Posts in Category: Nikon B700
Strange perch fellows!
Spangled and Slaty Skimmers: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — These two dragonflies are both highly competitive and fiercely territorial, so it is strange to see them sharing the same perch. It was an unusually hot day for Southern Maine, and I suppose any perch in a heat wave, but still… Nikon B700 at just over 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications for this camera. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Turkeys in the hay :)
Wild Turkeys: Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine — the herd of Wild Turkeys that inhabits the fields (and yards) along Laudholm Farm Road in Wells, Maine is dispersed for the summer, but there are often at least a few turkeys feeding in the hay field across from the Trust building. It happens my current project on the bowed psaltery is “Turkey in the Straw” so I had to stop as I rode by on my eTadpole recumbent trike when I saw these three grazing in the ripening timothy…which will, of course, be hay if not straw. 🙂 Nikon B700 at about 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Business end of Slaty Skimmer
Slaty Skimmer: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — It was unusually hot yesterday for southern Maine, and there were lots of the common dragonflies out and active at Day Brook Pond. Slaty Skimmers now outnumber Spangled, but both are still there in good numbers. Perhaps because of the heat, the Slatys were perching a lot…and this one landed too close for a telephoto shot. I decided to see how close it would let me get and switched to macro focus on my Nikon B700, flipped out the LCD so I could see, and leaned in. This was taken at 97mm equivalent, at the outer limit of the macro focus, from about 4 inches. Not an identification shot, but interesting all the same. 🙂 Program mode and processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Pygmy Clubtail
Northern Pygmy Clubtail (?): Branch Brook, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. — It is always fun to find a new (to me) dragonfly on my rambles around the back roads of York County Maine. Every time I cross Branch Brook on my eTadpole recumbent trike, which is generally at least once a week as the bridge is on one of my “go to” exercise loops, I think that I should stop and explore the stream for dragonflies…and yesterday, since I was in no great hurry in the unaccustomed heat, I finally did it. I only found two dragonflies, a female Ebony Jewelwing, and this tiny clubtail, which is new to me. Looking at the photos, and considering the location, it is clearly a Pygmy Clubtail, and I am pretty sure it is a Northern. However, the watershed where I found it is one of the few with a confirmed presence of Southern Pygmy Clubtail in Maine, and my AI tools consistently ID it as Southern. To my eye there is more than one strip on the thorax, which, according to Paulson, makes it Northern…but I can not be 100% sure. Anyone who knows better is welcome to chime in. Nikon B700 at 135mm macro and 1440mm telephoto equivalents. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Northern Flicker
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted): Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — I started watching birds seriously when we lived in New Mexico, and all my birding habits were formed there, so it is still a shock when I see a Flicker in flight with bright yellow under-wings. 🙂 This one, near the parking area at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms in Maine, was, as is usual with Flickers, very busy feeding on the ground and had its head down digging for grubs most of the time. I shot a lot of photos of the back of the bird in the grass…to get just a few of the bird with its head up. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Common Green Darner
Common Green Darner: Sanford Lagoons, Sanford, Maine, USA — Not a great photo as I was at a fair distance and shooting through obstructive foreground plants, but, in my experience, a rare photo. I never…well, almost never…see Common Green Darner perched. They seem to be in perpetual flight, at least during daylight hours. I have a few shots of Green Darner mating wheels, and one of a Green Darner female ovipositing…but this might be only individual I have seen just settled out and resting in many years of looking. And, of course, when I tried to work my way down the bank for a less obstructed view, it was off instantly. Even in flight the Common Green Darner is hard to miss. It is not the largest Dragonfly in North America…the Giant Darner of the Southwest is bigger…but it is certainly the largest we have here in the Northeast, and that green body and bright blue abdomen stand out in almost any light. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Cedar Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing: Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — I rode my trike down to Laudholm Farms to check on the bog orchids and was delighted to find that the resident Cedar Waxwings are back and showing along the trails again. This one was evidently an outlier of a large flock that was active where I have seen them before, below the old orchard on either edge of the Maple Swamp. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Grass Pink Orchid
Grass Pink Orchid: Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — The Tuberous Grass Pink Orchid is, according to my bit of morning research, among the most wide spread of its genus…occurring in both wet bogs and moist prairies across most of south east Canada and the north eastern US. I found these in the tiny remnant bog that is preserved at the Wells Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms here in Wells. Both Grass Pink and Rose Pagonia grow there…though the Rose Pagonia seems to be fewer and fewer year to year. The Grass Pink is doing well…and there are many blooms this season. It is a beautiful flower…only about 2 inches across, but growing in clusters on single stems above the moss. As you see, the orchid hangs “upside down” due to the twist in the stem. Nikon B700, telephoto macro at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Just for fun! Spangled Skimmer. Happy Father’s Day!
Spangled Skimmer: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have mentioned that the Spangled Skimmer is one of my favorite dragonflies. This is not a good identification photo. I have lots of those. But this is among my favorite photos of a favorite dragonfly. The “Hay, what’s up?” pose, the angle of the light, and the interesting background just combine to make me smile. And a smile is good on a Sunday, Father’s Day. I hope all you fathers are smiling…and all you children of fathers as well. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Slaty Skimmer
Slaty Skimmer: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Evidently they Spangled Skimmers fly before the Saltys…as we have had Spangled for at least a week at the pond, before I saw my first Slaty yesterday. Now that the Saltys are flying, they will dominate the pond for months, outnumbered only by the smaller Calico Skimmers. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.