Posts in Category: backyard photo-blind
Dynamic Purple Finch
Purple Finch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Another dynamic pose, this time a male Purple Finch. This particular bird shows a lot of white on its under parts. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent, from my backyard photo blind. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV exposure compensation for the backlight.
Dainty Downy!
Downy Woodpecker: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Compared to our visiting Pileated Woodpecker, the Downy Woodpecker that frequents our yard is indeed dainty…but oh so handsome. I caught the male here in a dynamic pose as it was on the way into the suet cage in front of my backyard photo blind. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Hermit Thrush
Hermit Thrush: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have not seen the Hermit Thrush (s?) that visited our yard for a few days last week, so maybe I should share a few more shots of this beautiful bird while it is still more or less current. We heard a few songs, coming from the denser woods across the street, and I had some hope we might have a nesting pair…but maybe not after all. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm from my backyard photo blind. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV exposure compensation.
Cardinal comes calling
Northern Cardinal: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Though they are definitely becoming more common in our yard, year to year, I still celebrate each visit of the neighborhood Cardinals that I manage to catch. I see them often enough now to be assured that they come every day, at some point in the day, probably several times a day, mostly when I am not looking. I was in my backyard photo blind for this visit, and though the shots are not without foreground obstructions, they are still satisfying. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo using ML Super Resolution and a preset I developed for my bird shots. Finishing touches in Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV exposure compensation for the backlight.
An inundation of Yellow-rumped Warblers
Yellow-rumped Warbler: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — The other day I posted a photo of a single Yellow-rumped Warbler who visited our yard…a first in the almost 30 years we have lived here. Since then we have been inundated with Yellow-rumps. There are sometimes half a dozen at a time on our deck, often 3 or 4 inside the suet cage. And this has been going on for days now. Saturday morning and early evening I sat out in my backyard photo blind and, though I never thought I would say it, I think I already have enough photos of Yellow-rumps for this year 🙂 It is early yet here as I write, not yet full light on this overcast day, and already there are Yellow-rumps in the suet cage on the deck. I am not sure what is going on this year. I see photos on “Maine Birds” and “Backyard Birding in Maine” (on Facebook) that indicate that it is not just Kennebunk that is flooded with Yellow-rumps. Others are seeing them in their yards for the first time ever, and in numbers that are certainly out of the ordinary. Maybe it was just a bumper year for Yellow-rumps last breeding season. ?? You might want to check out my poem for today, which is also about Yellow-rumps. 🙂 (https://day-poems.tumblr.com/post/650156909047988224/53-i-can-only-think-there-must-be-a-surplus-of ) Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent from my backyard photo blind. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Strawberry Finch (aka Purple Finch)
Purple Finch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Some of our Purple Finches this spring are just sooo bright. Especially in the early evening as the sun comes in low across the yard from the horizon. They might be called “strawberry finches”…but, of course, that name is already taken…though it appears to one of three names for an Australian bird, so maybe I can still borrow it for our spring male Purples. This fellow posed nicely for me on a perch near the feeders outside my backyard photo blind. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. (And, no, if you are thinking I “enhanced” the color…I can assure you this is how they look to the naked eye 🙂 ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — The male Brown-headed Cowbird is actually quite a handsome bird. There are lots of reasons not to like cowbirds. They hog seed feeders, and are messy eaters, wasting as much seed as they eat (and they eat a lot)…they lay their eggs in other bird’s nests to the detriment of more attractive (and often fragile) species…and their thin, piercing calls can be (and often are as far as I am concerned) annoying. Still, the rich brown, glossy black, and sleek lines make them look, well, a little like a gangsters dressed for a wedding (or a funeral). Sony Rx10iv at 600mm from my backyard photo blind. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. All at ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Nest building. Northern Cardinal
Northern Cardinal: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I had to do some Googling this morning to see what was going on here. I know this pair of Northern Cardinals has already fledged the first brood, as I have seen the two fledglings with the parents passing through our yard. Turns out cardinals build a new nest for the second brood. This is a drastic crop as the bird was just too far back in the brush beyond my backyard photo blind (the light was not great either). I have used Pixelmator’s ML Super Resolution in processing and the results are not half bad…which means they are at least half good 🙂 At least good enough for viewing on a reasonably sized screen. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent (but more like 2400mm equivalent in the crop). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV.
White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — The White-throated Sparrow was another bird that showed up in our yard for the first time last year, after I started putting mixed seed out in the feeders for my backyard photo blind. (Or at least last year was the first time I saw one in our yard.) We had quite a bunch of them for weeks spring and fall. This is the one of the two first comers this year. I saw them one afternoon, and have not seem them since, so I suspect they were trail-blazers on their way north…the earliest migrants…with the promise of more to come. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent from my photo blind. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Female Cardinal Visits
Northern Cardinal: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — We probably get a visit from the neighborhood cardinals every day, probably more than once a day, but I am rarely looking when they come. Therefore it is always a treat to see them. Both male and female will occasionally use the feeders, but they are both happier feeding on the ground…however they are much more difficult to photograph on the ground as they like to skulk among the leaves and brush, and seem to have a talent for keeping junk between themselves and my camera lens. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent from my backyard photo blind. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Feeder shot: ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th. Ground shot: ISO 160 @ f4 @ 1/500th.