Posts in Category: action
Pairs competition
Black Skimmer: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — I love watching Black Skimmers skim! And I love trying to catch them with a camera. Love might not be the word actually as there is quite a bit of frustration involved…but I do enjoy the attempt. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. 1/2000th Processed in Photomator. (Sad to think that this and other National Wildlife Refuges are under threat…I, personally, would not want to see our Wildlife Refuges abandoned or, worse, tuned into commercial theme parks. Just saying.)
Snipe Hunt(ing)
Wilson’s Snipe: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — I suppose the Wilson’s Snipe is not long for this world if the name-change mob get their way…but I have never seen so many Snipe of any name as I saw this year around Black Point Drive. This was the first one I saw, and only maybe the third or 4th I have ever seen…but after maybe 6 loops around the drive over the next few days, it seemed I was seeing one every few hundred yards along the first mile. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Nope!
Great Egret: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Try and try again…the is how Great Egret hunting goes (or any other fishing bird for that matter). Still that dull, dank, dark first Thursday of my visit to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Out of the grey
Forster’s Tern (?): Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — I am not a tern and gull expert, but I am thinking Forster’s Tern, as being one of the mostly likely at Merritt Island in winter. Still that dull, dark, dank Thursday so it is mostly grey on grey…kind of condensed out of the sky with the tail feathers just solid enough to see. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Florida! pink on grey
Roseate Spoonbill: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Still a damp cold Thursday morning at Orlando Wetlands, but actually quite nice light for the Spoonbills in flight. A composite of three images. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in Pixomatic. Frame added in LikeAFrame.
Florida! Special delivery
Roseate Spoonbill: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — On a cold dark dank Thursday morning at Orlando Wetlands this Roseate Spoonbill was flying back and forth between a little one tree hummock right by the boardwalk and his nest in the larger hammock, further out, diligently gathering nesting materials. Slim pickings, and already well picked over, but he was finding enough to keep him busy. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Skimmers
Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2025 — We finally had some sun yesterday afternoon, though it was still unseasonably cold and the wind was high. High enough to keep a good chop on the water. I found a pair of Black Skimmers working on of the larger impoundments along the drive and spent a happy 20 minutes standing on the berm trying to catch them in action. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. 1/2000th. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Denisons under the deck
Carolina Wren: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — Yesterday we woke to six inches of snow in the yard, like most people in Southern Maine (some had more) and after clearing the drive and cleaning off the car and removing the snow from the shed roof I went looking for birds. We see these two wrens about once a week up on our back deck after the spilled meal-worm crumbs, and occasionally on the meal-worm feeder itself after a whole worm, and I know they spend considerable time under our deck, in the jumble of old flowerpots that have accumulated there. I think they actually nest a few yards over but they visit us. We see them often in the summer and I know they have been recorded on the Christmas Bird counts in Southern Maine, but this is the first winter when we have seen them regularly. I am always happy to see them. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Kings about their business
King Vulture: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Carrion is the business of vultures, of course, and the Kings are no exception. The bare head is an adaption specifically for carrion eaters to allow them to dig deep into a carcass. Of course I am not sure why the bare head has to be so brightly colored. I mean what is that bold yellow stripe in line with the spine about…or why the outrageous carbuncle…but I as not consulted on Vulture design. Good thing. Leave that to the true artist. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 375 and 600mm equivalents. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! January Song Sparrow
Sony Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — Besides the Pine Warblers hanging out with our wintering Bluebirds, there are several Song Sparrows that have neglected to go south around town. At least a few along the dunes in the beach rose, and 3 or 4 in a local park along the river. (And probably more that I don’t know about.) They seem perfectly happy and have already survived the few snow storms and the low temperatures of the past few weeks. We will see how they do when it gets really cold next week. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.