Posts in Category: wildlife
Baskettail?
Baskettail Dragonfly, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, W. Kennebunk ME
The dragonflies are coming out these past few days. At Day Brook Pond there are many tenerals…newly emerged dragonflies…and a few fully hardened off adults. This is, I believe, one of the Baskettails…probably the Common Baskettail. You hardly ever see the adults perched, and I am not familiar enough with the tenerals to be sure.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm plus 2x Clear Image Zoom. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Grooming
Tricolored Heron, St. Augustine Alligator Farm wild bird rookery, St. A, Florida
Birds spend a lot of time on maintaining their feathers: grooming, preening, oiling, rearranging, etc. Not surprising. When they are not hunting, feeding, breeding, or feeding young…they are probably grooming. This Tricolored Heron at St. Augustine Alligator Farm’s wild bird rookery is busy on the underside of his wing. A long neck comes in handy that way.
Nikon P900 at 1000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 400 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
Blackburnian Warbler x 4
Blackburnian Warbler, Magee Marsh, Ohio.
Back to Ohio and Magee Marsh today for this 4 shot collage of Blackburnian Warbler…certainly one of my favorite warblers. Like a live spark. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 1600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 280 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Northern Water Snake
Northern Water Snake, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, W. Kennebunk ME
This is neither Florida or Ohio. 🙂 With spring finally in the ascendancy here in Southern Maine, the Water Snakes (Northern) have come out to sun along the shore of Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area. This young fellow, only half the size to the biggest I have seen in the pond, was making use of the fallen birch over the water. This is a common posture…they raise their head even when stretched out, and certainly when swimming, probably for better vision.
Sony RX10M3. 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom.
Immature Red-shouldered Hawk
Immature Red-shouldered Hawk, Washington Oaks Garden State Park, Florida
Back again to Florida for today’s pic. This is an immature Red-shouldered Hawk at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park south of St Augustine Florida. I saw a similar hawk last year when I visited, so I was kind of looking for this hawk when it appeared in the huge Live Oaks above the water features in the shaded part of the garden. It appeared as though on cue, and my students (it was a Point and Shoot Nature Photography field trip at the Florida Birding and Photo Fest) were duly impressed 🙂
Nikon P900 at 1200mm equivalent field of view (pulled back for context). 1/160 @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Another Oriole in Apple
Baltimore Oriole, Magee Marsh, Ohio.
Back to Ohio today for this Baltimore Oriole in Apple blossoms. An action shot.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processes and cropped for scale in Lightroom.
Passing the twig: courtship
Roseate Spoonbills, St. Augustine Alligator Farm, St A. Florida
In late April and early May each year I have two events. The Florida Birding and Photo Fest and the Biggest Week in American Birding at Magee Marsh and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Ohio. Essentially I go direct from one to the other and have about 15 days of excellent bird photography…mostly nesting waders in Florida, and migrating warblers and songbirds in Ohio. I also come back from the two trips with well over 1000 images…keepers that is…I probably take close to 4000 frames. I share a few images from the events, while I am there, but clearly I have a lot more that I have not shared. All of which is to explain why, after several weeks, we are back to a Florida image for today’s post, though I have been back in Maine for several days now. 🙂
These two Roseate Spoonbills at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm wild bird rookery spent most of a day attempting to build a nest in this low Mangrove…an odd place to begin with. They abandoned the attempt overnight, but while they were active, I had a chance to observe courtship and nest building activity up close. Here the male is passing a bit of viney twig to the female.
Nikon P900 at 400mm equivalent field of view (I told you they were close). 1/125th @ ISO 125 @ f5. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler. Magee Marsh, Ohio
Blackburnian Warblers are small, fast, restless, and beautiful. There is nothing more striking than a Blackburnian among fresh spring foliage. At Magee Marsh in Ohio during the Biggest Week in American Birding, you often see them close, but they are hard to catch, as they are in constant motion and feed among the leaves. I have very few photos of them in which the bird is not at least partially obscured by leaves. 🙂
Sony RX10 iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed and cropped slightly for scale in Lightroom.
Northern Parula
Northern Parula, Magee Marsh, Ohio
The Sony RX10 Mk III might not have the reach or the magical focus of my Nikon P900 (600mm vs 2000mm), but it takes beautiful pictures. Beautiful. There is a quality about the Sony pics that is impossible to attribute to any one cause…but they are more than usually attractive to the eye. A depth. A dimension. A balance of tone and color…a working with the light…that is just a bit extra-ordinary.
This shot of a Northern Parula feeding on flowers is a perfect example. I cropped it slightly for scale, but the sharp bird and the vivid colors in the soft foreground and background arrests and rests my eye. I could look at this image a long time!
Sony RX10 Mk III at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 400 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Curiosity thy name is Black-throated Green
Black-throated Green Warbler, Magee Marsh, Ohio
When the warblers are close at Magee Marsh…they are really close. This Black-throated Green warbler appeared to take a great interest in the photographers facing it across 6 feet or so. I was shooting with my new Sony RX10 iii, otherwise I would not have been able to focus on it. The look says it all!
Sony RX10 iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.