How many of you knew nearly 30 years ago exactly where you'd be on August 21, 2017? I did. When I first turned the page in an astronomy book in 1987 and saw a nearly-eclipsed sun displaying the diamond ring and then the brilliant corona surrounding totality, I knew that was a sight I had to witness in person. Around that same time I was reading an astronomy book my dad had in his possession for several years. Not only did the book reinforce the brilliance to a total solar eclipse, but told me I could see one right here in the United States on August 21, 2017.

So the journey began.

Growing up as an astronomy enthusiast, I would spend countless hours under the night sky observing star clusters, nebulae, distant galaxies, meteors, and whatever I could view with the only tools I had, my eyes and a pair of relatively cheap binoculars. Later in life I would dabble in deep sky and GearThree DSLR's, 4k video camera, 4 tripods, and lots of expensive glass! landscape astrophotography, something that still holds my interest today. Meanwhile in the back of my head, the thought of witnessing a total solar eclipse never ceased. Sure, I had witnessed several partial solar eclipses and several total lunar eclipses, but both pale (significantly) in comparison to the splendor of a total solar eclipse.

Fast forward to 2016, a time when excitement about the impending total solar eclipse was beginning to rise rapidly.  Roughly a year before the eclipse, many towns along the path were just beginning to plan for the influx of visitors they would be welcoming the following August.  Some hotels began to raise their rates in anticipation of high demand, but thankfully I was able to find several hotels a year in advance that had not yet caught wind of eclipse - or at least hadn't realized the opportunity that would present itself. I booked two rooms, both for under $60 each, one in Grand Island, Nebraska, and the other in Marion, Illinois.  Both hotels offered free cancellation until 6 PM on August 20th - perfect! The entire premise of booking rooms in different geographic regions revolved entirely around the weather and being able to choose the location which appeared best suited for eclipse viewing. In the months leading up to the eclipse, I made several preparation for myself and my photo equipment, I purchased solar filters for 3 cameras, eclipse glasses for myself (and others), and of course, obligatory 'solar eclipse 2017' memorabilia. 

CloudsA lot of moisture advecting northward into Nebraska leading up to the eclipse. Months turned to weeks and weeks turned to days. It's hard to describe my anxiety and excitement in the days leading up to the eclipse. Outside of work my days were literally filled with painstakingly analyzing every available weather forecast model and NWS area forecast discussion I could find. Just ask my girlfriend, Bethany, exactly how buried I was in weather information for those few days. After 30 years of waiting, I wasn't about to let the weather send me into a tailspin of despair. It became clear about two days out that Grand Island was going to be out of the question. While it appeared sun was possible, the Grand Island area looked to have the highest probability of cloud cover anywhere along the path of totality. By that time it was becoming more clear that far southern Illinois into Tennessee looked quite good for eclipse viewing. Clear SkiesMy favorite forecast model for clouds showing clear skies in S. IL/W. KY/W. TN. I wasn't convinced that southern Illinois would be entirely cloud free, so on Saturday night, just 12 hours before I was to leave, I managed to find a hotel room a little to the southeast in Clarksville, TN.

The drive down to Clarksville was great.  Traffic was light and there were no real delays or issues anywhere (other than typical backups near construction zones). Arriving in Clarksville wasn't as great. The hotel I booked was terrible - the sell of mold/mildew and smoke was prevalent, the sheets were stained, the room wasn't well cleaned, and the bathroom door didn't even close! Ultimately we felt staying in the room would be unhealthy and I luckily managed to find a room nearby for $150, a rate that was a steal compared to the $300-$800 being sought for the few remaining rooms in the area.  Our new hotel was much better; time to settle in for the night - after looking at the forecast models one more time.

