Posts in Category: close up
Monarch on the edge of fall
Monarch Butterfly. Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
Laudholm Farms was one of the first places in the area to devote significant amounts of their meadow land to milkweed, and, consequently, it is one of the easiest places to see Monarch butterflies. This year has not been a great year for Monarchs, if you go by the number I have see at Laudholm and elsewhere around my patch, but I did find this large specimen working the Goldenrod in the meadows below and left of the farm buildings. It seems late to me…this image was captured just a few days before the equinox…but perhaps it is a migrant from further north fueling up for the flight south.
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 80 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped for scale and composition in Lightroom.
Pileated Woodpecker. My alleluia bird. Happy Sunday!
Pileated Woodpecker, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
When I got to Laudholm Farm (Wells National Estuarine Research Center) yesterday, the fog was just rolling in over the top of hill and the farm buildings and I almost turned around and left. I am certainly glad I did not do that. 🙂 I took some lovely foggy landscapes on my way across the bog boardwalk, and from the observation deck just north of the Drakes Island bridge, but the fog had mostly rolled on by the time I neared the crossing where the Pilger Trail meets the road to the beach. I went slow that last 100 yards, as on my last visit, that was where the Immature Red-tailed Hawk was sitting. I stopped on the spot where I had taken the photos and had a good look around. While looking I became aware of a heavy tapping somewhere overhead, and turned to see the largest Pileated Woodpecker I have ever seen working a dead snag something over 40 feet from me. The bird was in the open, flicking large chunks of dead bark and sawdust from the tree, and I only had to move slightly to the right to clear foreground foliage. Amazing! I worked the bird as it worked the tree. At first it had is back completely to me, silhouetted against the trunk…a difficult spot for photography…but eventually it moved around to the side in search of fresh forage. I took pictures and video with both cameras I had with me…everything from head shots to full body portraits. Eventually, while I was actually videoing it, it climbed up and glided over to a tree deeper in the forest, but still in easy sight, and, what is better, landed on the sunlit side of the tree. It stayed there as I moved down the trail for a better angle. I got off another set of images, this one among them. (Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view.)
This is all the more exciting to me as the Pileated Woodpecker, photographically, has been my nemesis bird (nemesis bird is what birders call a species that they are always close to seeing but never see). I have  seen the Pileated, but not often…so rarely that I can clearly remember each instance…several in Maine, a few in Florida, and a few in Arkansas (including a glimpse of an albino)…but, though I have tried as often as I have seen the bird, I had yet to get any really satisfying images. Until now. The bird at Laudholm Farm provided me with enough good shots to satisfy my Pileated hunger for some time to come. 🙂 Alleluia! There is a special satisfaction when a nemesis bird finally yields.
And the Pileated is such a great bird. They are all large as woodpeckers go…a size bigger then any other North American Woodpecker…almost the same size as Crow…and this one was big as Pileateds go. When it glided silently off through the forest, flashing the white on its wings, it looked absolutely huge. It has, as you can see from the photo, a long neck and a massive bill, and it does real damage to a tree trunk with each blow. And look at the intent in that eye! There is power in its foraging. Bark flies. Bugs can not hide! Such a beautiful bird. Such a privilege to see one…such a wonder to be able to photograph it.
Again, alleluia! For me it was a real “thank you Jesus” moment…a moment when I could not help but be conscious of the love of God the creator…and God’s love specifically for me. Now, I am not blind. I know that for many this world is a hard place to be. I know there is pain here, that people, some much more deserving than I, suffer…and I know, more than that, that I, myself, have caused some of that pain. There is no way that I deserve to be so blessed. In no way have I earned, or could I ever, the privilege of seeing and photographing a Pileated Woodpecker as I saw and photographed it yesterday. No way! And yet, alleluia, there it is…my alleluia bird! Alleluia, hallelujah: God be praised! And I am compelled to say it.
The light that fills me, that illuminates a world of wonder through an eye made generous by the gift of Jesus, is hallelujah. I don’t own it, it is not mine, but it lives in me by faith…a faith that is ever renewed in every encounter. Yesterday it was my alleluia bird…the Pileated Woodpecker.
Pelecinid Wasp is strange all over!
Pelecinid Wasp, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine
It has been at least a year, and it may have been two, since I encountered a Pelecinid Wasp. My first sighting was at Emmons Preserve in Kennebunkport. This one came from Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area. I was surprised to see it fly across the path in front of me and land in a small birch at the edge of the forest…but there is no mistaking this very strange bug with its extended abdomen trailing out behind a body with such small wings that it seems totally impossible that the thing could fly. The long abdomen is used to inject eggs into scarab beetle larvae while they are still underground. Close up, the hind legs feature strange bulges, which have no apparent use. Stranger still, almost all Pelecinid Wasps seen or collected in North America are females. Males, with a shorter, swollen abdomen, only account for 4% of sightings. It is possible that female wasps develop from unfertilized eggs…and that would make them very strange indeed, as insects just do not do that. But then, if that is case…why are there any males at all? Strange. The Pelecinid is strange all over.
Sony HX90V at about 1400mm equivalent field of view (using Clear Image digital Zoom). 1/250th @ ISO 400 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Immature Red-Tail Revisited.
Immature Red-tailed Hawk, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
I am off to the Midwest Birding Symposium this am, so we have an early post. I ran a collage of images of this cooperative immature Red-tailed Hawk, found along one of the trails at Laudholm Farm last week. This is a close up view. A lovely bird by any standard.
Nikon P900 at 3200mm equivalent field of view using about 1.7x Perfect Image Zoom beyond the 2000mm optical. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Rare (for me) Meadowhawks
Saffron-winged Meadowhawk, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area
Band-winged Meadowhawk, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
It might be my imagination, but it seems to me that the Sympetrum dragons are late emerging this year. Suddenly there at tiny red Meadowhawks everywhere…most of which look to me to be Cherry-faced. And, despite its being after the 1st of September, I have yet to see any number of Autumn. I did find, on opposite sides of Kennebunk, two Meadowhawks that I see much more rarely. At Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, most of the Meadowhawks in flight were Saffron Winged, which is only my second sighting in Maine. And, within a few days I found Band-winged Meadowhawks along the Kennebunk Bridle Path by the lower Mousam River, again, only my second sighting of this dragon in Maine. Each is an interesting variation on the Sympetrum theme 🙂
Sony HX90V at 1440mm equivalent (using 2x Clear Image Zoom). Both shots 1/250 @ ISO 160 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Funny story (about a spider). Happy Sunday!
Garden Spider, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennbunk ME
Funny story! The other day I was out at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Wildlife Management Area, taking pics and enjoying the day. When I got back to the parking, a gentleman who I often see exercising his dog there was coming back to his car, and we discussed our recent wildlife sightings at the pond for a few moments. He drove off, and I got in the car and headed out on the dirt track toward the main road. The windows were wide open and I was enjoying our first day with a hint of fall in the air. I felt something on my bare leg, and glanced down, still driving, and saw a huge yellow and black spider climbing rapidly up my leg. It was big, with a body the size of a quarter and a leg-span 4 times that. My mind went: “WooO!!! Spider!! Big spider! Bright yellow and black! Garden Spider. Harmless.” in the fraction of a second it took me to scoop it into my palm and attempt to toss it out the window. I will admit there was a micro-second of caught breath panic at the “WooO” but “Harmless” pretty much coincided with its reaching the open window. The car was still moving forward of course, and the wind was blowing in the open window and through the car, so I immediately suspected that the spider had not really gotten out the window. I stopped and looked out, but the dirt track was empty. Yes, well, even though I knew it was harmless, I did not want to drive out on to the highway with it in the car. A startle at 50 mph is different than a startle at 10, and I knew I would be distracted just thinking about that spider somewhere in the car. Besides, by this time I wanted a picture of it. I remembered it, from my glimpse, as being particularly bright even of its kind. I opened both front and back doors, and began a search of the interior. It was there, under the front seat, attempting, without much success, to climb the smooth plastic of the center console. I snapped a couple of pics before thinking about how to get it out. I was able, eventually, to use a folded dollar bill from the toll stash to maneuver the spider onto a red plastic ice scraper I found under seat. It did not stay on the scraper of course, but it hung from a tread of web silk long enough for me to transfer it to a birch sapling by the side of track. I even thought ahead and crossed to the far side of the track to hang it in better light for photography 🙂 Of course, it immediately sought the shade of the back side of the leaves. I figured for sure it would be well hidden by the time I got my camera from the car, but it was still there, perhaps still recovering from its trauma, when I got back. It took some doing, and an angled LCD to get an angle in behind the leaves, but I did manage a few good shots of the spider. It was indeed, one of the brightest, and one of the biggest, Garden Spiders I have ever seen.
The Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) should really have a more exotic name. It is certainly exotic looking. Big. Bright. Boldly patterned. With orange legs! If it were not so common, and if it did not live, generally, right in our gardens and yards, it probably would have a more fitting name. It certainly would if it were not pretty much harmless to humans. It will, under extreme provocation, bite, and it does use toxins to kill its prey, but we do not react to its poison. It is a good thing to remember when you find one climbing your leg while you are driving the car. 🙂 I can not really figure out how it got in the car. The windows were closed while the car was parked, and I certainly did not feel it on me while talking the gentleman with the dog. He certainly did not comment on it. Seems like he would have said something if he had seen it crawling on me. I might have brushed it off a bush with my camera bag, or it could have been hanging off my hat. I am not sure. Despite my micro-second of panic when I first saw it, I am delighted to have had the encounter…it makes a good story…and blessed to have had the opportunity to photograph this beautiful spider. I am especially happy that no harm came to the spider through the adventure.
