Photographing the American Dipper

The target for our vlog video this afternoon was Gateway Natural Area.  We had wanted to return for a couple of reasons.  The first and biggest was to see if the Pygmy Owls had returned to nest in the picnic area.  The second was to photograph Kingfishers, of which we had seen plenty in past visits.  These goals were not to be met.  Well, mostly not met.  A park ranger would distract us. For a video of our adventures at Gateway Natural Area, check out our YouTube video.

Pygmy Owl Watching Us Watch Them Photo By Monique Renee Eckes

The search for the Pygmy Owls began almost immediately with a quick scouting of the picnic area.  Last year we sited them in this area and ended up with a great set of photos and a pretty nice YouTube video.  The owls were nowhere to be seen.  There were no owl pellets on the ground, nothing to show that they were hanging around the picnic area.  We returned to our car to get our camera kits for hiking upriver along the Cache La Poudre River in search of King Fishers.  That was when it happened! A park ranger was driving by and she stopped.  There was a short conversation regarding the Pygmy Owls’ presence. The main takeaway was that they were around, just not nesting, and not always around the picnic area.  They were feeding on the bats that had set up residence in one of the old water filtration buildings in the area.   Needless to say, we were a little disappointed in not seeing the owls when we were there. 

Just as the ranger leaving, she asked if we wanted to see a dipper’s nest.  We of course had only one answer to that question.  Of course, we were.  We met her on the riverbank, and she pointed out the nest.  It was directly across the river from us.  It looked like a mass of sticks and moss, nothing more.  Then a dipper flew up to it.  Perched for about a second or maybe two and flew off.  On a closer appraisal, we could see a small hole in the mass where the nestlings were.  That determined the next few hours of our stay. 

American Dipper Feeding Its Young Photo By Steve Eckes

We set up our equipment.  Monique got busy shooting the parents as they flew up and down the river.  They would frequently stop on exposed rocks and do their dipper thing where they would bob up and down and then dive into the water after some insect.  I chose to set up the tripod and work on getting photos of the nestlings and parents interacting at the nest.  A wireless remote shutter trigger was also added to the camera.  This allowed me to trigger the shutter whenever and wherever I was standing without worrying about jostling the camera.  It was a good idea in theory.  I found that the remote trigger could not keep up with the high-speed frame rate that I had set on the camera.   So, I resigned myself to getting even better at triggering the shutter without causing the camera to shake.  We were both finally set up.  Monique had taken on the more arduous task of chasing these fast-flying birds, trying to catch the birds in focus with little motion blur and framed nicely.  A task she relishes.  I on the other hand chose the more boring task of hitting the shutter release whenever the parent birds were near the nest, hoping to get some interesting shots. 

An American Dipper Perched on Rock in the River

The sky contained big fluffy clouds that would frequently block out the sun causing sudden shifts in the light.  Photographing anything in these circumstances would be a little bit more challenging.  Camera settings you ask?  The settings varied depending on the light, the wind, and where the birds were being photographed, inflight, or perched on something. It was a fun time, and we took some pretty good photos.  As storm clouds started rolling in we decided to call it quits for the day