Posts in Category: birds
Green Heron in the rain
Green Heron. Viera Florida
Almost a month ago now, on my last full day in Florida for the Space Coast Birding Festival, I took a group of Point and Shoot Nature Photographers to the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera to photograph birds. It rained off and on all morning, but we had a great time. This Green Heron was working the ditch on the outside of the tour loop, in the company of several White Ibis and a couple of Snowy Egrets. He was particularly acrobatic and kept us entertained long enough to get too damp 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program mode. 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr and assembled in Framemagic on my iPad Pro.
Downy
Downy Woodpecker, Kennebunk Maine
We are in Conneticut for our daughter Kelia’s Senior Recital at Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, but this is from the back deck at home. A nice close-up of a female Downy Woodpecker.
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
A line of Little Blues
Little Blue Herons, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
We have 6 inches of new snow this morning, and I will have to go out and move it out of the drive in a few moments, so, as a form of resistance, it is back to last month’s trip to Florida. It was actually only a few degrees warmer than it will be here today when I took this off Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville. I was as bundled up as I could be and the wind was blowing a gale. Little Blue Herons working a line in a shallow pool. Ever hopeful. 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 447mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4, using my specialized flight and action mode. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Yet another shot of the Kennebunk Eagle
American Bald Eagle, Kennebunk Maine
In my never ending quest to get a really good shot of the Bald Eagles that hang out on the Mousam River at Roger’s Pond Park here in Kennebunk Maine, this is the best so far. I would certainly like to get closer! At least this one is in the open and in the early sun.
Sony Rx10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view (in-camera crop from 600mm). 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Spoonbill
Roseate Spoonbill, Viera Wetlands, Florida
Outside here in Southern Maine there is a blizzard blowing. It started mid-afternoon yesterday and will not blow itself out until late this afternoon. We are expecting 12-24 inches of snow. I would say we already have 12. So, as a counter measure I am going back a few weeks to my visit to Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Nature Festival in Titusville. I still have many images I have not shared. A year ago in Florida, Roseate Spoonbills were everywhere at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge…in large numbers and close in on Blackpoint Wildlife Drive. This year they were few and far between. I never did see in the water at Merritt Island. They were all flybys. The only one I saw feeding was a lone Spoonbill at Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Viera Florida on our last rainy day field trip there with my Point and Shoot Nature Photographer group. The subdued, damp light brought out the deep pink of the breeding plumage (note the green skin cap as well).
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode for various exposures as the light changed. Processed in Polarr and assembled in Framemagic on my iPad Pro.
The Bluebird of unhappiness
Eastern Bluebird, Kennebunk Maine
We continue to get unusual numbers of Bluebirds in the yard this winter…any at all is unusual, as before this winter we had never had one…but they are appearing in small flocks of 4-8 individuals at least once a week. We even had one at the sunflower feeder yesterday, and that is very unusual for a Bluebird. I have to say, they did not look like the bluebirds of happiness yesterday with a foot of new snow on the ground covering their feeding areas and temperatures in the single digits. This image was taken through the thermopane glass of the kitchen sliding door, so it is not as sharp as it might be, but it does catch the frumpy attitude of a cold Bluebird. There is another foot or more of snow in the forecast over the next 2 days, so I don’t think the Bluebirds’ mood is going to improve anytime soon. We may see more of them at the sunflower feeder though. 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Kennebunk Eagle
Bald Eagle, Kennebunk Maine
Here is the best of my shots from my encounter with the Kennebunk Eagle two days ago. I celebrated the encounter with a poem that day too. February 8. A pair of Bald Eagles nest somewhere along the Mousam between the bridge over the Mousam on Route 1 and the bridge on Route 9. Probably someone knows where, but I don’t. It must be on private land along the river. The pair, or one or the other of them, is often perched across the river from Roger’s Pond Park just off Route 1 in the center of town. I go there several times a week in hopes of catching one on a perch low enough for good photos. This one was not…it was high up in a tall pine half way up the big bank on the other side of the river.
I shot this at 600mm equivalent field of view, then processed it in Polarr on my iPad Pro, then cropped it heavily in BigPhoto and upscaled it to 16mp again, so it has, you might say, been through the wringer. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4.
White Pelicans posing
American White Pelicans, Viera Wetlands, Florida
There were a few American White Pelicans at Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Viera, Florida when I visited with my Point and Shoot Nature Photography class last month. Two of these three seemed intent on posing. It rained off and on all the time we were there and though the light was subdued, it was actually pretty good light for white birds. You can see the unusual amount of feather detail in this pair.
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/250th @ ISO 125 @ f4. Processed in Polarr and then cropped and resized in BigPhoto on my iPad Pro.
Wood Stork attended
Wood Stork, Snowy Egret, 2 White Ibis, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida
This appears to a Wood Stork attended by a Snowy Egret and two White Ibis. Mixed species feeding groups are common among birds, and especially common among wading birds. In fact, groups of waders might more properly be called “cooperative feeding groups” Each species in the group benefits from the activity of the others. White Ibis and Egrets often feed together. They are after different prey, and in going after what each wants they stir up what the other wants. The Wood Stork in this image is not really part of the group. It is simply standing and preening while the Egret and Ibis move around it. Still it makes an interesting, visually, grouping. 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program mode. 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Pine Siskin
Pine Siskin, Kennebunk Maine
I have not seen a Pine Siskin in our yard for many years now, perhaps as many as ten…until yesterday. A Bluebird sitting on the deck rail below the feeders caught my eye and sent me for the camera. It popped up into the trees behind the feeders when I opened the deck door and I got of a few shots before it moved over to a group of Bluebirds and Juncos feeding under our big pine, but then as I stood there with my head out the door in the February cold, several birds came to the thistle sock. At first, of course, I thought I was looking at very pale winter Goldfiches, but a second look showed them to be Pine Siskins. What do you know? Of course they may come every year and I have just missed them for the past 10, but I was certainly delighted to see them. We have had Bluebirds in the yead for the first time this winter, and others in area are reporting more Bluebirds then normal, and now Siskins. All it would take now is a few Redpoles, and a flock of Bohemian Waxwings to make it a truly record winter. 🙂
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 320. Program mode. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.