Posts in Category: Blazing Star
Maine! Bee in Blazing Star
Common Eastern Bumblebee: Kennebunk Plains, York County, Maine, USA, August 2023 — before Northern Blazing Star season slips completely away, one last shot. Of course the Blazing Star bloom is a magnet to every pollen collecting bug in southern Maine. There were bees of every sort found here, including this common Bumblebee. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! More migrating Monarchs (Blazing Star)
Continuing our coverage of the Monarch butterfly migration in southern Maine, here are two from the Kennebunk Plains and the Northern Blazing Star bloom. I recently found out that the Plains are host to the largest population of Blazing Star left in the world. In the world! Clearly the Monarchs are doing their bit to help keep it healthy. And really, is there anything more photogenic than a Monarch in Blazing Star? (Well, maybe, just possibly, yes there is, but I will save that for another day 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Monday Supplement: White Blazing Star
I can’t let Northern Blazing Star season pass without properly celebrating it, so here is another Blazing Star shot. About one in a thousand (just a guess) Blazing Star plants produce white blossoms. I have no idea why…whether it is in the plant itself or in the soil, or some combination of the two. The plants appear otherwise healthy and identical to their purple counterparts. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 585mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f7 @ 1/800th.
Goldfinch among Blazing Star
American Goldfinch: York County, Maine, USA — Along the same lines as Goldenrod and Northern Blazing Star in the same frame, here we have a Goldfinch among Blazing Star. The same color contrast. 🙂 This time of year, as the Blazing Star blossoms ripen, there are flocks of Goldfinches out on the Plains, picking out the thistle like seeds. Getting close enough for a good photo is a trick, as they are fairly exposed and quite flighty. I took this from the seat of my trike, still clipped into the pedals, on the access road for the pond, low and through the foreground blooms. OM System OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 320 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th. Heavily cropped for scale.
Sunday Supplement! Honey Bee in Blazing Star
For some reason the Carpenter Bees and Ground Bees outnumber the Honey Bees on the Plains, even during the Northern Blazing Star bloom. Maybe no one keeps hives close enough. I am always happy, considering the decline in bee populations, to see a Honey Bee at work. I enjoy my honey! OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. (Makes a decent macro lens as well 🙂 Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Northern Blazing Star Show
Our first August in Maine I was driving out past the Kennebunk Plains in August and saw the Northern Blazing Star show for the first time. It was like this, dense and lush and covering the plains…and I have not seen it like this since, until this year. It has been good, and beautiful, in past years, but not like this! And under a perfect August Maine sky. Sony A5100 with the kit 18-50mm zoom at 24mm equivalent. Intelligent Auto. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos.
Maine! Northern Blazing Star
Northern Blazing Star: Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, York County, Maine, USA. — It is the season of Blazing Star on the Kennebunk Plains. The Plains are one of the few remaining sand-plains in the Northeast, and are managed for several rare and endangered species…the Northern Blazing Star chief among them. Blazing Star is a fire-dependent plant, and the Plains are burned on a regular rotation to keep the population healthy. This time of year the Blazing Star is host of a wide variety of insect and bird species as well, and it is right now that the the Plains are perhaps the most alive. This year’s crop is notable for its height…all the plants are very tall, taller then average by almost a foot, and they have blossoms all down the stalk. If the weather holds the last of those won’t bloom until the first week in September, making for an exceptionally long bloom. I have been tracking and photographing the Norther Blazing Star bloom on the Kennebunk Plains for over 20 years now. Every year is different. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at various focal lengths for framing. Program mode with my custom birds modifications (yes they work for plant macros as well…not need to change mode.) Processed in Pixelmator Pro.
White Blazing Star
Northern Blazing Star: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I tried to look it up, but I can find no information (in a casual search) on what percentage of Northern Blazing Star flowers are white…but from my experience it can’t be very high. Among perhaps a hundred thousand blossoms on the Kennebunk Plains in August, I have seen 3 plants with white flowers, for a total of less than a dozen flowers. So these white flowers are a rarity even for an already rare plant like Blazing Star. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th.
Clouded Sulphur in Blazing Star
Clouded Sulphur: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Maine, USA — Monarchs are not the only butterflies to be happy to see the Northern Blazing Star in bloom. While there were not as many Clouded Sulphurs as Monarchs, there were still good numbers, and the numbers will increase as the full bloom comes on. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
More Monarchs in Blazing Star
Monarch Butterfly: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — More of the Monarchs among the early Northern Blazing Star on the Kennebunk Plains. A study in color contrasts. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.