Bright blue skies!I woke to bright blue skies which only served to enhance my enthusiasm for the day. Waking up on eclipse morning was almost surreal - I knew the day had come, but I was still in preparation mode. I stepped outside around 8 AM to bright blue skies and started my day as I had the last few - perusing of the forecast models which only solidified that I was in an excellent area for eclipse viewing. My favorite cloud model showed the Clarksville area completely clear of any cirrus from the storms to the northwest and any typical fair-weather cumulus that develop on warm, humid days.  I felt as if we were on an island surrounded cumulus developing to the south and northwest but not in our area. My faith grew even stronger when additional forecast models showed a general agreement in cloud-free skies near eclipse time. I also knew the cooling once the eclipse got past about 50% would help to dissipate any small, rogue cumulus that developed. The hotel we stayed at had an adjacent large gravel SetupSetting up my gear and chatting with Connor McCrorey parking area with plenty of room to set up, I instead set up right in front of the hotel with a few other eclipse chasers who decided to avoid the crowds in nearby parks or the mega-crowd in Hopkinsville. Shortly after I began setting up, and long time acquaintance from the storm chasing world, Connor McCrorey showed up with his mother, father, and sister - it was great to meet someone I had "known" for years but had never met in person.

Happy Eclipse WatchersMy girlfriend Bethany and myself waiting for totality. The day was hot and it was sticky! Bethany decided to sit in the air conditioned vehicle (I don't blame her one bit) much of the time while I was setting up my camera equipment. Thankfully setting up my equipment and the visit from Connor made the time move fast because otherwise I would have driven myself crazy waiting. Checking the time when I finished setting up revealed that first contact (when disk of the moon first touches the solar disk) was only about 10 minutes away. O M G. I knew by this time that viewers on the west coast were only minutes in totality and the shadow cast by the moon would soon be moving across the United States at well over 1000 MPH.  For the next hour and a half I would click off images about every 5 minutes to capture different phases of the partial eclipse. My solar eclipse app would Crescent ShadowsThe sun, now only a crescent, filters through leaves on a tree. occasionally remind me to observe the drop in ambient temperature and the dusk-type behaviors that animals and insects would soon be exhibiting.

At about 70% I began checking some of the trees for crescent shadows, a shadow cast onto the ground tha t showed the crescent shape of the current phase of the eclipse. At some point during the partial phase, Bethany took a short video of me asking ab out my excitement. The app would continue to give audible warnings as totality neared..."10 The "diamond ring" as the last sliver of the sun is eclipsed. minutes...", "8 minutes...", "5 minutes...", "1 minute, observe for shadow bands...". At this point I clicked off my last image of the partial phase and made sure my settings were correct to capture the diamond ring and my bracketing was set for shots of the corona. The sky was darkening extremely fast at this point and there was an eerie stillness to the air. At 20 seconds until totality, I removed my camera solar filters and watched as the moon covered the last remaining bit of the sun all while double fisting my camera shutter cables to grab as many images of the diamond ring as I could and...

TOTALITY!

Totality!

Holy shit! Sorry, there's really no better way to describe the emotion. How are you feeling right now? The sky was something incredible, not just totality, but everything about it. There was a "sunset" the wrapped 360 degrees around the horizon, the sky turned not black, but the deep most mesmerizing blue I have ever seen. And there at the apex of this deep blue abyss was the darkest black perfect circle surrounded by the most incredible waves of light emanating from out behind the dark black "hole" in the sky. I have never seen a single picture of the corona that does any justice to what I witnessed for the two and a half minutes. Strangely, while I remember what it looked like I don't have a vivid memory of totality. Someone in one of the eclipse groups I'm a part of on Facebook made note of not having a vivid memory of totality either, that was followed by several comments from people with similar experience. Sensory overload perhaps? I may not have a vivid memory of totality, but I absolutely remember just how incredibly out of this world it was.

And just like that it was over. The diamond ring appeared on the other side and all was almost back to normal. The cicadas began singing again, several flocks of birds flew out of their roost, and one lucky House Sparrow managed to pick off a cricket right in front of me that had come out thinking it was night time just moments ago. It felt odd, I wanted to stay and continue to photograph the waning partial eclipse, but having just witnessed totality it was a big anticlimactic. I walked around and gave all of the other eclipse viewers at the hotel a big high-five.

