Florida! Skimmers
Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2025 — We finally had some sun yesterday afternoon, though it was still unseasonably cold and the wind was high. High enough to keep a good chop on the water. I found a pair of Black Skimmers working on of the larger impoundments along the drive and spent a happy 20 minutes standing on the berm trying to catch them in action. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. 1/2000th. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Costa Rica! Aracari
Collared Aracari: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — The second feeder platform, also covered with benches, seems to attract the larger birds…including a small flock (gang is more appropriate) of Collared Aracaris…toucans of uncertain temperament. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Gift outright!
Purple Gallinule: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — It was cold and damp at Orlando Wetlands yesterday morning for my first Point and Shoot for Wildlife workshop. Low 40s and rain threatening, and I should have had another layer on, but we were rewarded, after we had already decided we were cold enough to head back, with this lone Purple Gallinule so close to the boardwalk that it was almost under our feet. It was working along a floating branch, picking at whatever it cold find while staying on the branch as was so busy it paid no attention to us as we worked around it on the boardwalk. To get anything but a top of its head view you hand to get down and shoot between the rail supports…which made me very thankful for the flip-out screen on my camera. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 348 and 436mm equivalents. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! more snow
Actually this is still the snow from Sunday morning, and of course by now the wind has knocked most of it off the trees and brush, but it is still there. It has not been above freezing since. 🙂 Sony a5100 in Superior Auto, with Landscape mode selected. Sony 10-18 f4 @ 15mm equivalent. Processed in Photomator and framed in LikeAFrame.
Costa Rica! Shiny again
Shining Honeycreeper: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — The after the Vultures version of the Shining Honeycreeper. 🙂 Such an amazing bird. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Snow
Just out and about after a night-time snowfall. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 567mm equivalent. Aperture mode with Macro modifications. f8. Processed in Photomator and framed in LikeAFrame.
Costa Rica! More Euphonias
Yellow-throated Euphonia: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — after the Vulture Blind, the sun was full out on the feeders and perches by the covered patio down by the house, and the colors on the honeycreepers and euphonias really popped! Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. -0.3EV. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Passerini’s no more
Scarlet-rumped Tanager: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — There used to be two tanagers in Costa Rica with red rumps…the Passerini’s and the Cherries, one basically on the caribbean side and one on the pacific. This would have been the Passerini’s. They were recently lumped into a single species…the Scarlet-rumped. The males were never really distinguishable, and the females differed only enough to notice if you had the two side by side. The Passerini’s name is still out there, and still in use by some authorities. We will go with Scarlet-rumped. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator. Though it is a common bird, these are somewhat rare shots in that you can see the feather detail in the black…the light was just right.
Maine! Denisons under the deck
Carolina Wren: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — Yesterday we woke to six inches of snow in the yard, like most people in Southern Maine (some had more) and after clearing the drive and cleaning off the car and removing the snow from the shed roof I went looking for birds. We see these two wrens about once a week up on our back deck after the spilled meal-worm crumbs, and occasionally on the meal-worm feeder itself after a whole worm, and I know they spend considerable time under our deck, in the jumble of old flowerpots that have accumulated there. I think they actually nest a few yards over but they visit us. We see them often in the summer and I know they have been recorded on the Christmas Bird counts in Southern Maine, but this is the first winter when we have seen them regularly. I am always happy to see them. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Neighbors
American Robin and European Starling: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — I always look for the neighborhood flock of Robins this time of year, in hopes that there will be Cedar Waxwings with them. This year, so far, I have only found Starlings with them…not the same at all…but actually a bit rarer in Southern Maine than waxwings. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.