Posts in Category: p&s 4 wildlife
Red-tailed Hawk, and a poem :)
Red-tailed Hawk, National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farm, Wells Maine
There is a poem:
When I first pulled into the parking lot
at Laudholm Farms, I glanced out the
driver’s side window to see a hawk
sitting on the Bluebird House 40 yards
away. I grabbed for the camera, but
by the time I got it out and on, and
reached for the handle to roll down
the window, the Hawk was gone.Surely too big for a Cooper’s Hawk?
Still I got out and wandered over
toward the corner of the woodlot
beyond the bird house, in case it had
not gone far…and, surprise, there it
was on the ground 4 feet behind the
rough hedge along the fence between
the parking lot and field. It was away
again before I could get on it, but it
landed in the low branch of a big oak
at the edge. I got a few shots, mostly
obscured by branches and a few dried
leaves still clinging on…but then it
swooped and landed again on the
ground behind the hedge. Now there
was a big enough gap just there so I
could focus through the winter twigs,
and I took its portrait as it danced and
pounced on something small in the
frozen grasses at its feet. Up again
to perch in an old maple by the road.This time I caught the unmistakable
flash of rust red on the tail. Ah!The Red-tailed Hawk perched with its back
to me, and let me get a lot closer than I
expected, looking over its shoulder every
once in a while to see what I was doing.Magnificent! The beak and eye…the
intricate cryptology of feather detail
of one of nature’s ultimate birds of prey.In the end it had enough of my looking at it,
and flew off down the treeline another 40
yards. I let it go. Thrilled to my bones,
entirely blessed, to have been part of its day.
This is, clearly, one of the portraits behind the hedge. Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Cropped for scale and composition and processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet. Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farm in Wells Maine.
Cedar Waxwing among berries…
Cedar Waxwing, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk Maine
As I have mentioned, I got a lot of good shots of Cedar Waxwings in the ornamental berry tree at Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk Maine last week. I have already shared one. This is another 🙂 I love the pose and the color. The image did take some massaging, however. There was an out-of-focus twig running right up through it in the foreground, right at the tip of the birds beak. It did not destroy the image, but it was distracting. The image was originally processed in Snapseed. I was then able to remove the twig in Handy Photo which has a magic touch-retouch feature that is like PhotoShop’s healing brush, only better. I did some final clean up using a brush mask in Polarr. That is much more processing than I normally do on any image. 🙂
Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view (2x Clear Image Zoom). Processed as above. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4.
Cooper’s Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk, our house, Kennebunk Maine
We were gathered around the table for lunch on a cold rainy day last week, when Sarah (Sally), our daughter visiting for the holidays from Pittsburgh, glanced out the deck doors to see what all the Crow commotion in one of our big Maples was about…and there was a Cooper’s Hawk sitting below the Crows. It is rare for us to have a Hawk of any kind in the yard, and I think this is our first Coopers. I ran for the camera. When I opened the deck doors, the Crows all took off, but the Hawk sat there long enough for a few pics. Terrible light in the rain, but still…
Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view (2x Clear Image Zoom). Program Mode. 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my Android tablet.
Happiness!
Eastern Bluebird, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk Maine
It is the Bluebird of happiness, always! Not the Crow, or even the Cedar Waxwing, or the Great Blue Heron. Can you see it…the Great Blue Heron of happiness? No, it is the Bluebird of happiness. I know I am always happy to see one, or several as the case usually is. This specimen was part of a flock of a dozen or so feeding in and around Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk Maine early this week. It was there on the roof of the picnic shelter drinking melt water from the snow.
Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view (2x Clear Image Zoom). 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet.
And may this truly be your Bluebird of Happiness for today!
Cedar Waxwing in winter…
Cedar Waxwing, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk Maine
Continuing my unintentional theme of birds in winter, here is one of several “keepers” of the Cedar Waxwings from my freezing session at Roger’s Pond Park on the Mousam River in Kennebunk, Maine. (You will undoubtedly see others. 🙂 There is lots to like about a Cedar Waxwing. They are somehow elegant birds, and I particularly like the new-crayon-bright red and yellow on the wings and tail. I have only a few shots where both is showing (or at least peaking out).
