Posts in Category: beach
Maine! More arty terns
Least Terns: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — A few more arty terns. They really show off against the green backdrop of the distant vegetation (and they are already show-offs in flight). OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 454mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Flying fish
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — It is the abundant supply of Sand Eels at the mouth of our tidal rivers that attract the breeding colonies of Least Terns, and, in my experience, about 1 in 10 close ups of a Tern in flight right now will show it carrying a Sand Eel. Sand Eels are part of the courtship ritual of Least Terns in Maine and the mate still brings eels to the sitting bird on the nest. When the eggs hatch both birds will bring eels to the young. So it is, literally, flying fish that keep the Least Terns on our beaches. And yes, the Sand Eel or sandeel is actually a fish, not an eel. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 454mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Strange pine fellows
Willet and American Goldfinch: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — On my way down the beach to photograph the Piping Plover chicks the other day a pair of Willets were guarding a nest in the beach grass. One or the other would settle in the short pine trees overlooking the nest. I caught both the Willet and a female American Goldfinch sharing the same perch. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Least of terns
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — Nothing like a close encounter with a Tern in flight 🙂 This one was hovering momentarily as it decided whether to come down to the beach. This is a crop of about a quarter of the frame at 800mm equivalent (which would make it like the view through a 3200mm lens), but even-so it is about as close as you can get to a tern in flight. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Tern chase
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — another version of the chasing Terns…this time lower against the beach grass and sea peas. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 538mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Tern art
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — Sometimes it is not so much about the birds as it is about the light, the form, the composition. Art. 🙂 These two Least Terns were chasing each other down the beach in close formation. I don’t know why. They just were. I have several shots of them framed against the green backdrop of distant trees and the closer backdrop of the beach grass and sea peas. This is not a tern portrait, and it is not an id photo. It does not have that kind of detail. It is something else, but I can’t help but like it. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 538mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Gimmy shelter
Piping Plover: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2024 — A cloud passed over the sun and mama Plover called all 4 chicks home to shelter. They had been out exploring the beach, one of them half way out to the distant tideline, and dad was having trouble keeping them corralled. This is the last of the 4, and you can count the legs under her for the other 3. This shot was taken from a long way away, well outside the protected area of the beach and she was well inside, at 1600mm equivalent field of view using the 2x digital tele-extender on my OM System OM-1Mkii with the M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom and then cropped some. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! driftwood sculpture
A gift of the beach altering storms of late winter and early spring…this massive tree trunk was deposited high on the beach against the dunes. That was all sand behind it last year. Who knows where this tree grew to this size though its history is undoubtedly written in the twisted roots. OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 12-45 f4 Pro zoom at 26mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! swing and a miss
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — Life is not all wins for the Least Tern. I suspect, like most photographers I know, there are way more misses than keepers. These shots are keepers, though at larger magnifications they are not critically sharp…they capture a moment. Not a moment of success for the Tern, but a significant moment nonetheless. And considering how fast the tern was moving, I am happy to have gotten them at all. 🙂 OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 684mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Chicks!
Piping Plover: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — The first of our protected Piping Plover nests have hatched, and the tiny chicks are running around on the beach…never too far from mom or dad, but getting more and more adventurous, and harder for the the adults to contain or protect. The first image is a composite, to show just how small the chicks are. Both adult and chick are in the same shot, just as they are in this image, but of course they are in different focal planes and only the adult is in focus. I lifted the chick out of a shot where it was the subject and therefor in focus and sized it exactly to fit over the out of focus chick…again, just to give you an accurate impression of the size of the chick. If you know plovers you know what the adult is only about 5 inches long, so the chicks are truly tiny 🙂 They are also very curious, and though I was well outside the protected area on the open beach, I stood still just long enough so one had to come over to check me out. It only stopped a few feet from my feet, and by then I did not dare to move until it moved off. So I have a frame-filling close up. I don’t think it was as impressed by me as I was by it. I am not nearly that cute (or at least my shoes aren’t. OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator (composite assembled in Pixomatic.)