Racket-tailed Emerald
Racket-tailed Emerald, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have now seen both male and female Racket-tailed Emeralds and an American Emerald in the same little cove on Day Brook Pond. I am talking a small area here, maybe 12 by 12 feet, six feet out over the water, and six feet back from the shore among the sheep’s laurel and ferns. I don’t know enough about Emerald behavior to know if that is unusual or not…but impresses me. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Disputed territory. Dragonflies
Dot-tailed Whiteface and Eastern Pondhawk, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — These two were actually having a dispute about who owned this sunny piece of driftwood. They drove each other off repeatedly as I watched, even though there was plenty of room for them both. 🙂 The Eastern Pondhawk (male) is another of my favorite dragonflies…I know it is beginning to look like all the dragonflies are my favorites…but I really like the blues and greens on this dragon. The fact that it often perches nicely for photos does not hurt either. Sony Rx10iv at 494mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications…but I overrode the settings using Program Shift for greater depth of field to ensure both dragons were in focus. ISO 100 @ f14 @ 1/100th. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Spangled Skimmer, another FOY
Spangled Skimmer, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Another of my favorite dragonflies…the Spangled Skimmer is not so striking perched, kind of plain in fact, but in flight with those white spots flashing the sun, it is a wonderful thing to watch! I am always happy to find my first of the year. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Calico Pennant
Calico Pennant, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. — One of my favorite dragonflies. Comes early, stays late…and is beautiful in all summer. This is my first of year Calico for 2020. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. And still…it should be called the Valentine Pennant!
Wild Iris
The Wild Iris, also called the Blue Flag Iris, is one of the most beautiful and widespread wildflowers of late spring / early summer in North America. I wait patiently for this reliable clump, a the edge of a pond along one of our local roads, to bloom each year. Generally I can catch them on at least one sunny day, but this year they were in full bloom on the first of day of several days of overcast and rain. Still beautiful. I used Program Shift to select f16 for this shot…to increase depth of field, and selectively focused on the closest Iris. Though I say that, I was also using HDR mode to help keep detail in the cloudy sky…so, while the recorded aperture is indeed f16, at a shutter speed of 1/20th of a second (ISO 100 and an exposure bias of -1 (again for detail in the clouds)…some of the individual exposures for the HDR will have varied one or more of those settings. At any rate, I was pleased with the results. I try to avoid anything under f5.6 in general shooting, as the Sony lens is sharpest near wide open, but this, I think, worked. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
American Emerald
American Emerald dragonfly, Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I am pretty sure this is an American Emerald. If so, it would be a first for me. I saw a Racket-tailed Emerald over the water very near where I took this photo a week before…Racket-tail is an early Dragonfly in Maine, and has an obvious “racket” at the end of the abdomen…but this one looks more like an American. Of course there are a couple of striped Emeralds it could be here in Maine, but, like I say, it is most likely an American. I still have a lot to learn about dragonflies. 🙂 I do enjoy photographing them though. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Bee in the Lupine
The masses of Lupine flowers in the the field where they grow out toward Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport attract all kinds of insects, including this giant bumble bee. I could not begin to say which of the 16 species of bumble bee we have in Maine this is…except that is not the orange-belted. 🙂 Notice, from the pollen collected on the back legs, how red the pollen of the Lupine must be. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Four-spotted Skimmer
Four-spotted Skimmer, SMHC Ponds, Kennebunk, Maine. — Our Four-spotted Skimmers are among the early summer dragonflies in Southern Maine…and there were many of them at the drainage ponds at Southern Maine Health Care campus in Kennebunk. Like all dragonflies, I find the intricate patterns fascinating. And of course all skimmers are wonderful for photography because they sit still just long enough to focus, and often land close enough. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Lupines for Sunday
On Friday afternoon I rode my eBike out to Emmon’s Preserve to check for early dragonflies in the meadows, but mainly to check on the Lupine bloom in a field out that way. In the week between visits we have had some nice early summer weather, and indeed, the Lupines have responded. I took my landscape camera with me…the Sony a6500 with the 16mm lens (24mm equivalent) and the Ultrawide converter, which results in an 18mm equivalent view. I invested in this combination because I always enjoy the perspective of the ultrawide lens. I don’t carry it enough on my photoprowls around home. The sun was behind the clouds, where it had been all morning, when I got to the Lupine field, but I waited it out, and got a few shots at the end of the visit with the sun on the flowers. I offer this shot as celebration of Sunday! Sony a6500 as above with 18mm equivalent. HDR mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
A tale of two moths
Eight-spotted Forester and White-striped Black Moths, Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport, Maine, USA. I went out to Emmon’s Preserve yesterday on my eBike, to see about early dragonflies, but mostly to see if the field of Lupine up the road from there was in full bloom yet. I found these two moths in one corner of the meadow above the Land Trust buildings. Two little back moths. There were quite a few of the White-striped Blacks, but I only saw the one Forester. I had to look them both up, as they were new to me. They are distinctive enough so that it was an easy search on the internet. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.