Posts in Category: Maine
Wild Iris
Wild Iris (Blue Flag Iris): Kennebunkport, Maine, USA, June 2022 — It is wild Iris season in southern Maine. I see them first in the ditches along roads, and then they spread out across wet fields in the creases where water collects. You can see the royal blue patches breaking the green from way across the fields. Close up they are beautifully ornate, with that touch of yellow on the petals setting off the deep, almost purple, blue. I found these at the edge of huge wet field which is cut for hay later in the season, in one of the drainage ditches, near Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport. Sony Rx10iv at 65mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5 @ 1/1000th. Minus .3 EV exposure compensation.
Antidote to ugliness…
I offer this collage of May forest flowers as an antidote to all the ugliness in the news today. Take hold of hope. Take hold of beauty. Take hold of love. Sony Rx10iv. Program mode. Processed in Pixelmator Photo, Apple Photos, and FrameMagic.
Lady Slipper Orchids of 2022
Lady Slipper Orchid: Kennebunk Plains Sanctuary, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — We interrupt our coverage of the warblers and song birds of Magee Marsh in Ohio and the Biggest Week in American Birding to bring you breaking news from the woods of Maine. The Lady Slipper Orchids are in bloom. I went to Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge where they grow along the loop of trail behind the current headquarters buildings, and found them almost too late, and then yesterday took my eTrike out to the Kennebunk Plains to check the extensive stand in a hidden spot in the woods there. Again this year there were well over 500 orchids in bloom, all along the bank where it rises from the stream. The dappled light and shade provide lots of options for photography. These Lady Slippers are among the most healthy I have ever seen (unlike the ones at Rachel Carson which seem to be more faded each year)…intense pink verging on purple depending on the light…tall and stately, and sometimes half a dozen to a bunch. It is an amazing and an inspiring display of this threatened flower. Sony Rx10iv at 68mm (the macro) and 97mm (the wider view). Program mode with HDR. -.3EV. Nominal exposure: ISO 100, f3.5 @ 1/160th and 1/200th.
Grey Catbird
Grey Catbird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — The catbirds have come. We had at least 2, maybe 3, in the yard, yesterday. They love the suet, though they are poorly adapted to take advantage of it. They can’t “cling on” the way woodpeckers do, and they can’t get through the out cage the way the chickadees, nuthatches, and pine warblers do, so they kind of hover under the suet cage and grab a bite. I have a video which I posted (with a Native American Flute accompaniment) on Facebook and Youtube yesterday. 🙂 I will link it here. Such a handsome bird. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine spring edition: White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — Another common bird this time of year (and only for a few weeks here), but another irresistible pose from my backyard photo-blind in the late afternoon sun. The White-throated Sparrows come through in flocks and settle out on their way north and up to higher elevations to stock up under our feeders. Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine spring edition: Purple Finch acrobatics
Purple Finch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — Purple Finches are messy eaters…wasting as much seed as they eat as they sort through the seeds for just the right one…but they are also among my favorite feeder birds. The males, at least early in the season, before mating, are such posers…always putting on a show. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine spring edition: Chipping Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — Chipping Sparrows are a dime a dozen in our yard from April until early October, and I have thousands of photos of them (well hundreds at least) but occasionally one poses just so, in such good light, that another image is irresistible. This is from my back-yard photo blind in the lovely light of late afternoon. Sony Rx10iv at 575mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine spring edition: What color is a bluebird?
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — As I sit in my backyard photo blind I can see this male Eastern Bluebird busy feeding chicks in the next box two yards over, going back and forth between our yard and theirs. They have nested in the little box on that fence since we first began seeing them in the neighborhood 4 or 5 years ago. We now have them coming for meal-worms at our feeders year around. This one posed under the pines in the late day horizontal sun for a great look at the actual color of a male at his brightest. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine spring edition: Pine Warbler
Pine Warbler: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2020 —
4/3
When Pine Warblers are the only
warblers you have to work with,
as it is here in Southern Maine
around about the first of May,
then you’d better believe we work
those Pine Warblers for all their worth.
It is true. Pine Warblers are our only warblers here in southern Maine in early spring…still waiting on even the Yellow-rumps to show. But we do get to really appreciate the Pines as a result. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent from my backyard photo blind. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th. Gotta love that late-day horizontal light.
Maine spring edition: American Kestrel
American Kestrel: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Wells, Maine, USA, April 2022 — It was too cool to ride my trike the other day, despite being a lovely sunny spring day, so I took a walk at Laudholm Farms to see how spring was getting on there. This Kestrel was working the forest edge along the southern boundary of the farm, where it butts up against a chunk of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge land. It would not give me any better view than this, but I will take what is on offer and be happy. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5.6 @ 1/1000th.