Maine! Hummer at the beach.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — I went down to the local beach yesterday…our first sunny day after several of steady rain…to see how the Piping Plovers and Terns are doing. I did not find any Piping Plovers, but they are well away from the nests now and it is a big beach 🙂 The terns were apparently fishing the marsh pools…or another river outlet. On the way back to my trike, however, I walked up on this Ruby-throated Hummingbird sitting on the top strand of the protective fence on the back side of the dunes, facing into the wind. I suspect it is a first year bird, on the way south already, stopping to rest up for the next leg of its journey. It was not in any hurry to move, and I had to walk around behind it to get to my trike, so, of course, I took some photos. An hour later, I saw two more hummers fly by, while photographing Egrets and Cedar Waxwings deeper in the marsh up along the bridle path parallel to the river, which, rightly or wrongly, reinforced the idea that at least some Ruby-throats are already headed south. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f7.1 @ 1/1000th.
India! Grey Francolin
Grey Francolin: Rathambore Tiger Reserve, Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Of course we saw lots of birds at Rathambore as well. Though the Grey Francolin is the most common of the quail-like birds in India, these were our first for the trip. Feeding where two tracks crossed, very near the roads. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine! More Great Egret in flight
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — Two more shots from the sequence of the Great Egret coming in from far out in the Little River Marsh. Elegance personified. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds-in-flight modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 2000 @ f6.3 @ 1/4000th. +.7EV.
India! Indian Scopes Owl
Indian Scopes Owl: Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — This Indian Scopes Owl was roosting, literally, right outside my room at our hotel in Sawai Madhopur while we were visiting Rathambore National Park. It was an old British Colonial hotel will expensive grounds and well shaded verandas all around. And owls! I photographed it from the ground one day and, here, from the second floor veranda at close range. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 4000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +.7EV.
Maine! Little Green Metallic Bee visits Wood Lily
Green Metallic Bee on Wood Lily: Two of my favorites in one shot (well, two shots for variety). A tiny Green Metallic Bee visiting one of the few blooming Wood Lilies I have found so far this year…out on the Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy. It was only about 5 years ago that I saw my first Green Metallic Bee in our front yard, but I am on the lookout for them now, and see them often. You have to look close! And of course I look for the Wood Lilies every year in July. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 770mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
India! Sambar Deer
Sambar Deer: Rathambore Tiger Reserve, Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Again, Rathambore National Park is home to a wide variety of wildlife besides the tigers. These are the large forest deer of India and southeast Asia…the Sambar. We came on this small group late in the afternoon at the end of our third unsuccessful tiger drive. They almost made up for it 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 469 and 390mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th to 1/800th.
Maine! Cedar Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — It has been one of the strangest springs and early summers that I can remember. I had begun to think I was not going to see a Cedar Waxwing. Places where I always see them, are barren of them this year. And then, of course, I saw two in a place I was not looking for them 🙂 Still, I am not seeing the numbers I expect. This bird was perched higher in the tree than I would have liked, but I will take what I can get. Cedar Waxwings are among my favorite birds…simply elegant. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Wood Lilies
I am not sure what is happening with the Wood Lilies this year? I found only 2 plants in bloom where there are generally hundreds out on the Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy. I will check again this week but I am not hopeful…as the plants I found were in full bloom already. Wood Lilies are particularly hard to photograph as there is so much dimension to them, and every part is interesting and deserving of correct focus. This is an 8 deep focus stack, and again, hand held. (For those who do not know…when focus stacking the camera takes however many exposures you tell it to, varying the focus for each one, and then combines them in-camera so that every part of your subject looks in focus. It is particularly effective on close-ups. This produces a image that is much closer to what your eye sees…but it might look a bit strange in a photograph, as we expect to see the narrow plane of focus of the camera. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 246mm equivalent. Program mode. Nominal ISO 200 @ f5.6 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Snowy Egret fun
Snowy Egret: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — Just for fun. There were at least a dozen Egrets, Snowy and Great, on a sand bar where a tidal creek comes into our local river just inland from the mouth. These two were apparently trying to decide whether to go airborne or not for a short hop down the sandbar. The photos were taken from across the river with my OM Systems OM-1 and the 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Grass-pink Orchid (focus stack)
Grass-pink Orchid: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — I always go check for the Grass-pink Orchids too early…before they bloom…and then, sometimes miss them…getting to the little remnant bog at Laudholm Farms too late. This year I caught them (though there were no Rose Pagonias, the other orchid of that bog). The OM Systems OM-1 does in-camera focus stacking, and the 100-400mm zoom focuses to just over 4 feet at 800mm equivalent…making the system pretty amazing for flower macros (or close-ups at any rate.) I know from past experiences with other cameras (I have been photographing these Grass-pinks for many years now) that it is very difficult to get a close up of the flower with every part in focus in the same image. The flower is just too three-dimensional. Focus stacking (hand held here…and a tripod would not have helped as there was breeze and the flowers were moving) gives us the depth of filed needed. It took a couple of tries because of the breeze, but it is hard to fault the results. 770mm equivalent (to frame the flower from closest focus). Equivalent exposure ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.