Posts in Category: Sony A6700 with Tamron 50-400Di iii
Costa Rica! red legs x 3
Red-legged Honeycreeper: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Male, female, and immature male Red-legged Honeycreepers from Mirador El Pizote. The Honeycreepers are, somewhat surprisingly, tanagers, and are generally found in mixed feeding flocks around fruit feeders anywhere in lowlands Costa Rica. Spectacular little birds. A blessing and a privilege to be surrounded by them. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! blue jay, red berries
Blue Jay: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — For some reason we don’t get many Blue Jays in our yard…maybe a dozen times a year one will appear and hop up on deck for a few moments. Just down the street there is a house with feeders that has them all the time when I walk by. ??? I caught this one coming in to use a feeder tray. I like the riot of color with the reds and greens of the setting contrasting with the blues of the bird. The low January sun picks out all the detail. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Golden
Golden-hooded Tanager: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Tropical Tanagers (all tanagers for that matter) tend to be brightly colored, but the Golden-headed is certainly one of the more striking. It is not hard to see as it comes to fruit feeders with other tanagers and honeycreepers, and has range from southern Mexico down into western Peru, mostly in lowland Rainforest and along the edges. I have photographed it many times before, but Mirador El Pizote offers some of the best views I have had yet. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Winter Pine
Pine Warbler: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2024 — I was surprised to see not one, but two Pine Warblers, a male and a female, in our yard over the past two days. According to the field guide range maps these guys should be in the deep south in January. So of course I did some research and found that there have been half a dozen e-bird sightings of Pine Warblers in Maine this January so far, as far north as Darmiscotta, and in the past 10 years there have been several hundred winter sightings. So not all that uncommon. I was thinking these were birds displaced by the unusual deep freeze and snow hitting the south right now…but maybe not. If any warbler can survive a Maine winter it is the chunky, seed-eating Pine. There were several reports of Pine Warblers hanging out with Bluebirds, and the ones in our yard are doing exactly that. They like the mealworms, but they are also attracted to suet and don’t seem adverse to picking up sunflower fragments the finches and nuthatches drop. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator. Taken through double-glazed deck doors.
Maine! skulking Cardinal in the snow
Northern Cardinal: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — I was surprised to find a pair of Cardinals skulking deep in the beach rose tangle on the dunes as the snow fell the other day. Not easy to photograph, but worth a try. A Cardinal is always worth a try. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Eye-tracking is really something! Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Costa Rica! Yellow-throated Euphonia
Yellow-throated Euphonia: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Euphonia means “musical” or “sweet voiced” and there are several birds of that name that you might encounter in Costa Rica. This is the Yellow-throated, which was common at the feeders at Mirador El Pizote. Again, such a great place for bird photography. They were at the feeders often, but the number of perches around the feeders made it easy to get them in a more natural setting. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Costa Rica! Shiny!
Shinning Honeycreeper: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Mirador El Pizote has a wonderful set of feeders, ideal for photography of the tanagers and honeycreepers and euphonias who frequent the lowlands of Costa Rica…including the Shinning Honeycreeper, which can be one of the more difficult honeycreepers to see. They have hummingbird feeders too, and large fruit feeders for the toucans, aracaris, and oropedolas. This Shinning Honeycreeper could not struck a better pose. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Eagle in the snow
Bald Eagle, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — The Eagles that frequent river by Roger’s Pond here in Kennebunk are generally across the river and too far away for great photos…not this this is a great photo…but at least the eagle was on my side of the river for a change. Snowing of course and dull light, but still. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Stoic
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — Into every bluebird’s life (well at least Maine bluebirds) some snow must fall, and when it does the bluebird meets it with typical bluebird stoicism. This is a first year bird so it is only his second snow, but he is wise to the ways of snow already. It comes. It goes. Just as long as the mealworm feeder is full. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Taken through a double glazed deck door. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Yellow is the color
Yellow-throated Toucan: Tico Rainforest B&B, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — One of the most recognizable birds of the American Tropics, the Yellow-throated Toucan has a wide range, when including its nominate and 2 sub-species, all down through the lowland rainforests of Central America and along the north-west rim of South America from eastern Venezuela to southern Peru. It is still listed as “near threatened” by the IOU. No one actually knows how it is doing within its range…but there is a lot of deforestation going on throughout, and it is assumed numbers are declining. Big, bold, loud and just a little clumsy around feeders, it is one of those birds that you see in the air or perched and think, “How is that possible?” For one thing that huge beak is a thin, hollow shell, and weighs very little compared to the mass of the bird. Always a delight to see. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600 and 515mm equivalents. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.