Blue Flag Iris, Blue Eyed Grass, Rose Pagonia Orchid, Wild Rose, Sheep Laurel, Nightshade, Owl Clover, Cinquefoil, Milkweed.

On my recent photoprowl to Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve) Rose Pagonia was not the only wildflower blooming (see last Sunday’s The Generous Eye post). This is a panel of 9 of the wildflowers of Laudholm Farms in June. Left to right and down: Blue Flag Iris, Blue Eyed Grass, Rose Pagonia Orchid, Wild Rose, Sheep Laurel, Nightshade, Owl Clover, Tall Cinquefoil, and Milkweed. All were taken with the Sony RX10iv and all at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic. Ah to be in Maine in June.

Calico Pennant, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Area, W. Kennebunk Maine

This shot is from my photoprowl and dragonfly hunt to Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area last week. One of the earliest dragonflies to fly in Southern Maine, and certainly the most colorful early dragon…the Calico Pennant. I have suggested before that it really should be renamed the Valentine Skimmer because of the hearts on its abdomen and hindwings. No one in the powers that rule the Odonatal world listens to me though 🙂 You only have to see one perched, twisting in the wind, to know why it is a “pennant”. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode with Program Shift for greater depth of field. 1/160th @ f7.1 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr.

Cinquefoil with Green Bee, Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine

I was photographing the Cinquefoil in the butterfly meadow at Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve) in Wells, Maine, when I spotted this Green Metallic Bee on one. I thought it flew before I could get focused and press the shutter. In fact I spent several moments trying, unsuccessfully, to find where the bee went for another try. When I looked at the pics at home, I did manage to catch this one shot of the bee departing. I like Green Metallic Bees…all of the metallic bees in fact. I rarely see them because they are so very small, but I delight in every one I do see. This shot, with the beautiful Cinquefoil, is even more special. 🙂 Sony RX10iv at 590mm. Program mode with Program Shift for greater depth of field. 1/1000th @ f8 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr.

Cedar Waxwing, Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine.

While out looking for orchids in the bog at Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve), I came up on a small flock of Cedar Waxwings that flew ahead of me down either side of the trail and perched for a few photos. It was midday and the light was harsh, but it does bring out every pin-feather of the breast. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/800th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr. View large for the feather detail. 🙂

Monarch Butterfly, Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine

The three Monarchs I saw yesterday in the butterfly meadow at Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve) are one more than all the Monarchs I saw last season…so I take that as a good sign. The Milkweed is just beginning to bloom at Laudholm, with lots more flowers to come. Hopefully that will mean lots more Monarchs. Last year’s low numbers had many of us here in Southern Maine seriously concerned for the East Coast population of Monarchs. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/640th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.

Song Sparrow, Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport, Maine

I went to Emmon’s Preserve (Kennenbunkport Conservation Trust) mainly to look for early dragon- and damselflies…especially hoping for a River Jewelwing, which I have seen there one other year in June. No River Jewelwings…I did see a very early Ebony Jewelwing…and this Song Sparrow sat up for a portrait, and allowed me in pretty close before it sought the safety of deeper brush. I like this kind of shot, with every pinfeather sharp. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 400. Processed in Polarr.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport Maine

Just the other day, in a Day Poem, I was complaining about Tiger Swallowtails. Maybe simplest to quote the poem.

I have seen, over the past week,

at least a hundred Tiger Swallow-

tail butterflies. They are everywhere

I go. But do you think even a single

one will perch and pose for a picture?

Of course not! I will tell you, if I

were in charge of Swallowtails things

would be different by far. But then

I suppose, all things considered, that

it is better that I am not. I do not know

how I would cope with such a serious

obligation and fearsome responsibility.

Well, yesterday, I found this nice fresh Swallowtail, apparently somewhat drunk on the nectar of these lovely pinkish flowers in the overgrown (intentionally) meadow above the Conservation Trust buildings at Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport. I am embarrassed to say I do not know what type of flowers they are. They adorn waist high weedy looking plants with red stems and pale leaves growing in a dense mass along the trail in full sun. They remind me a bit of blueberries, but I don’t think they are. And evidently the Swallowtails really like them. This one was flitting from cluster to cluster and hanging on for 30 seconds or more, before fluttering on to the next cluster. (The plant is not, however, listed in any list of flowers Swallowtails like I could find in a Google search…I did try that.) Whatever the plant is, I appreciate it as a background to my first Swallowtail pictures of the season. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 125. Processed in Polarr.

I went dragonfly hunting yesterday on my eBike. First to Roger’s Pond Park beside the Mousam River, then down along the Bridle Path past the little pans in the Mousam marsh on either side of Rt. 9. Roger’s Pond was still quiet. There was one Green Darner patrolling and a few others that I only caught a glimpse of, but there were both Painted and Four-spotted Skimmers at the pans, as well as a few early Seaside Dragonlets. The Painted Skimmer is a striking dragon. In flight is so orange, and then when it lands you see why. And, unlike Green Darners this time of year, the skimmers do perch for a photo. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode, with program shift for greater depth of field. 1/160th @ f8 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.

Emerald Toucanette, Los Gloriales Inn, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

On our first evening at the Los Gloriales Inn on the slopes of the mountains above Tegucigalpa Honduras, we were treated to some excellent views of Emerald Toucanette, the best I had ever had. The birds came in to feed in a tree at the edge of the lawn by the coffee processing area, and gave us a chance to observe the many postures and attitudes of the Emerald Toucanette. I posted one shot of this bird earlier, but this is a case where one image can not tell the whole story 🙂 Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 1250. (Getting on toward dark on a rainy evening.) Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.

Chalk-fronted Corporal and Frosted Whiteface, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains WMA, West Kennebunk, Maine

I am not done with Honduras yet, but the dragonflies are finally coming out in our cold water ponds here in Southern Maine, and I could not resist posting this shot of a Chalk-fronted Corporal and a Frosted Whiteface sharing a close perch. They contested this branch along the edge of the pond for 10 minutes as I watched them, and other Odonata in the area. If the Corporal had the perch alone, the Whiteface soon drove him off, and vice-versa, but often they compromised and both used the perch. Generally they were a foot apart…but this once they were practically on top of each other. Makes a good comparison shot of the two species. There were many of each species along the pond edge, as well as few Slaty-Skimmers, Unicorn Clubtails, and Calico Pennants…all early flyers here in Southern Maine. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 125. Processed in Polarr.