Posts in Category: birds
Yellow Crowned Night Heron. Happy Sunday!
Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Estero Llano Grande SP and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light.” Jesus
The Yellow-crowned Night Heron is one grumpy looking bird. In fact all Night Herons, perhaps because of their large heads and the way they suck their necks down between their shoulders, have the same look of gloom…if not outright doom. “It is not easy,” they seem to say, “being a Night Heron.” The fact that they invariably have a little tuft of feathers caught at the tip of their beaks from preening does not help any. They are, of course, much more active, as the name implies, at night, when they hunt. I will admit I have never seen one at night. They might be a very different bird. When I see them they are resting…off duty, so to speak…and their general funk might be just my interpretation of their half-asleep state. I might look a little grumpy myself if some intruding human got close enough to my perch to wake me in the middle of the night…err…this is a difficult metaphor to keep straight but you see what I mean. Of course, the generous eye gets beyond first impressions to sees the beauty in the bird, and something of it’s nobility. In this wide-eyed specimen the eye alone is enough to redeem the bird. The eye compels us to take in the elegance of the gray and black (carefully preened) plumage, the golden crown, and the strength of the beak. Yes, like all God’s creatures, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron has its own beauty. The generous eye is always rewarded by the light that fills all creation.
Happy Sunday!
Little Green
Green Kingfisher, Estero Llano Grande SP and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
I always hope for a Green Kingfisher when I go to Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center in Weslaco Texas. In fact, on this, my second visit to the site in two days, Green Kingfisher was very much on my mind. You might say it was the bird I was requesting of the day. The tiny Green Kingfisher is one of my favorite birds. It has color…and it has attitude. In fact it seems to have more attitude than would reasonably fit in such a small body (it is not much bigger than a sparrow). This might be an very immature male, or it might be a female with some interesting staining on the plumage. It is a bird that is never completely still for long. These four shots were taken over just a few moments…as you see…all on the same perch. The light was not great, and there was still a touch of mist in the air from the retreating morning fog, and the bird was a bit far away…but still, I would never pass up a Green Kingfisher! Especially after requesting one.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view…cropped slightly for scale. 1/160th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Eastern Screech Owl
Eastern Screech Owl. Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
There has been a Screech Owl in this nest box at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center in Weslaco Texas for at least the past two years…and it right around a corner in the trail from the Common Paraque that has been roosting beside the path for past 6 years. Two great birds, reliable with a few dozen yards of each other. World-class Birding Center indeed! For those who are new to owls, and Eastern Screech Owls in particular, this fellow is small…not much bigger than a Robin.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. Flash aided exposure at 1/200th @ ISO 200 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Vermilion Flycatcher!
Vermilion Flycatcher. Estero Llano Grande SP and World Birding Center, Weslaco TX
All good things come to those who work a bird long enough! I photographed this Vermilion Flycatcher at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center in Weslaco Texas from much greater distances yesterday, over the space of 30 minutes or so…and just once he flew in close enough to fill the frame and sat still long enough so I could get off a burst of shots. One of the most stunning of North American birds and somewhat of a Texas specialty, though you can find them in Florida too.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 160 @ f6.5. -.7 EV to keep the orange from burning out. Processed in Lightroom.
Greater Yellowlegs in the Autumn Afternoon
Greater Yellowlegs. Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
I waited patiently yesterday for some light…for a bit of sun to break through the overcast…before risking a photoprowl. It is hunting season, and though Sunday hunting is banned in Maine, I never really feel safe in the woods until the guns are put back in their cases in early December. Fortunately, I am in Texas and New Mexico for more than 2 full weeks in November…so I generally have lots of pics to post anyway.
This is a Greater Yellowlegs, in the marsh pools along the Bridle Trail in an isolated section of Rachel Carson NWR, in Kennebunk Maine. The late afternoon light makes the image warm, makes the shadows long, and picks out the detail in the plumage. Nikon P900 (back from repair!) at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
The Song of the Great Blue Heron! Happy Sunday.
Great Blue Heron, Back Creek Marsh, Kennebunk ME.
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light.” Jesus
Of course, Great Blue Herons are not song-birds. They do not sing. They rarely make and sound at all, and when they do it is a guttural grunt, not only un-song like, but un-bird like. But they have a song. It is in the way they move, they way they hunt, they way they are. It is the silent stalking, the slow march across the marsh. Majestic, written and arranged for strings and orchestra. By Vivaldi perhaps. As much dance as song. Even silent, you can see as you watch the Heron hunt in the shallow waters of the marsh that it is hearing the music in its mind…that it moves to a song all its own. And then with a swell of strings, it spreads its great wings and lifts off…keeping time even as it flies. It is the song of the Great Blue Heron. And if you have watched one closely, with generous eyes, you will know what I mean, and hear it, at least in your dreams.
All creation sings the glory of the creator God…the God who creates in love. That is the light we are filled with…the generous eyed ones…the ones who hear the Heron song with the ears of the spirit…and who celebrate such beauty. Happy Sunday!
Female Cardinal!
Female Northern Cardinal. Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area, Cape May NJ
There is a slightly funny story about the female Cardinal shot from Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area in Cape May, New Jersey. It was still fairly early in the morning, as you can see by the angle of the light, and I was taking a second turn around the meadows at Higbee. I heard the Cardinal chipping in the brush beside the path, and was busy photographing it, when I heard something crashing through the brush and trees behind me. I turned slightly, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk burst out of the foliage, below my eye-level, and shot up and across the path about a foot from my head…after my Cardinal. I ducked, and the Cardinal apparently did too, because the Sharpy landed in a tree just beyond without any prey. So, of course, I took pictures of it. Fair play. it scared off my subject…it became my subject!
This shot, despite the drama, shows off just how sharp the Nikon P610 is at full zoom in ideal light. 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Palm Warbler
Palm Warbler. Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, Cape May NJ
As I mentioned, warblers of any variety other than Yellow-rumped were very scarce during this year’s Cape May Autumn Bird Festival. On the last morning I was in Cape May, this winter-plumaged Palm Warbler hopped across the trail at Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park and sat long enough in a tuft of daisy like flowers for a few shots…pumping its tail all the time.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom.
Carolina Wren Twice
Carolina Wren. Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, NJ
I heard several Carolina Wrens singing on the trails at Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, but they remained tucked well back in brush and totally invisible. It was on my last morning there, in less than ideal light, when one finally popped out where I could see it…and get a few shots. This is a collage of two shots of the same wren, as it flitted actively around this perch. Carolina Wren only vary rarely makes it up as far as Maine, so I am always happy to see one on my travels. It is certainly one of the more robust wrens…with a song to match. 🙂
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, Cape May NJ
My last morning in Cape May for the Cape May Autumn Bird Festival was overcast and on the dull, chill side…but there were several cooperative birds, including this Ruby-crowned Kinglet…one of a small flock of Kinglets that was feeding along the trail behind the Hawk Watch Pond. I am always pleased to get a photo of this tiny, hyper-active bird, and especially pleased to get one with any of the ruby crown showing. 🙂
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.