Posts in Category: Maine
Maine! Day Lilies
Day Lilies from our yard. The “wild-ish” Day Lilies that grow in our front yard are all “double blossom” lilies, with two flowers on top of each other. The Day Lilies that grow in our back yard are single blossom??? These are from the front yard. Both images are in-camera focus stacked (hand held) with the OM Systems OM-1 and the 100-400mm zoom at 300mm equivalent. It is still pretty amazing to me that the camera can do this. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. Nominal exposure ISO 2500 @ f5.7 and f6.3 @ 1/500th.
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.
Maine! Calico Pennants
Calico Pennant: Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, August 2023 — There were several Calico Pennant mating wheels at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains this week. This one posed against a interesting backdrop. And this is the season when I always try for a shot of a Calico on a Northern Blazing Star bud. Northern Blazing Star is an endangered plant that, along with the Black Racer Snake and the Upland Sandpiper, the Plains are managed for. The flowers are too broad for them to perch on but the buds are likely perches, especially the shorter plants just back from the shore of the pond. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — Song Sparrows seem to congregate behind the dunes of our local beaches, and well out into the marsh along the rivers. And, of course, they perch up to sing, so they are quite visible. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/1250th and @ f7.1 @ 1/1000th.
Eastern Amberwing
Eastern Amberwing Dragonfly: Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, July 2023 — One of the smallest of the true dragonflies, the Eastern Amberwing is not much bigger than a large bee. I was a long time seeing my first one in Maine, but there have been a few at Roger’s Pond this time of year for the past several years. There were three males at one end of the pond and at least one more at the other. I can only assume there were females somewhere, but I did not see them. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom @ 1600mm equivalent (2x digital converter). Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 250 @ f5.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Cedar Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — I was photographing dragonflies along the Bridle Trail near home when three Cedar Waxwings flew into the tree above me. And then one of them hopped a branch closer, right over my head. I literally pointed and shot off a burst. This is pretty much the full frame at 800mm equivalent on the OM System OM-1 with the 100-400mm zoom. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 320 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird: York County, Maine, USA — On one of my trike rides during our last day spell (rare this summer in Maine), I took this portrait of an Eastern Kingbird on an only post in the marsh from the seat of my trike. I carry my OM-1 and 100-400mm zoom on a Cotton Carrier on my chest as I ride, and I am, with practice, getting quick on the draw 🙂 1600mm equivalent (2x digital teleconverter). Program mode with my custom birds modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Hummer at the beach.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: York County, Maine, USA, July 2023 — I went down to the local beach yesterday…our first sunny day after several of steady rain…to see how the Piping Plovers and Terns are doing. I did not find any Piping Plovers, but they are well away from the nests now and it is a big beach 🙂 The terns were apparently fishing the marsh pools…or another river outlet. On the way back to my trike, however, I walked up on this Ruby-throated Hummingbird sitting on the top strand of the protective fence on the back side of the dunes, facing into the wind. I suspect it is a first year bird, on the way south already, stopping to rest up for the next leg of its journey. It was not in any hurry to move, and I had to walk around behind it to get to my trike, so, of course, I took some photos. An hour later, I saw two more hummers fly by, while photographing Egrets and Cedar Waxwings deeper in the marsh up along the bridle path parallel to the river, which, rightly or wrongly, reinforced the idea that at least some Ruby-throats are already headed south. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f7.1 @ 1/1000th.
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.