Posts in Category: birds
Cedar Waxwing Bookends
Cedar Waxwings. Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
There is always something happening at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area in West Kennebunk. I was on the Plains to check the progress of the Northern Blazing Star bloom, which is coming on nicely, and, of course, I had to take a turn around the pond. There is a little grove of pines and birches near the east end that always has birds feeding. These Cedar Waxwings were eating berries. I like the pose here, with the birds in opposition… and, of course, the light… late afternoon light slanting through the grove.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Uncommon Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
Oh, Common Yellowthroats are common enough this year. They are another bird that seems to have benefited from the late spring…if numbers are any indication. They are everywhere I go and in good numbers. On a late afternoon photoprowl on the trails at Laudholm Farm yesterday, I saw at least a dozen. Birds were uncommonly active for a late afternoon, perhaps because it had been rainy and gloomy until the sun broke out at about 3PM. This Yellowthroat had taken a grasshopper/beetleish thing, and was, perhaps, in retrospect, waiting until I passed on to take it to its nest. It hopped around in the branches of a tree overhanging the trail for several minutes as I photographed it. In fact I left it still hopping there when I moved on. I did not see the prey in its beak until I got the images up on the monitor at home.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 360 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Song on a post
Song Sparrow, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
Song Sparrows are common in the marsh behind the barrier dunes and along the Mousam River. Though it is also ideal Salt-marsh Sparrow habitat, and though the marsh is protected in part because of that, I have yet to see a Salt-marsh there. Lots of Songs though. This one is perched on one of the old pilings that line the raised path where it crosses marsh. The marsh was diked and hayed for generations. They are working on restoring it to its native tidal state now. That will likely increase the likelihood that Salt-marsh Sparrow will be seen there in future generations, and perhaps diminish the number of Song Sparrows. My children might be able to see the results. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 3200mm equivalent field of view (full optical plus some Perfect Image digital zoom). 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Bobolink in flowers…
Bobolink in Knapweed. Kennebunkport ME
While photographing this meadow full of Knapweed, I observed several male Bobolinks competing for territory. I had, through an oversight, only my little Sony HX90V with me, and it only has 720mm equivalent field of view…only! That really shows how spoiled we are in the Point and Shoot Superzoom world. I used some Clear Image Zoom (Sony’s enhances digital zoom) to stretch out to 1440mm for this shot of the Bobolink with prey among the flowers.
Camera as above. 1/250th @ ISO 125 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Peek-a-boo Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
I was photographing a Snowy Egret in the marsh pools along the Kennebunk Bridle Path late the other day when a Song Sparrow let off relatively close beside me. I swung around to see where it was. All I could see was the head peaking out between tree trunks and branches, but of course I had to try a shot or two. One of the joys of using the long, amazingly well stabilized, zoom on the P900 is the ability to get shots like this! You might note the tricky focus too. The P900 auto focus is up to the job. In the end though, I just like the preky bird poking out from behind the trunk. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/125th @ ISO 800 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Upland Sandpiper!
Upland Sandpiper, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk ME
Not a great photo, but a photo against the odds, and a great bird for Southern Maine. There have been, historically, a few nesting pairs of Upland Sandpiper on the Kennebunk Plains each year. Upland Sandpiper reaches the far north-east limits of its range on the remnant sand-plains west of Kennebunk. I have not seen sandpipers there for at least 6 years…but that does not mean they were not there. I am spending a lot more time on the Plains this year, and, perhaps inevitably, yesterday I saw my first Uppies…doing what I assume was distraction flights around a nest. This bird flew up, circled calling loudly, and returned to this little pine repeatedly over the 20 minutes or so I watched. There was a dog near the parking area on the other side from the nest, and the bird was very aware of it.
Shot against the odds: this shot was taken at a distance of 70-80 yards, too far for decent photography…but that was as close as I wanted to approach. The heat haze was terrible over the Plains at noon, and there was a stiff breeze blowing. Everything was in motion…as you can see from the bokeh. I pushed the camera close to its limits by zooming past optical zoom to an equivalent field of view of 3200mm. And it is handheld. While it is not a great image by any standard…it is certainly a satisfying record of a great bird.
Nikon P900 as above. 1/500th @ ISO 280 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom (to eliminate a telephone pole in the background).
Mighty Singer!
Common Yellowthroat. Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
The somewhat disheveled appearance of this Common Yellowthroat did not keep him from belting out a mighty song! I suspect he was fresh from his morning bath in Day Brook Pond close by, and still fluffing and drying on the branch. He allowed me to approach quite close, but this shot is still a crop from a 2000mm equivalent take. It is a small bird. On any decent sized monitor, even a 7 inch tablet in landscape, if you go to full screen mode you will be seeing the bird at life-size or above. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500 @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Tree Swallow making a wing…
Tree Swallow, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
There was a newly fledged Tree Swallow (or two in a few cases) on the top of every old post along the Kennebunk Bridle Path near the new bridge on the ocean side of Route 9. There were a few adults around, tending to them. This adult was having a nice wing stretch. You can never plan for these shots…but if you have the camera to your eye at the right second, sometimes they happen 🙂 That is an impressively large wing when stretched like that in proportion to the bird!
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Eastern Towhee x2
Eastern Towhees, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, ME
I have mentioned before that we seem to have a lot of Towhees this year. They are singing wherever I go, and see them most places. At Laudholm Farms yesterday afternoon, on my photoprowl in search of bog orchids (among other things) I found several and was able to photograph 3 different individuals. The panel above shows two of them, singing within a 100 yards of each other.
You might notice that the bird on the right is freshly banded. June Ficker has operated the mist nets and banding station at Laudholm Farm for 25 years…an incredible achievement. She and her team of volunteers give banding demonstrations each Wednesday morning in the summer when the weather cooperates, under the spreading Copper Beech between the barns and house at the farm. In fact, I may well have see this bird banded last Wednesday on my way back to the car from a photoprowl. 🙂
For more information on June Ficker and bird banding at Laudholm Farms, visit here.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Evening Willet
Willet, Back Creek marsh, Kennebunk Maine
On my after supper visit to the local beach, with the sun about an hour from setting, but already warm with the evening light, there were several Willets feeding in the marsh grasses and along the edge of the tidal flow of Back Creek near where it meets the Mousam River. Our New England Willets are warmer in tone than western Willets anyway, but the early evening light really brings up the warm, almost rust, color of plumage.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.