Posts in Category: chipmunk
Chipper Chipper
Chipmunk, Timber Point, Rachel Carson NWR, Goose Rocks Maine
This little Chipmunk inspired yesterday’s Day Poem, and my wife reminded me that, while it might have been the first forest dwelling Chipmunk we have seen this season, our back deck Chipper who comes for the scattered seeds under the feeders, has already put in an appearance. Does not count! He is almost a tame Chipmunk, or more like something in our own private backyard zoo. 🙂 This fellow on the other hand, as you can clearly see, has not been caging sunflower seeds this spring. He is still winter lean. But that is in the poem.
Walking out on Timber Point
and across the bar at low tide
to Timber Island today, we
encountered our first chipmunk
of the season…up from his
winter nap, looking lean, but
healthy, eager as ever for
whatever he could find in
the leaf litter to sustain him.
He stood a second, on hind
legs, against a slanting stick,
his tail curled up behind,
the very picture of anticipation…
hope personified…if you will
let me get away with saying
that of a chipmunk, ready
for warmer days and the coming
round of sprouts, shoots, buds,
blossoms…but ready too, if
nothing better is on offer,
to dine on a half rotten acorn
hidden in dim back beyond
of the abundant fall gone by.
Surely he can not remember,
and each acorn he finds
must come as total surprise,
manna from heaven, a gift
outright, amazing grace, if
he only knew…but then you
already let me get away
with calling him a person.
Nikon P900 at 1440mm equivalent field of view (I was too close for full zoom). 1/400th @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Are you done yet…
Chipmunk, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
My late afternoon photoprowl at Laudholm Farm a few days ago was particularly productive. Just down the trail from the Common Yellowthroat with the bugs from yesterday’s post, I heard a chip close by and looked up into the branches of a small tree to find this Chipmunk posing. He was patient with my photography, giving me different sides, and letting me work around for angles for several minutes. He was inside the close focus on the Nikon P900 (16.5 feet) so I could not use full zoom. I even switched cameras for this shot, which uses the Sony HX90V’s Clear Image digital zoom for 1440mm equivalent field of view and a nice close-up. By this time the Chipmunk seemed to be wondering if I was done yet. 🙂 I moved on.
Camera as above. 1/250th @ ISO 160 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Backlit Chipper
Chipmunk, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms. ME
The Chipmunks are very active at Laudholm Farms this year…everywhere actually, in Southern Maine. This individual was very busy collecting and eating some kind of seed, in the mowed grass of one of the trails through the meadows. I began shooting it when it was just a dot in the center of the finder…thinking it would surely scamper off into the brush as soon as I approached, but it stayed out in the open, finding more seeds, until I could get this frame filling shot at 2000mm equivalent field of view. I was about 30 feet from it at that point. 🙂 I like the backlight…and the camera held detail in the shadows very well.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 200 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Chipper on the edge!
Chipmunk. Timber Point / Timber Island Trail, Rachel Carson NWR, Bidderford Pool, ME
The chipmunks were not as evident along Rachel Carson NWR’s Timber Island / Timber Point Trail on Saturday as they were in the fall. In the fall they were everywhere and everywhere active collecting acorns. On Saturday I only caught one out in plain sight, and he was so startled that he clung frozen to the side of the tree where I first saw him for several moments…hanging on, as they say, by his toenails. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Chiperality. Happy Sunday!
Chipmunk. Rachel Carson Headquarters, Wells Maine
After a week in Panama surrounded by exotic wildlife and a week in St Augustine Florida surrounded by nesting EgretsÄĄ, Herons, and Wood Storks (not to mention lots of dragonflies, butterflies, and lizards) coming home to Maine at the end of a long hard winter, with the snow barely off the ground, is, well, shall we say “different”. There are a few crocus up in the yard, and the Daffodils are budding (one is open), there are flowers on the Maple trees, and a few birds coming through on migration, but it is, relative to more tropical climes, pretty quiet. There is not yet much color in the landscape. We are still weeks of sunny days from dragonflies. I could not find a single Egret in the marshes. It is going to be a very late spring. Even the Hobblebush, generally in full bloom by now, is barely budding. I am only here a few days, and then I will be off to the warbler migration along the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio, but I am resisting the temptation to sit at the computer all day processing images from Panama and Florida. It is necessary to seize whatever photo ops are here! It might be only a passing Palm Warbler (my first in Maine I think, and certainly my first photograph in Maine), or, as in the case of my wander down to the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters yesterday, this Chipmunk posing against an irresistible backdrop of out of focus forest floor, displaying all his chiperality…or my seasonal pics of our blooming crocus or the maple tree flowers…but there is always something to celebrate in the natural world around us, wherever we are. After all, if we can not find the joys of home, what makes us think we will find joy anywhere?
So, though the best of chipmunks might not compare to a Three-toed Sloth or a White-faced Capuchin Monkey, it is here, and it is worth sharing and celebrating. Homage to the creator. Thankfulness for the day. Joy in life and in sharing life. Or that is what I think this Sunday morning. Happy Sunday!
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Topaz Dejpeg and Lightroom.
