Eastern Bluebird portrait
Eastern Bluebird, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have way too many photos of the Eastern Bluebird at the mealworm feeder…in all kinds of poses and all kinds of light…but he rarely sits long enough away from the feeder (and near the blind) for me to get an memorable image. This time he did. Late day sun. Perfect background. Great pose. What more can any photographer ask…at least for a portrait shot. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. You can drill in on this quite a ways before you run out of feather detail. (One of these days I am going to make a collage of all the mealworm feeder shots, just for fun.)
Catbird comes calling
Grey Catbird, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — We had a few Baltimore Orioles come through last week, so I have oranges out in hopes of enticing they to hang around…much to the delight of the Catbirds, who are, apparently, hanging around. We have not seen the Orioles in several days, but the Catbirds come for the oranges every day. They are dainty about it. It takes them a long time of finish off a slice of orange. (And they do get help out by my photo blind under the pines, from our one bold chipmunk kit who as decided he/she also likes orange.) The Catbird can be a good study in plumage detail without lots of garish color to distract you…but it is nice to catch the red under the tail. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Point blank range here, at only about 8 feet from my blind. This is almost a full frame. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Cardinal comes to visit
Northern Cardinal, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Any day when the Cardinal comes to visit is a good day…actually, of course, he comes most days, and I sometimes see him from the back deck windows, but he only comes occasionally when I am actually out in the blind and ready for him. 🙂 I have to be quick as he does on hang around long, and he is a habitual skulker, so unobstructed shots are even more rare than his visits, but it is still fun to try. This shot is through a tiny window in the brambles and bittersweet vines, and even when he turned around on his perch, he was then partially blocked. I will settle for the back view. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Downy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — The Downy Woodpeckers are with us all year long, and active around the feeders. I have my suet in squirrel proof cages, but the Downies learned to use them very quickly…sometimes going inside the cage but mostly hanging off the bottom. From my backyard photo blind I like to catch them coming and going from the suet, as they perch on the pine or on this massive bittersweet vine. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. The afternoon light in the eye is very attractive, I think.
Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — We had a brief stop-over sighting of a female Baltimore Oriole high in our pines the day before yesterday, so I knew they were back, and I have seen photos of them already settled in at feeders north of us in Maine (not unusual as many of the migrants seem to leave the coast south of here and fly directly north across the Gulf of Maine to their summer homes, before they find their way to our little western costal nook). I put out a piece of an orange I bought on my last shopping trip just to have ready for the Orioles. Yesterday we woke to two males and a female on the suet feeders on the deck. I immediately put out more oranges. They hung around all day, making frequent visits to both the suet and the oranges and they were back again early this morning. I am hoping to entice a pair to stay for the summer. 🙂 It was late in the day before I caught one close enough to my backyard photo blind for a series of shots. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Rhodora
There is a poem that goes with this. 🙂
The first Rhodora of the season
most often blooms in a roadside
ditch along Rt. 9, between the
ponds on the right, south of Brown
Street and north of the marsh
at Branch Brook and the Wells
Town Line. It is about the most
prosaic place you could hope
to find the particular pinkish
purple of the herald of May in
the wet woods of Maine (one of
only two native Rhododendrons in
the state) but for those of us,
like me, who are eager for the
flowering season, early Rhodora is
welcome where and however found.
I was gliding along on my eBike, headed somewhere else, when the Rhodora in the ditch unexpectedly caught my eye. I have seen it there before. Rhodora is, as the poem says, one of only two native Rhododendrons (or Azaleas) in Maine, and it is the only Rhododendron that has separated petals, as opposed to trumpet shaped blooms with the petals fused at the bottoms. The other, Clammy Azalea, one is much more rare, found only in deep swamps and isolated areas of the state. I know of some large patches of Rhodora in a few places I can get to even during the shut-down, but they will not bloom for a week or more, if past seasons are any indication. They always bloom first in the warm corridor along the road. Sony Rx10iv at 87mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications, which I also use for macro. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. I like the way the out of focus flowers in the background frame the focused flowers in the foreground. 🙂
Wren caught in the act!
House Wren, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — When the House Wren is not singing, it is generally foraging among the leaf litter under my feeders…or somewhere out of my sight…but foraging all the same. I caught this one in the act, with success. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Catbird calling
Grey Catbird, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I saw a Catbird, through the full thickness of the brush under our pines where my feeders hang for my backyard photo blind, the day before yesterday, and heard it singing off across the yards, probably in the forest edge along the railroad tracks, but yesterday it perched nicely in the brambles near the blind, and sang for me. 🙂 Another species for the yard and for the blind. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Purple Finch mating display!
Purple Finch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I continue to be amazed at the success of my backyard photo blind project…way beyond my expectations. I spend about 2 hours there each day when the weather allows, mostly in the late afternoon when the light is at its best. While I am, of course, missing all the birds that do not come to our yard (warblers in particular this time of year and the more obvious shore and water birds, not to mention raptors) I am seeing lots of birds I did not expect from my casual feeder watching in previous years. The Purple Finches are among them. We rarely had them at the feeders on the deck, but this year we have them daily at the feeders by the blind. For a while there I was not seeing the adult male, but he has been coming the past few days, several times a day. Yesterday I had the immense privilege of watching him do his mating display. He was moving rapidly and not sitting anywhere long, and I did not get to the video button in time for video, but I got many stills of his various poses. The Purple Finch display is a mix of begging postures…wings drooped and fluttering rapidly, chin up, just like a nestling…and aggressive displays with his crest raised and his back arched and his tail cocked up. It is really something to see! You will want to view the still image as big as you can make it. 🙂 I am also posting a short animation of the action. Though this is the best of 4 attempts, the frames are not perfectly aligned and at 4 frames per second, it does not capture the wing fluttering at all, but you can see the rapid changes in posture and attitude. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Video assembled in ImgPlay.
American Goldfinch (partial leucistic)
American Goldfinch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have watched this Goldfinch come into full breeding plumage over the past 8 weeks here in Southern Maine. It is only now becoming certain that it is partially leucistic…that grey patch on the back of the neck should not be there. It makes it vaguely reminiscent of a Lawrence’s Goldfinch from about as far away as you can get from Maine and still be in the US…the far southern coast and mountains of California. Also over the past two months the greenery behind the feeders and perches at my photo blind has come in nicely to provide this kind of of backdrop to portraits of the birds. This twist of Bittersweet vine is a favorite perch for the Goldfinches. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.