is Missouri’s largest water snake and is named for the light areas along the snake’s back which may be shaped like diamonds. These snakes bite viciously to defend themselves, but will usually try to flee, if given the chance. The Northern Water Snake, locally known as the Banded Water Snake, is Missouri’s most common water snake.

This past week, I have been kayaking in one of my local state Conservation areas, for the first time this year. This is a very unique place that I just found out about last summer. This location is about 11 miles from my house and is located on a secluded country road.  It is 67 acres in size and contains a pond, with several islands located within the pond, and some marshy areas. When I first found out about it, I learned that this is a man-built area that was built as a private duck hunting club a long time ago. In 1985, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) acquired the area and hunting is no longer allowed. The MDC manages it to preserve the wetland habitat. The area surrounding the pond is a diked area, but is not passable anymore due to inactivity, allowing trees and shrubs to grow a heavy barrier all the way around the pond. On my many trips there, with my kayak, I have only seen one car of people there … a couple of birders looking for warblers. So essentially this area is my private photo lab!

During my kayak trips there last year, I always saw water snakes, but never very many. On my visit the other day, however, I observed many water snakes at this location. In the ~4 hours I was there, I must have seen 15-20 different water snakes, mostly the Diamondback, but a couple of Northern Water snakes.

Here is a photo of one of the Northern Water Snakes that I got from the kayak. Note the unbroken, dark bands that run across the snake’s body, behind the head:

The Diamondback Water Snake, on the other hand, does not have bands that completely surround the back. The Diamond back has a “broken up” pattern that sometimes resembles a “diamond”:

But I did get quite a surprise the other day. I rounded one of the islands and saw a group of Diamondback Water Snakes mating. I’m not sure exactly how many were in this group, but I did see at least 4, possibly more. Here are a couple of images taken of this activity:

Now I know why activity in the pond was so high! I was there at the peak of the water snakes’ mating! I’ve been back to this location a couple of times since this observation and the snake activity has resumed the more normal, laid-back activity I would normally see. Sometimes I’m asked how I can kayak in the area with so many snakes. My answer is simply that these snakes are like most wildlife; if they can avoid human encounters, they will do so. If forced into a defensive mode, they will bite (and hard!) but their normal behavior is flight. Even so, I never seem to doze off while lazily waiting in the kayak for some wildlife activity, even though I may have not gotten much sleep the night before!

A couple of mornings ago, I visited my new-found prairie to see what wildflowers were blooming. As soon as I entered the meadow area, I was greeted with several really nice stands of several wildflower species! In this post, I will highlight the Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) plant. I was surprised at the number of Spiderwort plants that were in bloom. When I first discovered this area, about a month ago, there were a few Spiderworts blooming, but have since faded. Currently, there are Spiderwort plants blooming all over the meadow!

Here’s what a typical Spiderwort plant looks like:

This photo was taken just a bit after sunrise and dew was still very heavy. We had some heavy rains the night before and the humidity was atrocious this morning. But the forecast was for some heavy fog, so I was hoping for some fog over the prairie, but this land is located on high ground, so none was seen. But it didn’t take long for me to get all wet. And when I left, I could squeeze water out of my pant legs!

I also took a lot of macro images with the wildflowers. Here are a few of my favorites:

In a few days, I will feature some of the other wildflower plants that are now blooming at this location.

Today’s post is an experiment … I’ve been collecting some video as I kayak, from my point-and-shoot digital camera (Pentax Optio W60 waterproof camera). I don’t know how well the video will work on this blog, but I certainly want to find out. If it works reasonably well, I will be adding video to some of my posts that feature wildlife. I’d like to have some of you who view this video to please give me a brief synopsis of how well it presents, whether good or bad. One comment: I am a photographer, not a videographer, so please keep that in mind. Also, taking video of moving subjects with a point-and-shoot camera is difficult to do, especially from a kayak! So, I’m afraid the video will be a bit “bouncy” at times. But I’m more concerned with actual video quality … both the video and audio. So here goes, with a video taken last week of a Common Yellowthroat Warbler (Geothlypis trichas) as I searched for warblers along a creek bank:

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Roseatte Spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja)

In part 1 of this 3-part post, the focus was primarily on the Grey Whales of Laguna San Ignacio. When we left this area, we ran upon a pod of ~12 Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) that began breaching, tail lobbing, and fin slapping, non-stop, for well over 30 minutes.  With so many of them, there was barely a second that there wasn’t at least one whale out of the water! I have seen breaching Humpbacks and Orcas before, but nothing like the display we witnessed in Baja!

