Posts in Category: Laudholm Farm
Piping Plover
Piping Plover, Laudholm Beach, Wells Maine.
Piping Plovers are endangered in Maine, largely because the beaches they prefer for nesting are also the beaches both Mainers and tourists prefer for sunbathing, jogging, walking dogs, and general recreating. Add in the population of cats that inhabit beach houses all along the coast, and the native foxes, raccoons, snakes, and gulls…all of whom prey of the eggs and chicks of the Piping Plover, and, if the nest does not get stepped on by a tourist, it is likely to be raided before the chicks hatch or fledge. The State of Maine and the Federal Government have set aside “Protected Areas” for the last nesting colonies of Piping Plovers on our beaches, but dogs, cats, and natural predators can’t read the signs or “see” the stakes and orange ropes that are supposed to keep the areas safe. Neither can, apparently, some tourists. It especially irritates me to see people running their dogs on beaches with nesting colonies, contrary to the clear posted signs. Maine Audubon has a volunteer/paid program that puts people on the beaches to monitor the nesting areas and keep as many predators (human, canine, feline, and other) away from the birds…but they are only there during daylight hours. And of course, the Piping Plovers themselves pay no attention to the protected areas either. They might or might not nest behind the barrier, but they certainly do not feed there. This Plover was way down the beach from the posted signs, running along the little line of green stuff deposited by the receding tide. Back up at the nest area, the State has erected a wire mesh enclosure around a cluster of nests, but while out feeding, the Plovers are on their own. The number of chicks fledged each year in Maine is counted in low double digits, and that is on a good year.
And they are such cute little birds. Full of attitude! This is a panel of 4 shots of the same bird (one of only two I saw that day on the beach). Sony RX10iii at 840mm equivalent. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Hawkweed
Hawkweed. Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine
It has been a while since I had a camera that does really good macros…or at least the kind of macros that I like. My new Sony RX10iii focuses to 28 inches at 600mm. Add the in-camera crop to 5mp and you have 1200mm equivalent at 28 inches for some impressive macros. This Hawkweed flower is just over 1/2 inch in diameter.
I think Hawkweed is an under-appreciated flower…maybe because it is classed as a weed…and, of course, lest we forget, has weed in its name. I think it is beautiful in both its yellow and orange forms…or I should say…yellow and orange species. Some experts, wiki informs me, count thousands of species of Hawkweed. Others group them into a few hundred “species” on grounds that may strain the definition of species. It is a matter, apparently, of some debate. Most would agree however that Orange Hawkweed is a separate species from any of its yellow cousins. I found this cluster of Orange growing only about 10 yards from a large cluster of Yellow. Though they reproduce by seeds, they do not hybridize as reproduction is asexual. All the flowers in any one cluster, orange or yellow, are genetically identical. But that is not why I find them interesting. I just think it is a beautiful flower.
Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent from about 3 feet. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed in Lightroom.
Least Tern takes a dive!
Least Tern plunge fishing, Laudholm Beach, Wells Maine
I went out yesterday specifically to find birds in the air so I could practice Birds in Flight with the new Sony RX10iii. To have a chance at BIFs, you need somewhere there are birds pretty much constantly in the air…a lot of birds is better than a few. My prime BIF locations are Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico for Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, and the wild bird rookery at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm for Wood Storks and Egrets. The only reliable place around home is the very end of Laudholm Beach where the Little River comes to the sea, and where there is a nesting colony of Least Terns (and a few Piping Plovers…both endangered in Maine) on both sides of the river. This time of year the Terns are in full breeding mode and are actively plunge fishing in the Little River. Now there is a difference between catching Cranes or Storks in the air, or even geese, and catching a Least Tern in the air. Terns are smallish, and Least Terns are both tiny and fast, which makes keeping them in frame long enough for the camera to focus and then getting off a burst is very challenging. I will go back today, even though it is the better part of a two mile walk each way, to try some techniques I discovered in reading the camera manual last night…after reviewing yesterday’s take.
What we have here is high speed sequence of a Tern diving. As you can see, the Tern goes completely under water after its prey. I can not imagine the strength it takes to break the surface on the way out and get into the air with a fish, even a small fish, in your mouth.
Sony RX10iii in Sports Mode. 600mm. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Jack-in-the-pulpit. Happy Sunday!
Jack-in-the-pulpit, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Maine
“If you eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
Until last year I had never seen Jack-in-the-pulpit in the wild. I had seen it at botanical gardens in Boothbay and Bar Harbor (Coastal Maine Botanical Garden and Wild Gardens of Acadia), but never actually growing out of “captivity”. Then they cleared back the encroaching bushes and ferns along the boardwalk through the Red Maple Swamp at Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Center) and last year there were two separate stands of Jack-in-the-pulpit revealed. This year, a fairly careful search only turned up one stand, but they have really razed the vegetation to the ground along the first section of the boardwalk, perhaps in an attempt to eliminate the invasive Japanese Barberry that grows in abundance there.
Considering, if clearing the brush along the boardwalk revealed two clumps of Jack-in-the-pulpit, the there are probably many such clumps, perhaps hundreds, scattered through the surrounding forest of Maple, Birch, and Pine. They grow low, under the cover of ferns and brush, and so go unseen and unsuspected by those of us who obey the rules and stick to the boardwalk. And if they are growing there, at Laudholm Farm, they are very likely growing in similar habitat all through Maine and New England. So probably not a rare plant at all…though one that is seldom seen.
