Posts in Category: wildflower
All business bee with Blazing Star!
I seem to be photographing a lot of bees this month, both around home, and during our visit to New Mexico. Maybe August is the month of the bee? There are certainly a lot of bees in the Blazing Star boom on the Kennebunk Plains. Mostly Bumble Bees like this one…which is, I am thinking, the Common Eastern Bumble Bee (though there are several others it might be). This shot catches the business end of the bee…ready to prob deeply into the Blazing Star for pollen, and you can see by the pollen sacks on the legs that this bee has already been busy. Bumble Bees to occasionally sting (mostly when trapped or squashed), and I certainly would not want to be on the receiving end of that stinger. This is a shot from the Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Cropped and processed as usual in Polarr and then opened in Pixelmator Pro for enlargement using the Machine Learning Maximum Resolution tool, and recropped to fill the frame, for what amounts to a super-telephoto macro. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.
Bee and Nodding Ragwort
This is another wildflower from Sandia Crest high above Albuquerque, New Mexico…and one that totally had me stumped. It is a pretty unique flower, with the bright yellow petals (or bracts) pulled in tightly around the true flowers in the center, in fairly large clusters, hanging like bells below the stems…but one that I had definitely not seen before. I actually identified it using Google Lens, which returned the name, Nodding Ragwort, as well as hundreds of other images. The bee is a added bonus, and you can see front he pollen on the legs that though the flowers look strange, they are very productive pollen factories. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.
Sandia Crest Flowers
I still have lots of photos from our week in New Mexico…so many wildflowers! This is a small selection from Sandia Crest east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Sandia Crest Highway takes you up to over 10,000 feet and the trail takes you out along the edge of a cliff and then back through the woods behind. We have here, as far as I can tell, one of the Wild Onions (perhaps Nodding, but at this elevation it looks considerably different than the Nodding I saw lower down), Columbine, Bluebells, and Paint Brush. I selected these photos for the contrast in color and for the isolation against the background (provided by the 600mm macro on the Sony Rx10iv). For macro I use program and my standard custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Assembled in FrameMagic. These are all at f4. Paint Brush is at ISO 500 and 1/500th, Bluebells and Onion at ISO 100 and 1/1000th, Columbine at ISO 100 and 1/640th.
Blazing Star Display
Northern Blazing Star, Kennebunk Plains, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — This one of the denser stands of Northern Blazing Star on the Kennebunk Plains this year. Blazing Star is a fire dependent plant of glacial sand plains and is very restricted by just how little of that habitat remains undeveloped, both in Maine and all across the northern states to the Rocky Mountains. We are blessed that the Kennebunk Plains were kept open, first for wild blueberry production, and then as a Nature Conservancy Preserve, and that it is managed, in part, for fire dependent species like the Blazing Star. Stands like this one are getting harder and harder to find. Having it, basically, in my backyard (a short trike ride away) is very special. I used moderate telephoto, 107mm equivalent, on Nikon B700 to compass the image slight to show the stand to best effect. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4.5 @ 1/1000th.
Goldenrod and Blazing Star
Goldenrod and Northern Blazing Star: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Now that the heat wave has broken and the air quality is rising here in Southern Maine, I was able to get out to the Kennebunk Plains on my trike to see how this year’s crop of Northern Blazing Star is coming on. As I suspect from early blooms, it is a good year for Blazing Star. From Rt. 99 as you drive by, large sections of the Plains look purple with the flowers standing above the grasses. If you walk out any of the roads (all roads on the Plains are now closed to vehicle traffic, except the short section that gives access to the parking on the south side of Rt. 99) you will find that the stands are mostly not as dense as they look form Rt. 99. They never are, but they are impressive enough as it is. Goldenrod is also in full bloom, and the combination, where they grow together, provides a very striking contrast in color and form. Frame the pair from a low angle against the August sky and you have an image worth remembering 🙂 Nikon B700 at 71mm equivalent with macro engaged. ISO 100 @ f4.5 @ 1/1000th. -.3 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Juvenile Rufous Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird: Bear Canyon Camp Ground, Santa Fe National Forest, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — As we came back down through the Bear Canyon Camp Ground after our hike up Bear Canyon trail, we saw a number of juvenile Rufous Hummingbirds working the wildflowers. I attempted to catch one several times before this bird decided to cooperate, and hovered long enough for a few shots. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Yellow is the color
Yellow is the color of the flowers of Arroyo Hondo Open Space in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August…or at least the predominate color. These are from a morning hike there with our daughter Anna. There were heavy thundershowers later in the day, so who knows what new treasures will bloom today. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Assembled in FrameMagic.
More Monarchs in Blazing Star
Monarch Butterfly: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — More of the Monarchs among the early Northern Blazing Star on the Kennebunk Plains. A study in color contrasts. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Monarch among the Blazing Star
Monarch Butterfly on Northern Blazing Star: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — The first early blooms of Northern Blazing Star are just opening right now. It looks like a very good year for Blazing Star on the Kennebunk Plains as there dense stands of plants about to bloom over wide areas of the plains. Already the insects are gathering. I saw more Monarchs than I have seen in several years yesterday, even in my short hike through one section, as well as a couple of Cloudy Sulphurs and Wood Nymphs, hundreds of Bumble Bees and wasps, and some very large and very loud hornet like things. The Monarchs, in particular, are beautiful feeding on the Blazing Star. For those who don’t know, Blazing Star is a threatened and protected species across most of its historical range, and here in Maine. The Kennebunk Plains are managed, in part, for Blazing Star. I leave on Monday for a week in New Mexico and I hope the full bloom is still going on when I return. Blazing Star and the insects it attracts in August always make for one of my favorites times of year on the Plains. Nikon B700 at 610mm equivalent. Program mode. Spot focus. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Last of the Wood Lilies
Wood Lilies: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I was surprised to find a few Wood Lilies still in bloom, right along the edge of the forest at the end of Day Brook Pond where it is pretty much always in the shade. They were tall too! Nikon B700 macro focus mode at 120mm equivalent. Shutter program at 1/640th.