Florida! Great Blue
Great Blue Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — Though we have had lots of Great Blue Herons this year in southern Maine near my home, and well into the winter, I am always happy to the Great Blue wherever I travel. This Florida Great Blue was standing in the pond across from the trail and birding tower along Blackpoint most days I visited during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. It seemed to be his spot. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 246mm equivalent (right close, and the advantage of shooting with a zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. -0,7EV Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Air show
Scarlet Macaw: Macaw Ranch, Sarapiqui Valley, Costa Rica, December 2023 — One of the highlights of any visit to the Macaw Ranch in Costa Rica is the chance to photograph Macaws in flight as they move back and forth between two peanut feeding stations. They fly by at eye-level and no more than 30 feet away. It is a show they put on regularly for tourists and birders who visit…and apparently the peanuts are highly motivating. Again, these are free flying birds, but certainly semi-tame, well habituated to human presence…so I have mixed feelings about the whole thing…but it certainly was an opportunity for some amazing flight shots. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 300mm equivalent. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Air show
Bald Eagles: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I have seen this action in photos, and in a video or two on YouTube, but I never expected to see it through my viewfinder. I was taking photos from a great distance of this interaction between 3 immature or sub-adult Bald Eagles squabbling over a perch in the dead top of a tall pine when Eagle number 3 was doing a close pass, when Eagle number 2 suddenly flipped over in mid-air and they did the “show me your talons” thing. From the size difference in the two birds I am thinking this is a male and s female…the female below and the male above. I know it looks so unlikely that you might suspect photoshop or some kind of AI generated image…but I assure you these are real Eagles acting like real Eagles. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent (cropped considerably). Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomatic and assembled in FrameMagic.
Florida! Little Blue? Heron
Little Blue Herons: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — I have to admit that Little Blue Herons have never looked very blue to me…but then Great Blue Herons are not blue either. And then there is the completely white immature phase of the Little Blue, easily mistaken at first glance for a Snowy Egret. I was happy to get shots of both within an hour of arriving at Merritt Island. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 472 and 800mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Sunday gift
Immature or Sub-adult Bald Eagles: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I went for what is becoming my customary Sunday morning photoprowl, visiting our local park along the river and then the river mouth and the marshes behind the dunes where it meets the sea. I am generally pleasantly surprised by something…and yesterday it was an immature or sub-adult Bald Eagle that came, chased by noisy crows, and settled in the dead top of a far pine. I took some shots from where I stood, but then began to walk closer. I was still a long way off when, again, surprise, a second and a third sub-adult eagle flew in from behind the first and attempted to dislodge it from its perch. Nothing doing. The first eagle was not budging and the second never really got settled before the third was on them both. After some interesting areal maneuvers, which I will share tomorrow, all three Eagles flew off, far out over the marsh, where one settled into a tree even further away. On my way out I found the other two in a tree on a rise of the farm fields. A surprise and a gift indeed. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent (from way too far away). Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator. Shutter speed 1/1600th.
Maine! Juvenile (not delinquent)
Common Merganser: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I am pretty sure these are two juvenile male Common Mergansers, hauled out on rock in our local river. They might look like they are up to no good…but I doubt they are actually delinquent. 🙂 Love the orange legs and feet. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and Apple Photos.
Florida! Rosy trio
Roseate Spoonbills: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — The Roseate Spoonbills were already in full breeding plumage along Blackpoint Drive when I got to Florida, and at least for the first few days they were feeding with the large mixed flock of waders…everything from Wood Storks to Snowy Egrets and Little Blue Herons. They became harder to see up close as the week went on, separating from the mixed flock and finding other feeding areas in the Refuge. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 570mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Hat thief
White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Macaw Ranch, Sarapique Valley, Costa Rica, December 2024 — This young Capuchin had already learned the trick of hanging in the low branches of the trees at Macaw Ranch and stealing hats as unwary tourists pasted under. Seemed to think it was great fun to be chased across the lawn and through the trees. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 200mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator. There is a photo below, which I shared on Facebook a while ago, of the monkey in action, taken my our guide. He did not get my hat but he certainly gave it a try.
Maine! Spring is coming!
Song Sparrow: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — The first (or my first, at any rate) Song Sparrow of 2024 here in York County. Spring can’t be far behind. He was not singing yet…just kind of a soft twitter, but song is coming just as sure as spring. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Feeding buddies
Little Blue Heron and Glossy Ibis: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — One of the first photos I took after arriving at Merritt Island on my first day of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival trip this year. The Ibis seems to be having more luck than the Heron…but then the Ibis is somewhat of a show-off when it catches anything. I have a couple of shots of this bill toss thing going on. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.