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!

Harbor Seals, La Jolla Cove, La Jolla, California

Back to San Diego again this morning to pick up another shot of a new-born Harbor Seal pup memorizing the smell of his mother’s breath. She is clearly exhausted from the birth. Sony RX10iv at 580mm. Program mode. 1/250th @ ISO 160 @ f4. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.

Brown Pelican, La Jolla Cove, La Jolla, California

When I was out yesterday I saw flocks of White-crowned Sparrows in the hedges and fields here in southern Maine, and it is raining and going to be almost 60 degrees today. The birds of spring can’t be far behind now…but for today I will drop back to my February trip to San Diego to pick up this image of a breeding plumage Brown Pelican coming in to land on the nesting cliffs over a mixed mass of Brant’s and Double-crested Cormorants at La Jolla Cove in La Jolla, California north of San Diego. It is all about focus here. I was able to pick the bird up on the way in and maintain focus as it came over the cliffs (or rather the camera was able…I can take very little credit beyond pointing and hoping 🙂 It makes for an impressive image…or that is what I think. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. -.3EV. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.

Tom Wild Turkeys, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Reserve, Wells Maine

Out on my eBike yesterday for a short photoprowl, I found a big Tom Turkey (Wild Turkey) and his haram in the big meadow at the bend in Branch Brook on Rt. 9. just at the Wells Town line. Further off than I would have liked. I waited and they worked a bit closer, but still… Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/800th @ f4 @ ISO 100. -.3EV. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos and assembled in FrameMagic.

Off Big Beach in Kennebunk Maine

As I may have mentioned before, you have to be just a little crazy to be a surfer in Maine. The water is cold, the waves are never very big…and yet every time there is any surf at all you will see wet-suited hopefuls in the water off Big Beach in Kennebunk. This is a typical sighting. Pretty surf though. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/1000th @ f8 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.