Maine! Bluebirds in spring
Eastern Bluebird: York County, Maine, USA, April 2024 — Our backyard bluebirds (male and female) are getting brighter as the days lengthen into April and the sun climbs higher in the sky. Of course that was before our 4 inches of snow and ice over the past 24 plus hours…but that won’t slow them down for long. The storm did inspire many of the other backyard birds to use the mealworm feeders…and drew in a couple of Starlings (not happy to see them eating the bluebirds’ mealworms). It will all work out. The bluebirds are singing now…sweet and faint…and that is always a good sign. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! the angle is everything
Talamanca Hummingbird: Feathers Garden, Savegre Mountain Hotel and Spa, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2023 — Most of the most colorful feathers on the throat (gorget) and head (helmet) on most hummingbirds are actually black until the light refracts at just the right angle…and then you see the colors flash. This Talamanca Hummingbird from Feathers Garden at Savegre is a good example. This might be the only photo I have that shows the gold that you can sometimes see in the gorget. OM System OM-1 with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Red-bellied peak-a-boo
Red-bellied Woodpecker: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — Just barely in March, on the last day, this Red-bellied Woodpecker came to visit while I was sitting out in my ghillie suit waiting for birds. We occasionally see it at the suet on the deck, but rarely under the pines. This one was only showing me pieces of itself. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Florida! Spoonbilling
Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2024 — After enough time trying for water-dancing Snowy Egrets, I turned my attention to the few Roseate Spoonbills who were in the same pool behind the entrance sign at Blackpoint. Always a great bird, in January the Spoonbills at Merritt Island are just coming into breeding plumage. This male was busy doing its spoony thing, harvesting shrimp much more efficiently than the Snowy Egrets, but without the spectacular show. OM System OM-1 with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 400mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! 1st of year Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — This Eastern Phoebe just barely made it back to Maine in March…last day of the month. A wave of them must have come in, as this is not the only one I saw…just the closest. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Scintillant Hummingbird
Scintillant Hummingbird: Feathers Garden, Savegre Mountain Hotel and Spa, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2023 — This is the other small hummingbird of the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica and Panama (and the higher volcanos of the Central Range in Costa Rica). The Scintillant replaces the Volcano at lower elevations, according to the guides, but I seen both up to 8000 feet. At 11,000 it is only Volcanos. I posted Volcanos from this same garden at Savegre earlier this week. The bright rufous tails and the extensive rufous vests on these makes them unmistakably Scintillant. OM System OM-1 with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! April’s sweet song
Song Sparrow: York County, Maine, USA, April 2024 — April 1st and the Song Sparrows are finally singing from the tree and bush tops. This one sat long enough to catch its song several times, and even for a short video. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Not dancing
Bonaparte’s Gull: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — The Bonaparte’s Gulls that feed with the Egrets on those days when the shrimp hatch do not do the whole “dancing on the water” thing, but the Egrets dancing keeps them stirred up and active. They never get to sit still for long. OM System OM-1 with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 300mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Squirrel Rodeo
Eastern Grey Squirrel: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, March 2024 — The other day I got out for a walk around the neighborhood with my camera, and found quite a few of the local squirrels having a rodeo in a large open lot up the street. There were at least a dozen of them, chasing each other across the yard in close pursuit, round and round the big pines, and high into the branches, juggling buried acorns from last year. It looked like fun, and was certainly fun to watch. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications (works for small mammals just as well). Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Volcano?
Volcano Hummingbird: Feathers Garden, Savegre Mountain Hotel and Spa, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2023 — There at two very small hummingbirds, both endemic to the mountains of Southern Costa Rica and Northern Panama, and so similar that they are always a challenge to separate where they overlap…as they do at Savegre. Generally the Scintillant is found at lower elevations and is replaced by the Volcano at higher elevations…however there appears to be a broad area of overlap in the Talamancas. Males have different colored gorgets…orange for the Scintillant and violet for the Volcano, but I have seen far fewer males than females, and, indeed, saw no males this past December. I am pretty sure both of these shots are the female Volcano. I have shots taken only a few moments later from the same chair at Feathers Garden, of what is clearly the Scintillant (with I will post another day). Compared, the Scintillant has an obviously rufous tail and more rufous under the wings and is very slightly smaller (but we are talking really small hummingbirds already). OM System OM-1 with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.