Posts in Category: action
Least Tern takes a dive!
Least Tern plunge fishing, Laudholm Beach, Wells Maine
I went out yesterday specifically to find birds in the air so I could practice Birds in Flight with the new Sony RX10iii. To have a chance at BIFs, you need somewhere there are birds pretty much constantly in the air…a lot of birds is better than a few. My prime BIF locations are Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico for Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, and the wild bird rookery at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm for Wood Storks and Egrets. The only reliable place around home is the very end of Laudholm Beach where the Little River comes to the sea, and where there is a nesting colony of Least Terns (and a few Piping Plovers…both endangered in Maine) on both sides of the river. This time of year the Terns are in full breeding mode and are actively plunge fishing in the Little River. Now there is a difference between catching Cranes or Storks in the air, or even geese, and catching a Least Tern in the air. Terns are smallish, and Least Terns are both tiny and fast, which makes keeping them in frame long enough for the camera to focus and then getting off a burst is very challenging. I will go back today, even though it is the better part of a two mile walk each way, to try some techniques I discovered in reading the camera manual last night…after reviewing yesterday’s take.
What we have here is high speed sequence of a Tern diving. As you can see, the Tern goes completely under water after its prey. I can not imagine the strength it takes to break the surface on the way out and get into the air with a fish, even a small fish, in your mouth.
Sony RX10iii in Sports Mode. 600mm. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Six-spotted Tiger Beetle
Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport Maine
While looking for River Jewelwings the other day, I happened to look down at the moss beneath me, and saw this bright metallic green beetle. A closer look showed the six white spots on the black margins of the elytra (hard shell). It was easy to google this morning: “metallic green beetle with white spots” brought up lots of pages about the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle…evidently a common forest beetle across much of the north eastern part of the continent. I don’t remember ever seeing one before. It was small, about 1/2 inch, but the bright green is hard to miss. 🙂
Sony RX10iii at 1200mm (Smart Digital Tel-converter in-camera crop to 5mp). I used Direct Manual Focus to fine tune the auto focus to separate the bug from the moss. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom;
Aurora Damsel
Aurora Damsel, Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport, Maine
This is another teneral bug…a newly emerged Aurora Damsel (damselfly). The color will be more bluish when it finishes hardening off into its full adult form, but the pattern on the back is distinctive.
Sony RX10iii at 840mm equivalent (in camera crop at 600mm equivalent). I used Direct Manual Focus to fine tune the focus on the damsel’s head. 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Whiteface
Frosted Whiteface? Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine
There continue to be lots of teneral (newly emerged) dragonflies at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area in W. Kennbunk Maine. I saw at least 3 different species on my last visit. Most are Lancet Clubtails and Chalk-fronted Corporals, the two most common dragonflies at the pond in early summer…but this one appears to be a Whiteface. It looks to me most like a Frosted Whiteface, but Belted is also possible, and from there, perhaps even Dot-tailed.That is if it is a Whiteface at all 🙂  It is really difficult to id from my guides because tenerals are not pictured or described (since they only last in that form for a day or less).
Sony RX10iii at 840mm (in-camera crop from 600mm optical). 1/640th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom. (I am really enjoying the tel-macro abilities of the RX10iii 🙂
Red-tailed Hawk with prey
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk with prey, Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
I included a poem in yesterday’s post that highlighted this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk that swooped down from a tree ahead of me and pounced on something in the grass. It then proceeded to kill its prey…which evidently took some doing…as the hawk repeatedly jumped up into the air and pounced again. I thought at the time that the hawk might have taken a snake…which would definitely fight back and be hard to kill, but in hindsight it might have been that the juvenile was just inexperienced and would have had trouble with anything. 🙂 It was a great encounter. I felt privileged to be a witness, and was so excited that it was difficult to hold the camera still enough for shots. My primary impression was the size of the hawk. You rarely see them down on the ground like this and this close, and the bird looked huge!
Sony RX10iii at 600 and 1200mm. Exposure on Program but all about 1/640 @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Cedar Waxwings
Cedar Waxwing, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
I took a photoprowl to Laudholm Farms yesterday (Well National Estuarine Research Center at…). It is always good to be there, and it is only about 6 miles from home (shorter as the crow flies), but yesterday was especially wonderful. I wrote a poem about it.
Any photoprowl that begins with
Wild Turkey in the tall grass beside
the road, and ends with a juvee Red-
tailed Hawk swooping in on prey,
killing it, and eating it in front of me,
not 40 feet away in low brush,
is a good photoprowl! And that is
not to mention the flock of 100
Cedar Waxwings moving through
the wild apple trees in the wood
beyond the Monarch Meadow, or
the Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing
against the sun, or magic of spring
light on new leaves and the forest
coming alive, or the Thrushes, or
the Blue-eyed Grass, or the Red
Squirrel, or wild Geraniums, or
the unbelievable cluster of Jack-
in-the-pulpit growing right beside
the boardwalk…I mean, Jack-in-
the-pulpit! So strange, so beautiful.
And for all that…all that wonder seen
and shot, home in time for lunch.
Now that is a good photoprowl!
This is one of that flock of 100 Cedar Waxwings, one of two large flocks I encountered on my prowl. I think Cedar Waxwings are among the most elegant of birds…silky feathers and subtle colors set off with crayon bright flashes on the tail and wings. Beautiful altogether.
Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent (600mm plus 2x Smart Tel-converter which crops a 5mp image out of the center of the sensor to achieve twice the magnification). 1/640th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
If you are interested in my daily poems you can follow them at Day Poems 2016 (http://daypoems16.blogspot.com) or on Facebook in my stream or in my Day Poems 2016 collection on Google+ (https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/0uunr}
Baskettail?
Baskettail Dragonfly, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, W. Kennebunk ME
The dragonflies are coming out these past few days. At Day Brook Pond there are many tenerals…newly emerged dragonflies…and a few fully hardened off adults. This is, I believe, one of the Baskettails…probably the Common Baskettail. You hardly ever see the adults perched, and I am not familiar enough with the tenerals to be sure.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm plus 2x Clear Image Zoom. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Grooming
Tricolored Heron, St. Augustine Alligator Farm wild bird rookery, St. A, Florida
Birds spend a lot of time on maintaining their feathers: grooming, preening, oiling, rearranging, etc. Not surprising. When they are not hunting, feeding, breeding, or feeding young…they are probably grooming. This Tricolored Heron at St. Augustine Alligator Farm’s wild bird rookery is busy on the underside of his wing. A long neck comes in handy that way.
Nikon P900 at 1000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 400 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
Blackburnian Warbler x 4
Blackburnian Warbler, Magee Marsh, Ohio.
Back to Ohio and Magee Marsh today for this 4 shot collage of Blackburnian Warbler…certainly one of my favorite warblers. Like a live spark. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 1600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 280 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Northern Water Snake
Northern Water Snake, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, W. Kennebunk ME
This is neither Florida or Ohio. 🙂 With spring finally in the ascendancy here in Southern Maine, the Water Snakes (Northern) have come out to sun along the shore of Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area. This young fellow, only half the size to the biggest I have seen in the pond, was making use of the fallen birch over the water. This is a common posture…they raise their head even when stretched out, and certainly when swimming, probably for better vision.
Sony RX10M3. 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom.