Posts in Category: Maine
She’s not having any (and neither is he)
Least Tern: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2025 — I thought the Terns might have abandoned our local beach when I visited this week…there were very few in the air when I got there, where there had been many a few days before. I eventually found them, down on the exposed rocky flats just above tide line, busy doing their spring courting. I watched this male hard at it, and though he had a nice big offering none of the females he approached were receptive. She’s not having any, and neither is he apparently. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. (considerably cropped). Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Wild Lady Slipper
Lady Slipper Orchid: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine. June 2025. — It is getting late for Lady Slippers but, what with the weather and a late start on my triking season, I have not gotten out to Kennebunk Plains before yesterday. There are still some Lady Slippers in the woods upstream from the pond, though their numbers don’t seem to be what they have been the past few years. It has certainly been a cool damp spring. This shot was taken with the Sony a6700 and Tamron 50-400 using its macro capabilities at 102mm, and mounted on my little travel tripod that goes down to ground level. I used my macro settings: Aperture Preferred at f14 (1/40th @ ISO 200, -1EV for the highlights). Processed in Photomator.
Groundhog in a tree
Groundhog (Woodchuck): Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2025 — Not something you see every day, but I have now seen this twice this spring…once in Ohio at Magee Marsh, and now here along the Bridle Path near Route 9. I actually probably walked right by this Woodchuck in the tree, just above eye-level, right beside the path, because I was too busy looking for possible hawks higher in the trees, At any rate I would have missed it if the couple behind me had not chased me down in the parking lot as I was readying my trike to ride home, to ask it was possible they had actually seen a “beaver” in a tree. They had a phone photo and I did not have the heart to tell them it did not look exactly like a beaver to me, but I was truly thankful for the alert, and took my camera back to see if it would still be there. Google AI provided the information that tree climbing is at least a well known habit of Groundhogs, along with some speculation as to why they might do it. Predator avoidance, tender spring leaves and fruit later in the season, but the one I like best is “just for fun”…or to get a better look at their territory. This Woodchuck was not at all disturbed by my attention, and was still comfortable there in the little fork in the branches when I decided I already had way too many exposures and went back to my tike and home. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at various focal lengths for framing. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Black-bellied Plover
Black-bellied Plover: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2025 — I think this might be the first full breeding plumage Black-bellied Plover I have ever seen. I was drawn down to the tide-line on our local beach by what turned out to be a group of Bonaparte’s Gulls, but while there found a small group (6 individuals) of Black-bellied Plovers in the surf, all except this one still in their Grey Plover stage, or just beginning to molt into breeding. This one certainly stood out! In Europe they are called Grey Plover because they are seen mostly in non-breeding (winter) plumage. In North America they are called Black-bellied because we see them molting into breeding with at least the black on the belly developing, and, further north, in their full black and white plumage. This one is clearly getting an early start. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm (and cropped). Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Bluebead Lily, Painted Trillium
Bluebead Lily, Painted Trillium: Rachel Carson NWR Headland Trail, Wells, Maine, May 2025 — Two more wildflowers from Rachel Carson. Bluebead Lily is still abundant and common in the Maine woods, and seems to be spreading at Rachel Carson, but, at least in my experience, Trillium is becoming hard to find. It was never, while I have lived here, abundant, but I can only find two individual plants where there used to 20 or more, and one patch along the Headland Trail that I used to enjoy seeing every year, has completely disappeared. Maybe there are places in Southern Maine where they are still common, but if so I don’t know about them. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 172mm equivalent (lily) and 202mm (trillium). Tripod mounted. Aperture Preferred Program with my macro modifications. Processed in Photomator.
All about the song
Song Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2025 — It is all about the song! This avid singer was posted up on a no parking sign, singing the new day when got to our local beach. I just stepped off the trike and shot. You could even say the song lifted my camera and pressed the shutter. Just glad to be there. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed (and cropped a bit) in Photomator.
Canada Mayflower
Canada Mayflower: Wonderbrook Preserve (Kennebunk Land Trust), Kennebunk, Maine, May 2025 — The forest at Wonderbrook Preserve is carpeted with Canada Mayflower…as thick and as lush as I have ever seen. Mayflower is not as flashy as Pink Lady Slipper, which is also in boom right now, but in its own quiet way it celebrates the coming of the warmth, the bursting out of life. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 127mm (insert) and 75mm. Aperture Preferred Program with my macro modifications. Processed in Photomator. Assembled in Pixomatic.
Willets in love
Willet: York County, Maine, USA, May 2025 — I was down at the local beach one of the first sunny days we have had in southern Maine in what seems like a very long time, just in time to catch these two Willets “going at it” as they say. They were a long way down the beach from me, on my way back from looking for plovers, and these are deep crops from shots at 600mm. I think they might have been too busy to know I was there anyway. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Lady Slipper
Lady Slipper Orchid: Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters trail, Wells, Maine, May 2025 — It is Lady Slipper time again. I took advantage of the sunny day yesterday to trike out to the Rachel Carson NWR headquarters trail to see if they are in bloom. Since I hoped to be working low, I strapped my little travel tripod that folds down to ground level to the trike rack and carried into the woods with me. I don’t often use a tripod, but there are times when one just makes photographic life that much easier. Lady Slippers have a symbiotic relationship with a species of fungus that grows only on the roots of certain trees, so they are limited to patches where the conditions are exactly right. (Which is why they cannot successfully transplanted to your yard, and why you should not try. Enjoy them where they grow.) Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 126mm equivalent. Program mode with my macro modifications. f16 @ 1/40th to get the whole flower in focus. (Tripod 🙂 Processed in Photomator.
Least Tern
Least Tern: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2025 — I got my trike back on the road yesterday…all assembled and some minor adjustments in the morning, and out to the beach with my camera in the afternoon. I was surprised by the number of Least Terns already making themselves at home on our local beach. Last year they did not come in numbers until their original nest site at the mouth of the next river south of us failed. This year they seem ready to establish a first nest on our beach. It will take me a while to get my eye and hand in for tern flight shots…but I am happy with this for a first day effort. (The terns have probably been on the beach for a few weeks…but I have not been to a long stretch of too cool, too wet, May weather.) Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.