Posts in Category: wildlife
Goosey, Goosey! Happy Sunday!
Canada Geese have gotten so numerous in New England, all year around were there is enough food and some water they can keep open with their coming and going, and so tame in some locations, that, if you stand relatively still, they will feed within yards of you. These are big birds to have at your feet, but, except when defending young, they are the most peaceable of aquaintances…far less agressive, in fact, than your average barnyard goose. This specimen was on the grounds of the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus Ohio. I was there early yesterday for the Birding Optics and Gear Expo, while the promised sunny day was still well cloaked in clouds, the temperature was way too low in the steady wind, and the light was just barely adequate for photography…but I could not resist a few close-ups of the feeding Geese when they offered to pose.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. I had to crank the shutter speed down to 1/500th to keep the ISO within range (6400) at the maximum aperture of 6.7 on the zoom. Shooting off my bean-bag head monopod gave me a sharp shot…and with this amount of detail in the frame, the E-M10 did just fine at ISO 6400.
And for the Sunday Thought: The sound and the sight of huge skeins of Geese headed North used to be one of the joys of spring, one of the first signs of the changing season. With climate change, and, more significantly, changes in goose behavior and food availability in the winter, those skeins are pretty much a thing of the past in many parts of North America. The Geese, like the poor in Jesus’ parable, are, today, always with us. We can make a good thing of it, or a bad thing (especially as a sign of changing climate), and it has certainly changed the ecology of many New England lakes (and not, so far, for the better) but it is certainly a fact…a development…a major change in the way the natural world works that we have seen, those of us in our 60s, in our lifetime. And that has to be, no matter what we think about the causes, a bit disconcerting. There should have been something eternal in the skeins of Geese headed North in the spring, and, as it turns out, there wasn’t. Or maybe it is just that it is too easy for us brief creatures to confuse eternal with static…unchanging…when in reality whatever is truly eternal must change…certainly if we are talking eternal life. All that is living changes…and changes the living world. True whether we are talking Geese or humans…days or years or centuries. The difference is that we humans have the burden (and the priviledge) of thinking we can, or even that we have to, do something about it. We have the feeling that if we had only managed better the skeins of Geese would still stream North in spring. I am, honestly, not sure that the Geese would agree. But then, what do they know? (Or what do I know for that matter?) Questions. No answers. But that will have do to for this Happy Sunday!
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Someone (and I am embarrassed to say I can’t remember who) posted on Facebook last week that they were tired of showing New England winter birds and needed to plan a trip to somewhere more exoitc. I replied that I was in the same boat with Maine birds (especially now that our winter Eagles have dispersed for spring, and our resident Snowy Owl has headed north) but, luckily, I already had a trip planned to Columbus Ohio for the weekend 🙂
Little did I know. I got out yesterday for about an hour between rain storms at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus to see what I could see. There is always a good variety of whatever is happening in Ohio at the moment at the feeders, and along the river walk and through the meadows, of the GIAC. And, really, what could be more exotic (at least exotic looking) than a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker? There was evidently a sap seep on the trunk of this maple, and the Yellow-bellieds returned frequently enough to feed there so that I could get set up for a few photos. What a truly stunning bird! I guess you could call it a backyard exotic if you are luckly enough to live where they live. According to the range maps, I should be able to see them in Southern Maine in the summer, but I have not seen one in years. And it looks like they are only in Ohio during migration, so they might be considered just slightly exotic at the GIAC.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent with digital 2x extender for 1200mm equivalent field of view. ISO 1000 @ 1/1250th @ f6.7. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Considering Gull
On our rainy weekend I was reduced to shooting gulls out the car window at the beach. Easy. This specimen, a Ring-billed Gull, posed nicely on top of the restricted parking sign. I am not sure what he was considering but he was certainly considering something. 🙂
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. 1/800th @ ISO 500 @ f7.1. Processed in Snapseed and Photo Editor by dev.macgyver on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Downy Male
The female Downy Woodpecker returned to our feeding station almost a week ago, but it was not until yesterday that we saw the male with her. When she is alone, she will sit on the arm that holds the suet or on the suet itself while I stand on the deck 15 feet way. When he is with her, both are off as soon as they see my shadow on the inside of the glass of the deck door. Still, he spent a lot of time in the trees beyond and above the feeding station yesterday, and I was able, thanks to the digitally enhanced reach of the zoom on my OM-D E-M10, to get some decent shots of him foraging. That little red cap on the very back of his head makes him such a jaunty fellow 🙂 (Or that is what I think.)
