Posts in Category: phonescoped
Great Blue Heron on the Phone
Okay. Not really a phone call from a Great Blue Heron…but an image of a GBH taken with my Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone behind the eyepiece of my ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. The tiny sensor in the phone is ideal, in many ways, for digiscoping (as this application of the spotting scope is called) and I have an excellent adapter to hold the phone in the right place from Novagrade.
Of course the winter sun-light of Florida, and the inherent beauty of the bird, as well as the realatively close approach possible at the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera, all contribute the image.
As above: ZEISS DiaScope 65FL. 15-45x Vario eyepiece. Novagrade Universal Smartphone Adapter. Samsung Galaxy S4 phone. ISO 50 @ 1/1550th of a second. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
On the Nest
After my close up experiences at Gatorland in Orlando yesterday, my colleague and I spent a few hours at the Rich Grissom Memorial Wetlands (otherwise known as Viera Wetlands) in Melbourne. Viera is one of those repurposed settlement pond complexes at a municipal sewage treatment plant. They have added Observation towers and keep the roads along the dikes graded for easy birder access. It is my favorite place to photograph birds in a more natural setting. Waders and ducks, and the lesson common Bitterns, and even Lumpkin, can be found there most days.
This time of year the Great Blue Herons are just beginning to build nests in the broken off tops of the palm trees. They are considerably further away than at Gatorland, but still well within digiscoping range. This image is actually phonescoped, using my Samsung Galaxy S4 on a universal smartphone adapter from Novagrade behind the eyepiece of a ZEISS DiaScope 65FL.
Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Snowy Owl, Snowy Beach
Perhaps only in Maine would this be called a beach, but, while Maine does have some sandy beaches, mostly at the mouths of rivers, and mostly south of Portland, this is what most of the Maine shore looks like, and has to pass for beach. Of course, Snowy Owls, on their periodic irruptions into the state, love such beaches. Especially, as here, with a light coating of snow. Perched there, they are almost invisible. In fact, until this year, I have only seen Snowy Owls in Maine on such beaches.
Though the light is not particularly favorable here, I was happy to get this shot. This was the first of two Snowy Owl sightings last Wednesday when I went out specifically looking for them. There have been abundant reports this winter already. We are in the midst of a major Snowy Owl irruption. The E-Bird sightings map for ME, NH, and MA looks like a bad case of the measles. 🙂 Snowies only enter the US in winter, and only in numbers during invasion or irruption years, which follow a cycle that is not completely understood. The drawn arrow on the map shows where I live, right in the thick of it! So, of course, I had to go looking. And, while my other shots from the day, of a Snowy Owl on a chimney, are better shots, technically, this shot has the advantage of showing the Owl as we see it most of the time in a winter when they invade the US in any numbers.
Phonescoped with the Samsung Galaxy S4 through the eyepiece of a ZEISS Diascope 65FL. Processed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 using Snapseed.