Cars as far as the eye can see on a rural Illinois road. The drive home sucked. What should have been a 7 hour drive turned into a 12 hour drive as much of I-57 was a parking lot as it was the only interstate that lead from downstate IL and W. KY/TN back to the third largest city in the US. From roughly Marion to Effingham we made our way through every type of back road possible trying to avoid the worst of the traffic - and many of the back roads were just as full as the interstate! Alas my adrenaline from the day kept me going and we arrived back home at right around 2:30 AM.

More images and video from the day...

Clicking away during the final seconds of totality. Setting up. Eclipse twins! Solar prominences erupt from the surface of the sun. The outer atmosphere of the sun, the corona, shines from behind the disk of the moon.

Long-eared Owl

In my little piece of the world, 2016 was a great year, and a year filled with new adventure I had no way to know were coming when the year started. I'm still doing GIS work for the City of Whitewater, a position that, despite its tediousness at times, is nearly stress free and comes with a fantastic group of support staff.  Mid-year I turned down a job offer which would have put me in charge of the GIS and eventually land information for Green County. While it would have been a step up in duties and job title, it would have Common Loon only been a minor increase in pay and I would have lost a significant amount of paid time off I've accumulated over the years in Whitewater.

Ethan is doing well and is finishing his senior year of high school in Michigan. Ethan is very active in his church and also made the decision to join the Marines when he finishes high school.  He trains weekly with some of this fellow recruits to better prepare them for boot camp next summer.  He's expected to ship out in July shortly after his 18th birthday.  He's very much looking forward to the challenge.  I really don't know where the last 17 years went, it feels as if life is a vacuum and the further along you get, the stronger the suction.  Perceived time moves too fast.

Late in the spring I met a wonderful woman, Bethany, who for whatever reason, doesn't seem to mind putting up with me.  Her strength and perseverance blow my mind.  She is widowed, and I'm the first man in her life since that life-altering event.  She's helped me rekindle my love for concerts (our first date was a Carrie Underwood concert and we've been to several more concerts since then), and between her and her two young boys, they've kept me on my toes.  We've also been on a few trips together - we went to Gatlinburg, TN with her family in Jul Mississippi Kite fledgling y, and to Daytona Beach, FL in October.

I still do a lot of wildlife photography and occasionally chase storms.  As I get older and time away from work and other obligations becomes more precious, it's becoming more and more difficult to get out to the plains and chase storms.  I try to get in at least 2 or 3 chasers per year regionally on days with a higher risk of tornado potential than usual - I've all but given up on gambling with lower risk days given my time restraints, and quite honestly, I'd rather sit or walk through the woods or a wetland and photograph wildlife than drive hundreds of miles to watch a storm for an hour or two.  Some storm and photography highlights of the year were:

- A winter roost of more than a dozen Long-eared Owls in Milwaukee County.
- A litter of fox kits at a cemetery in Janesville.
- My first images of a black bear and some amazing landscape vistas near Gatlinburg.
- The first confirmed nesting of Mississippi Kites in Wisconsin (Janesville area).
- Photographing one of my nemesis birds, a Northern Saw-whet Owl, which I had been trying to find for years.

There were other highlights as well, including rescuing a young American Badger that had been abandoned.  I took the badger to a wildlife rehab facility and the badger was nursed back to health and eventually released back into the wild later in the year.  I've already added several images to this post, but if you wish to see the rest of my favorite images from 2016, feel free to browse them in this gallery.

Preface: Understandably, some birders may be upset that these birds were kept a secret. However, when I was asked to help search for the nest, I obliged under the veil that the location would not be given out until after the birds began their fall migration south, and even then, just the generic location of "Janesville area". This decision was made by the Atlas project coordinators and the DNR.

