Posts in Category: Rachel Carson NWR
White-tail doe
White-tailed Deer, doe: Rachel Carson NWR, Headlands Trail, Wells, Maine, USA, August 2025 — dropping back a few days to visit the White-tail doe that I encountered at Rachel Carson last week. Her she is finally crossing the path in the open. One of the fawns was right behind her. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 222mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Going away
White-tailed Deer fawn: Rachel Carson NWR, headquarters headland trail, Wells, Maine, USA, August 2025 — another shot from my White-tail encounter on Friday. Going away shot. My friend Paul would find this point of view amusing, but I say take what you can get. It is all about the eyes anyway. I think she might have been looking for her twin, not at me, but it makes a good shot anyway. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 340mm equivalent (they were not far away). Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Bluebead Lily, Painted Trillium
Bluebead Lily, Painted Trillium: Rachel Carson NWR Headland Trail, Wells, Maine, May 2025 — Two more wildflowers from Rachel Carson. Bluebead Lily is still abundant and common in the Maine woods, and seems to be spreading at Rachel Carson, but, at least in my experience, Trillium is becoming hard to find. It was never, while I have lived here, abundant, but I can only find two individual plants where there used to 20 or more, and one patch along the Headland Trail that I used to enjoy seeing every year, has completely disappeared. Maybe there are places in Southern Maine where they are still common, but if so I don’t know about them. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 172mm equivalent (lily) and 202mm (trillium). Tripod mounted. Aperture Preferred Program with my macro modifications. Processed in Photomator.
A bunch of Lady Slippers
Lady Slipper Orchids: Rachel Carson NWR Headquarter’s trail, Wells, Maine, May 2025 — A bunch or a cluster of Lady Slippers from Rachel Carson. Several of the historical patches of Lady Slippers along the headland trail have disappeared over the years, but this stand seems to still be doing well. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 102mm equivalent. Aperture mode with my macro modifications. f16 @ 1/30th. Processed in Photomator.
Lady Slipper
Lady Slipper Orchid: Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters trail, Wells, Maine, May 2025 — It is Lady Slipper time again. I took advantage of the sunny day yesterday to trike out to the Rachel Carson NWR headquarters trail to see if they are in bloom. Since I hoped to be working low, I strapped my little travel tripod that folds down to ground level to the trike rack and carried into the woods with me. I don’t often use a tripod, but there are times when one just makes photographic life that much easier. Lady Slippers have a symbiotic relationship with a species of fungus that grows only on the roots of certain trees, so they are limited to patches where the conditions are exactly right. (Which is why they cannot successfully transplanted to your yard, and why you should not try. Enjoy them where they grow.) Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 126mm equivalent. Program mode with my macro modifications. f16 @ 1/40th to get the whole flower in focus. (Tripod 🙂 Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Ghost Flower, the inside view
Occasionally you find a Ghost Flower or Indian Pipe plant with the blossom still pointing up so you can see what is inside. And here it is. The inside view of the Ghost Flower. Who would suspect that all the pigment in the plant is mostly hidden. Even viewed on phone you are seeing the flower at life-size or more. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii zoom at 106mm equivalent. Program mode with my macro modifications. Program shift to f10 at 1/30th for depth of field. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Merriland River
One of my favorite views at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters, looking out over the Merriland River to its junction with the Little River and the sea beyond. Sony a5100 with Sony E 10-18mm f4 zoom at 15mm equivalent. Superior Auto with Landscape Scene mode. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! August afternoon at Rachel Carson
It was an intense August afternoon yesterday on the loop trail at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Wells, Maine. The last of our hot days for a while with a strong front moving through and building great clouds over the ocean. Sony a5100 with Sony E 10-18 f4 at 15mm equivalent. Superior Auto with Landscape Scene Mode and brightness dialed down a bit to preserve details in the clouds. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Forest orange
Perhaps Jackson’s Slender Amanita (I love to photograph mushrooms in season but I don’t pretend to know what they are, and I don’t eat them.) Little and bright orange at any rate. Less mature specimens looked like little orange buttons. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC VXD zoom at 90mm equivalent. Program mode with my macro modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Ghost Plant
Indian Pipe (or Ghost Plant), Rachel Carson Headland Trail (at the headquarters), Wells, Maine, USA, August 2024 — Growing up in up-state New York, we called this Indian Pipe, but I see that many internet resources are using the name Ghost Plant. I can see why…it does have a definite ghostly appearance. It is a flowering plant, each stem producing one flower, but it has no chlorophyll and cannot use sunlight to generate nourishment. Instead it is parasitic on Russula type mushrooms, which are themselves parasitic on the roots of host trees. Ultimately the Ghost Plant gets its nutrients third hand. Talk about complicated living arrangements. This arrangement does mean that it can grow in deep undergrowth under dense canopy where little sunlight penetrates. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC VXD zoom at 75mm equivalent. Program mode with my macro modifications. ISO 2000 @ f4.5 @ 1/250th. Processed in Photomator.