Posts in Category: action
Maine! Least of terns
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — Nothing like a close encounter with a Tern in flight 🙂 This one was hovering momentarily as it decided whether to come down to the beach. This is a crop of about a quarter of the frame at 800mm equivalent (which would make it like the view through a 3200mm lens), but even-so it is about as close as you can get to a tern in flight. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Tern chase
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — another version of the chasing Terns…this time lower against the beach grass and sea peas. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 538mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Tern art
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — Sometimes it is not so much about the birds as it is about the light, the form, the composition. Art. 🙂 These two Least Terns were chasing each other down the beach in close formation. I don’t know why. They just were. I have several shots of them framed against the green backdrop of distant trees and the closer backdrop of the beach grass and sea peas. This is not a tern portrait, and it is not an id photo. It does not have that kind of detail. It is something else, but I can’t help but like it. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 538mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! swing and a miss
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — Life is not all wins for the Least Tern. I suspect, like most photographers I know, there are way more misses than keepers. These shots are keepers, though at larger magnifications they are not critically sharp…they capture a moment. Not a moment of success for the Tern, but a significant moment nonetheless. And considering how fast the tern was moving, I am happy to have gotten them at all. 🙂 OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 684mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Florida! Grace and color
Tricolored Heron and Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2024 — I don’t know enough about Tricolored Herons to know if this is typical hunting behavior…it was certainly the first time I had seen it. The Spoonbill does not seem to be overly impressed though, so maybe it happens more than I know. OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! DoorDash delivery
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — I am still learning to capture Least Terns in flight with my OM-1Mkii and the M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom…playing with focus limits to speed up the focus. On this day the Terns were closer than I had figured, and I should have stopped shooting to adjust the inner limit. Hard to do when the terns are in the air all around you and carrying sand eels and you are litterally spinning around trying to get them in frame. This bird was just at my close limit for the day. I have adjusted it before my next outing. 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Air Traffic Control
Common and Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — At the mouth of one of our tidal rivers the Least Terns nest in great numbers, and the Common Terns are attracted by the sand eels. It is inevitable that they sometimes occupy the same airspace. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Tricolored Umbrella
Tricolored Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — I have never seen a Tricolored Heron umbrella fishing…though it is very common behavior among Reddish Egrets who fish the same pools at Merritt Island. Maybe I have just not been looking at the right times. 🙂 OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 584mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Biggest Week in American Birding: Success
Black and White Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2024 — I had only a very tiny window in the foliage to work with here, but the Black and White Warbler was close and very busy finding spiders and (dare I hope) ticks. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Excuse us! Can’t you see we are having a moment here?
Least Terns (and Piping Plover): York County, Maine, USA, June 2024 — Lots of courting action on the beach a couple of days ago, with males showing off their sand eels to prospective females. The females did not seem overly impressed, or even very interested. ?? I guess it works for them, since the colony seems healthy. OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. This is cropped to 1600mm equivalent field of view at least. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.