House Finch, Timber Point, Rachel Carson NWR, Goose Rocks Maine
The song of the House Finch is not strong…it kinds of wisps along…but it is has a good deal of melody. Pleasant, if not striking. This specimen sang for 10 minutes while I watched. It was well buried back in the back branches of a road-side tree at the Timber Point section of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge across the Little River from Goose Rocks Maine, and the head of Goosefair Bay.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 140 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom. Cropped slightly to eliminate distracting out of focus branches at the base.
Song Sparrow, Timber Point, Rachel Carson NWR, Goose Rocks Maine
As I mentioned last week, there were quite a few Song Sparrows along the Timber Point trail at the new section of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge across from Goose Rocks in Southern Maine. This one was buried well back in the cattail reeds, and was busy with its grooming. That made for a variety of poses, which I have assembled here in Coolage.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ~ISO 140 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
American Goldfinch, back deck feeding station. Kennebunk Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
We are having a minor spring snow event today and tomorrow. No significant accumulation (well maybe an inch by tomorrow night), and nothing compared to what they got from this storm further west…but still enough to remind us that we don’t put our snow boots and winter coats away until May 1st here in Maine. My wife had to find her mittens to get to church this morning. This American Goldfinch was one of several birds hanging close to the feeders in the snow. I expect we will get lots of traffic on the back deck today and tomorrow as birds try to find enough sustenance to keep warm in the unseasonable weather.
Jesus reminds us that God takes care of the Goldfinch, no matter what the weather does, and that we should take that as evidence that God will care for us…that we should not be anxious for how we will stay alive, but, the implication is, devote ourselves to living in a way that demonstrates our faith in God, our thankfulness for the blessings of God, and a generosity of spirit that embraces our fellows and all that lives.
The Goldfinch in the snow reminds me of God’s blessings in my life…but it also challenges me to take a look at how well I live…how well I embody faith, thanksgiving, and generosity. The answer today is the same as it always is, and always will be…not well enough…or at least not as will as I think I ought to. The hardest lesson of all to learn, far harder than trusting God for our daily bread and shelter, is trusting God for our goodness. If God takes care that I stay alive…surely God will also take care that I live well…with faith, thanksgiving and generosity. Being anxious about how good I am is just as misguided as being anxious about what I will eat or what I will wear.
God is good. Only God is good. We live by faith in God or we do not live at all. When I look at this Goldfinch in the snow, I do not see a trace of anxiety…no fear…no worry…just the impulse to get on with it…to get on with life…no matter what the weather does. Yes, you say, easy for the Goldfinch…that is just the way it is made. But isn’t that what Jesus was saying? That is the way we are made. We only have to let ourselves live that way. By faith. All else follows.
Song Sparrow, Timber Point, Rachel Carson NWR, Goose Rocks, Maine
As I mentioned yesterday, the Song Sparrows are back all along the coast here in Southern Maine. They are often our earliest summer singer to arrive. This bird is out at the tip of Timber Point, a relatively new property of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge located between Goose Rocks and Biddeford Pool, just where the Little River flows into Goosefair Bay. It sat up and sang for me nicely.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 125 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Eastern Phoebe, Kennebunk Bridle Trail, Kennebunk ME
The first Eastern Phoebes have returned to the marsh and trees around the Bridle Trail near the mouth of the Mousam River where it crosses Route 9 here in Kennebunk. Along with the Song Sparrows (also present for at least a week) they are our earliest returning songbirds every year. I don’t count the Robins, since they are really here year-round, or any of our other backyard feeder birds, which I can see any month of the year. The Song Sparrows and Phoebes will nest along the Bridle Trail, and I will be seeing them all summer. I love the background of this shot…the bokeh as they call it. The wind was gusting to 30 mph yesterday and the winter grasses of the marsh were being tossed…they were just far enough behind the bird to create this warm wash of color. You can see the effects of the warm light reflected up from the marsh grasses on the body of the bird as well. There is often a light yellow wash on the lower breast of the Phoebe, but you rarely see it this yellow.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Brandt’s Cormorant in breeding plumage and posture, La Jolla Cliffs, California
This morning we pop back to San Diego and the San Diego Birding Festival to pick up this breeding plumage and posture Brandt’s Cormorant from the cliffs at Scripps Park in La Jolla California. We watched two birds trying to build nests on the same small ledge for 20 minutes or so…repeatedly stealing the meager nesting materials from each other, and spending more time defending than gathering. Eventually one flew off, undoubtedly in search of more nesting materials, and the remaining bird promptly stole all of the absent birds stuff. There is a joke in there, about California maybe, but I will restrain myself.
The birds were close enough to the cliff top so that I only needed 800mm of equivalent reach for this close-up. Nikon P900. 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
Green Heron, Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge, Honduras
So, is a Green Heron in Honduras more exotic, more tropical, than a Green Heron in Maine? The Green Heron is my favorite North American Heron, so, of course, I am delighted to find it anywhere. This bird, standing on a floating log along the edge of the main channel at Cuero y Salado National Wildlife Refuge on the Caribbean coast of Honduras is certainly all a Green Heron can be. I saw several in Honduras, looking and acting just like the ones I had seen a week earlier in Florida, or a month later in San Diego. Always a treat…and always exotic and tropical as far as I am concerned!
Nikon P900 at 1100mm equivalent field of view (before cropping). 1/500th @ ISO 200 @ f5.6. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom. It was taken from a moving boat on the river, so framing was not perfect 🙂
The Titmice came back to our feeders about a week ago, after a late winter absence. This Tufted Titmouse shot was taken on the second day of spring 🙂 and is a celebration of our spring nor’easter. I think he looks very stoic there on his branch. Every few moments he would fly across to the feeders and take a seed, then return to this same branch to digest.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.
Canada Goose, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area
If there were a prize for the heaviest bodied bird…the Canada Goose might well be in the running. The size of the body is emphasized in this shot of a goose standing on one leg, ballerina like, in Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area. I like the pose, and I like the way the light is reflected back from the water on the body of the bird.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Carol came running
early to the bedroom,
“turkeys in the yard,”
and I went running
barefoot and still wet
from the shower, camera
in hand, out the front door.
Indeed, four big birds
in full spring finery…
feathers aglisten in the
morning sun with
colors rarely seen,
(barely imagined).
They strutted mindlessly,
as only turkeys strut,
(I know they call it
a trot but it’s not…
something between
a strut and a stroll)
up the middle of the
road to the neighbor’s
yard where they circled
back just in time
to be a Turkey heart
attack for the lady
in the SUV taking the
corner on Brown
Street a tad too fast.
They scuttled (again
a better word than trot)
through another yard
into the relative safety
of a patch of forest
and where gone.
Ah to be as mindless
and a carefree as a
Turkey in the spring.
