Posts in Category: p&s 4 wildlife
4/14/2012: Early Birds in Kennebunk, Eastern Phoebe
It is easy to get impatient for the return of the birds in southern Maine, especially this year. I watch the migration reports, I see the posts from birding friends along the central flyway, and I know that the birds are already flooding north. But here on the East Coast, at least in Maine, we are still, mostly, waiting. So far only the earliest birds have arrived. Eastern Phoebes and Song Sparrows are already staking out nesting areas along the edge of the marsh behind the sea dunes, Robins are on lawns again, and the Titmice are singing along the Mousam River. We had a brief visit from a Downy Woodpecker in the maples behind the house. At my sister-in-laws pond, they have had Wood Ducks. I saw a Red-shouldered Hawk along the intestate on my way back from the Airport on Wednesday.
I will get out in a while to see what else I can find on this Saturday morning, but for now I will share a few Phoebes from a dull morning a few weeks ago.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 1260mm equivalent (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-extender function). f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 125. 2) and 3) at 1680mm equivalent (2x digital tel-extender function). 2) f5.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 200. 3) f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 250.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
4/4/2012: Ghost Seal, etc., La Jolla CA
Seals look so sleek when they are wet that it is easy to forget that what we are seeing is fine fur covering their bodies. This seal has been out of the water long enough for the fur to dry. This is, perhaps, a particularly light colored seal, and quite striking among its fellows.
Taken at The Children’s Pool in La Jolla California. When I visit in early March, the Children’s Pool beach is always closed to humans while hundreds of seals use the sheltered cove and the beach to pup.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3 EV exposure compensation. 1) 1150mm equivalent field of view, f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. 2) 60mm equivalent, f4 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100. 3) 1150mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. 4) 840mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
3/31/2012: Pelican Perch, LaJolla CA
On a dreary day suspended between winter and spring here in southern Maine, I dig back into my recent trip images for this sunny southern California shot of the Pelicans of LaJolla. I am sure there are other places where large numbers of Pelicans come to breed in the spring, but LaJolla has to be among the most accessible. They congregate daily on the rocks below Scripps Park, within easy lens reach of the sidewalk along the edge of the sea-cliff. In this shot the band of greenery is Ice Plant below the hedge that lines the sidewalk. I zoomed in to the 114mm equivalent field of view range to frame the three strong diagonal bands: plant, rock and birds, and sea.
Canon SX40HS as above. f4.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
3/27/2012: Another visit with the Kingfisher of Famosa Slough
On my last Saturday in San Diego I fully intended to get out to Cabrillo National Monument, but time got away from me. I was passing Famosa Slough on my way there when it occurred to me that there was little wind, and that maybe the Kingfisher might be sitting on the pilings where the Slough channel flows under West Point Lomas Drive. Worth a look! And I did not have time to do Cabrillo justice anyway.
You will remember that I posted a series of shots of this Kingfisher previously (here)…taken on a day when considerable wind limited the sharpness of the images at digiscoping magnifications.
And the Kingfisher was indeed again sitting right where I had first photographed it. I set up and took all the Kingfisher images I could possibly want.
Except for #4, Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece of the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL. All in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
#1 1881mm equivalent field of view, 1/640th @ ISO 200. f5 effective. #2 same except 1/500th. #3 2565 equivalent, 1/320th @ ISO 200. f7 effective. #5 2200mm equivalent, 1/400th @ ISO 200. f5.8 effective.
#4 Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender function). f5.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
3/22/2012: Pelican Reach. Point Lomas, CA
The cliffs above the tide pools at Cabrillo National Monument are great places to catch the Pelicans soaring. They ride the wave tops and the updraft all day long, mostly headed north along the coast.
These three shots are all with the Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent field of view. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in LIghtroom for intensity, sharpness, and clarity.
3/22/2012: Spring Question Mark, The Yard, Kennebunk ME
Yesterday, being the first day of spring, on my lunch break I went out into our yard to look for signs of spring. We live in the tidal zone along a river about 2 miles inland from the sea, and our spring is delayed up to two weeks from those who live even a mile further inland. Our crocus are just pushing up the first green sprigs…just up the street they are in full bloom. We get payback in the fall, when, baring an early snowstorm, our warm days linger a bit longer, with 5 degree warmer temperatures than our inland neighbors.
