Posts in Category: action
Maine! Bohemian Waxwing antics
Bohemian Waxwing: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I have been back to the area where I saw this Bohemian Waxwing feeding with a flock of Robins on Sunday, several times now, in hopes of finding more, or at least finding a flock of Cedar Waxwings. Nothing doing. I have not seen either since the first sighting. There is nothing more enjoyable than watching Waxwings feed. They are so elegant and so acrobatic in their single-minded pursuit of the sweetest fruit. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Red-shouldered at the moss
Red-shouldered Hawk: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas Florida, USA, January 2024 — There were quite a few Red-shouldered Hawks working Orlando Wetlands Park when I visited during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival last month. This one came in close and got itself out on the more precarious spindly branches of the tree, apparently in search of the moss, or something in the moss. I suspect it was attempting to gather nesting materials, as a google search turned up the fact that Red-shouldered Hawks are known to line their nests with moss. The light was subdued, but it was fun to watch as the hawk struggled to maintain its balance while busy with the moss. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Great Blue flyby
Great Blue Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, January 2024 — Photographing Pelicans and Spoonbills in the distance, I looked up just in time to see this Great Blue Heron on approach. I got the camera into Birds in Flight mode with a switch of the control dial, panned with the bird, and shot off a burst as it passed me. Such a beautiful bird in flight. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Florida! More Pelicans in flight
American White Pelican: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, December 2023 — More Pelicans in flight from a close flyover out on Blackpoint drive. Pelicans are the ultimate soaring bird, riding thermals high and low, especially over water. Even in low glides between feeding spots they can go many minutes between wing flaps…and when using the high thermals for long distance travel they can glide for hours. These are big birds…among the heaviest flying birds in North America with a wingspread and depth to match. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! a stack of pelicans
American White Pelican: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — There is a fair sized flock of White Pelicans hanging around Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island this year. The first days I was there I only saw them in flight, but it was certainly a sight to see. This is a five bird stack from a lock of at least 30 that went over. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Rosy in flight
Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — Another hoped for image from any trip to the Space Coast of Florida: a Roseate Spoonbill in flight. There is noting like that pink wingspread. To my eye, it outdoes even the flamingo. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 436mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Skimmer
Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — Another of my “most wanted” birds and shots for my Florida trip this year: the Black Skimmer skimming. The hardest part is keeping the skimmer in an 800mm equivalent frame as it is moving so fast over the water, especially when it passes close. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Social feeding
Great and Snowy Egrets: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — The mass mixed feeding flock of wading birds got up and left the pools behind the entrance kiosk at Blackpoint Wildlife Drive just as I arrived soon after dawn on Sunday and flew away to the west. I did not find them again until later in the day, congregated in the small pond right beside the main Refuge road where it crosses the railroad tracks. This mass feeding behavior is common among Egrets and other wading birds as they follow the most recent hatch in various ponds around the refuge…often spending 3-5 days at one pond, only to move on, in mass, to another when the prey get sparse and fresh ponds beckon. As you can see from the photos, it takes a lot of prey this size to keep a Great Egret topped up. (The second photo is a crop from the first, showing the prey and the Egret’s tongue action more clearly. ) OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 200 and 420mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Tricolored being Reddish
Tricolored Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, January 2024 — This Tricolored Heron has obviously been taking hunting lessons from the Reddish Egret, but it has developed it’s own routine which involves repeated leaps into the air instead runs through the water, and then the umbrella pose before the strike. It is a behavior I have never seen in a Tricolored…but then I have not, to be honest, spent a lot of time with Tricoloreds. I had a lot of fun watching this one hunt, and took way too many photos trying to catch the action. (I never think to switch to video until I get home to process the photos. Yes a video would have been nice 🙁 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 584mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight modifications (to catch the action). Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Most wanted for today
Snowy Egret: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2024 — I am giving my first Easy Birds and Wildlife with the OM-1 workshop early tomorrow morning, so I will post this tonight…for tomorrow’s Pic for today. 🙂 I have only seen the Snowy Egrets tiptoeing across surface of the water a few times in my life…it is a feeding technique that they only do when the brine shrimp hatch in shallow pools in the marsh, and then dozens of Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Spoonbills, and gulls gather to feast and the Snowys dance on the water. It is amazing to see. I have a few photos from past years, but nothing I was really happy with, and mostly accidental. Today with the OM-1 it was easy…almost too easy. I have dozens of shots better than anything I have managed before. I have a short video I will post one of these days so you can get a sense of what it looks like “live.” OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at a 300mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. -1.0 EV. Processed in Photomator.