Posts in Category: Laudholm Farm
Maine! Goldfinch in Joe Pye Weed
American Goldfinch: York County, Maine, USA, September 2023 — Though it looks like it might be an exotic, this plant is growing, thriving in fact, in a display of native plants at a local reserve…It is Joe Pye Weed, and it is the perfect setting to show off the bright yellow of this fall Goldfinch. As you can imagine there is an interesting story behind the name of the plant. It is named for the Joe Pye, who, legend has it, was a New England tribal medicine man who treated typhoid among early European settlers with native plants…though not, probably, the Joe Pye Weed…though it has been used to treat fever, among other ailments. It is a great host plant for bees and butterflies, and, apparently the Goldfinches enjoy it as well. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 1600mm equivalent (2x digital tel-extender). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 250 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Bee in Goldenrod
Common Eastern Bumblebee: Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve), Wells, Maine, USA, September 2023 — At least three species of bees and one of hoverflies were out in great numbers in the Goldenrod at Laudholm Farms on a sunny afternoon…all busy harvesting pollen. This Bumblebee is well on the way to carrying a full load. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent from just over 4 feet. Program mode with my custom bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Oh deer
White-tailed Deer: Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve), Wells, Maine, USA — I don’t get much chance to practice wildlife photography in Southern Maine…I am apparently just not in the right places at the right time…but on this day I noticed a group of people staring intently out under the trees of the old orchard at Laudholm and one using his phone in camera mode, and took a little detour from my chosen path to see what they were seeing. This large fawn, already loosing its spots, was enjoying the fallen apples at the back of clearing under the apple trees, and waited patiently as I took a few photos…maneuvering to get a line of sight through the foreground brush along the trail. Such a treat! OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 640 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Barn Swallow in flight
Barn Swallow: York County, Maine, USA, September 2023 — a small flock of Barn Swallows was feeding avidly on a swarm of insects just above the tops of the trees along the trail. An ideal opportunity to practice the most difficult of birds in flight. The Barn Swallow, apparently, has the widest distribution of any passerine bird in the world. This bird, as did most of the birds flying with it, looks to be a female or sub-adult male…as it lacks the long outer tail feathers. Clearly I still have room to improve my BIF skills. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/1000th.
Maine! More Great Egret in flight
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — Two more shots from the sequence of the Great Egret coming in from far out in the Little River Marsh. Elegance personified. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds-in-flight modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 2000 @ f6.3 @ 1/4000th. +.7EV.
Maine! Grass-pink Orchid (focus stack)
Grass-pink Orchid: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — I always go check for the Grass-pink Orchids too early…before they bloom…and then, sometimes miss them…getting to the little remnant bog at Laudholm Farms too late. This year I caught them (though there were no Rose Pagonias, the other orchid of that bog). The OM Systems OM-1 does in-camera focus stacking, and the 100-400mm zoom focuses to just over 4 feet at 800mm equivalent…making the system pretty amazing for flower macros (or close-ups at any rate.) I know from past experiences with other cameras (I have been photographing these Grass-pinks for many years now) that it is very difficult to get a close up of the flower with every part in focus in the same image. The flower is just too three-dimensional. Focus stacking (hand held here…and a tripod would not have helped as there was breeze and the flowers were moving) gives us the depth of filed needed. It took a couple of tries because of the breeze, but it is hard to fault the results. 770mm equivalent (to frame the flower from closest focus). Equivalent exposure ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Snowy Egret in the noonday sun.
Snowy Egret: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Wells, York County, Maine, USA — It was high noon by the time I got to the overlook on the back side of the Little River marsh, and the light was really too bright for white birds! This Snowy Egret with a nice plume was busy feeding in the pool close in. Such a handsome bird! OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 250 @ f7.1 @ 1/640th and ISO 320 @ f7.1 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Great Egret
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — Great Egret banking into a turn as it flew in from far out in the marsh. Not ideal lighting for a white bird…mid-day sun on our first sunny day in more than a week here in southern Maine. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds-in-flight modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 2000 @ f6.3 @ 1/3200th. +.7EV (because I was expecting flight shots to be against the sky 🙂
Maine! Fiddlehead season
Fiddleheads (emerging ferns): Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, May 2023 — It is fiddlehead season and the woods at Laudholm Farms are full of them. Emerging ferns. I was trying out the somewhat macro capabilities of the Olympus 100-400mm zoom. It does .5x at 800mm equivalent, and 1x using the digital tele-converter for 1600mm from 4.3 feet. You don’t have much depth of field, but still, it makes a emergency macro without carrying an extra lens. 🙂 Olympus OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800 and 1600mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving macro and environmental modifications. (Custom program #4). ISO 800 and 640 @ f6.3 @ 1/320th. Shot off my bean-bag headed monopod.
Maine! Eastern Towhee
Eastern Towhee: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA, May 2023 — Again I took advantage of some early sun, or so I thought, to get out for some practice with the new Olympus OM-1 and the 100-400mm zoom. By the time I got down to Laudholm Farms, the clouds had rolled in and the light was already less than ideal. So it goes. I have trouble remembering that this is not the Rufous-sided Towhee, which is the name it had when I as first leaning bird names. I think I may have confused more than one young birder by calling it that. It has been the Eastern Towhee for some time now. 🙂 It was keeping company with a couple of Catbirds and some Robins along the upper trail at Laudholm. Olympus OM-1 with the 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving custom birds modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.