Camera as above. 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent with 2x digital extender for 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/800th @ ISO 500 @ f6.7. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Chickadee Dee Dee
We had another day in our slow-coming spring yesterday when the sun was warm enough to stand out on the back deck (still in fleece and coat, gloves and winter hat of course) while the birds were at the feeding station, waiting, practicing patience, with my camera balanced on top of the home-made bean-bag head on my monopod. Chickadees, of course, a few Titmice, and the female Downy woodpecker. The male was around, but I never caught it on the feeding station, and, for the first time in months, we had a male Hairy for a few seconds at the suet, and for 30 minutes or more in the trees around the yard.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. 1/800th @ ISO 320 @ f6.7. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. If you look very closely you might be able to see where I edited out obtrusive out-of-focus branches with the Retouch tools in Handy Photo.
Spring Raptors
Though the thermometer might not know it or show it yet, and though we still have, in places, over 3 feet of snow in the yard, it is spring in Southern Maine. The angle of the sun, and the length of the day can not be disguised. Certainly birds, if a bit late, are trickling back through New England. I saw my first Turkey Vulture last week, and, more than any Robin, the Turkey Vulture is the sure sign of spring in Maine. Sorry…but it is true. The TV is the first of the big raptors to return, and I was not surprised to see a Red-tailed Hawk out over the marsh on the Mousam on Saturday and a Red-shouldered beside the interstate in New Hampshire on Sunday, just below the Maine border. The raptors of summer are coming. Sure as sunrise creeps earlier and sunset later day by day.
This series of a Red-tailed Hawk in flight was taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M10 and 75-300mm zoom at 600mm equivalent. I have a flight shot setting programed into my E-M10 and set on one of the programmable function buttons so I can switch to it instantly at need. The individual panels are heavy crops even at 600mm, and it was not good light…but still.
Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. Collage assembled in Pixlar Express.
Titmouse for Tuesday
This is another shot from my brief session on the back deck on our one warmish day in the last month 🙂 Almost all of my pervious shots of birds at my back deck feeding station have been through the thermopane glass of the sliding deck doors. It is perhaps not surprising at all what a difference being on the right side of the glass makes in the clarity and detail of the images. It is about time to rebuild the artificial thicket around the feeding station. I am down to just a few branches the squirrels have not managed to break yet. Still enough remains so that with some creative editing using Handy Photo’s Retouch tools, I am able to manage a somewhat natural looking image…as in this Titmouse shot. I really like the gray on gray effect here…soon the bokeh will turn green (or so I fervently hope), but I will miss this effect.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. 1/800th @ ISO 250 @ f7.1. Processed in Snapseed and Handy Photo on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Downy
Not that this bird looks particularly downy, or soft, but that is what it is. Downy Woodpecker. The smaller of our two closely related woodpeckers here in New England, and in most of the country. We get both at our feeders, but only the Downy has been around through much of this long hard winter. This is another shot from one mildly warmish day when I got out on the deck to stand and photograph birds at the feeder 12 feet away. A real treat.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent plus 2x in-camera digital tel-extenter for 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/800th @ ISO 200 @ f9. I was shooting, by the way, off a monopod with my custom bean bag head. I really appreciate the extra stability it provides, and it is super easy to use. Processed in Snapseed and Handy Photo on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. Handy Photo allowed me to remove the suet cage from the left side of the image, quickly and easily, giving this feeder shot a more natural look.
Titmouse
Spring is very slow coming in Maine this year, despite what the calendar says, despite the position of the sun in the sky. Daytime temperatures above freezing are still rare enough for celebration, and we still have many nights in the teens and even single digits. It was below zero one night this week, and there is still two feet of snow where the crocus bloom under our cherry tree…and more than that by the mailbox at the end of the drive where the snow plow piled it. This shot is from one of those rare warmish days with the sun shinning, when I was able to get out on the deck when the feeder birds were active, and capture a few without shooting through the thermopane glass of the deck door. Titmouse on a branch.
Both the Titmice and the Chickadees will come to the feeder, 10 feet away, if I stand quietly on the deck, camera at the ready. I even had a Downy Woodpecker come to the suet blocks while I was there. It makes for great images, of course, but it is just a grin-inducing-experience (I think I will register a trademark on that: GIE. Pronounced “gee” Grin-inducing-experience!). Yup, being that close to living birds, especially small birds like Titmice, Chickadees, and Downies…is a GIE for sure!
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. 1/800th @ ISO 250 @ f7.1. Processed in Snapseed and Handy Photo on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Itch
When you have an itch you just have to scratch it. Which is what I assume this sea pup, a few months old, is doing with its flipper/paw. Notice how flat that flipper is, and how well equipped with sharp nails! 🙂 For the first time this visit to La Jolla California and The Children’s Pool, I was able to go down the stairs and closer to the seals on the beach. This one was directly below the landing half way down, and was actively grooming while I was there. Note that this seal is only months old, and already has a wound (upper left corner of the image). Almost all the seals on the beach who were old enough to have brown fur coming in had wounds…most likely from nips and tussels with other seals, or a blessedly brief encounter with a Sea Lion. An unsuccessful encounter from the Sea Lion’s point of view. 🙂
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. 1/1000th @ ISO 1250 @ f7.1. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.