Ben Neff Photography

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Nevada, IA
Ben Neff Photography

Wildlife Photographer and Farmer based in Central Iowa. Prints and calendar available on website. https://www.benneffphotography.com/
(16)

If any photos aren't available on store just message me and I'll add them.

06/02/2026

It's June! So time to flip your Between the Rows calendars! Well yesterday was but we were at the lake cabin and I kinda forgot lol

This months photo is of a buck I caught blowing a bubble while snorting at another buck across the field. It was one of those things I just got lucky on. I started shooting a burst when I saw him going to snort and even at 30 frames a second the bubble only existed for one single frame. I didn't even know I got it until I got the images on my computer.

R7 and RF 100-500

05/29/2026

This hen Ring-necked Pheasant I photographed a few weeks ago had an interesting injury/growth defect on her leg. For the first 10 minutes it really just looked like her right leg was fully covered in feathers but then I did finally see it wasn't on the leg but coming off beside it. The thing I never figured out was if she just had a clump of feathers hanging off or if there was some extra growth besides her leg that grew feathers. I'm assuming just a clump of feathers hanging on but it did seem odd in the way it moved.

For Pheasant Fact Friday I thought I'd include how we got Pheasants in Iowa since their native range is Asia and mainly China. In 1901 a storm destroyed a game farm enclosure in Cedar Falls that houses 2,000+ Ring-necked Pheasants. In 1908-1909 there were intentional releases in Kossuth and O'Brien counties. By 1910 eggs started to be distributed to farmers in 82 Iowa counties. They usually raised them with chickens then released them. Then they started trapping wild ones and moving them to new locations. By 1925 Iowa had its first Pheasant season in 13 counties. By 1955, just 54 years after initial introduction, hunters shot about 1.5 million Ring-necked Pheasants across the state. Their population has declined since the switch to corn and soybeans instead of small grain farming, and just more farmland in general, but they still have a very healthy population and it's the highest it's been in 20 years.

R7 and RF 100-500

05/28/2026

We have always had Orchard Orioles at our place but I've never managed to photograph or even really see an immature one before. This immature male looks completely different than the adult males. Instead of an all black head and back with burnt orange stomach the immature males are a bright yellow with a black throat and mask. This immature male was hatched last year and will turn the burnt orange and black colors this fall. Hopefully I'll be able to get photos of him as he changes colors.

R7 and RF 100-500

05/21/2026

My uncle texted me a few mornings ago to ask what this bird at his pond was and I got immediately very excited because the only other time I've seen a Black-necked Stilt was in Florida and they were like 300 yards away.

The Black-necked Stilt used to be an extremely rare visitor to Iowa but in recent years has started to become a more common sight with a few locations in Iowa they even nest at now. Normally they nest to the west or east of Iowa and even though they are in Dakotas, Nebraska, and Illinois they would avoid Iowa. Probably because most of our wetlands have been drained but with wetland restoration they appear to be showing up some more. Interestingly though it also seems like they avoided Iowa historically too so the uptick in their sightings in recent years isn't them returning to the state after being gone for years. I'll have to do more research on that and next post I do on them I'll let everyone know what I find. I'm guessing it's because our wetlands tend to be smaller with heavy vegetation around the edges. I think they prefer large mudflats with bare edges.

R7 and RF 100-500

05/13/2026

Too many Iowan's flooded fields in the spring aren't a good thing. It means crops may go in late or not at all. To migrating birds flooded fields are a lifeline to refuel and rest on their journey north.

The field north of marshalltown that I photographed tens of thousands of geese at earlier in the spring was still partially flooded. Dozens of eagles gathered to pick off the carp stranded in the field pond and hundreds of wading birds, like the Greater Yellowlegs in first two photos, also gathered. Moving between the plants and probing the mud for food. While the Yellowlegs don't have as long a journey, they breed in central Canada, some of the other birds like Pectoral Sandpipers and Long-billed Dowitchers that were also there breed in far northern Alaska and Canada and stops like this are vital for them to make it. Even with stops these birds will still lose 20%+ of their body mass on their journey north.

So even though I had to sit on a dead carp in a ditch full of stagnant water it was worth it to spend about 30 minutes watching all these birds that we only see in Iowa for a few short weeks every year.

Photo 1-2: Greater Yellowlegs
Photos 3-4: Long-billed Dowitchers
Photo 5: Pectoral Sandpipers
Photo 6: Lesser Yellowlegs

R7 and RF 100-500

phy

05/11/2026

For macro Monday I thought I'd share these photos I took of a Cuckoo Bee sleeping on the petal of a Black-eyed Susan. They apparently lock their mandibles on something like a flower petal so they don't fall then just take a quick nap. This one napped for about 10 minutes while I took photos then flew off again.

I'm very impatiently waiting for all my native flowers to bloom again so I can again sit in one spot for hours and have hundreds and hundreds of insects to photograph within 2 feet.

R7 and RF 100. In camera bracketing and stacking on R7. 20 shots at 5.6

05/02/2026

I made a post yesterday before I remembered I needed to post about the first of the month. So here's your reminder to flip your Between the Rows calendars to May!

I photographed this pheasant a few years ago in one of our fields. The Rye was lit up by golden sunset and the pheasant paused for me perfectly. I don't think I've had a pheasant pose perfectly since this moment

R7 and RF 100-500

05/01/2026

Lark Sparrow in a bush getting out of the wind and a Palm Warbler in a mulberry tree at sunset.

I posted about Lark Sparrows the other day so I won't include a lot of info again. You can go see my last post on them for info about their decline.

Palm Warbler is an interesting name for a bird that spends most of its time far north of any palm trees. They breed primarily in Canada with some nesting in northern Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Maine. It'd make more sense to call them a For Warbler since they nest in bogs in boreal forests. Instead they were named Palm Warblers because the first specimens collected for European science were on Hispaniola Island in the Caribbean by German naturalist Johan Gmelin. He didn't really know anything about them, they don't even really spend time in Palm trees, but that's the name they got.

I imagine if they do go through and rename a lot of birds to remove ones that were named after people they'll also correct some birds like the Palm Warbler that were named without any understanding of their actual habitat and migrations.

R7 and RF 100-500

04/28/2026

Was driving around Union Grove Lake near Gladbrook the other day and spotted some Forster's Tern flying around catching fish. After they had both caught a few and were full they went and landed on some rocks and I was able to walk out pretty close to them to get some photos. I usually only see these guys in Iowa 1 or 2 times a year and usually very far away so it was cool to get some up close shots.

They migrate through Iowa from the coasts to breed in the Dakotas, Canada, and Minnesota in summer. There are a few spots in northern Iowa and along the Mississippi they raises chicks too but here in central Iowa they don't stick around long.

R7 and RF 100-500

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Nevada, IA

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https://www.benneffphotography.com/

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