Posts in Category: Kennebunk
Mousam River in the snow…
Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2023 — It is very rare indeed for the snow to stay on the trees in southern Maine for more than a few hours. We are into our third day of this winter wonderland now…and it looks good to hold until we get some “wintery mix” late this evening into tomorrow. There are downed trees and branches all over town, and there will be more by morning tomorrow. Still, it is undeniably beautiful. This is two more iPhone 13 shots. One with the ultra-wide lens and, of course, a panorama. The computing power of the phone makes these kinds of photos possible and even easy.
Clinging snow…
Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2023 — We had one of those days on Friday. Heavy wet snow overnight, with, thankfully, no wind, and we woke to a world frosted in white. (The thankfulness is about broken branches, downed trees, and power lines…which would have been a major problem with any wind at all…as it was the lawn is littered with fallen branches buried in the snow.) I was out clearing the drive with the snowblower, and still had the energy when I finished for a few phone photos. I have a “new” iPhone 13 with the ultrawide lens to try out. If you follow my Day Poems on Tumbler or Facebook, that graze on the big pine is where the truck hit it a few nights ago…during the last snow storm. Anyway, it makes a change from constant photos of tropical birds and wildlife. 🙂
Bluebird Winter
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2023 — Another visitor from early on our snowy morning. We have 5 Bluebirds that come for the mealworms we put out in a feeder. They are our two adults, a pair that, as far as I can tell, have nested in the yard next door for at least 5 years, and young birds from this year’s two broods. This is the adult male, looking a little wet and very stoic (to me) on this snowy morning. This is an art shot again…more than a portrait…for framing on the wall. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Snow Finches
House Finch and American Goldfinch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2023 — We woke up to one of those winter wonderland scenes with wet snow clinging to every branch and bush and about 3 inches on the ground. It did not last more than a half hour once the sun and the wind got up, but it was traditionally beautiful for a few moments there. I managed a few shots in the early light to catch the contrast between the birds and the snow. House Finches have been coming to the feeders for the past two weeks. They are occasional visitors year round, but way outnumbered by the Purple Finches in the spring. American Goldfinches are another year round visitor. We are currently hosting a flock of at least a dozen. And this scene, with the fresh snow, is just a memory. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Snow birds…
Goldfinch, Eastern Bluebird, White-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2023 — We had a flurry of birds (our mixed feeding flock) just as the first huge flakes of snow begin to fall yesterday, so I paused my exercise routine to take the camera out and record it. Three of the usual suspects making the most of the opportunity. The Bluebird looks the most bemused by the falling snow (our first this year) but then bluebirds always look a bit bemused. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Carolina Wren! in Kennebunk
Carolina Wren: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Look who showed up under the feeders on our back deck! Carolina Wrens are not unheard of in Maine, especially at feeders during the early winter, but this is a first for our yard! In fact, most range maps had a little extension up the coast of Maine as far as Portland colored as regular, even breeding, for Carolina Wren, with an area up into southern Canada where they are “rare”. I just don’t think of them as coming that far north, and this is my first, not only for our yard, but for Maine. It showed up a few days ago for a few moments when Carol saw it and was able to describe it well enough so that I knew what it was…but then yesterday, early, it came with the neighborhood mixed feeding flock and was on the deck for long enough for me to get the camera. These shots are through the glass of the deck door. I would love to have one settle in and nest in the yard. Wouldn’t that be something! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro on the Mac Air. ISO 1600 and 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
White-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, January 2023 — While we are on the subject of backyard birds, here is our resident White-breasted Nuthatch. We have a pair that come daily to the feeders on the back deck, year around. So let us take a moment to celebrate White-breasted Nuthatches. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2023 — When we first moved to Kennebunk, going on 30 years ago now, and up to a few years ago, a Red-bellied Woodpecker was a rare sighting in our yard. In fact we had probably been here at least 10 years before we saw our first one. Over the past 5 years, the number of sightings has steadily increased, and they have started coming to our back-deck feeding station on a semi-regular basis. We will go a month without seeing one, and then have a month, or a week at least, when they are at the feeder several times a day…I say “they”, but it could be just one…I have yet to see more than one at a time. They are among the most skitterish of our backyard birds. They generally disappear if there is slightest sign of movement in the house, but even at that they seem to be becoming more bold, or more secure. This one allowed me to stand behind the thermopane glass of the deck door, close enough so I had to zoom out to fit the bird in the frame, and take its photo as it used the feeder. Sony Rx10iv at 458mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Happy 2023: Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2023 — To celebrate the first day of 2023, I will come back home from my 2022 travels. It might seem from my postings that I must spend most of every year on foreign soil…but the fact is that I am only away from Maine for a few weeks each year. Most of the time the only birds I see are at the feeders on our back deck or somewhere around the town of Kennebunk. 🙂 I don’t see the Red-breasted Nuthatch every day…but the last few days at least one has been around, maybe more than one. Weather patterns have kept our feeders busy all day with the local mixed feeding flock coming by at least once an hour and staying for 15 minutes or so each visit. This was taken early yesterday, through the thermo-pane glass of the deck door. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro on the Mac Air. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
The Best Christmas Gift! Barred Owl
Barred Owl: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, December 2022 — We were on our way back from Christmas dinner with my wife’s local immediate family, with sun already setting here in the short days of December, and we were talking about looking for Snowy Owls and Eagles behind the Catholic Church which sits out half way across the marshes in Wells, when, there on a wire above the road, was what certainly could have been a Snowy Owl. It was silhouetted against the open sky and I was past it before I could stop. We backed the car up and I parked half off the road and fumbled my camera out and got it set for multi-frame noise reduction, which I knew I would need in the low light, and climbed out of the car. In the camera viewfinder, at 600mm equivalent, it was a Barred Owl, not a Snowy, but still. Like most Owls, it knew I was there, but was not terribly concerned, as I worked around and down the opposite edge of the road to get bit closer. Such a gift! Terrible light and all, but I spent 5 minutes photographing it…so intent I forgot to breathe as much as I should have. When I got home it was a processing challenge to make the most of the low light, back-lit exposures, but still…such a gift for Christmas Day 2022. My wife emailed her sister, and it turns out the owl is a well known local character, and often hunts that stretch of road in twilight, waiting for car headlights to highlight an unwary rodent…as owls do. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 2000 @ f4. 1/500th. Plus 1.7EV.