Posts in Category: close up
Blue Jay Rampant
Blue Jay, Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
It is odd that until this year, I have had little success photographing Blue Jays. I see them, but I have not been able to get them in the frame. This year I have photographed them in Maine and Ohio, getting close-ups and satisfying images in both states! I posted one from Ohio as the pic of the day a few days ago, and here we have a specimen from Laudholm Farm just down the road from my home in southern Maine. I think there might me an unusual number of Jays this year for one thing…or the late migration north has bunched them up more than usual. I am certainly seeing more of them.
Though it can be an obnoxious bird around feeders, and is know for raiding other birds’ nests for eggs, it is certainly, on aesthetic grounds alone, one of the more striking birds of North America. The boldly barred blue and black and white wing and tail patterns, and the subtle purpley-blues of the back…along with the patterned face, big beak and eye…make it a stand out bird. Catch it in good light and with a contrasting background, as here, and it makes a memorable image. Or that’s what I think 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ f6.5 @ ISO 400. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.
Jack-in-the-pulpit in the wild! Happy Sunday.
Jack-in-the-pulpit, Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
My photographer friend Robert, who lives in Australia, liked yesterday’s picture of a Pink Lady Slipper, because it was a chance to see a plant he only sees “caged” (his word) growing in its natural habitat. Until yesterday, though it is native to Maine, I had only ever seen the Jack-in-the-pulpit, so to speak, in “captivity”…at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Booth Bay Maine, and at Wild Gardens of Acadia at Sieur de Mont Springs in Acadia National Park. You can imagine my surprise, and delight, when I looked down off the edge of the boardwalk yesterday at the Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm in Wells Maine and caught sight of the unmistakable hood of a Jack-in-the-pulpit. It was almost completely buried in its own foliage, and in the foliage of other plants growing with it. Further investigation showed 4 Jack-in-the-pulpit plants (also called bog onion, brown dragon, Indian turnip, American wake robin, or wild turnip) in a cluster within a foot of the boardwalk. I kept my eye peeled, and found another cluster of five plants, similarly placed, before I came to the end of the long boardwalk. The second cluster, two of which are shown above, were younger, with the leaves not completely unfolded and the hood stripped inside and out and lower on the jack. The first cluster were mature plants, fully flowered with the hood completely green on the outside and drying at little at the tip.
Jack-in-the-pulpit
According to the wiki article, the Jack is actually covered in tiny, both male and female, flowers. The male flowers on any one plant dominate early and then die, leaving more female flowers, so the plant is not self pollinating. I also read that it takes 3 years for the plant to mature enough to flower for the first time, so these Jacks have been growing beside the boardwalk for at least that long. There is more in the wiki, and as you might suspect from some of the alternate names, the tuber of the plant is edible…and has been used in traditional herbal medicine.
Finding a something new to me in nature always delights me. To know that I have walked by these plants for at least 3 years, and to have finely “chanced” on them, is simply wonderful…so wonderful that I totally reject the notion that there was any “chance” involved. I could so easily have walked by them again this year. To have found them is a gift outright, an undeserved and unearned gift, the very definition of a blessing. And “wonderful” too in the literal sense of the word…filling me with wonder…with that sense of awe at the beauty of nature and the love of the creator. That they are there is wonderful…to have found them, to have been lead to glance down just at the right second, is awesome! And then to be rewarded with a second cluster…such love!
And now I get to share them with you! How awesome is that? Happy Sunday!
All photos Nikon P900 in Close Up Mode. 80-100mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom and the panel assembled in Coolage.
Pink Lady Slipper Orchid
Pink Lady Slipper Orchid, Rachel Carson NWR Headquarters Trail
Yesterday I posted a panel of May wildflowers from Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge that included a cluster of Pink Lady Slipper Orchids. It was afternoon when I found them, and by then the sun was off the little glade where they grow. I went back yesterday morning to see if I could catch them in the sun. It takes a warm morning sun to bring out the richness in the pink flesh of the bulb…or late afternoon if you can find a patch with the right light.
Nikon P900 in Close Up Mode at 80mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ f3.5 @ ISO 100. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Chestnut!
Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH
Yesterday I named my 4 favorite Warblers, and my memory is such, and so many warblers vie for honor in that list, that if I named them again right now without looking back at yesterday’s post, I might get at least one wrong…or, not “wrong” exactly…it would just be that another warbler might be ascendant at that moment. American Redstart? Black and White? Prothonotary? You see the problem? Just too many great warblers to pick from. The Chestnut-sided, though among the most common warblers in North America, would likely make the list every day. It is such a vivid warbler, and so present…feeding just above eye level, at least during migration…and, here at Magee Marsh and the Biggest Week in American Birding, often within 10 feet of eager birders. I could not even use the full reach of the zoom on my camera for this specimen. It bounced almost within arms reach, oblivious to the half dozen photographers blasting away at it. And that is the wonder of Magee Marsh during migration. 🙂
Nikon P900 at about 1600mm equivalent. 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Topaz Denoise and Lightroom. Full frame…uncropped.
Trout Lily
Trout Lily, Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
I went for a walk at Laudholm Farm (Wells National Estuarine Research Center) yesterday, more for the form of the thing than with any real hope of photo ops…but I was pleasantly surprised. Both the Skunk Cabbage and Trout Lily were in bloom along the boardwalk through the maple swamp, I caught a Garter Snake crossing under, and got good shots of an early Blue Jay. The Eastern Towhees were also tuning up. There were drying vernal pools with masses of frog eggs, some clouds came up over the farm buildings, interesting winter weathered reeds. a Kestrel hunting the farm fields…lots, really, to look at and enjoy. Glad I went.
