Again, nothing much happening in the neighborhood critter-wise in early January, but when out on a photoprowl (or out anytime and anywhere), I keep my eye peeled for anything that might fill my frame. This tree trunk is wet from falling rain and melting snow, and that only brings out the contrast in color and texture provided by the rugged bark and the delicate (if dense) moss and sketchy lichen. Add the few pine needles at the bottom to give scale to the whole composition, and I can spend some time with this image. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 52mm equivalent field of view. Aperture with macro modifications. f10. Processed in Photomator.

Grey Squirrel: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — Things are pretty quiet in our neighborhood, critter-wise, here in the early days of January. We pretty much are reduced to the year-round resident birds (with a few who winter here from higher latitudes) and even the chipmunks and mice are somewhere out of sight, keeping warm and alive. The squirrels, on the other hand, are out and about, and as active as ever. In summer, you see the squirrels stretched out as long as they can reach along a branch in a shady spot on their bellies with their legs hanging down on either side, trying to cool off in the mid-day sun. In winter, they cuddle up to branches near the trunk out of the wind, paws tucked under, in a sunny spot if they can find one, trying to stay warm. Clever critters. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 450mm equivalent field of view. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — I took a photoprowl around the neighborhood the other day and came back with this. This is not a photograph of a bird, but a photograph of light with a bird in it. There are lots of things “wrong” with this photograph from a technical (and maybe even aesthetic) standpoint, but somehow it just works for me. It whispers something I want to hear and I find myself being still to listen. The round highlights in the background are called bokeh balls, and are an artifact of focused light, while the slanting subtle wave-like lines are produced by refraction of light through the branches of the tree. I could not have intentionally produced, or even predicted, that background effect. Then you have the strong busy diagonals of the more-or-less in focus bare branches cutting mostly against the grain of the background, and the halo of backlight caught in the feathers of the chickadee. And finally, you have the bird itself…those knowing eyes. It has a delicate, oriental feel to it…or maybe almost impressionistic. And again, it had to “just happen”…I would not even begin to know how to produce this effect. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 450mm. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. +1EV for the backlight. Processed in Photomator.

Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — This is another hard-to-get shot, in a totally different way than yesterday’s Cardinal deep in the brush. The first round of feeder birds often comes just at dawn, just as the sky lights up behind the feeders, and we have had glowing sunrises many mornings recently. A week or so ago, I thought, “I wonder if I could catch a bird on a perch against the light of the rising sun?” and I have been watching for the right timing these many days, bringing the camera to the kitchen as I write my morning posts and drink my decaf coffee, just to be ready. Yesterday, the sky was right, and the birds cooperated. I had to use the flip-out LCD screen on the camera to get a low enough angle to frame the bird against the dawn glow, but I got off several shots of bluebirds and finches. This is my favorite, even though the bird looking out of frame gives it a unique tension. From a technical standpoint, shooting in this kind of low light required a high ISO, 12800, to maintain a shutter speed of 1/500th (the camera handles those settings for me…I do not have to think about it in the moment). The image is quite satisfying, technically, I think, considering the challenges. And it pretty much satisfies my vision when I first thought about the possibility. Not exactly what I saw in my mind’s eye, but then that is part of the fun of doing real-world photography. AI could maybe have generated something closer to what I envisioned, but not this unique vision of a real bird doing the unexpected against a real dawn sky. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 433mm equivalent field of view. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. +.7EV for backlight. Processed in Photomator. (no noise reduction).

Northern Cardinal: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — Back to back yard birds of Southern Maine. I took a walk yesterday, trying to build some stamina after my pacemaker events, and, of course, to see if I could find the winter flock of Robins and Cedar Waxwings…I still do not know where they are…but I did find two male cardinals skulking through the dense brush in a bit of wetland between our street and a newish development. I have seen Cardinals there several times now, so I am always looking. They were, however, playing very hard to get…staying deep in the brush, beyond ideal photographic distance, and heavily obscured, so I really had to work to find even a marginal clear line of sight. It might have been frustrating, but I enjoyed the challenge and came back with a handful of images I would be willing to share. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 450mm equivalent field of view. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Forster’s Tern: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, January 2025 — The fishing was good along one stretch of the canal next to Blackpoint Drive on the day, almost exactly a year ago now, that I visited. I was wondering where the concentration of waders was, but as I came around a bend, there they were…a mixed flock of mostly white birds. And lots of terns in the air. This is the Forster’s Tern in its non-breeding plumage. Kiting terns are among the easiest and hardest of birds to catch in flight. They stand in the air on outstretched wings, but when they move, they are very fast. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program with action and flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA — Still revisiting photos from my January 2025 trip to Space Coast Florida. The spoonbills like to stand in the shadow of the mangroves along the channels that line the road at Blackpoint. The birds are in full afternoon sun, and the mangroves are in such deep shade that they go completely black if the bird is exposed correctly…incidentally producing a very striking effect. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Tricolored Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA — Back in Florida, last January again, for the Space Coast Birding Festival, and out along Blackpoint Wildlife Drive where the Tricolored Heron’s dance on the water against the afternoon light. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent field of view. Birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Limpkin: Orlando Wetlands Scenic Park, Christmas, Florida, January 2025 — Continuing my break from backyard birds, we drop back almost a year to my last trip to the Space Coast Birding Festival in Florida. I spent a couple of mornings leading Point and Shoot Nature Photography workshops at Orlando Wetlands, and on both mornings had Limpkin encounters. Limpkins are highly specialized, Apple Snail-eating birds, with a consequently very restricted range. If you are going to be on the Space Coast this January and your time overlaps with the festival, you might want to join me on one of my workshops. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program with birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Talamanca Hummingbird: Paraiso Quetzal Lodge, Costa Rica, March 2025 — Taking a break from our southern Maine backyard birds for a few days (unless something spectacular appears outside my window). This is one of my favorite hummingbirds from one of my favorite places to photograph hummingbirds. The Talamanca Hummingbird is the largest in Costa Rica and one of the largest in the world. It used to be the Magnificent Hummingbird until they decided that the birds of the mountains of Central America and the Mountains of Mexico and the Southwest US were distinct species and needed separate names. (Our Magnificent is now the Rivoli’s Hummingbird…but that won’t last long as they are doing away with all “honorific names”.) At any rate, whatever they call it, this is a large, bright, often aggressive, hummer of the highlands, with vivid colors from its gorget to its cap to its breast and flanks. Magnificent was a fully appropriate name. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.