Red Squirrel, Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine.

The other day I rode my eBike down to Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Center) and stopped to walk up on the hilltop for some pictures of the sky, which was amazing. As I came up to the big barn that has been converted to an event center, I saw something moving by the foundation. On closer approach it was a Red Squirrel. I have seen Red Squirrels pretty often deeper in the woods at Laudholm, but this was the first one I have seen around the buildings. It had apparently wintered in a drain pipe under the building and was happily foraging next to the stone foundation. It let me walk up close enough, in several stages, so that I could fill the frame at 600mm…maybe still 15 feet away, but that is pretty close to any “wild” animal. It was very busy looking for whatever it could find to eat. It was in the deep shadow cast by the barn, so not the best lighting. Still, it is not often you get such a close portrait, and the slope of the foundation above the path put me near eye-level as well. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode, with Minimum Shutter Speed ISO set to 1/500th and -.3EV exposure compensation. 1/500th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.

Black-capped Chickadee, Kennebunk Maine

What fun! I wrote about this in yesterday’s Day Poem, but we have a pair of Chickadees working a nest hole in a little broken off sapling right next to our driveway, like right by the driver’s door where we park the hybrid. The stump is about 5 feet tall so the birds are very visible as they come and go. Yesterday they were still bringing out wood chips, but I am very hopeful that they will nest there. This shot was taken in a burst of activity when I was getting my eBike out of its shed from just the passenger side of the car. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. -.3EV. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 160. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.

White-breasted Nuthatch, Kennebunk Maine

We only get a couple of White-breasted Nuthatches at our feeders, as opposed to the crowd of Chickadees and Titmice, but I always enjoy them. They add a dash of particular attitude…unique to the Nuthatch. Where the Chickadees are fearless and cheerful, the Nuthatches are full of focused purpose…very intent on finding that next morsel of food. I am always happy when I catch one willing to pose for even a moment. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. -.3EV. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 125. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photo’s Light tool.

Eastern Bluebird, Kennebunk Maine

Probably because we provided meal worms, we have had a pair of Bluebirds visiting our feeders all winter. It was interesting to watch as the male got paler, with the blue fading almost to the blue of the female, in the cold months, and now to watch as the male’s blue intensifies with the coming of spring. The blue of the male Bluebird, especially in contrast with the rust of the breast, is, I think, one of the bluest of blues in any North American bird. They are coming to the feeder right now, and I have my iPad on the kitchen counter to write this so I can watch them. Even the the half-light of a morning when it is still trying to snow or rain…it can’t seem to make up its mind…the blue is shockingly bright. And this shot from yesterday, taken just as we were losing the sun behind the first snow clouds, shows just how bright the blue has gotten. As a close up though, it also shows what the naked eye can not see from any distance…that the blue is not uniform…it has texture and subtle variations in tone that make it, in my opinion, even more beautiful. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. -.3 EV. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 200. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photo’s Light tool.

Brown Pelican, Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma, San Diego, CA

Pelicans are among the most graceful of birds in flight…soaring for miles with their heads and necks resting back over fixed wings above the swells and along the cliffs of San Diego, California (and everywhere up the Pacific Coast). Except when they aren’t! I am not sure what ailed this bird, but it suddenly stalled and went into frantic postures in mid-air before regaining normal flight. Wing cramp? Shifting luggage in the overhead compartments? I don’t know, but it certainly looked odd. I had never seen the like before. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode with my Birds in Flight modifications. 1/1000th @ f8 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.

Out on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area west of Kennebunk, Maine, there are a lot of White Birch saplings that have sprung up in dense clumps and bunches. I assumed they were growing from the stumps of old birches that were cleared, either by cutting or by fire, but on reflection that would not account for the number or the spread of the clumps. Maybe it is just a birch thing…the result of a whole birch catkin landing in one spot and many of the seeds sprouting together. However it happens, the clusters have a beauty of their own…difficult to capture in a photograph, but definitely beautiful. This shot from close in, taken at a small aperture for maximum depth of field, catches at least a little of what I see in the birch clumps. Sony RX10iv at 24mm. In-camera HDR. Program shift to f14 for depth of field. Processed in Polarr and the Light tool in Apple Photos.

American Kestrel, West Kennebunk, Maine

I wrote yesterday’s Day Poem about my encounter with this American Kestrel. It was sitting on the sign post for Westfield Road on my way back from the Kennebunk Plains on my eBike yesterday. The day was deteriorating fast, from glimpses of sun toward rain. It was already dark and windy, and I was kind of pushing it to get home before I took a chill. Yet the Kestrel circled out ahead of me as I passed and settled on a telephone pole, so I had to stop and try for some pictures. The Kestrel is my favorite raptor, my favorite falcon…though I heard recently that it is actually more of a parrot than a hawk, genetically. Actually, being a Kestrel, closer to a parakeet. So it goes. I never got really close to the bird, and this is a heavy crop of a 600mm shot, taken in dull, uninspiring light, against a gray sky…still, any shot of one of my favorite birds is a treat. (And it will remain one of my favorite birds even if it is really a rust colored parrotlet with blue wings. Sony RX10iv, as I said, at 600mm. Program mode. +.7 EV. 1/1000th @ f7.1 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.

Pines, Parson’s Beach Road, Kennebunk, Maine [/caption]

This little oasis of pines, standing out alone in a hay field, always catches my eye. I have seen Snowy Owls, Eagles, and Red-tailed Hawks in the tops of those trees, and I love the contrast between the top-heavy massive White Pines and the slender, feathery pine on the left. The light yesterday afternoon was perfect to frame the trees against the last of the snow squalls disappearing out over the sea. Sony RX10iv at 24mm. In-camera HDR mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photo’s Light tool.

Maple flower buds, Kennebunk Maine

The nor-easters of March brought down lots of branches, some quite big, in our yard, and all over town. You see them in lying everywhere. The tree-companies are coming through with chainsaws and chippers and making a fortune cleaning up. Of course, the big maple limb that fell in our back yard did bring some maple flower buds down to eye-level where I could get this shot. I always look for the maple flowers in the Maine spring. The buds have been on the trees since a warm snap in late January, but they can wait patiently for the true warm days of early spring to open. They will open before the leaves even begin to bud. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr.

Back Creek and the Mousam River in Kennebunk Maine

I was going to get up and get out to photograph the sunrise this Easter morning for today’s post…but when I woke the weather was not as predicted and, had I gone down to the beach, this is what I would have seen. I knew I had this photo from a few mornings ago, so I did not go out. They are still predicting a break in the clouds later today and some sunshine. We shall see. This is the junction of Back Creek and the Mousam River at high tide with a bit of sea-fog still over the river. Sony RX10iv in-camera HDR at 24mm. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photo’s Light tool. And a Happy Easter to you and yours!