The Trout Lily is one of the earliest blooming forest flowers in Maine…kind of the Crocus of the woods…budding out shortly after the last of the snow leaves the ground. Many years I miss it altogether, because it has passed by the time I start paying attention. I remember finding beds of the distinctive green and brown leaves one year, and watching them for a month waiting for the bloom, when, in fact, they had bloomed weeks before I first noticed them. Generally I find them when I am not expecting anything to be blooming…like this year.
They “nod” on their stems…generally the flower faces the forest floor when fully open, presenting its backside to the sun, but I did find one more or less horizontal and near enough to the boardwalk so that by getting down on my side I could frame it from slightly below and catch the full effect of the flower. Thank you, Nikon, for the articulated LCD on the P900. 🙂 The flower is about 1.5 inches across.
Nikon P900 in Close Up Mode and 105mm equivalent field of view. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Great Egret Chicks are Beautifully Ugly!
Great Egret Chicks, St Augustine Alligator Farm, St Augustine FL
Yes, well, the title says it all: beautifully ugly! Only a mother could love…etc. And it is not like they are “nice” either. They are aggressive, single-mindedly competitive, noisy, and not particularly clean. 🙂 These are at the age when maybe even a mother does not love them! She is like: “Get out of my nest already!” Still, who can resist a pic or two when the nest is right in front of you. This was taken from the new Photo Pass only blind in the shade of the trees on the far side of the Rookery at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park. Such an amazing place for bird photography. It is even worth braving the crush to tourists and other photographers 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. ISO 100 @ 1/800th @ f6.5. -.7 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 2 tablet.
White-winged Scoter!
White-winged Scoter, Mousam River, Kennebunk ME
Scoters are sea ducks, generally seen just at the limits of vision off shore. I was amazed to find this single White-winged Scoter about a mile up the Mousam River from the sea, hanging out in the shadow of the bridge across Route 9. And it was literally hanging in the shadow. It went from one side of the bridge to the other, but always stayed in the shadow of the bridge??? My references do say that this scoter breeds further inland than the others and is the most likely to be seen on rivers and ponds during migration…so I guess I really did not need to be surprised. But I was! 🙂
Nikon P900 at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Program with -1/3 EV exposure compensation. 1/125th @ ISO 450 @ f6.3. (Pretty good for handheld at 1200mm and 1/125!) Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Bluebird of Spring!
B Eastern Bluebird. Kennebunk Bridle Path
I was stalking Song Sparrows in the snow along the Kennebunk Bridle Path yesterday, in very spring like 40 degree weather, when this Eastern Bluebird blew into the tree beside me. Did I mention there was a gale blowing? The Sparrows’ feathers were all akimbo in every shot. I had seen what might have been another Bluebird blow by at a distance down the trail, so I was not totally surprised, but still, every Bluebird in Southern Maine is a treat! I was only able to grab a few shots before the wind blew the Bluebird out of the tree and on to parts unknown. Such an intense blue…especially against the warm rust breast and the grays of the winter bare tree.
Grab shots like this are one of the joys of the new Nikon P900. Focus is fast enough to basically turn and shoot. I like it.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. Program with -1/3 EV exposure compensation. 1/500th @ ISO 125 @ f6.5. Processed in Topaz Denoise and Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Fluffed Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
We may still have 3 feet of snow in the yard, but the Goldfinches are coming into summer color, so spring must be creeping up on Southern Maine. This Goldfinch was at the feeder, and then popped up to a branch overhead. It is “fluffed” or “puffed”…with its breast feathers standing out from the body. Birds fluff for several reasons. On particularly cold mornings you will see them perched and fluffed before the sun comes up or just after. The additional air trapped in the fluffed feathers acts as insulation to keep them warm through the night. They might also fluff in the first sun of the day…sitting directly in sun…in which case the spread features allow the sun to get in closer to their bodes and warm them faster. Occasionally on a particularly hot day they might fluff for exactly the opposite reasons. Finally, they fluff to allow the sun in were it can kill feather mites when they reach troublesome levels, as they might after a long cold Maine winter. It was not particularly cold when this images was taken, so I suspect the mite cause for this bird.
The image was cropped slightly for composition, but it shows the incredible detail possible at 2000mm equivalent field of view with the new Nikon P900 superzoom bridge camera…at least in good light. You should view it a full screen. 1/500th @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Topaz Denoise (it did not really need it, but Topaz is a new toy today) and Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Close Quarters
Ring-billed Gull, A beach in KennebunkÂ
The other day I went down to the beach to see if there were any birds…I had seen an immature Bald Eagle soaring over the house on my way out and hoped to see the adults along the river. There was noting much to see at the beach. High tide. A few Golden Eyes in the river. And someone had been feeding the gulls. I spent a few moments playing with flight shots as the gulls came in to the bread still in the road. (There are lots of better things to feed gulls than bread…bits of cut up fruits and vegetables work well, and are certainly better for the birds.) The gulls were cooperative of course, and so close this shot was taken at just over 500mm equivalent field of view.
Sony HX400V in Sports Mode. 1/2000th @ ISO 160 @ f5.6. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.