I took shots of the crocus and the buds of the maple flowers, still little hard red balls on the branch tips, and was surprised by a butterfly flitting round the yard. It would fly a short hop and then sit with the sun on its spread wings, evidently building up energy for the next hop. I chased it down for a pic.
It is a Question Mark, and despite how common they are in New England, only my third conscious sighting. When I got the image on the computer screen for processing, I saw pretty clearly how worn the critter was. This is not a spring butterfly…so I looked up the Question Mark’s life cycle. In addition to the fact that the Question Mark feeds mostly on rotting fruits and vegetables, and carrion, in preference to flowers, which is interesting enough in itself, I found that there is a summer flight, and a winter flight (which actually flies in the fall). The winter flight over-winters in hibernation in sheltered nooks and crannies (an assumption since no one sees them), and emerges in the spring to lay the eggs that will become the summer flight. This winter flight specimen was evidently tempted out of its nook by the first day of spring.
Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender). f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
3/20/2012: That’s Mister Herring Gull to you! San Diego CA
Herring Gulls are, of course, easy. They stand on the shore of almost any larger body of water in the United States (and well beyond)…under picnic tables and grills, along tide lines, in parking lots…and they are fearless. All gulls are bullies, but the Herring Gull is the bully of the bunch, so secure in its dominance that it is relatively easy to approach. Indeed, if you stand still and look like you might harbor french fries it is quite likely to approach you.
This classic portrait was taken on in one of the park areas of Mission Bay Park in San Diego, just north of the Dana Hotel and Marina. I like the eye, and the bokeh.
Canon SX40HS at 1240mm equivalent field of view (840 optical plus 1.5x digital tel-extender function). f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And a second shot, with 2x DTE for 1680mm equivalent.
And finally the 3/4 shot.
3/19/2012: Total Turtle, The Goshen Center, Cape May Bird Observatory
It was not a great weekend for photography in Cape May New Jersey this past weekend. Watery sun inland and fog along the coast, and it is definetly still that awkward season between winter and true spring…trees just budding, birds moving and singing certainly, but not in Cape May spring numbers…either of species or individuals. Still a walk around the grounds of the Goshen Center of CMBO turned up a few things of interest, starting with the resident turtle in the tiny pond.
Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender function). Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. All three f5.8 @ 1/125th @ ISO 100.
Processed with Photo Enhance Pro on the Xoom tablet.
3/12/2012: Hop, skip and jump. Snowy Egret’s, Merritt Island NWR
Late one afternoon at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, I found a pair of Snowy Egrets (well, maybe just two Snowys, I am not sure of their sexes) “hop and plunge” fishing. That is my term for it. From a standing stop, with a single flap of the wings, they were leaping into the air, somewhat horizontally, for several body lengths, and then plunging down on something in the water. I have seen a lot of different Egret and Heron feeding behavior but I had never seen anything quite like this. It was not, by the way, noticeably effective, as I never saw either Snowy catch anything, but it did look like fun.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 200. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
3/9/2012: Anna’s at Famosa Slough
Famosa Slough, the small wetlands between the San Diego River channel and Point Lomo in San Diego, which I have visited several times here in the past week or so, is a great place for urban waders, ducks, gulls, bushtits, and, as it turns out, kingfishers, but it is also an excellent place to find Anna’s Hummingbirds. I have never been there when there weren’t several working the edges of the marsh from high perches in the small trees. On every visit I try to find one facing the sun so I can get the gorget lit…but I have had no success so far. They seem to resolutely face the other way, probably because that is the marsh side where the bugs fly, and probably because they find it easier to hunt without the sun in their eyes.
The Anna’s, by the way, is one of the few, if not the only, hummingbird that sings. You can hear their buzzy song at Famosa Slough most days.
The first two shots are taken from different sides of the tree. 1) I am facing north, and 2) is facing south, so the bird, in both cases has its back to the sun.
I was able to catch this interesting, if imperfect, shot of the fanned tail from underneath.
Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. All at just about 3000mm equivalent field of view and f8. 1) and 2) 1/100th @ ISO 100. 3) 1/200th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.