Posts in Category: wildlife
Mourning Warbler
Mourning Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — The Mourning Warbler is a hard bird to see, let alone photograph, at least at Magee, where they tend to say low in the vegetation, mostly under the ground cover. And there is a LOT of ground cover at Magee this year, due to the massive blow-down of the mature cottonwoods that used to provide shade for the forest floor. This one hopped up on a twig two inches above ground for a brief look-around, just as I came up on a group of birders who had been tracking it by the movement of the undergrowth for twenty minutes already. 🙂 Right place, right time, and ready! That is my wildlife photography recipe in a nutshell. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
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.
Prothonotary: I spy a spider!
Prothonotary Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — All the warblers at Magee during the Biggest Week in American Birding are busy hunting and gleaning, but none more obviously than the Prothonotary. I caught this one picking spiders out of webs right by the boardwalk, paying no attention to me only a few feet away. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.
Maine Great Egret
Great Egret: Parson’s Beach, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2022 — We have both Great and Snowy Egrets, pretty much all summer, in small numbers in the marshes behind the dunes along the coast. Nothing like the flocks, and multiple flocks, you see in Florida, or even Texas, and the individual birds stay pretty much far out in the marsh, so I don’t get very many photo ops. This one flew into a tidal pool behind the dunes fairly close to the beach access road while I happened to be there on my eTrike. A nice looking bird! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed (and enlarged) in Pixelmator Photo. Finished in Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5 @ 1/1000th. .
Prothonotary: prodigious singer
Prothonotary Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio. USA, May 2022 — The Prothonotary Warbler is a prodigious singer, as anyone who lives in their nesting territory can testify. And, at least at Magee during the Biggest Week in American Birding, they often sing right in your face! They are not shy about it at all! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Magnolia Warbler in Ohio
Magnolia Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — though I have been sharing some local Odonata and wildlife, I am only half way through the photos I took in Ohio in May during the Biggest Week in American Birding…and some of the remainder simply MUST be shared ( 🙂 ) This is one more of the thousands of Magnolia Warblers who begged to have their photo taken during the week I was there. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Beaver!
Beaver: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — While looking for early dragonflies and damsels at Day Brook Pond, I was delighted to see this Beaver beavering along across the pond, drawing a long wake. I am pretty sure Day Brook Pond has a man-made dam these days, but it was clearly originally a beaver pond and the beavers are still there and still active. You can see their work around the edges somewhere most springs. This one was in a rush to get up into the little inlet half way up the pond. He disappeared behind the near foliage just after I took this shot. Sony Rx10iv at 580mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed and enlarged in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Cardinal!
Northern Cardinal: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2022 — Our neighborhood Cardinal came to visit the other morning, before the sun was really up, but he stayed on the deck rail long enough for me to run to get the camera. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/400th. (So, not much light at all to work with.)
Palm Warbler
Palm Warbler: Magee Marsh area, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — This photo was actually taken on the Estuary Trail beyond the boardwalk at Magee, while I was out there the first morning the Kirtland’s Warbler was spotted…and, surprisingly, it is the only Palm Warbler I saw in my week of the Biggest Week in American Birding. I did not see the Kirtlands that morning, but I did see one along the boardwalk later that day. 🙂 I was happy with this Palm, and a bunch of the more common warblers as I worked both sides of the forest stand on the point where Crane Creek meets Lake Erie. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Eastern Whippoorwill
Eastern Whippoorwill: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio. USA, May 2022 — While in Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding, I lead two workshops called “Point and Shoot for Warblers” along the east end of the boardwalk at Magee. Of course we are looking for warblers…it is May at Magee…but we will look at other birds if they beg for attention 🙂 This Whippoorwill was perched for the day about 6 feet from the base of the boardwalk and slightly below the level of our feet…well hidden among the leaves and branches of one of the thicker sections of the wet forest. Hard to see. I don’t know who saw it first…that is how it mostly is at Magee in May on the boardwalk…you come up on a group of birders all looking at something in the forest and just ask (or are often told before you can ask) and just about every person who passes that spot gets to see. And a Whippoorwill will sit in the same spot all day unless someone pokes it with a stick (parish the thought!). It required a bit of jockeying to get an angle with anything like a clear shot, but there you have it. Whippoorwill! Sony Rx10iv at 561 and 600mm. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 500 and 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV.