Posts in Category: close up
Nuthatch courtship. Happy Sunday!
White-breasted Nuthatch, Kennebunk Bridle Trail, Kennebunk ME
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
I had walked a long ways on the Kennebunk Bridle Path yesterday without seeing anything of note. In fact I had turned around and was headed back to the car when a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches flew across and landed in trees off to my right. Camera up! I could only see one of them and he was off deeper into the woods toward the river before I got any good shots, but I stood and waited, and, sure enough, he circled back, foraging 20 to 40 feet up in the trees. That is when I noticed the second Nuthatch sticking out of a hole in a tree trunk 40 feet in. I got lots of good shots of both the foraging male, as he worked his way around the nest hole, and the female with various portions of her body out of the hole looking to see what the male was up to. After maybe 10 minutes the male worked his way down to the nest hole with a bug in his mouth, and there was a little dance all around the hole as he, apparently, teased her with the bug before transferring it to her. This is the best shot from that sequence. I watched them for 20 minutes more, and got some excellent shots of both, but the little courtship dance was the best of the action. They were totally oblivious to my presence on the trail (one of the advantages of a 2000mm equivalent lens), but still, I felt like I should move on and leave them in even more peace to get on with nest building and courtship.
How can anyone not feed privileged, blessed indeed, to get to see something like the courtship of Nuthatches? Just that little intimate moment out of their lives. I would like to believe that there is not a soul so deadened that it can not be moved by such an encounter. But I have seen the damage the world does to human beings…to children most of all…damage that produces such a shell of indifference; such a self-centered, in-grown view; such an active malice toward life and the living…that even the courtship of Nuthatches, should they look up long enough to see it, is as likely to generate anger or mischief as it is to engender love. That is the opposite of the generous eye. That is the stingy eye, that shelters darkness inside. That is so sad. It has to break the heart of a loving God. Which is why God spent the love of God in Jesus…so that the hardened heart, the stingy eye, might be renewed…the deadened soul reborn.
And those who do feel a sense of wonder and privilege in seeing the Nuthatches courting, but who feel as yet no need of God? I can only say…you are just a step away from the Kingdom of God…perhaps even citizens of that Kingdom unknowing. There is no disguising the generous eye…there is no hiding the light within.
Happy Sunday!
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.
Palm Warbler: FOY
Palm Warbler, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, W. Kennebunk ME
I already posed one pic of this FOY (first of year) Palm Warbler with yesteday’s Day Poem…it was a real treat to find it along the shore of Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management area. Such a lot of attitude for such a small bird 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Maple Flower time again!
Maple Flower, the back yard, Kennebunk Maine
We are having a strange spring…but then I am beginning to believe that strange is the normal for southern Maine. No two springs in the two decades I have lived here have been remotely the same. This year the Maple Flowers are at lest 2 weeks early…but when, on the strength of that, I checked for Trout Lily in the forest, it was barely sprouting leaves above the leaf litter. Last year I photographed both Maple flowers and Trout Lily on the same day around the first of May. Go figure.
The lowest Maple Flowers in our back yard are just far enough above my head so I need a strong telephoto to reach them, and yet too close for my Nikon P900’s minimum focus of 16.5 feet…so I got out the P610 for this shot (and many others 🙂 This is at about 2000mm equivalent field of view, using the P610’s full 1440mm optical and bit of Perfect Image digital zoom. 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Bucks County April Wildflowers. Happy Sunday!
Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, Bucks County PA
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
This is a panel of some of the April wildflowers we found on our unscheduled stop at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve in Bucks County Pennsylvania. We will not see our Maine wildflowers, with the possible exception of Trout Lily, for another 4 weeks at least…six for some of them, so it was a real treat to be in the woods this early with blooming wildflowers. I am certain by the end of April, if Bowman’s Hill is any example, that the woods of Bucks County are carpeted with wildflowers.
We have here, clockwise from the upper left…Bluebells, Marsh Marigold, Bloodroot, Dutchman’s Breeches, Wood Poppy, and Spring Beauty. They were all taken with the Sony HX90V, processed in Lightroom, and assembled in Coolage.
I find it difficult to understand how anyone can look a the abundant beauty of spring wildflowers and not see the work of God who creates in love…who loves to create. Even before Jesus broke into my life and demanded that I take notice, I went in awe of the beauty of spring. Awe must have its origin…if we call it Nature…or if we call it The Universe…we are already attributing intelligence and creative love to something bigger than ourselves…something that is so big that it encompasses all that is, including us. It is only one more step to calling what we feel in awe of “God.” And if God then the author of all that is, who moves by the spirit to give us life. And, in my experience, if God, then the father of Jesus Christ, who gives us new life when the troubles of this world, and our own failings, have dulled and deadened us. I can not see the wildflowers of spring without awe…without praise…without the joyful response of my spirit to the spirit of God moving in love in the world.
May your eye be generous and your being full of light. Happy Sunday!
Bluebells in Bucks County
As I mentioned in yesterday’s poem, I found myself unexpectedly wandering Bucks County Pennsylvania yesterday afternoon. We visited Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve. Though the season is well advanced compared to southern Maine, it is still early for Pennsylvania wildflowers. Sill, there were a dozen species or more in bloom, especially along the several streams that wander though the wooded property. These are Bluebells…more properly Virginia Bluebells. They nod, and this shot is low looking slightly up.
Sony HX90V at 24mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ISO 80 @ f3.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Agitation!
Red Squirrel, Alewive Pone Woods, Kennebunk ME
This is another shot of the Red Squirrel from my encounter last week in Alewive Woods. You can see how unhappy he is to have me visit by the blurring of his agitated tail. Sure sign!
Nikon P900 at 1100mm equivalent field of view. 1/50th @ ISO 800 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
House Finch Singing
House Finch, Timber Point, Rachel Carson NWR, Goose Rocks Maine
The song of the House Finch is not strong…it kinds of wisps along…but it is has a good deal of melody. Pleasant, if not striking. This specimen sang for 10 minutes while I watched. It was well buried back in the back branches of a road-side tree at the Timber Point section of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge across the Little River from Goose Rocks Maine, and the head of Goosefair Bay.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 140 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom. Cropped slightly to eliminate distracting out of focus branches at the base.
Crocuses in the snow… Spring surprise.
Crocuses in the snow, our yard, Kennebunk ME
Though April snow storms are not unheard of in Southern Maine, they always come as a surprise, especially right after a week of really spring like weather. We had a day in the 70s last week. Then it snowed a bit on Sunday, and then pretty much all day on Monday, and we woke to something over 2 inches on the ground. The crocuses, as you see here, were not happy! I don’t know what will become of them…whether that’s it for blossoms this year, or if these blooms can recover, or if they will push out new buds. Time will tell. They are hardy plants and we can only hope. I feel for them. I was ready for spring too! 🙂 Still, there is no accounting for the weather…and don’t get me started on climate change!
Sony HX90V at 24mm equivalent field of view from a few inches out. In-camera HDR. Nominal exposure 1/2000th @ ISO 80 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Breeding Brandt’s
Brandt’s Cormorant in breeding plumage and posture, La Jolla Cliffs, California
This morning we pop back to San Diego and the San Diego Birding Festival to pick up this breeding plumage and posture Brandt’s Cormorant from the cliffs at Scripps Park in La Jolla California. We watched two birds trying to build nests on the same small ledge for 20 minutes or so…repeatedly stealing the meager nesting materials from each other, and spending more time defending than gathering. Eventually one flew off, undoubtedly in search of more nesting materials, and the remaining bird promptly stole all of the absent birds stuff. There is a joke in there, about California maybe, but I will restrain myself.
The birds were close enough to the cliff top so that I only needed 800mm of equivalent reach for this close-up. Nikon P900. 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.