In August of 2015, a juvenile Mississippi Kite was found in Janesville, WI on the ground an unable to fly.  Hoo's Woods Raptor Center was called, and the bird was retrieved soon after. At the time of retrieval, no one was sure what species of bird it was.  It was a relatively small raptor, but it didn't fit with any of the typical species found in southern Wisconsin. After putting images online, Dianne Moller of Hoo's Woods was able to identify the bird as a Mississippi Kite. The ID of Mississippi Kite was a bit of a surprise at first as they had never previous nested in Wisconsin (and just because a juvenile was found doesn't guarantee nesting), they had, however, nested for the past several year in Rockford, IL just 30 miles to the south. While it wasn't clear if Mississippi Kites nested where the juvenile was found, it was relatively certain that a pair had likely nested somewhere in the area.

Mississippi Kite Sightings

If one looks at a Mississippi Kite range map in a birding book or online, they'll likely see the main nesting area for the Mississippi Kite is from the southern plains of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas eastward through the deep south. Looking at more recent Mississippi Kite observation maps on eBird, it's very clear that the bird has slowly expanded its range northward, especially along the Mississippi River valley and also along some smaller river valleys such as the Iowa, Cedar, and Des Moines River valleys as well as Rock River which runs through both Rockford and Janesville.

8/17/16 Adult Male Mississippi Kite Feeding Fledgling

Fast forward a year to 2016, and the search was on for possible nesting Mississippi Kites in Janesville.  About a half dozen birders in Rock County knew of the approximate location where the juvenile was found the year before and began searching for adults in the area.  A pair of adults were eventually located soaring and hunting over Janesville in mid-summer!  Yes!  A pair of birds in the same area during nesting season likely meant they were nesting in the area.  I was asked to help document the adult birds and search for the nest if possible. Finding the nest site proved to be a somewhat difficult task.  Mississippi Kite nests are generally not as large as other raptors, and with dense foliage, it can be very difficult to see nests in trees.  On top of that, Mississippi Kites don't dive from the sky straight toward the nest, they generally drop into the tree canopy then fly through the tree canopy to the nest making following a nesting adult almost impossible.

One day while driving in the area the kites were typically soaring above, I witnessed one of the birds fly low through the canopy behind my vehicle but did not see it emerge on the other side.  I had to leave due to other obligations, but made a call of Aaron Boone and let him know the location where I saw the bird fly into the tree canopy and not emerge on the other side.  Later that day I was going to meet Aaron Boone and Aaron Haycraft to try and triangulate where the birds were diving into the canopy in the hopes of finding the nest.  That wasn't necessary.  About 30 minutes before I returned later in the day, I received a text from Aaron Boone that said "We found the nest!".  Sure enough, they found the nest in the exact location where I saw the adult bird fly into the tree canopy and not emerge earlier in the day.

Over the next few weeks, I would observe the nestling grow from a little white ball of fluff, to a beautifully streaked brown/gray fledgling.  Most of that feather growth happened in a 12-day period!  The top image was taken on August 3rd, and the bottom image was taken on August 15th.  Wow!

Click here to see the rest of my Mississippi Kite images

8/3/16 Mississippi Kite Nestling

8/15/16 Mississippi Kite Nestling

LatkaLatka enjoy her Spring migration with Sandhill Cranes.

"How did she get the name Latke? ICF staff used the theme of TV sitcoms or sitcom characters when they named the new chicks. (A change in the numbering system is under discussion.) Latke is named after Latka Gravas of the old TV show "Taxi." Latka is the smallest chick, but she has a lot of spunk! She came to the DAR program as an egg from the Calgary Zoo Whooping cranes.

Latka and the other DAR chicks were costume reared and then transported to Horicon Wildlfe Refuge in early September. The chicks will now spend more time out of a pen and less time with the costume. They will be officially released probably at the end of October to mingle with other wild Whooping cranes and Sandhill cranes. If all goes as planned, the youngsters will follow the older cranes to learn the flock's southward migration route.

The DAR chicks got their legbands and colors on Sept 27. Over the summer, Laktke had not grown as much as the other chicks so she received only 3 color bands. The DAR chicks were released at Horicon NWR on Oct 24, 2013.

