Posts in Category: yard
Birds at the blind again
I resolved to fill the feeders under the pines this week, set up the water feature, and get the chair-blind out again and see what I could see. Of course the first birds active at the feeders were the Chickadees. They have not been coming to the porch feeders, which are out in full sun, as often as the summer wears on, but they were all over the feeders in shade. And you can never have too many chickadee photos…right? Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Day Lilies from the yard…
Over the years we have a had a lot of Day Lilies in our yard and this year’s blooms are especially nice. Let’s take a moment to celebrate them. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at about 500mm and 90mm equivalent. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Double flowered Day Lily
Almost all the native (or if not native, at least fully naturalized and gone wild) Day Lilies in our yard are “double flowered.” It is apparently a mutation that produces one flower inside another…similar to the “double roses” that are grown commercially. I don’t know if the Day Lilies were that way when planted, but they have been ever since we have lived here. Ours are also late blooming. The yard around us have lilies at least a week before we do every year. But that could just be our yard, and where it sits in relationship to the river and the road, and how much shade it gets. ?? Anyway, I wait patiently for our double Lilies every year, and enjoy them when they do bloom. Sony Rx10iv at 78mm equivalent, using Sony’s full time macro. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Swallowtail dreaming…
I was headed out on my bike with my camera when I saw this very tattered Swallowtail butterfly working the Day Lilies by our driveway. I managed a few shots before it was off into the trees across the road. It never really posed for me, but I like this shot for its color, composition, and for the dreamy quality. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Wildflowers
This spring I ordered some wildflower seed packets, grubbed up some ground in the yard, and sowed them. They are just beginning to bloom. I am not sure what these flowers are, as it was a “New England Mix”. None are very big. The blue is the largest at under an inch, and the little pink one is really tiny at about a quarter of an inch. I am hoping to see more as the summer progresses and that at least some of them are perennials or self seeding. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at various focal lengths. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications (which I also use for macro). Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Fledgling Purple Finch
Purple Finch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have featured this young male Purple Finch before in a more active pose, but he deserves a portrait shot. 🙂 Such a subtle beauty. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Chipper at the fountain
The water feature I put in for my backyard photo blind has been a mixed success. I would have to keep it running all the time I think, for the birds and other critters to get used to it and figure it out more than they have. The Chipmunks were actually the first to learn to use it, and this youngster is supremely confident now. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Proud and not purple yet…
Immature Purple Finch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — This has to be one of this year’s fledglings. It shows just a hint of color in the plumage. By next spring it will be more pronounced, and by summer this will be a full purple male. Or that is my theory at least. He was really enjoying the buffet of aphids on the bittersweet vine. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Proud and Purple!
Purple Finch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — This is most likely the first-year male that was just coming into its purple this spring. The other male we have coming to our feeders is even more intensely colored. He enjoyed a long drink from my stacked buckets water feature. I used the chair blind again. What a great invention. I sat it just into the edge of the shade of one of our big maples and had a very pleasant hour close to the birds. Then just packed it away into the shed. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Juvenile Bluebird visit
Juvenile Eastern Bluebird, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I took down my photo blind last week when I mowed the lawn. It has given me much joy this spring, but it already killed one patch of lawn and was going on its second. There had to be a better solution so I researched and ordered a “chair” blind. It came yesterday and I had to try it out. It is just a standard double camp chair. You sit down in the chair and pull the blind up from behind you and down over the front. The fabric is supported by spring steal bands and it is quite roomy. It has lots of viewing options…two small windows on each side, and your choice of opening the whole top of the front, or just a round window about about 14 inches across. The advantage, for me, is that when I am done for the day, I can just fold it up and put it in my shed…and then just as easily take it out and set it up the next time I want to use it. In theory it should be much easier on the grass since I can set it down in a slightly different spot each time I use it. We will see. The birds are still coming to the feeder station I established for the blind, though it is much harder to photograph them with the undergrowth of vines and bushes in full leaf under the big pines. Yesterday, on my first trial of the new blind, I had a visit from our juvenile Eastern Bluebird, which I have only occasionally seen in the week since I took my original blind down. It is getting very independent…hunting and taking insects on its own, and not waiting around for dad to feed it. In fact, dad must be busy providing for mom, who is, most likely, on her second brood of the season. I have not seen her in over a week, though the male is stilling coming for meal worms many times a day. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.