Posts in Category: birds
Grey-headed Junco
Dark-eyed Junco, Grey-headed race: Bear Canyon Trail, Santa Fe National Forest, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — This Grey-headed Junco was busy in the leaf litter finding what appeared to be dried out grasshopper-like insects…they might have still been alive…but they were certainly dry looking. A fledgling was following the Junco around, and getting a good many of the bugs that were found. This bird was very confiding…it was busy at work while I photographed it for many minutes without flushing. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 160 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Rufous Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — Rufous Hummingbirds do not live in New Mexico…which is to say they do not breed here — but they are often the dominant species during fall migration, arriving back in the state in August in high numbers. They are also aggressive in defending feeders and stands of flowering plants, so they are hard to miss. After years now in the east where we only have Ruby-throat hummers, I was happy to meet this gentleman at the Randall Davey Audubon Center, guarding a feeder that I never actually saw him use…though several female Rufous hummers were active at it. Sony Rx10iv at 1200mm equivalent (600mm optical plus 2x Clear Image Zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th. + 1 EV exposure compensation.
Cooper’s Hawk in deep
Cooper’s Hawk, Santa Fe Canyon Preserve, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — Sometimes you just have to take the view you can get. 🙂 This Cooper’s Hawk was supper cooperative in that it stayed put for as long as I needed for photographs, and super uncooperative in that it stayed deep in the foliage and never presented an unobscured view. There was always a branch or a leaf (and often both) between it and my camera. I spent a good 20 minutes scuttling back and forth on the trail looking for lines of sight through the foliage, and managed some, I think, satisfying shots, but it was real work. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. + 1 EV exposure bias.
Parking lot birding. American Robin in Santa Fe
American Robin, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — Needs must. After breakfast at our hotel in Santa Fe I had a poke around the parking lots of the adjacent buildings to see what I could find for today. I saw a couple of uncooperative butterflies and this Robin singing in the top of a tree. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Juvenile Northern Mockingbird
Northern Mockingbird: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — This juvenile Northern Mockingbird had me going for a few moments. In the excitement of first seeing it and getting off a set of record shots while it was still partially obscured by foliage, I tried to make it into all kinds of other species…with that (abnormally?) long tail and speckled breast…but then it hopped up onto a more exposed branch and I had to settle for a young Mockingbird…especially as I have seen the adults in the area all summer. It was hyperactive and gave me all sorts of poses in the few moments before it moved on. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Turkey in the hay (field)
Wild Turkey: Near Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport, Maine, USA — I detailed this experience in yesterday’s Day Poem, but essentially I stoped on my eTadpole recumbent trike to look at a dragonfly in a ditch and there were two turkeys sheltering in the tall grass and flowers on the far side. This one poked its head up to see what I was up to and I managed a few shots (once I got my camera untangled from the bag where rides between my legs on the trike). There were not completely open lines-of-sight as the hay was just about as tall as the turkey, but it is at least an evocative shot. It was a very hot day for southern Maine and the Turkeys were struggling with the heat. Nikon B700 at 1400mm equivalent. Program mode. -/3 EV. Spot focus. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Egrets along the Mousam
Great and Snowy Egrets: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — For Kennebunk in southern Maine, this is a good sized concentration of Egrets. It is not like Florida in the winter, but in August we get Egrets, both Great and Snow, staging their way south, and stopping over in the marshes along the coastal rivers for a few weeks. The top panel is at 228mm equivalent on the Nikon B700, and the bottom panel is from the same spot at 1440mm equivalent. Both shots are somewhat limited by the light haze of smoke from the western fires which has reached Maine in the past few days. Nikon B700 in Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos and assembled in FrameMagic.
Fresh Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper: Alwive Pond Preserve, W. Kennebunk, Maine, USA — A couple of grab shots of a Brown Creeper I encountered on the tail in to Alwive Pond. Grab shots are about all I seem to get of this hyperactive bird. This must be a fresh bird…either this year’s fledgling or a bird with brand new tail feathers. The tail feathers of our New England creepers are generally very worn and tattered, and considerably shorter by the time I see them. It is also particularly “brown” for an Eastern Brown Creeper. 🙂 Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Morning visitor: Cardinal
Northern Cardinal: For a week or so we have had the neighborhood male Cardinal visit our feeding station early in the morning, just about sun-up. Yesterday both the male and the female came. They don’t let me get even right up to the inside of the deck door…if so much as a shadow of me shows they are off, so this was taken from well inside through the double-glazed door. Still a handsome bird! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 4000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Green Heron
Green Heron: Evidently this Green Heron has made the drainage ponds at Southern Maine Health Care part of its territory. It has been at the ponds on my last several visits. When it flies off it goes into the woods south of the pond along the outflow…but it is soon back so it does not go far. It is relatively tolerant of humans. It sat on the posts of the little footbridge over the outflow for a long time while I hunted dragonflies on the other side of the pond. A handsome bird. 🙂 Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/125th @ f6.5 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.