Posts in Category: Kennebunk
Maine! See what I got!
Common Loons: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — The loons were having a productive morning. As I watched one or another of the 4 working within sight took a crab from the bottom of the inlet every 5 minutes or so. This one seemed proud of his catch…though it was not the biggest one I saw that morning. Maybe it is a he and a she and she hoped he was in a sharing mood? OM Systems OM-1 Mkii with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! happy couple
Red-breasted Merganser: York County Maine, USA, February 2024 — And here is the happy couple: Male and female Red-breasted Mergansers showing their fancy party hairdos. OM Systems OM-1 Mkii with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Show-off
Red-breasted Merganser: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — There have been female or immature Red-breasted Mergansers in the tidal creek near the mouth of our local river since the beginning of winter, but this might be the first male I have seen, and he was putting on a good show for the female that was with him. Such a handsome bird! OM Systems OM-1Mkii with ED 100-400mm IS zoom. First two Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Third Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Merganser action
Red-breasted Mergansers: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — a little Red-breasted Merganser action from the tidal creek near us. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Air show
Bald Eagles: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I have seen this action in photos, and in a video or two on YouTube, but I never expected to see it through my viewfinder. I was taking photos from a great distance of this interaction between 3 immature or sub-adult Bald Eagles squabbling over a perch in the dead top of a tall pine when Eagle number 3 was doing a close pass, when Eagle number 2 suddenly flipped over in mid-air and they did the “show me your talons” thing. From the size difference in the two birds I am thinking this is a male and s female…the female below and the male above. I know it looks so unlikely that you might suspect photoshop or some kind of AI generated image…but I assure you these are real Eagles acting like real Eagles. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent (cropped considerably). Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomatic and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Sunday gift
Immature or Sub-adult Bald Eagles: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I went for what is becoming my customary Sunday morning photoprowl, visiting our local park along the river and then the river mouth and the marshes behind the dunes where it meets the sea. I am generally pleasantly surprised by something…and yesterday it was an immature or sub-adult Bald Eagle that came, chased by noisy crows, and settled in the dead top of a far pine. I took some shots from where I stood, but then began to walk closer. I was still a long way off when, again, surprise, a second and a third sub-adult eagle flew in from behind the first and attempted to dislodge it from its perch. Nothing doing. The first eagle was not budging and the second never really got settled before the third was on them both. After some interesting areal maneuvers, which I will share tomorrow, all three Eagles flew off, far out over the marsh, where one settled into a tree even further away. On my way out I found the other two in a tree on a rise of the farm fields. A surprise and a gift indeed. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent (from way too far away). Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator. Shutter speed 1/1600th.
Maine! Juvenile (not delinquent)
Common Merganser: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I am pretty sure these are two juvenile male Common Mergansers, hauled out on rock in our local river. They might look like they are up to no good…but I doubt they are actually delinquent. 🙂 Love the orange legs and feet. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and Apple Photos.
Maine! Spring is coming!
Song Sparrow: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — The first (or my first, at any rate) Song Sparrow of 2024 here in York County. Spring can’t be far behind. He was not singing yet…just kind of a soft twitter, but song is coming just as sure as spring. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Bohemian Waxwing antics
Bohemian Waxwing: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I have been back to the area where I saw this Bohemian Waxwing feeding with a flock of Robins on Sunday, several times now, in hopes of finding more, or at least finding a flock of Cedar Waxwings. Nothing doing. I have not seen either since the first sighting. There is nothing more enjoyable than watching Waxwings feed. They are so elegant and so acrobatic in their single-minded pursuit of the sweetest fruit. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Black Duck
American Black Duck: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — The other surprise (besides the Bohemian Waxwing) of my early Sunday morning photo outing was 2 pair of American Black Ducks keeping company with the growing flock of Canada Geese in the tidal creek at the mouth of our local river. This is another bird that I have only seen a few times in Maine, and not for a long time. Again, maybe I have not been looking the right places at the right times, but my impression is that our strange winter is bring out many birds I have not seen in years. (Though American Black Duck is still shown as common along the Maine Coast year-round in the field guides, a bit more research tells me that though once the most common dabbling duck in Eastern North America, populations have radically declined due to habitat loss over the last century, to the point were the Black Duck is a species of concern to many. Though they look like (and may actually be) Mallards they do not seem to be as resilient in the long run.) OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent (heavily cropped). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.