Posts in Category: Kennebunk
Maine! Carolina Wren far from home?
Carolina Wren: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — not so long ago this Carolina Wren in the icy branches after our weekend storm would indeed have been far from home, but their range is extending north and they are now becoming regular in York County (and breed as far north as Orino and Ellsworth). A few winter over. We have had one in our neighborhood for the past 2 years as a regular visitor to our feeders for mealworms and especially the mealworm crumbs the Bluebirds drop. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Post Card Cardinal
Northern Cardinal: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — We woke yesterday to trees glistening with frozen rain after maybe 3 inches of snow on Saturday. Right at first light our neighborhood male Cardinal was under the pines and up in the glistening branches…too far away and still too dark for a photograph. As the sun got up, I bundled up and spent an enchanted hour or more photographing birds…bluebirds, robins, goldfinches and even the Carolina Wren…in the back yard among the icy branches…but I kept hearing the siren call of the Cardinals somewhere out there in the larger neighborhood and eventually it was too much. I went walkabout with my camera. I went around our local blocks many times. I could hear the Cardinals calling but wherever I went, by the time I got there, the Cardinals were somewhere else. Finally I traced them to some tall trees a few corners over from our house. They were close. I could hear them but I just could not see them. And then the male popped out of a hedge of evergreens right in front of me, right at eye-level, way lower than I was expecting from the calls. Alright! A gift pure and simple. I took way too many photos. This is not necessarily the best one…I have many I will keep…but the one I chose this morning. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Bluebird in the snow
Eastern Bluebird: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — Nothing like a March snowstorm to bring the birds close in to the feeders. Our Bluebirds and chickadees and nuthatches and titmice and woodpeckers (both Hairy and Downy) are with us every day (just about) but yesterday, as the snow and then freezing rain fell, they were with us all day…never going further from the feeders than the overhanging branches. There were also the five or six bullying Robins that seem to be laying claim to our back yard, a few Mourning Doves, a Carolina Wren and a large mixed flock of black birds that passed through and did their best to empty the seed feeders under the pines while I was warming supper…mostly Brown-headed Cowbirds but some Red-winged Blackbirds and Starlings as well. This Bluebird does not look very happy, up there with the snow on the branches and the brave first maple buds for contrast. My camera got very wet and so did I getting this shot…but no harm done. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Practice makes perfect
Eastern Bluebird: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — I am not sure what this behavior is? I am almost certain that this is last summer’s chick, well able to feed itself, and not begging that I saw. And I am pretty sure this is our full adult male, who has raised 8 broods (at least) while we have watched over the past 4 years. Maybe he is just getting in practice for this year’s first brood. And maybe he is just a provider by nature, which is why he has had so many successfully fledged off-spring. I was photographing the young bird and was very surprised when the male edged into the frame. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Mallard close-ups
Mallard Ducks (male and female): York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — A pair of Mallards out on the bank of a local pond, and posing nicely for my. camera. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Mottled Finch
American Goldfinch: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — It is that time of year when the male Goldfinches begin to color up. We have a few Goldfinches all winter, off and on, so we get used to seeing them in their drab winter colors. It is easy to forget how bright they get by early summer. This is the awkward time when they just look unfinished…enough yellow to remind you of their summer splendor but only just. Still, it won’t be long now. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Pale Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — This seems really early for Great Blue Heron in York County, but according the information on-line, it is really not. They do sometime arrive in the state in mid-march. And the Great Blues hung on along the coast well into the winter this year…in fact, I am not sure some of them ever left Maine. All they need is ice-free water to hunt, and we had that most of the season. This one was along a little stretch of path that rarely fails to turn up at least one interesting bird. After the herons I photographed in Florida in January, this bird looks very pale to me…kind of washed out…but maybe it is just the March Maine sunshine. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Just Robins
American Robin: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — The American Robin does not get the photographic attention it deserves because it is so common. They are here in York County year around and underfoot all summer in our yards. It really is a beautiful bird though. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom. Program mode with my custom birds modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Titmouse Song
Tufted Titmouse: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — There is perhaps no birds song or call that is a carrying, one might even say, piercing as the Tufted Titmouse in the spring. Common in both yard and forest they certainly make their presence known in season. I caught this one in full voice and you can see the effort going into the call. They are quick and agile and not easy to catch in a photo, at least around our yard. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Not at home, at all.
House Finch: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — The House Finch only reached Maine in the early 1970s…it was originally a bird of the Southwest, but has slowly but surely extended its range to cover most of the US (with a strange gap in the center of the continent). Our habit of feeding birds has probably encouraged that extension, as it is among the most common feeder birds wherever it lives. I still can’t convince myself it is at home here though, though it was in Maine well before I got here. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.