Florida! A Pelican Squad
American White Pelican: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — My first days at Merritt Island during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival I saw the Pelicans in the air several times, but never found the flock at rest and feeding. Eventually they settled down near enough to Blackpoint Drive and the main refuge road so I got some photos on the water. This is from my first day, and is just one squad of a large platoon going over. 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.
Maine! Merganser action
Red-breasted Mergansers: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — a little Red-breasted Merganser action from the tidal creek near us. 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 assembled in FrameMagic.
Costa Rica! Great Green
Great Green Macaw: Macaw Ranch, Sarapiqui Valley, Costa Rica, December 2023 — There is at least one full adult male Great Green Macaw that has attached itself to the free flying flock of Macaws at the Macaw Ranch…but his influence is all out of proportion. He appears to be the dominant male in the flock, as many of the younger birds are obvious hybrids. Again, mixed feelings. I am not sure this degree of hybridization is good for either species…and a lot of effort has gone into the attempt to restore Great Greens to their previous habitat in Costa Rica. Still, to see one in flight, coming on at eye-level was a real treat. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 300mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Portrait of a Pied-bill Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — I noticed that the walking trail out to the tower and the duck blind half way between the entrance and the rest stop on Blackpoint Drive has changed names in the time I was absent from Florida in January, but it is the same trail, same tower, and same blind. The channel along the left going in is always a good spot for Pied-billed Grebe portraits. The birds are close and not much bothered by the people passing by on foot. 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.
Costa Rica! Incoming Macaw
Scarlet Macaw: Macaw Ranch, Sarapiqui Valley, Costa Rica, December 2024 — More by chance than by design, the spot I chose to stand in the pasture where the Macaws fly gave me views as they passed at eye-level, but also as they circled out and up a little rise toward my vantage point…so I could photograph them as they came head-on and slightly below me. The OM-1 was simply magical when faced with the challenge. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 300mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
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.