Still, seeing them growing there along the boardwalk fills me with delight. What a wonderful thing it is to know that something so strange as the Jack-in-the-pulpit is growing, out of sight, and unsuspected, all around us. I do suspect, however, that the majority of people who walk the boardwalk every May never see the Jack-in-the-pulpit even though it is now out in plain sight. It is not that their eyes are not open…it is just that they are occupied with other things. Part of the generosity of the eye that Jesus talks about is being open to any and everything…to whatever God puts in front of us…to whatever is waiting our discovery. I can promise that getting your eye off what concerns us as humans, and opening ourselves to what is right in front of us will have its rewards. The delight of discovery first among them. Who knows what else the forest hides. If there are Jack-in-the-pulpits there, there might be anything! Happy Sunday.
Red-tailed Hawk with prey
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk with prey, Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
I included a poem in yesterday’s post that highlighted this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk that swooped down from a tree ahead of me and pounced on something in the grass. It then proceeded to kill its prey…which evidently took some doing…as the hawk repeatedly jumped up into the air and pounced again. I thought at the time that the hawk might have taken a snake…which would definitely fight back and be hard to kill, but in hindsight it might have been that the juvenile was just inexperienced and would have had trouble with anything. 🙂 It was a great encounter. I felt privileged to be a witness, and was so excited that it was difficult to hold the camera still enough for shots. My primary impression was the size of the hawk. You rarely see them down on the ground like this and this close, and the bird looked huge!
Sony RX10iii at 600 and 1200mm. Exposure on Program but all about 1/640 @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Cedar Waxwings
Cedar Waxwing, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
I took a photoprowl to Laudholm Farms yesterday (Well National Estuarine Research Center at…). It is always good to be there, and it is only about 6 miles from home (shorter as the crow flies), but yesterday was especially wonderful. I wrote a poem about it.
Any photoprowl that begins with
Wild Turkey in the tall grass beside
the road, and ends with a juvee Red-
tailed Hawk swooping in on prey,
killing it, and eating it in front of me,
not 40 feet away in low brush,
is a good photoprowl! And that is
not to mention the flock of 100
Cedar Waxwings moving through
the wild apple trees in the wood
beyond the Monarch Meadow, or
the Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing
against the sun, or magic of spring
light on new leaves and the forest
coming alive, or the Thrushes, or
the Blue-eyed Grass, or the Red
Squirrel, or wild Geraniums, or
the unbelievable cluster of Jack-
in-the-pulpit growing right beside
the boardwalk…I mean, Jack-in-
the-pulpit! So strange, so beautiful.
And for all that…all that wonder seen
and shot, home in time for lunch.
Now that is a good photoprowl!
This is one of that flock of 100 Cedar Waxwings, one of two large flocks I encountered on my prowl. I think Cedar Waxwings are among the most elegant of birds…silky feathers and subtle colors set off with crayon bright flashes on the tail and wings. Beautiful altogether.
Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent (600mm plus 2x Smart Tel-converter which crops a 5mp image out of the center of the sensor to achieve twice the magnification). 1/640th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
If you are interested in my daily poems you can follow them at Day Poems 2016 (http://daypoems16.blogspot.com) or on Facebook in my stream or in my Day Poems 2016 collection on Google+ (https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/0uunr}
Chipper comes close
Chipmunk, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
This bold little Chipmunk at the Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms in Wells Maine apparently thought he could drive me off if he got close enough. He steadily advanced around the base of a tree. Here he is about 8 feet away, and I had to zoom back to get his full body in the frame. I already had my close focusing P610 out, having just photographed an Spring Azure Butterfly. The light was really lovely.
Nikon P610 at 900mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 160 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
Swamp Sparrow. FOY!
Swamp Sparrow. Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Maine
Sunny and in the upper 40s, low 50s yesterday in Southern Maine, so I took a long photoprowl to the Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms in Wells. Out by the Marsh Overlook I found this Swamp Sparrow, first of this year, foraging in the native phragmities by the platform. It cooperatively posed for me on this bent reed. I love the intensity of the rust red, and the boldness of the pattern on the Swamp Sparrow. It is as close to NOT being a LBJ (little brown job) as any sparrow gets. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Winter Still Life With Fern
Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine
Another shot from my photoprowl to Laudholm Farms in search of winter. I think this is actually Cinnamon Fern…or what winter has left of it. I like the delicate shapes and textures of the fern, especially in contrast to the surface of the snow.
Sony HX90V at 110mm equivalent field of view. In-camera HDR. Nominal exposure: 1/200th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Mockingbird among winter berries
Northern Mockingbird, Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine
On my last photoprowl down to Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Center at), there was not much bird live in evidence. I was there mostly for the snowy fields and woods, but I was happy to see the few Blue Jays when they made an appearance. Then there was this mocker. Unlike the Blue Jays, the Mockingbird sat long enough and close enough for a portrait. It seemed to be soaking up the last of the late afternoon warmth from the sun, ensconced among the red berries of the winter day.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.