Latka (#59-13) was initially detected heading south with juveniles nos. 50, 51, and 54-13 on 11 December 11, but separated from them and returned to the Horicon NWR.

LatkaLatka enjoy her Spring migration with Sandhill Cranes.

Mating DanceSandhill Cranes dance as part of their spring ritual.

Below is just a sample of my images from this past weekend, to view more, visit my Spring 2015 Gallery.

For the past week or so, waterfowl migration has been in full-force in southern Wisconsin.  Unfortunately with a relatively long stretch of above normal temperatures, many lakes across the state opened up quickly allowing the waterfowl to spread out rather than being concentrated in a specific area as is often the case.  Waterfowl numbers on many of the area lakes are low, at least in part, due to the quick thaw, but the exact opposite was the case at our family wetland in Rock County.

I had a couple of hours to spare Friday after work before picking up my son, so I made a stop at our land and was instantly greeted by dozens of Sandhill Cranes milling about the upland ag fields in close vicinity to the wetlands. 

There was likely 150 or more Sandhill Cranes in the immediate vicinity, and another 100 or so scattered around the area in groups of 20-50 each.   As is common this time of year, many of the cranes were "dancing" with their partners in anticipation of copulating as most birds do just after returning to their breeding grounds.  

Mating DanceSandhill Cranes dance as part of their spring ritual.

One of the best parts about watching the cranes dance is they don't seem to have a care in the world about what is going on around them.  Quite often they are in the fields near the road and will go about their business when I stop to photograph them from my vehicle.

Looking back to the west toward one of our larger ponds, I could easily see it was filled with waterfowl.  In years past, we've had a good number of Great White-fronted Geese, Snow Geese and Ross's Geese use our property during migration with white-fronted geese being the most common.  Normally this time of year, access to our ponds is limited to on-foot only as the poorly-drained, mucky soils are saturated with snow melt and March rain showers.  This year I was able to get closer access to the pond due to our unusually dry winter and early warm weather eliminating the typical muddy mess.

Getting a good, high-contrast look at the pond during the even hours is typically difficult as the easiest access to the pond is on the east side and you are left looking generally toward the setting sun.   Greater White-fronted GeeseGreater White-fronted Geese take flight after being spooked by a passing eagle. I stayed mostly on the northeast quadrant of the pond to get the best contrast and was able discern that 90% of the geese on the pond (and it was PACKED with geese) were white-fronted geese - well over 300, and that's being conservative.  In addition to the white-fronted geese, Mallards and Northern Pintail were the most common ducks with a few other species mixed in.

At this time we're in the process of developing a few more ponds in that immediate area, and one of the new, smaller ponds was a favorite of the Canvasback as there was several of them on the new ponds both Friday night and Saturday morning.  I then made my way to one of our other larger ponds about a mile to the west and found a much larger variety of ducks - Mallards, Ring-necked, Gadwall, Canvasback, Hooded Merganser, Green-winged Teal, Bufflehead, American Wigeon, Scaup, and certainly a few others I'm not thinking about right now.

Canvasback

Saturday morning I woke up before sunrise and headed back to our land knowing it may be the best opportunity for good photography during migration.  The forecast called for clear skies with a high of 48 degrees - that is a PERFECT early spring day.  I first made my way to the large pond on the north side of the property.  The pond was again loaded with white-fronted geese, Mallards, and Northern Pintail.  As I was making an attempt to count the geese (an almost impossible task), and Bald Eagle came in low and spooked much of the waterfowl from the pond.  A VERY large flock of white-fronted geese (300+) took off and flew to the west until they were out of sight.  I do no know if they returned again.  Many Mallards and pintail remained on the pond, and once again, several Canvasback were on one of the new, smaller ponds.

