Maine! Grey Squirrel (I see you!)
Grey Squirrel: Kennebunk Maine, USA, May 2023 — When you live in Maine you practice Animal Auto Focus on any wildlife available…mostly squirrels. 🙂 This squirrel did its “laying out flat on a branch” thing for me, and watched me inside my hide. He very definitely knew exactly where I was and was keeping track of what I was doing. We have two different framings here: 800mm equivalent and, using the digital tele-converter in the OM-1, 1600mm equivalent. In both cases the camera automatically kept focus on the eye. Program mode with my evolving wildlife modifications. (That is what the practice is all about.) Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f6.3 @ 1/500th. Minus .7EV.
India! Bar-headed Goose
Bar-headed Geese: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Keoladeo is winter home to a fair number of Bar Headed Geese. There are lots of things of note about the Bar-headed Goose. It migrates to and from high mountain lakes in central Asia, flying through and over the Himalaya Mountains at elevations up to 14,000 feet, in temperatures as low as 0 degrees, sometime through 300mph headwinds. Their blood chemistry is adapted to extract more oxygen than your average bird. They can fly up to 1000 miles in a single day during migration, flapping all the way. They run so hot and are so well insulted that ice can not form on their wings, even at the highest elevations…and they fly strongly enough so that a they can fly through strong cross-winds without being blown off course. Now that is some goose! And yet to look at they don’t look like super-geese…they are, in fact, kind of elegantly attractive. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine! Wet birds…
Pine Warbler, Purple Finch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird, Red-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, April 2023 — We are having several days of cold rain here in a row, but the birds have been very active at the feeders despite the weather. I had fun yesterday afternoon when the light was at its brightest for the day, photographing wet birds through the double-glazed deck door. I can’t say that they look very happy! but they were certainly busy. Olympus OM-1 with the 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1600-2500 @ f6.3 @ 1/500th. Minus .7EV.
India! Yellow-footed Green Pigeon
Yellow-footed Green Pigeon: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — My rickshaw driver could be very insistent when he spotted a bird (or birds) that he thought I should photograph. These two Yellow-footed Green Pigeons were sitting right over the road at Keoladeo, and he stopped and jockeyed the rickshaw around for a good angle. I have to admit they were picture worthy, despite being one of the most common birds of Rajasthan. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine! Chipping Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, April 2023 — Still in the experimental stage of setting up my OM-1 for birds and wildlife. Here I was using the cooperative Chipping Sparrow on the feeder to test the built in 2x digital converter. Lots of cameras have them. Some work surprisingly well for those times when you need the extra reach. This shot was taken with the 100-400mm zoom at the equivalent of 1600mm and I think it is just fine! I could have gotten the same image scale by cropping an 800mm shot, but the digital converter maintains, or simulates at least, the full 20mm files. I have the converter programed into a handy button on the camera so I can just click it on and off as needed. Olympus OM-1 with the 100-400mm zoom. Program mode with my evolving birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f 6.3 @ 1/500th.
India! Bronze-winged Jacana
Bronze-winged Jacana: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — One of two possible Jacanas in Rajasthan, but, interestingly, in a different genus than all other Jacanas…a genus all its own, as it is its only member. Also interesting, I think, is the fact that references say the “carpal spur”, the wing claws, on the Bronze-winged Jacana are reduced to nubbins on the wing…but this bird has very prominent spurs…scary looking! ??? I did a bit of poking around on the internet as I prepared this post, and I can find no references to spurs like this on the Bronze-winged Jacana. Again ?? Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine! Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Bluebird, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, April 2023 — Another shot from the open door of our deck. Our faithful male bluebird posing nicely on a stick…so, yes, your classic bird-on-a-stick shot. Still learning the Olympus OM-1 and 100-400mm zoom. 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications (under development). Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/500th. Minus .3EV.
India! Again the Red-wattled Lapwing
Red-wattled Lapwing: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — I know we already had a Red-wattled Lapwing photo yesterday, but we did see a lot of them, and I like this pair. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV
India! Red-wattled Lapwing
Red-wattled Lapwing: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — The Red-wattled Lapwing is by far the most common lapwing in Rajasthan. We saw our first ones on the grounds of the hotel in Delhi, and we saw them wherever there was any water at all, and sometimes far from water. Such an elegant bird! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine! Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, April 2023 — I put out the blind and filled the feeders under the pines yesterday, but the birds have not found the seed yet. I did manage to get my first shot with the new Olympus OM-1 and the 400mm zoom that was not taken through a sheet of double pane glass 🙂 by opening the deck door for a half hour or so late in the day yesterday. I am happy to have it be the Red-breasted Nuthatch, one of my favorite feeder birds. The light was okay…full daylight but no sun so this is also my first shot in “normal ISO” range…normal for the OM-1 and the f6.3 lens. I am happy with the new rig so far. Still tweaking the settings for Point and Shoot nature photography, but I can already tell that I am going to like it. I will try to keep it about the birds and the wildlife and the flowers and landscapes…the wonders of creation! That is my promise to myself. And the Red-breasted Nuthatch is a good place to start. Olympus OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.