I know, there are some of you who do not like spiders, and I respect and understand your fear. I am sure just looking at the pic gives you shivers, and reading the story, if you got this far, probably sets your heart racing. Not your fault. While I will admit to having a healthy respect for spiders, and an awareness of the harm some of them might do, I don’t have the impulse to smash them, and I can appreciate their beauty. Especially a magnificent specimen like this one. On the other hand, I am certainly not going to provoke it into biting me. 🙂
“If your eye is generous, then your whole being is filled with light.” Jesus said it, and it is the key. Open eyes, and a spirit that sees the light in all that lives, in very shape of the landscape, in everything that the light touches. The light within shines out of open eyes to illuminate a beautiful world, full of meaning, full of grace…worthy of love. Just as the creator loves it into being. Seeing it so, generously, makes it so. Even one spider at a time. And I thank you, Jesus, for relighting the light in me! Happy Sunday!
Canada (NOT! actually a Lance-tipped) Darner
Lance-tipped Darner, Emmon Preserve, Kennebunkport ME
For some reason, the meadows behind and above the Kennebunkport Land Conservancy buildings at Emmons Preserve are one the best places for darners in my patch of Southern Maine. I have seen at least 5 species there, though what species is dominant varies from year to year. Last year they were all Black-tipped. Some years Green-stripped. This year, mostly Canada. (since this is actually a Lance-tipped Darner, I am not so sure now 🙂 I have also seen the occasional Shadow there and Springtime. Green-stripped and Canada are hard to distinguish, and I am only mostly sure this is a Canada. I am willing to be corrected by those who know better. 🙂 There were many more darners in flight during my visit, including at least one smaller, darker darner, but this Lance-tipped is the only one I caught perching.
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 160 @ f6.3. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.
Juvenile Mockingbird
Juvenile Northern Mockingbird, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
I took a walk at Laudholm Farms yesterday…on a hot, hazy, last-day-of-August, summer afternoon. The mosquitoes were uncomfortably thick, but there were a good number of interesting birds…lots of juveniles of several species…and some Yellow-legs at the pond behind the dunes. Â I was photographing some juvenile Eastern Bluebirds when motion in a bush off to one side caught the corner of my eye. This juvenile Mockingbird was ensconced among the berries. It is perhaps molting into adult plumage, and it looks like it might just have had a bath as well.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Ground Squirrel In Your Face!
Ground Squirrel, Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson AZ
Full disclosure here! There is a relatively new display at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson called “On the Rocks”. It features an odd assortment of animals, most of which live below-ground: bugs, reptiles, ground squirrels…and for some odd reason, the Roadrunner and the Elf Owl. The Ground Squirrels learned early on that the glass is there to protect them from the humans and that it works. They seem to enjoy running right along it and pressing their noses up to it for a better view of the audience. With a wide angle lens and macro focus, you can get some great shots…of the humorous variety. Like this one 🙂
Sony HX90V at 24mm equivalent field of view. 1/640th @ ISO 80 @ f3.5. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.
Ruddy Turnstone in passing. Happy Sunday!
Ruddy Turnstone, Kennebunk ME
On one of our after-dinner walks on the beach this week, we found a group of Ruddy Turnstones feeding among the more common Semi-palmated Plovers. The next evening, both were gone from the beach, replaced by hundreds of Sanderlings. It is already fall migration along our coast, and the birds passing through change day to day. I suspect I have seen a Ruddy Turnstone in Maine before, but it was years ago, when birding friends used to encourage me further afield to chase birds, especially during migration. I seem to remember seeing them on Hill’s Beach on the Saco Bay side of Biddeford Pool.The Ruddy Turnstone nests on the coast of Alaska and on the Islands of the Canadian Arctic Shield. They winter as close to us as the shores of Connecticut. I see them in New Jersey in October, and Florida in January…I might even see them in Panama in October, depending on how fast they move south. Finding them on our local beach was a real treat.
It has been a long time since we humans were migrants, as we certainly were, whether we lived by hunting or herding or trading. Even in the early days of agriculture, we moved with seasons. It is in our blood, perhaps in our genes (certainly in our spirits)…and we feel the tug, spring and fall…the urge to follow the sun south (or north), or, at the very least, the slope of land down to the shore in spring, or up to the forests in winter. I find myself, at this stage of my life, repeating the pattern at least in part. New Jersey and Panama in October, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in November, Florida and Honduras in January and early February, Southern California in March, and back to Florida in April just in time to catch the north bound migration, which will take me to Ohio in May and then home to Maine for the summer. I don’t know whether that makes me feel the tug more or less…but I certainly can not deny feeling it. I can identify with the Ruddy Turnestone.
Not that I can keep this up forever, season after season, but while it lasts I will certainly enjoy it…taking each season at its best…following fall south and spring north…being at home wherever I am in my yearly journey…giving thanks to the Creator God, who is always with me. Happy Sunday.