The images were extremely difficult to get of these magnificent creatures. When we found them, the water was very rough and it was a major job just to stand still and photograph! And when we left the whales, the boat’s captain explained to us that the water was getting to be “unsafe” for our 100-foot boat. Nevertheless, this has got to be one of the grandest experiences I have ever witnessed with marine animals!

This guy was soooo close to being 100% out of the water!

Just as this whale hits the water, a dolphin emerges (and you can see the fin from a second dolphin, behind this one)

As this whale emerges from the water, you can see the splash of another one, on the lefthand side of the image

This whale is twisting as he breaches. Note the head twisting in a clockwise direction.

This Humpback lifts his tail high out of the water and prepares to slap it against the water surface, an activity called “tail lobbing”

And this whale is about to land on another Humpback that has just breached!

And “Synchronized Breaching” was observed (almost missed this one as they are nearly in the water)

This Humpback breaches with a “salute” to us

Another total breach out of the water

And one final, good-bye breach!

Hope you enjoyed the Baja Humpbacks. I will be posting one final Baja post in a few days, featuring some blue whales, dwarf sperm whales, manta rays, and mobula rays.

Today’s post is a macro image I took last summer at one of my local conservation areas. The subject was a small fly (unknown genus or species) that was sitting on an American Lotus lilly pad, next to a water droplet that lay on the pad. As I glided past it in the kayak, I stopped, put my 180mm macro lens on my camera body, and took a few images.  Macro images from a kayak can be quite difficult. First, there is no way I can use a tripod in the kayak. Second, most photographers use manual focus to fine-tune the focus of the image. From the kayak, the only possible way is to use autofocus. And not only do you have to worry about movement of the subject, but also “camera shake” and also the kayak movement. So when I shoot macros from the kayak, I shoot lots and lots of images. I increase the ISO (to be able to shoot a bit faster), as well as a lot of variations in the Aperture setting. When it’s all done, I usually get at least a few reasonable images.

A while back, I published a post on a Great Blue Heron rookery that is not too far from me.  At that time, I was focusing on one nest that I could get a pretty clean shot to, through the trees. And at that time, the nest had eggs that were being incubated by the adults. Since then, I visited the nest again, a week ago … still incubating eggs. Then I visited the nest this past Friday evening. Here is the view I saw when I got there and set up my gear:

Was the adult heron standing to take a break from incubating the eggs, or were there babies in the nest? I just watched for some time, wondering if any babies were there.  A while later, this was the scene:

Without warning, this chick raised his head up to look around. Wobbly and uncertain, he gently waivered about. I knew he was less than a week old as no chicks were there last weekend.  Now, I wondered how many chicks there were.  It didn’t take long to find out:

A second, fuzzly little head! Now, were there more? I patiently waited, but 2 was it. I watched and photographed the 2 over an hour. But most of the time they would lower back down and sleep, another indication they were newborns. I really wanted to get some shots of the little ones feeding, but the opportunity never arose. But there was one close call. An adult GB Heron flew in to the rookery, with the usual “croaking” sound.  When that happened, both chicks immediately perked up and looked towards the sky … food delivery time? Even the adult in the nest with the chicks arched his head skyward to see the incoming heron. But the incoming heron landed in the nest immediately above the nest I was photographing. Here is the scene as the incoming heron made his approach to the nest:

I will be monitoring this nest on a weekly basis to photograph the progress of the 2 little ones. As appropriate, I will add updated posts with images on my blog. Next week, I’m hoping to get some images of the little ones being fed!

Yesterday’s kayak outing was another superb experience! Warblers everywhere. A young beaver dragging a recently-cut small sapling down the creek and then diving in front of his lodge, taking the sapling with him.  An adult bald eagle flyover. What else can you ask for?

One of the highlights of this trip was a Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) and his behavior, which I had never seen before.  I had been drifting down the creek, next to the bank, photographing warblers as I came upon them.  As I was floating, this little male flew in and landed on a dead tree branch, only about 10 feet from me.  Immediately, he struck such a pose … one that I had not seen before:

No, he wasn’t preparing to sing. And no, he wasn’t irritated at me being there. No sooner had I taken the above image, the following scenario played out, right in front of me:

He had seen another male Prothonotary Warbler flying into his territory!  This second warbler landed about a foot away from the first one. The first male immediately went on the offensive; he was just defending his territory from this second male Prothonotary Warbler!  I have seen males chase off other males many times, but this is the first time I saw a “standoff”.  But this is the kind of photography that I love, showing actions and behaviors.  If a subject is not willing to cooperate, then yes, I will photograph a static subject.  But when there is behavior/action going on, I’m in heaven!