Chipper’s Easter Dinner
Chipmunk, York ME
The whole family gathered at my sister-in-law’s home for Easter Dinner, as we do most years, and while the ladies walked off the main course before dessert, I snuck out into the yard to see if I could find any birds or anything else interesting. What I found was a very photogenic and cooperative Chipmunk scampering about picking up its own Easter Dinner, finding mostly berries or small fruit of some kind that survived under the winter snow. I am not sure what he is saying…maybe “could you pass the salt?”…but he certainly was enjoying himself. And I was enjoying him!
Nikon P900 at 1596mm equivalent field of view. Program with -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1/250th @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Topaz Dejpeg and Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
First Chipper of Spring
Chipmunk. Kennebunk Bridle Path
I went back to the Kennebunk Bridle Path yesterday, since I had had a good time there the day before, and walked upriver to the first bridge. It was hard going, with 2 feet of condensed snow on the path. Others who hand come before me when the snow was softer had churned it up into a very uneven surface, which is now hard, and hard walking. And there were no birds. I did hear what was most likely a Pileated Woodpecker drumming in the woods beyond the bridge. However on the ocean side of Route 9, where the birds were the day before, there were again birds. There was a large flock of Goldfinches, a few Song Sparrows, and, again, a few Eastern Bluebirds. But the real treat was my first Chipmunk of the spring. Where the cover is heaviest in the small pines along the trail, the snow was thin enough so it has melted off to bare ground now, and this Chipmunk was out and about exploring its little patch. I caught it posed out on a limb, and it sat long enough for me to work my way around so there were no twigs between. I have a series of shots testing the limits of the Nikon’s 2000mm plus zoom. The chipper was slightly backlighted, and I love the light through the ears! And the reflection of the Bridle Path in the critter’s eye.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view (hand held). 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. I am experimenting with Topaz Dejpeg. On this ISO 400 shot it provided a slight improvement, especially in background noise and texture. Final processing in Lightroom.
ob Chipper standing.
This was the last shot from a photoprowl around the loop at Rachel Carson NWR headquarters on a gloomy day at the tail end of October. Made the whole walk worthwhile! (Not that it was not already worthwhile 🙂
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/500th @ ISO 3200 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Windows tablet.
Short and sweet today as I am at the airport on my way to the Rio Grande Birding Festival in Texas. 🙂
Intimacy thy name is Chipmunk! Happy Sunday.
Chipmunk. Kennebunk Bridle Trail.
The prediction yesterday was for clouds pretty much all day, and it was indeed a dark and gloomy fall day in Southern Maine, and chilly with it…until it started to rain. They had not predicted the rain. But then, about 3PM, the rain stopped and the clouds broke and the low afternoon sun of an October day in Maine lit up the wet foliage in the back yard, and I grabbed the camera and headed for the Kennebunk Bridle Path. And it was glorious. There were birds…not only the abundant Yellow-rumped Warblers that are passing through on their way south, but a Great Egret relatively close, feeding and striking striking pose after striking pose. Such a treat. And the Chipmunks in the wooded area along the Bridle Path beyond the marsh on the east side of Route 9 were apparently making up for lost time. Like kids finally let out after a rainy inside day, they were everywhere, scampering, filling the woods with their sharp challenge calls. I caught this one fully exposed, in good light, with the interesting colors of fall behind it, out on a limb and determined to drive me away before he abandoned his perch. I took well over 100 exposures, from all angles, of this fellow as I slowly worked my way closer. 🙂 I even took a break to photograph a challenging Grey Squirrel across the Path, high up in a tree, also, as it happened, in a spot of sun…and the chipmunk was still there when I turned back. That is cooperative! I finally walked on and left him to his perch in peace. There were other chipmunks to photograph, warblers, and the whole wet marsh and fall foliage ambiance under an interesting sky in the late afternoon October light. It was glorious!
I felt like a chipmunk, let out after a long day of rain…making up for lost time!
Now I am certain, the Chipmunks and Egrets and Warblers felt the same elation…the undeniable positive energy of the afternoon…I do not think I am reading too much into their behavior…but I suspect they did not feel the thanksgiving that flooded me. Maybe they did? I know I did. It was so good to be alive for such an hour…and so good to be aware of how good it was. What do people do with such thankfulness if they do not believe in God…the creator God who loves, who loved such a glorious afternoon into being? I sometimes think that is our part…our particular notes in the symphony of the day…we are the instrument of praise…our voice proclaims the good…highlights the grace…exalts the giver…gives thanks for all that lives…for all that enjoys the intimate pleasure, the raw exhilaration, of being alive in Southern Maine on an October afternoon after rain.
Can you see that in the Chipmunk’s eye?
Happy Sunday!
Sony HX400V at 2400mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 640 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Cheeky Chipper!
Cheeky Chipper!
I watched this Chipmunk cross the Kennebunk Bridle Path and slowly work his way up a little sapling and into a larger oak tree. This involved a daring vertical leap from a perch considerably smaller than the chipmunk that it took him several moments to work up to. From there he skinnied out to the very tip of a branch with a bunch of leaves and, apparently, a cluster of fresh acorns. I watched a he worked his way back along the branches, but by now he knew I was watching, and had his eye on me as a possible impediment to getting safely back across the path. We had a bit of a staring match, often interrupted by my camera coming between us, and then I stepped out of the way to let him pass. I don’t know about you, but this picture makes me laugh! 🙂
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred at 1/640th @ ISO 1600 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet. Not bad for ISO 1600. And this is a shot that would not have been possible without the manual focus assist on Sony. 🙂