Posts in Category: birds
Song Sparrow in Sea Grass
Song Sparrow, Back Creek Marsh, Kennebunk ME
There don’t seem to be as many Song Sparrows nesting on the dunes between the Back Creek Marsh and the ocean as there have been in some years, but they are there. I suspect it has to do with our late spring. The Yellow Warblers that are often nesting with them are, as far as I can see, totally missing this year. Hard to say exactly why. Yesterday we had a high wind and this Song Sparrow was singing from such a low perch I could not spot it before it flew out into the Sea Grass where dune meets marsh. It popped its head up just long enough for a few shots. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Screaming Eagles!
Bald Eagles, Back Creek/Mousam River, Kennebunk ME
It looks like this pair of Bald Eagles is at least thinking about nesting between Back Creek and the Mousam River about 2 miles from our house in Kennebunk. I hope they do. It would give me a great summer project. On the other hand maybe it is just going to be a favored perch, and that is okay too. The nearest safe approach is still out 300 yards from this tall spruce, so I will not get any great images (that is just too much air to shoot through, especially between two streams), but I still like to see them there. In this shot, the male had just returned to the perch and the pair was sounding off. Literally screaming eagles. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Singing in the rain…
Song Sparrow, Back Creek, Kennebunk ME
After it rained steadily all Sunday, and all Monday…and when it looked likely to rain all day Tuesday, I decided that I was not going to let the rain keep me from my photoprowl another day. I put on my raincoat, got out the umbrella, picked up the Nikon P900, and headed out. I figured I could find some moody, rainy landscapes at the least, so I headed for the beach at the end our our road. Of course, before I was fully out of the car, before I even got the umbrella up and sorted out the camera, I heard a Song Sparrow singing in the rain. Classic. The prefect title for a post! So I had to find the bird, fight the umbrella in the wind, and attempt to catch it singing. Before I was done with the bird and few landscapes, the umbrella had blown inside out and I had to dash back to the car to dry the camera off. It was worth it though. If a Song Sparrow can sing in the rain, I can certainly take a few pics 🙂 And I certainly felt better for it! If you look closely at the image you will see the water droplets on the bird’s plumage, and even the tracks of a few rain drops as they crossed the frame.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ f6.5 @ ISO 400. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet. Cropped slightly for composition.
Yellow Warblerish
Yellow Warbler, Timber Point trail, Rachel Carson NWR, Biddeford Pool, ME
Yellow Warbler is likely one of the most abundant warblers in North America…or that is how it seems in May and June. They are so bright and so loud that they are hard to miss…and then there is their habit of climbing up on protruding branches, low or high, fully exposed, and singing in the sun. I suppose they are so obvious that one Yellow Warbler can dominate a space that might contain 30 other warblers. Maybe that is why they seem so abundant. This one was near the parking area for the Timber Point / Timber Island trail at the new Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge property south of Biddeford Pool in Maine. It is a totally classic view of a very present bird 🙂
It is a great antidote for the weather as we enter our third day of pretty constant cold rain in Southern Maine. We do need the water, but…
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Cedar Waxwing Showoff
Cedar Waxwing, Day Brook Pond, W. Kennebunk ME
I took a photoprowl out to the Kennebunk Plains and Day Brook Pond yesterday. There were hundreds of dragonflies, many of them newly emerged and on maiden flights, with Itheir wings still soft and full of light. Dancers (damselflies) of some sort were also emerging in high numbers, and where dancers emerge you are bound to find Cedar Waxwings picking them out of the grass and air. I watched a flock of 6 or 7 Cedar Waxwings hunting and feeding all around me. One flew by within arms reach, on its way to a dancer in the grass, and several posed as close as I have ever seen a Cedar Waxwing. This bird was photographed at 2000mm equivalent, and you can see a great deal of feather detail. That is pretty good, considering that the Cedar Waxwing has some of the most delicate plumage of any bird…more like hair than feathers. In this shot, I really like the eye with its clear reflection. I can’t quite see myself in it, but close. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ f6.5 @ ISO 320. Processed in Topaz Dejpeg and Lightroom.
This post is dedicated to my friend Rich, who loves Cedar Waxwings!
Catbird Seat
Grey Catbird, Well National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
A Grey Catbird on a mossy stump at Laudholm Farms the other day. Back light on the forest floor made for difficult shooting, but the image catches something about the Catbird, and the forest, that I like.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/125th @ ISO 720 @ f6.5. Processed in Topaz Dejpeg and Lightroom.
Blue Jay Rampant
Blue Jay, Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
It is odd that until this year, I have had little success photographing Blue Jays. I see them, but I have not been able to get them in the frame. This year I have photographed them in Maine and Ohio, getting close-ups and satisfying images in both states! I posted one from Ohio as the pic of the day a few days ago, and here we have a specimen from Laudholm Farm just down the road from my home in southern Maine. I think there might me an unusual number of Jays this year for one thing…or the late migration north has bunched them up more than usual. I am certainly seeing more of them.
Though it can be an obnoxious bird around feeders, and is know for raiding other birds’ nests for eggs, it is certainly, on aesthetic grounds alone, one of the more striking birds of North America. The boldly barred blue and black and white wing and tail patterns, and the subtle purpley-blues of the back…along with the patterned face, big beak and eye…make it a stand out bird. Catch it in good light and with a contrasting background, as here, and it makes a memorable image. Or that’s what I think 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ f6.5 @ ISO 400. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.
Blue Jay Posing (with bokeh)
Blue Jay, Pearson Metropark, Oregon OH
On my last morning in Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding, I spent a few hours, before the drive to the airport, at Pearson Metropark right on the edge of Oregon, just a few miles from my hotel. The day before had been slow at Magee Marsh, and not much had changed at Pearson. There were a few warblers, Cardinals, Robins, and this very cooperative Blue Jay, posing on a branch long enough for a few shots. Still it was better being in the park than sitting in my hotel or waiting at the airport for the extra hours. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightrtoom. The interesting bokeh is from a chain-link fence a few yards behind the bird.
Blackpole views…
Blackpole Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH
Sometimes, especially when migration hits when the leaves are already well out at Magee Marsh in Ohio, warbler photography is even more difficult than normal. My friend Rich was doing his first serious warbler captures this year and his constant refrain was “Why is there always a stick between me and the bird?” And, of course, there generally is, except when it is a thick bunch of leaves 🙂 Warblers sitting right out in plain sight, preferably in full sun, are simply very hard to come by, at Magee Marsh or anywhere else during spring migration. So when you see those killer shot of warblers, realize that they are the exception, not the rule.
This Blackpole warbler worked overhead, about 20 feet up, for 10 minutes or more, and I shot a lot of frames to get these four. Still, the panel shows off the Blackpole pretty well. Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Yellow Warbler after bath…
Yellow Warbler, Magee Marsh OH
This Yellow Warbler along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week in American Birding found some standing water for a bath, and then flew up into a bush for a thorough feather fluff and slick and some air drying. And of course I was there to catch it with my camera 🙂 There is no reasonable expectation of privacy on the boardwalk at Magee.
Nikon P900 at 1800mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.