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Cropped for scale and composition and processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet.
Winter finch #2
Gold Finch, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk Maine
Yesterday I shared a House Finch from this same tree at Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk Maine. There were Eastern Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings, and Downy Woodpeckers around the tree as well…yet to come. 🙂
This an American Goldfinch in winter plumage. There is just enough yellow to stand out among the red berries.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Cropped for scale and composition, and processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet.
Winter Finch
House Finch, Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine.
I misread the thermometer getting ready to go out yesterday and was considerably underdressed for the 17 degree temperatures at Roger’s Pond on the Mousam River in Kennebunk Maine. But there was a flock of feeding birds there, visiting the ornamental berry tree, and they kept me out until I was way too cold. House Finches and Goldfinches, Eastern Bluebirds (all around but not in the berry tree), Cedar Waxwings, Blue Jays, and both Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers. It was quite a show, and I got enough good pics to make freezing bearable 🙂
This House Finch has clearly been eating too many of those red berries already…it is rare to see one so intensely colored, especially in winter. Of course the winter light helps. I have closer shots, but I like the berries in this shot almost as much as the bird.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/640th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Cropped for scale and composition and processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet.
Hairy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker, back deck feeding station, Kennebunk Maine
Yet another shot from my mixed feeding flock experience on the back deck last week. The Hairy Woodpecker is a size bigger than the more common (in our yard) Downy, with a correspondingly heavier beak. This specimen was on the rail of deck, looking up longingly at the suet feeder. 🙂
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my Android tablet. There was a large green feeder pole running up through the image just to the right of the end of the bird’s beak, decorated with worn strips of Duck Tape no less…which I was able to remove entirely using Handy Photo. It worked so well that I really did not have to tell you that…but there you go…full disclosure. 🙂
Titmouse. Happy Sunday!
Tufted Titmouse, back deck feeding station, Kennebunk Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
Yet another shot from my productive moments with the mixed feeding flock at the back deck feeding station the other day. The Tufted Titmouse is the Eastern and New England variety of the Titmouse clan, and a common bird at our feeders all year long. Titmice are perky birds at the worst of times…alert, apparently cheerful, and active. The crest helps with the impression, but there is no disguising the attitude. This bird, small as it is, appears ready to take on whatever comes…confident and hopeful at the same time.
Jesus, as he is recorded in the Bible, only rarely used wildlife in his teachings. But he did use birds…as an example of the attitude toward life we, as children of God, should adopt. And it is exactly the Titmouse brand of confidence and hope, cheerful expectation, that Jesus taught his deciples to value. We should, he said, take a lesson from the birds, who do not worry, but have a cheerful expectation that God will take care of them. He is not teaching, so much, about birds, or about us, but about God. God takes care of the birds. Surely God will take care of God’s sons and daughters…of the children made in God’s image. That is something we can believe, absolutely. It can, and should be, the ground for confidence and hope to take us through our days without anxiety or worry.
Easily said, and so hard to do! So, today, when you find yourself challenged by all that does not seem to be going well…or dwelling on the potential for disaster this year, and every year, displays…turn your inner, and most generous eye, on the Titmouse. Remember this image, and this attitude. I sincerely hope it will ease your way, and make the day more enjoyable. Happy Sunday!
Chickadee, dee, dee…
Chickadee, back deck feeding station, Kennebunk Maine
This is another shot from my productive session with the feeding station on our back deck the other day. The Chickadees, of course, are totally fearless, and will land on the station while I am actually out on the deck. This is only slightly less than full frame at 600mm equivalent field of view. I especially like the bright eye on this bird, and the natural feather detail.
Sony RX10iii. Program Mode. 1/160th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet. Distracting branch in upper right corner removed in Handy Photo.