Posts in Category: action
Maine! Snowy Egret, shallows dancing
Snowy Egret: York County, Maine, USA, August 2023 — These were taken a week ago, when the congregation of Egrets at the mouth of our local river was still strong. This week, they are mostly gone on south, I think. When I went down a few days ago there was only one lonely Snowy left, hanging out with the gulls. This Snowy was quite active fishing in the shallows along edge of the sandbar. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Sunday Supplement! Honey Bee in Blazing Star
For some reason the Carpenter Bees and Ground Bees outnumber the Honey Bees on the Plains, even during the Northern Blazing Star bloom. Maybe no one keeps hives close enough. I am always happy, considering the decline in bee populations, to see a Honey Bee at work. I enjoy my honey! OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. (Makes a decent macro lens as well 🙂 Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Snowy Egret in flight
Snowy Egret (and Canada Geese): York County, Maine, USA, August 2023 — Great Egrets outnumber Snowy Egrets by about 5 to 1 this summer on the sandbar at the mouth of one of our local rivers…but that does not mean the Snowies don’t put on a good show. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/1250th. -.7EV.
Maine! Walk this way…
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, August 2023 — Strutting his stuff! One of a dozen or more Great Egrets gathered at the mouth of one of our local rivers. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro.
Maine! — Ruby-throats
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds: York County, Maine, USA, August 2023 — we have unprecedented numbers of hummingbirds coming to our feeder this week. We have at least one male, one sub-adult male, and half a dozen “female/immature” types — often up to 4 around the feeder at the same time. The male and what I assume is an immature male are both attempting to guard the feeder from perches in the Maple tree above the deck. These shots were not in the best of light…early, on a rainy day, but they were all taken standing in our open deck door within 30 minutes of each other. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. Females at ISO 12800 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th, males at ISO 5000 and 4000 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! — Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA — Here the Great Blue Heron is the star of the show. There were two with the mixed flock of Egrets on the sandbar at the mouth of the river. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and assembled in FrameMagic. 1 and 2 at ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/800th @ -.7EV, 3 at f7.1 @ 1/1000th.
Maine! More Egret Action
Great Egrets and Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, August 2023 — More Egret action from the mouth of one of our local rivers. (This time with a Great Blue Heron bystander, and what appears to be a Great Black-backed Gull not interested at all.) Note the fish fry in the beak of the center Egret in the first photo. I don’t think the fry was the source of the conflict…much ado about nothing if it was. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f9 @ 1/1000th. -.7EV.
Conflicting emotions: Great Egrets
Great Egrets: York County, Maine, USA, August 2023 — After seeing some of Jack Coughlin’s photos of of Egrets and Herons taken at the mouth of one of our local rivers, just a few miles down the road from me, I took my trike out yesterday at low tide to see what I could see. I have never, in my 30 years (more or less) on the Maine Coast seen such a large concentration of Egrets and Herons as the one I found on a sandbar just back from the river mouth yesterday. There were at least 20 Great and 20 Snowy Egrets, and two Great Blue Herons. There were so may fish fry in the shallow water it seemed to boil and birds were actively feeding…but there was also a lot of bird on bird interaction as they competed for the best spots…or that is how it looked to me. With so many birds gathered it may have just been a dominance thing. ?? I have a whole set of shots of this particular interaction, but this one captures the energy. Great Egrets are generally the most elegant of birds, calm, full of steady purpose, especially in Maine, and at least in Maine, generally solitary. I have only ever seen them act this way in the pools at Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge in Florida in early spring when they gather for the shrimp hatch. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f9 @ 1/1000th. -.7EV.
Colorado! Mule Deer in the Morning
Mule Deer: South Valley Park, Denver, Colorado, USA, July 2023 — We went for a hike yesterday, early, at South Valley Park, about 30 minutes from my daughter’s home in Centennial. Early is relative. Toddlers in tow. We were not completely out of the car yet (it takes a while when traveling with two in car seats), when my daughter, who was suiting up in the baby carrier, cried out “look Everleigh, look!” and pointed over my shoulder. This buck Mule Deer had just crossed the parking lot and was, at that moment, running up the stairs in the trail above. I managed a few shots as it headed off the trail toward greener pastures up the canyon. Not a big “rack” (set of antlers) by Mule Deer standards…and still, from the look of it, in “velvet”…still growing. Everleigh did get to see the “reindeer” and this photo is for her. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my animals modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! More Great Egret in flight
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — Two more shots from the sequence of the Great Egret coming in from far out in the Little River Marsh. Elegance personified. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds-in-flight modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 2000 @ f6.3 @ 1/4000th. +.7EV.