Posts in Category: wildflower

Maine! Bee in lupine

Honey Bee in wild Lupine: York County, Maine, USA, June 2023 — It is Lupine season in southern Maine. The crop does not seem as full this year as last, but that might be my aging imagination. I have photographed this same stand of lupine, in a hayfield near Emmon’s Preserve, every year for many years. The bees are always busy there. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications (which work for bees and dragonflies very well). Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 640 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.

Paramo

After the Resplendent Quetzals at dawn, and after a hearty breakfast at the lodge, we drove up to the very top of the Talamanca Mountains to Buena Vista peak…also called Cerro de la Muerte…one of the highest accessible peaks on the Continental divide and the highest on Pan American Highway, at 11,500 feet. On a clear day the mountain justifies its Buena Vista name, as you can see what looks like the length of the Talamancas, and both the Pacific on one side, and the Caribbean on the other. On a not so clear day, it can seem to justify its name as the Cerro de la Muerte…mountain of death…with a visibility in feet, and bone chilling cold…and that is when the wind is not blowing a gale. On any day, the fascinating plants of the Paramo, above tree-line, hugging the ground for survival, are a source of wonder. Take 2 minutes to view the slideshow. Sony Rx10iv. Assembled in Apple Photos.

White-fringed Bog Orchid: Saco Heath

White-fringed Bog Orchid: Saco Heath, Saco, Maine, USA — We are taking a break from my coverage of the Panama trip for today’s photos. My friend Stef and I spent a morning at Saco Heath…a remnant raised (or domed) peat bog in Saco, Maine…the most southern such bog in Maine. We were too late in the season for most of the bog specialties…we only found one Pitcher Plant…but we did find a small stand of White-fringed Bog Orchid at the far edge of the last hummock before the Atlantic White Cedar Island. A beautiful plant that, despite its common name, also grows wild in wet meadows and forests…though I have never seen it anywhere but in a bog in Maine. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. These are actually two identical frames. The close up is just heavily cropped to show the flower detail, and then expanded in Pixelmator using their Machine Learning tool, for pixel count. ISO 100 @ f7.1 @ 1/1000th. Minus .7EV exposure compensation to hold detail in the whites.

Cedar Waxwing among the Apple Blossoms

Cedar Waxwing: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — There is almost always a crowd of photographers under the apple tree that blooms in May along the Magee Marsh Boardwalk. There are often birds among the blossoms, and it makes a very attractive setting. I have photographed a dozen species of warblers there, as well as Baltimore Oriole and, of course, Cedar Waxwing. The Cedar Waxwings eat the apple flowers, and there can be many in the tree at once when they come through. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5.6 @ 1/1000th, minus .7 EV. Difficult lighting.

Wild Iris at the Pond

I photograph this scene almost every year…some years I have been traveling and missed Iris season altogether, and some years I just get the timing off, but most years I manage at least one stop by the little pond along Rt. 9 between the end of Brown Street and the Wells Town line, while the Iris is in bloom. Some years I hit it on a sunny day with amazing clouds behind the trees. Some years, like this one, the sky is mostly overcast and the light subdued. It is always beautiful. iPhone SE with Sirui 18mm equivalent lens. Processed in Apple Photos.

Wild Iris

Wild Iris (Blue Flag Iris): Kennebunkport, Maine, USA, June 2022 — It is wild Iris season in southern Maine. I see them first in the ditches along roads, and then they spread out across wet fields in the creases where water collects. You can see the royal blue patches breaking the green from way across the fields. Close up they are beautifully ornate, with that touch of yellow on the petals setting off the deep, almost purple, blue. I found these at the edge of huge wet field which is cut for hay later in the season, in one of the drainage ditches, near Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport. Sony Rx10iv at 65mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5 @ 1/1000th. Minus .3 EV exposure compensation.

Antidote to ugliness…

I offer this collage of May forest flowers as an antidote to all the ugliness in the news today. Take hold of hope. Take hold of beauty. Take hold of love. Sony Rx10iv. Program mode. Processed in Pixelmator Photo, Apple Photos, and FrameMagic.

Lady Slipper Orchids of 2022

Lady Slipper Orchid: Kennebunk Plains Sanctuary, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — We interrupt our coverage of the warblers and song birds of Magee Marsh in Ohio and the Biggest Week in American Birding to bring you breaking news from the woods of Maine. The Lady Slipper Orchids are in bloom. I went to Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge where they grow along the loop of trail behind the current headquarters buildings, and found them almost too late, and then yesterday took my eTrike out to the Kennebunk Plains to check the extensive stand in a hidden spot in the woods there. Again this year there were well over 500 orchids in bloom, all along the bank where it rises from the stream. The dappled light and shade provide lots of options for photography. These Lady Slippers are among the most healthy I have ever seen (unlike the ones at Rachel Carson which seem to be more faded each year)…intense pink verging on purple depending on the light…tall and stately, and sometimes half a dozen to a bunch. It is an amazing and an inspiring display of this threatened flower. Sony Rx10iv at 68mm (the macro) and 97mm (the wider view). Program mode with HDR. -.3EV. Nominal exposure: ISO 100, f3.5 @ 1/160th and 1/200th.

Maine spring edition: Trout-lily

Trout-lily, Wells Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — It is Trout-lily time of year again. I have been watching the distinctive leaves, dark green with brown mottling, emerge slowly in likely spots, but these are the first I have found blooming this spring, in a warm sheltered spot along the boardwalk in the Maple Swamp at Laudholm Farms. Trout-lily (or Adder’s Tongue) is a nodding lily and you have to get right down on the ground to shoot up under the blossoms for the full effect. Times like these I am very thankful for the articulated LCD on the Sony. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv. One at 97mm equivalent, two at 79mm, and the last one at 600mm for a telephoto macro. With the Sony’s full time macro you have to experiment with close focus distance and focal length for the best image scale…or back off and shoot at 600mm. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/400th to 1/800th.

In Milkweed Time

Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine, USA — Monarch butterflies are struggling in North America, largely because this plant is struggling. If Laudholm Farms is anything to go by, Milkweed is struggling even where an effort is being made to make space for it. I remember the Milkweed meadow at Laudholm being thick with Milkweed when they first set it aside…but this year there were only a few plants that made it all the way to pods. I am not sure what is going on. On the other hand, it seemed to be a good year for Monarch in Southern Maine. I saw quite a few on the Kennebunk Plains during the Blazing Star bloom. Anyway, I have been fascinated by the silky fluff of Milkweed seeds and the leather hunks since I was a boy. iPhone SE with Sirui 18mm ultra-wide lens. Apple Camera app with Smart HDR engaged. Processed in Apple Photos.