Posts in Category: Maine
Maine! Piping Plover chick
Piping Plover: York County, Maine, USA, June 2023 — One more from my brief encounter with the Piping Plovers. It is hard to say how old this chick is. They are up and running the beach within hours of hatching. I know it is at least a day old because my wife saw them the day before. There were 3 chicks from this nest, and each chick, if it survives to flight stage, is a success story. Maybe next year this chick will nest one beach further north, or at the north end of this beach, and that will be a bit more Piping Plover territory reclaimed! OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f7.1 @ 1/1600th. -.3EV
Maine! So, just what exactly are your intentions?
Piping Plover: York County, Maine, USA — Okay, I guess it needs to be said again. You should never get as close as it looks like I might be from this photo to an endangered Piping Plover. I was not actually anywhere near that close. It is a long lens and a cropped photo that makes it look that way…and I did not approach the birds…they worked their way closer to me as I stood still. They are reclaiming territories on popular tourist beaches this year, and we want them to succeed. If you visit you will see them working between their posted nesting areas up against the dunes and the tide-line. It is what they do. Enjoy them, but give them their space. This bird is clearly aware than I am there…and I backed away and left soon after this was taken. He evidently wanted to explore the section of beach I was standing on, and I let him. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 320 @ f6.3 @ 1/3200th.
Maine! Piping Plovers
Piping Plovers: York County, Maine, USA, June 2023 — This adult plover was telling me I was too close to the chick…though I was not moving. The chick was coming to me. So maybe it was telling the chick it was too close to me. At any rate, I backed off after this shot. Or these shots. If you know about long lens photography (these were taken at 800mm equivalent and cropped in so I was actually about 20 feet away) you will know that it is impossible that the both the adult and the chick could be in focus at the same time. The chick was several feet behind the adult…just barely in the same frame. I took a shot of the adult with the chick out of focus in the background, and then refocused on the chick and took a second shot. When processed and combined in Pixelmator Pro, and touched up, you get this…and even here I bet your attention is switching back and forth between the birds…it is almost impossible to focus on both at the same time, even in this flat composite. Just the way our eyes and brains work. 🙂 Olympus Systems OM-1 with 100 to 400mm zoom. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/2000th. -.3EV for the beach light.
Diving Least Tern
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA — The Least Tern is also listed as “endangered” in Maine, and its nesting sites are protected. And again, this year they are nesting on our popular tourist and fishing beach. Please give them space. This diving Tern was over the river, right above the heads of the fishermen…but after considerably smaller prey. This is composite of a series of shots of the same Least Tern diving on prey…taken at 25 frames per second, with the OM Systems OM-1 and the 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent and assembled during processing in Pixelmator Pro. I could edit out the slight halos around the birds but I think in this case it adds to the effect, as though the tern was disrupting the air and carrying light with it. Taken in Program with my evolving birds-in-flight modifications. ISO 250 @ f6.3 @ 1/3200th.
Maine! Piping Plover. The Chick and the bug :)
Piping Plover: York County, Maine, USA, June 2023 — Piping Plovers are protected in Maine, and elsewhere in the US, as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Recent surveys put the total population in the US at about 1800 pairs, and the population in Maine is set to break the 150 pairs mark this year. Last year they raised over 250 chicks to flight stage. They are colonizing, or recolonizing, beaches beyond last year’s breeding territory. This year they moved onto one of the most popular tourist beaches in the area. Even this early in the year and mid-week, I had to negotiate beach blankets and umbrellas to get to the section where the nest protection ropes and mesh nest cage are, and where at least 3 chicks and their parents were running around on the open beach. These shots were all taken at 800mm equivalent and cropped in. I stayed at a respectful, and, I hope, safe distance. This is a story of a bug and a chick. Looking back through my photos of this chick, the bug had been on it for at least 10 minutes before the chick shook it off and picked it up. I am pretty certain the chick did not yet know what to do with it once it had it…but it will learn. Can I ask you, if you are visiting Maine this early summer, please give the Piping Plovers their space. Watch were you walk. Please do not put your beach encampment on the sections of beach where the nesting areas are marked off with ropes and signs, even if there is open beach in front of them. And please, please, do not bring your dog to the beach, even on a leash. The chicks are very vulnerable. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/2000th. -.3EV
Maine! Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2023 — Bobolinks were not the only singing birds along the road to our local beach. The Beach Roses are always a good spot for Song Sparrows this time of year. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Bobolink again…
Bobolink: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2023 — I took my friend Stef looking for Bobolink the other day, and they surprised me by still being up and singing in the field where they are nesting this year. This one circled out to sit on one of the new saplings the Town planted along the road. He let us walk all the way around the tree to get his good side 🙂 OM System OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom @ 1600mm equivalent (2x digital zoom). Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f7.1 @ 1/1000th.
Maine! Terns in flight
Least Terns: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I am just beginning to learn to shoot birds in flight with my new OM Systems OM-1 and the 100-400mm lens. The camera makes it easier, but I don’t get enough chances to practice. These shots of Least Terns hunting over the mouth of the Mousam River here in Kennebunk were all underexposed, for the bird, as the camera did not fully compensate for the bright sky background. I had to bring up shadows in post processing. Still, for what amounts to a first try at small birds, I am pretty happy with the results. 🙂 I have attempted Least Terns with each new camera I have owned, and the OM-1 certainly makes it easier. Program mode with my evolving birds-in-flight modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. 800mm equivalent. ISO 200 @ f7.1 and f6.3 @ 1/3200th.
Maine! Busted!
Raccoon: Kennebunk Maine, USA, June 2023 — We have been bringing our feeders in overnight for the past week, because of this bandit! During last evening’s rain, with Carol out and the kitchen empty, he evidently decided it was safe for a raid while the feeders were still up. The temptation of sunflower seeds was just too much for him as the chill of evening came on. The phone rang and I went to answer it, or I would not have known he was there. Busted! I got both the screen and the deck doors open for a few photos. He was very reluctant to leave any seed in that feeder and was determined to wait me out…but, since I was happy taking photos, I was not going anywhere. 🙂 OM System OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom. Deck shots at 200mm equivalent. Tree at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving critter modifications. Processed in Pixomator Pro. ISO 25600 @ f5 @ 1/200th and ISO 25600 @ f6.3 @ 1/80th. -.3EV
Maine! Bobolink
Bobolink: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2023 — Carol came back from her walk on the beach a few mornings ago with a mystery bird. From her description it took me two tries to identify the bird and show her a photo for confirmation, but I we got it. Bobolink. It is that time of year, when the males are up and singing. Even doing a bit of competitive singing and flight acrobatics (aerobatics?) Such a striking and handsome bird! OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/1250th.