Big Tom
Wild Turkey, Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — Yesterday it was completely overcast all day, so I did not take my “real camera” with me when I went out for a purely exercise bike ride…and, of course, I saw over 40 Wild Turkeys in 4 different flocks…two flocks of Hens and Janes and chicks, and two flocks of Toms and Jakes. This is one of two mature Toms strutting their stuff along the road in to the Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve). Taken with my “back-up travel camera”, a Panasonic Lumix ZS-60, at about 400mm equivalent. Program mode: ISO 125 @ f6 @ 1/100th. -.3 EV. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Monarchs and Northern Blazing Star
Kennebunk Barrens Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I had been disappointed in the crop of Northern Blazing Star on the Kennebunk Plains (now known, after the most recent changes in management, as the “Kennebunk Barrens Nature Conservancy”) after the prescribed burn of last September. Northern Blazing Star is an endangered flower, with a very limited range, and the Kennebunk Plains is one of its last strongholds. It is a fire dependent plant, and needs periodic fires to maintain a healthy population. I will admit, I did not know exactly what to expect after the fire, but I was hoping for a bumper crop this year…and we did not see that…at least until the last few days in August. It might be that the bloom was just later than usual due to the fire, or that it was late due to an abnormally dry July and August, but it was certainly late. We had some tropical storm remnants come through the last days of August, with some significant rain, and suddenly there are a lot of Blazing Star in bloom on the plains. Not the best crop I have seen, but better that it looked like it was going to be this year. We also had a sudden influx of Monarch butterflies. This has happened other years, but I am always surprised. This year I have seen, until last week, maybe a half dozen individual Monarchs…few enough to be somewhat worried. Even when the Milkweed was in bloom, there were very few Monarchs to be seen. However, when the Blazing Star finally bloomed, I saw more individuals in one day than in the rest of the summer. It was hard to get a count as they were actively feeding on the Blazing Star and moving from patch to patch, but first impression was that they were every where…and maybe about 20 individuals in the few acres along the shore of the pond there. It makes me wonder were they have been all summer…or if they are newly emerged to match the timing of the Blazing Star bloom?? They were certainly “fresh” looking butterflies. Sony Rx10iv at 24mm equivalent in HDR mode for the landscape, and at 600mm equivalent in Program with my custom birds and wildlife modifications for the butterfly. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
More Chickadee antics
Black-capped Chickadee, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — And here we are with yet another example of why you have to photograph all the chickadees all the time…or at least watch them closely. You just never know what they are going to get up to. Our Black-capped Chickadees have learned to use the hanging water feeder for their drinking needs, but that does not mean they do not still enjoy a bath. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Peeps!
Semi-palmated Sandpipers, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — There was a flock of peeps working the tidal shore along Back Creek behind our local beach the other day. I don’t get out on the actual beach in the summer, since we have crowds of tourists every day. I did not attempt the beach during a good summer, and certainly not during the pandemic. Still, it was great to see the Semi-palmated Sandpipers in good numbers by the river. They are fun to watch. Always busy and somehow perky. Perky peeps! That is good. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. If you look carefully, you can actually see the “semi-palm” in a couple of the shots here.
Confusing Red Meadowhawks of Autumn
It is the season for small red Meadowhawks, or maybe it is just that the Autumn Meadowhawks are so abundant right now that they draw attention to the other, closely related, species. Meadowhawk identification is not for the faint hearted, but I will take a stab at it. I think I have here, top to bottom, Autumn, with its yellowish legs, White-faced, and Ruby. They were all taken at the same small pond that drains the parking lot at the Southern Maine Medical Center in Kennebunk, Maine. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Again with the Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I put my chair blind out the other day for an hour or so in the late afternoon. It was the day before the storm got to us and we had a lot of bird activity around the feeders. The Red-breasted Nuthatch had pretty much single-handedly emptied the sunflower feeder and flew off with the seeds. I suspect the bird was storing them somewhere…no eating them. Still a very attractive little bandit. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Even though the light was still good, it is deeply shaded under the trees, so ISO 2500 @ f4 @ 1/500. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos, with some extra masking for noise.
Common Banded Skipper (?)
Common Banded Skipper, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I am not a butterfly expert, or a skipper expert at that…but I think this is the Common Banded Skipper. Not 3/4 of an inch long. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Day Lily
I bought this day lily for Carol’s birthday last year, and it was in bloom then, so I should not have been surprised that it is a late bloomer. I was. It seemed it was never going to bloom. Most of the other lilies in our yard are long past, but this one is finally producing wonderful blossoms over the past few weeks. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. HDR mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. And of course this is as much about composition as it is about the flower.
Red-breasted Nuthatch right way up?
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I started out to say this is a shot of the Red-breasted Nuthatch that visits our thistle feeder “right way up”…but I am not entirely certain that there is a “right way up” for nuthatches. They seem to spend as much time, or more, with their heads down, as they do with their heads up. So what is the right way for an nuthatch? Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — When I filled the feeders last, I put some thistle seed in the wire mesh feeder that has been empty all summer, and we immediately had this Red-breasted Nuthatch, which we have not seen is at least a month, come visiting many times a day. It apparently really likes thistle. It does not visit the feeders under the pines, as I have had thistle there all summer, but it likes the feeders on the deck. Go figure. It takes one seed at time, and you can see how small the seeds are, puts it on the end of a vertical branch, and bashes it open to get at the kernel inside. That is a lot of work for a very small kernel. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Not great light so already at ISO 2000 even at f4. 1/500th. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.