Posts in Category: action
Sanderlings in Reflection
Sanderlings. The Beach, Kennebunk ME
My wife and I took an after dinner walk long the local beach. The summer evening light was lovely, the sky was full of interesting clouds, and the waterline was littered with shore birds and gulls. I did not have my long lens with me, just the tiny Sony HX90V, as I was looking mostly at landscapes…but the zoom on the camera reached out far enough for these Sanderlings standing on their reflections. As I said, the light was lovely! I especially like the line of bubbles along the surf. 🙂
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 89 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom.
Viceroy on the Kennebunk Plains
Viceroy Butterfly, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
When I left the house yesterday on my photoprowl, I was thinking of butterflies, wondering if I could find any on the Kennebunk Plains. Often when the Blazing Star is in bloom, there are butterflies nectaring on the blossoms. When I got to the Plains, it did not look likely as the wind was blowing a gale. I did see a few butterflies. This one was sheltering in the lee of a small birch sapling, low to the ground. Photography was difficult because the tree branches were bouncing around in the wind so hard that it shook the butterfly off several times. I, of course, assumed it was a Monarch, until I came to post it, when I thought I had better make sure it was not a Viceroy…and, of course, it appears to indeed be a Viceroy. 🙂 The black intersecting line on the hindwings is the give away.
This is a composite image, assembled from three separate shots in Coolage. Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 200 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Northern Leopard Frogs Rule!
Northern Leopard Frog. Alwive Pond, Alwive Pond Woods, Kennebunk Land Trust
There may have been no Moose at Alwive Pond in the Alwive Pond Woods Preserve of the Kennebunk Land Trust, but there were certainly a lot of Northern Leopard Frogs. I do not know what the tipping point is, but there are ponds in Southern Maine where the Bull Frog predominates to the exclusion of Leopard Frogs, and there are ponds where the Leopard Frog appears have displaced all the Bulls. Alwive Pond is Northern Leopard Frog territory! They were everywhere along the pond edge in the boggy peat. You can actually get pretty close to a Northern Leopard Frog…much closer, in my experience, than you can get to any Bull Frog. 🙂 I love the pattern on the skin, and I find the Leopard Frog elegant, when compared to a Bull Frog. I am glad to find that they have their strongholds, places where the Northern Leopard Frog rules, and that one is in Alwive Woods.
This is a collage of 4 views, representing 3 frogs, assembled in Coolage. All images with the Sony HX90V at various equivalent fields of view, from 50mm to 200mm. Processed in Lightroom.
Wren Song!
House Wren, Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
There is a nesting box near the junction of two trails at Laudholm Farm, still within sight of the farm buildings, where House Wrens have nested for years. This year is no different, and the resident Wren was out singing on the roof-top when I passed on my late afternoon photoprowl. The light was difficult but I got off a few shot anyway, before seeking a better angle… good thing, since the wren was off into the tree-line across the trail before I got my angle.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Cedar Waxwing Bookends
Cedar Waxwings. Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
There is always something happening at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area in West Kennebunk. I was on the Plains to check the progress of the Northern Blazing Star bloom, which is coming on nicely, and, of course, I had to take a turn around the pond. There is a little grove of pines and birches near the east end that always has birds feeding. These Cedar Waxwings were eating berries. I like the pose here, with the birds in opposition… and, of course, the light… late afternoon light slanting through the grove.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Are you done yet…
Chipmunk, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
My late afternoon photoprowl at Laudholm Farm a few days ago was particularly productive. Just down the trail from the Common Yellowthroat with the bugs from yesterday’s post, I heard a chip close by and looked up into the branches of a small tree to find this Chipmunk posing. He was patient with my photography, giving me different sides, and letting me work around for angles for several minutes. He was inside the close focus on the Nikon P900 (16.5 feet) so I could not use full zoom. I even switched cameras for this shot, which uses the Sony HX90V’s Clear Image digital zoom for 1440mm equivalent field of view and a nice close-up. By this time the Chipmunk seemed to be wondering if I was done yet. 🙂 I moved on.
Camera as above. 1/250th @ ISO 160 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Uncommon Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
Oh, Common Yellowthroats are common enough this year. They are another bird that seems to have benefited from the late spring…if numbers are any indication. They are everywhere I go and in good numbers. On a late afternoon photoprowl on the trails at Laudholm Farm yesterday, I saw at least a dozen. Birds were uncommonly active for a late afternoon, perhaps because it had been rainy and gloomy until the sun broke out at about 3PM. This Yellowthroat had taken a grasshopper/beetleish thing, and was, perhaps, in retrospect, waiting until I passed on to take it to its nest. It hopped around in the branches of a tree overhanging the trail for several minutes as I photographed it. In fact I left it still hopping there when I moved on. I did not see the prey in its beak until I got the images up on the monitor at home.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 360 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Song on a post
Song Sparrow, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
Song Sparrows are common in the marsh behind the barrier dunes and along the Mousam River. Though it is also ideal Salt-marsh Sparrow habitat, and though the marsh is protected in part because of that, I have yet to see a Salt-marsh there. Lots of Songs though. This one is perched on one of the old pilings that line the raised path where it crosses marsh. The marsh was diked and hayed for generations. They are working on restoring it to its native tidal state now. That will likely increase the likelihood that Salt-marsh Sparrow will be seen there in future generations, and perhaps diminish the number of Song Sparrows. My children might be able to see the results. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 3200mm equivalent field of view (full optical plus some Perfect Image digital zoom). 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Halloween Pennant
Halloween Pennant, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine
On my photoprowl to the Kennebunk Plains late yesterday afternoon, I was surprised to find a few Northern Blazing Star in bloom. This is going to be a year with a lot of Blazing Star, and I am expecting a bold display, but not for several more weeks…well into August. Still I was happy to see them in bloom, as often I am traveling when the Blazing Star is a its peak. Maybe early this year 🙂
I also found at least two, probably teneral, Halloween Pennants among the Blazing Star. Again, this is a Dragonfly that I have seen on the Plains when the Blazing Star is in bloom, in August. These might be early, and they were almost certainly newly emerged, as the wings were quite light in color. The one on the right is on a Blazing Star bud, far from open.
Sony HX90V at 720-1000mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Peek-a-boo Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
I was photographing a Snowy Egret in the marsh pools along the Kennebunk Bridle Path late the other day when a Song Sparrow let off relatively close beside me. I swung around to see where it was. All I could see was the head peaking out between tree trunks and branches, but of course I had to try a shot or two. One of the joys of using the long, amazingly well stabilized, zoom on the P900 is the ability to get shots like this! You might note the tricky focus too. The P900 auto focus is up to the job. In the end though, I just like the preky bird poking out from behind the trunk. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/125th @ ISO 800 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.