Posts in Category: action
Maine! Pileated Woodpecker preening
Pileated Woodpecker: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — This bird flew into a tall bare maple tree on the other side of the pond while I was looking for Great Blue Herons in the river. I don’t see Pileateds very often, though they certainly nest in the area, so I hustled (much as a 76 year old ever hustles) around the pond and under the tree on the off chance the bird would wait for me. Turns out it was busy having a preen and was able to get some shots…not ideal…silhouetted against the grey sky and from an odd angle…but still…you have to photograph what is in front of you…especially when it is a Pileated Woodpecker. Pileated, by the way, refers to the peaked cap on the head. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Plus 1.0 EV for the backlight. Processed in Pixelmator Pro.
Maine! Great Egret in flight
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA — I don’t remember the Great Egrets being so present in past years. They seem to be here in numbers. I first noticed them (who could not) went they were gathered daily for the feast of some spawn at the mouth of a local river, but they have held on, feeding in the marsh pools beside the river for months now, a bird there and a bird there, but I see them almost every time I an down toward the marshes. Always handsome and never more so than in flight. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f7.1 @ 1/1000th. -0.3EV.
Maine! Show me those feet!
Purple Gallinule: York County, Maine, USA, October 2013 — I went back to see if the Purple Gallinule is still here in Maine, and it was. This time I wanted to see feet. Gallinule feet are made for walking on lily pads and other floating vegetation in shallow water, So the toes are particularly long, and have long nails for gripping wet slippery surfaces. They also spread the weight so that they do not totally sink the surface they are walking on…but even in their home range and preferred habitat, the feet can be hard to catch in sight. Walking in grass it is even harder. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro.
Maine! Red-bellied Woodpecker on deck
Red-bellied Woodpecker: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — We go weeks, sometimes months, without seeing a Red-bellied in our yard, and then we will have week, like this past one, when we see at least one every day. This was early in the morning on a cloudy day, so the light was not ideal, but still…I managed to get the deck door open so I was not shooting through the thermal glass for a change. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 522mm equivalent for the first three, and 800mm equivalent for the last (bottom right). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 25600 by the way. 🙂
Maine! More Heron in the sun
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — a few more shots of the Great Blue Heron on the Mousam River rapids, posing on a snag in the sun. Such a handsome bird, even when it has an itchy ear. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800 and 1600mm equivalent. (2x digital tel-extender for 1600mm shots). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Stalking the wild mumminchog
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — Certainly stalking mumminchog, and maybe grasshoppers too, in the marsh along the Bridle Path. The Great Egret manages to make even is stalk look elegant and graceful. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Gulp…
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — Even enlarged I can not quite see what the prey is here…I am assuming shore shrimp or mumminchog (a small marsh fish). As I said yesterday, it was finding a lot of them. They obviously go down the hatch whole. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 250 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! That Egret stroll
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — All the egret needs is a top hat and a cane to make its stroll the most elegant stroll in the world. Actually it does not need anything. 🙂 And it is hard to tell an Egret stroll from an Egret stalk…I suspect it is stalking most of the time, as it certainly was here on the marsh along the Bridle Path on a Sunday morning. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f7.1 @ 1/1000th. Assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Great Egret at the chowder
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — I found this Great Egret on a Sunday morning along the Bridle Path, in the pools closest to the path to begin with. I can’t say it was hunting…since it took a shore shrimp or mumminchog every few moments…so more feeding than hunting. The water along the edge of the pools must have been full of whatever it was catching. Like a good seafood chowder, minus the potatoes and onions. 🙂 The Egret slowly worked its way back further in the pools and I remembered to take the environmental shot only when it was well out from the path. Landscape with the OM Systems OMD EM5Mkiii with 12-45mm zoom at 24mm equivalent. Egret with the OM-1 and ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. In camera HDR Scene Mode for the landscape. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications for the Egret. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. Assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Last of the Mousam rapids Heron
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — I think this is the last shot from my session with the Great Blue Heron in the Mousam river rapids that I will share for now. Fishing the rapids is a delicate balancing act, as many a fly-fisher who works this stretch of stream, can attest. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 472mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 5000 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.