Illgen Falls, Baptism River

Yesterday I made my first images of Illgen Falls on the Baptism River.  A beautiful waterfall but a difficult one to photograph.  There is an easy, nice path that brings you to the top edge of the falls but no easy route (that I could find) that allows you to photograph the falls from the bottom.  I did find a route down but it was very muddy, slippery and steep.  Also, once at the bottom, it was difficult to compose a shot with my tripod because there are basically only a couple of places to stand and you are right on the edge of the rocks.  One could easily fall into the river here if you're not careful!  Anyway, it's a beautiful waterfall with a nice plunge pool at the bottom and I loved this cedar framing the shot on the right.  

The Power of Partridge Falls

Last night I visited Partridge Falls for the first time this year.  I've often said that Partridge Falls is my favorite of all waterfalls and I would say that still holds true.  There is just something about it that amazes me more than any other waterfall.  For one thing, I love the fact that you can stand right at the base of it and literally get drenched from the spray.  And that is exactly what happened in the making of this shot.  

The mosquitoes are pretty awful right now so before walking down to the falls I coated myself with a liberal dose of bug spray.  This worked great for the hike down to the falls as the mosquitoes barely landed on me.  In order to make this shot I had to stand directly in the path of the mist that was shooting out from the base of the falls.  I only stood in that spot for about half a minute but in that time I got totally soaked which, of course, washed off most of the bug spray!  The walk back to the truck was an ordeal as I felt like I was getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes.  Just one of the many things I put myself through in order to bring you these images :-)

Heron with fish at Crex Meadows

Here is another fun bird shot that I got from my afternoon at Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in Grantsburg, Wisconsin.  I was actually heading out of the refuge starting on my way home when I rounded a corner and saw this heron standing completely still in the water.  He looked poised and ready to stab a fish so I quickly pulled over and got the camera ready.  He was standing completely motionless, leaning forward and starting down into the water.  He held this position for about a minute, then with lightning-fast reflexes he jabbed his beak into the water and came up with a fish.  He quickly walked over to a nearby piece of dry land and put the fish down on the ground.  He then proceeded to jab it 3 or 4 times with his beak, presumably to kill it.  Once the fish was no longer moving, he picked it up and swallowed it.  Sure was interesting to watch :-)

Sandhill Crane colt with parent at Crex Meadows

As much as I enjoyed watching and photographing the various families of swans at Crex Meadows, the highlight of my day was seeing a pair of Sandhill Cranes with a young colt.  I have been traveling to Nebraska every spring for the past 7 years to photograph the cranes which is an amazing spectacle but you don't see the colts there since they aren't nesting yet.  I wasn't sure if I would ever see one in person so I was absolutely thrilled to see this family during my visit to Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in Grantsburg, Wisconsin!  At first when I came across these cranes all I could see were the adults.  I had been watching them a few moments when all of a sudden the head of the little colt popped up from the grass!  The young crane was so small that he only showed up every now and then when he got into a patch of grass that was shorter than him.  I only saw the colt for less than a minute but it was long enough to get one good shot.  After that he was back in the tall grass and I never saw him again.  I feel extremely fortunate not only to have seen the colt but also to have walked away with this shot!  

Video: Swan Families at Crex Meadows

Remember the swan photos that I posted yesterday?  I also shot some video of them and thought I would share that with you today. 

Swan Family

Yesterday I had to make a trip to the twin cities to pick up some prints that I've had on display at the DNR offices in St. Paul for the last 3 months.  I really didn't have anything to do for the day other than pick up the prints, so I had some flexibility with my time.  On the way down I noticed the sign for the exit to Grantsburg, Wisconsin and thought to myself "Hmmmmm.... I could make a little side trip to Crex Meadows on the way home!"  Once that thought was in my head, I couldn't resist.  I went to St. Paul, picked up my prints and turned around to head back north.  When I again got to the sign for Grantsburg, I turned east.  

I arrived at Crex Meadows about 1:00 in the afternoon and spent the next 4 hours there.  It ended up being a great way to spend my afternoon as I had several nice wildlife encounters and came away with a lot of good photographs of those encounters.  The first highlight for me was seeing all the families of Swans.  I've been to Crex Meadows a few times before but never when there were baby swans around (or "cygnets" as they are called).  I saw half a dozen family units of Swans with numbers of young ranging from two to eight individuals.  Several of them were right close to the roadways of the refuge so I was able to get some really close shots.  My favorite encounter was the adult pair that had eight young cygnets.  They were 20 feet from the road and the adults were bathing when I came upon them.  They were both half-diving under water and splashing water on themselves, sometimes rolling almost completely over to do so.  There was a beaver lodge nearby and after bathing they walked up onto the side of the lodge and spent the next half-hour drying and preening themselves. During this time the little ones also climbed up onto the lodge and took a little nap.  It was great fun watching these beautiful birds and a delightful surprise to my afternoon!  

Light Speed to the Milky Way

I can't help it, this photo makes me think of the original Star Wars movies when the Millennium Falcon makes the jump to light speed.  This photo is a 30 second exposure of the Milky Way Galaxy. The streaking star effect was created by zooming the lens during the exposure.  For the first 15 seconds I let the camera record the image at 17mm, then for the next 15 seconds I very slowly and as steadily as I could zoomed the lens from 17 to 40mm.  I think the resulting effect is pretty darn cool!  Punch it Chewie!