I made my way to the large pond to the south, this time using the access drive from the west where I could park on a grassy hill and walk down into the wetland.  With the exception of a few Song Sparrows, a few Downy Woodpeckers, the typical allotment of Red-winged Blackbirds, and a single Belted Kingfisher, there wasn't much non-waterfowl activity in the wetland area.  I could hear a couple very loud Northern Flickers calling from the woods around Bass Creek to my north.  As I got to the large pond, the diversity of waterfowl was still 

Northern Pintail

large, and I was able to get a good glimpse and a few photographs of some cooperative Northern Pintail.  Unfortunately I had moved just enough 

to spook the ducks, and they flushed to the other end of the pond.  I know I would flush them again if I walked to the other end of the pond, and I started to make my way back to my car.

Along the way I decided to check the Wood Duck nest boxes and clear out any unnecessary debris included wasp nests the wasps attempt to build inside the boxes annually.  Much to my surprise (BIG surprise), a few deer mice were using one of the boxes as a home.  As I opened the box and reached in, the mice decided to jump out with one of them landing on me.  Normally mice don't bother me, but I was a bit startled and something was jumping out of the box at me as I was reaching in to pull out debris.

After returning to my car, I made my way to another of our larger ponds.  This pond is on the east side of the property, and unfortunately has some high-tension transmission lines running through it that can make for a very unnatural scene in photographs.  For whatever reason, this pond normally doesn't have the numbers or variety that many of our other ponds have, but there's always something over there.

Mute Swan I arrived to several Canada Geese, 3 Mute Swans, and a few Mallards and Wood Ducks working the far edge of the pond.  The Mute Swans were very cooperative and floated around in the water as I was lying in the grass photographing them.  For the most part, the swans stayed within 50 yards of where I was, yielding some great photographic opportunities.

As I was photographing the Mute Swans, I heard something rustling in the grass several feet from me and it was getting closer!  I wasn't sure whether to continue lying still, or get up and walk the other way.  I knew it wasn't likely to be a skunk and as they are largely nocturnal.  Perhaps a muskrat?  As it turns out, it was a mink!  The mink literally walked up to within 3' of me (bless the short minimum focus distance on the new Canon 100-400mm II), and I was able to snap off a few so-so images before it wandered into the water.   MinkThis mink walked up to within a couple of feet from me. What a treat! I had only seen fleeting glances of wild mink in the past, so seeing one only feet from me was a HUGE treat.  I stayed for another 15-20 minutes after the run-in with the mink, snapping off another 100 or so images of the Mute Swans.

After leaving that pond, I grabbed some lunch then made my way back to Whitewater.  I decided it was the perfect day for my maiden 2015 kayak voyage, so I dusted off the kayak and took a relaxing afternoon paddle around Trippe Lake in Whitewater.  The highlight was a Bald Eagle perched in a pine tree on the southeast side of the lake near where Whitewater Creek flows in.  Both Cravath and Trippe Lakes in Whitewater were very limited on waterfowl species diversity and overall numbers.

After a long day outdoors, it was time to do what most college sports fans should be doing in March - watch basketball.  Go Badgers!  To see more pictures from this past weekend, visit my Spring 2015 Gallery.  Thanks for reading!

 

 

One owl I was able to photograph this winter was a Northern Hawk Owl.  Prior to this winter, I had never seen nor photographed a hawk owl, so to say I was excited would be an understatement.  To top it off, I was able to see the hawk owl in Eau Claire, Wisconsin while heading to Sax-Zim Bog.  At Sax-Zim, I was able to observe and photograph several Great Gray Owls.  I have observed and photographed a Great Gray Owl in the past near Mauston, Wisconsin (well out of their normal range), but seeing them in their natural habitat at Sax-Zim was a HUGE treat.  All of this on top of another major Snowy Owl irruption.

Here are a few of my favorite photographs from the Northern Hawk Owl, Great Gray Owls, and Snowy Owls:

Northern Hawk Owl - Eau Claire, WI

Until next time,

Scott Weberpal

I am in the process of moving my photography and blog all to one central location here on Zenfolio.  Expect more blog entries in the near future and I hope you enjoy your visit!