Posts in Category: marsh
Maine! Pale Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — This seems really early for Great Blue Heron in York County, but according the information on-line, it is really not. They do sometime arrive in the state in mid-march. And the Great Blues hung on along the coast well into the winter this year…in fact, I am not sure some of them ever left Maine. All they need is ice-free water to hunt, and we had that most of the season. This one was along a little stretch of path that rarely fails to turn up at least one interesting bird. After the herons I photographed in Florida in January, this bird looks very pale to me…kind of washed out…but maybe it is just the March Maine sunshine. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Great Blue light
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, November 2023 — Still a few Great Blue Herons around and they are still having success with the fishing. I like the pose here…with a fresh caught morsel, and I love the light…early in the morning when the sun is still low in the November sky and the reflections from the browning marsh dominating the water. The ripples from the strike and the reflection of the heron make for a powerful composition. Or that is what I think 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Converted to HDR and processed in Photomator. Final touches in Apple Photos.
Maine! Another frost on the marsh
Early morning on the marsh in November. OM Systems OMD EM5Mkiii with 12-45mm zoom at 66mm equivalent. Program mode with in-camera HDR. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Frost in the Marsh
Early morning frost over the marsh behind the dunes at our local beach. OM Systems OMD EM5Mkiii with 12-45mm zoom at 66mm equivalent. Program mode with in-camera HDR. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! White-tail again
White-tailed Deer: Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, October 2023 — Another study of the White-tailed Deer that came out onto the marsh at Laudholm while I was waiting for the Great Blue Heron to hunt its way down to me last week. It appears to the a young doe and was certainly wary as it worked it way out deeper into the marsh and into the open. I am not sure what it was looking for. When it saw me on the deck, right in plain slight and wearing my hunter safe colors, it had second thoughts and headed back to the forest. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Hunting Heron
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — Another shot of the Great Blue Heron hunting in the marsh. I watched this bird take a small shrimp or fish from the edges of the pools at the rate of about one very two minutes for over an hour. An amazingly efficient hunter but very small bites. Twice it caught something lager…some kind of snake or eel…but mostly it was just taking the same tiny prey. The impressive thing was that the heron’s attention never wavered. It was continuously on the hunt. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Great Egret afoot
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — Dropping back a week to pick up this image of a Great Egret walking in the autumn sun on the marsh. Always a majestic bird. We have had more egrets this year than I can ever remember in Southern Maine. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro.
Maine! Patience
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, November 2023 — I waited on the marsh observation deck for a good 45 minutes for this Great Blue Heron, who I had spotted while still way out, to work its way down the back edge of the marsh toward me. I had a deer (photos posted a few days ago) to entertain me for a few moments while I waited, but mostly I just sat in the autumn sun and listened to the marsh and the wind in the bare trees of the wet Maple forest behind me. Eventually the Heron got as close to the deck as it was going to and began to work its way around…I took my “keeper” photos…I had taken lots of shots, of course, as it approached, but I did not even bother to process most of those…why would I once the Heron had given me the shots I wanted all along. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! White-tail
White-tailed Deer: Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA, November 2023 — I spotted this Great Blue Heron (upper left and upper right in the top and bottom photos) and decided to stay on the marsh overlook deck on the back side of the wet maple forest boardwalk at Laudholm to see if it would work its way down to me…it eventually did, but while I waited for it, this lovely young doe White-tail came tentatively out of the forest, maybe looking for a a fresh water pool. I was sitting on the bench and partially blocked by the deck itself and the foreground brush, so I eventually stood up in all my hunter-safe bright yellow glory, and, of course, the deer, who was already wary out in the open, saw me and, after due consideration, decided it was time to head back into the relative safety of the forest. Watching it run through the marsh was one of the most satisfying wildlife moments I have had in a log time. White tail indeed! OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications (wildlife in this case). Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Maine! Stalking the wild mumminchog
Great Egret: York County, Maine, USA, October 2023 — Certainly stalking mumminchog, and maybe grasshoppers too, in the marsh along the Bridle Path. The Great Egret manages to make even is stalk look elegant and graceful. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.