Posts in Category: marsh
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrows are skulkers at the best of times. This one sat us for us for all of 30 seconds just off the boardwalk at Cape May Lighthouse State Park, not time enough even to get the camera up to my eye, and certainly not time enough for the digiscoper working next to me to get his scope on the bird, close as it was. He moved on in search of easier shots, and I followed the Swamp Sparrow up the boardwalk for a ways, hoping. It stayed in sight, but pretty much hidden, for many yards. This is the best shot I managed. Despite how much better it might have been, I really like it. It catches not only the bird, but something of its nature. Or that is what I think. š
Canon SX50HS in Program with – 1/3rd EV exposure compensation and iContrast. 1200mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
A different view of Cape May Lighthouse
For some reason I had never taken the loop of trail at Cape May Lighthouse State Park that goes North across the marshes to meet the road behind the dunes further up toward the Meadows. It is mostly boardwalk through the reeds and I am sure it is hopping with birds in the spring.Ā In October, not so much,Ā but it still provides a unique perspective on Cape May Lighthouse. This shot is all about leading lines and horizons, spiced with some rich detail from the weathered wood and the reeds. The subtle fall colors don’t hurt either. š
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Rich Tone mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Autumn Goldfinch in Golden Light
There was a tinge of gold in the late afternoon light as I made my way around the boardwalk at Cape May Lighthouse State Park. When a Goldfinch popped up 15 feet from the boardwalk and sat, apparently thinking about finishing off whatever it had in its beak, I had to get off a few shots. I had time to zoom to frame a bit of the autumn oak leaf as well as the bird…just about…it was off on its way seconds later. I love the way the oblique light outlines the detail in the feathers on this bird…but mostly it is the classic pose, the strong diagonal, and the accent of the leaf that make it more than just a random bird shot. Or that is what I think.
Canon SX50HS in Program with -1/3rd EV exposure compensation and iContrast. f5.6 @ 1/800th @ ISO 800. 1100mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Tree Swallows Swarm. Happy Sunday!
In the fall of the year the Tree Swallows mass for migration, and at major migration stop-overs, like Cape May NJ, the swarms of Swallows can take on impressive proportions. I caught one in action at Cape May Meadows Migratory Bird Sanctuary yesterday. The Swallows filled a fair patch of sky with an intricate dance of rapid flight and high speed maneuvers, and then, suddenly, they all took the notion, at exactly the same second, to settle on a single bush. The motion of the swarm was like water going down a drain. The birds coalesced and spiraled down toward the bush, settling for seconds in its branches, 500 or more of them covering the bush like a living blanket, and then just as suddenly, they would break away and spiral up, to disperse to their arial maneuvers again. They did this, not once, but at least ten times as I watched. It was impressive!
This shot is just as they decided to take to the air again: actually toward the end of the departure. The Swarm had thinned enough to see individual birds. I like it particularly because of the way the low morning light illuminates the spread wings, and because so many of the individual birds are sharply caught. It has a powerful sense of arrested motion, and as your eye travels over it, many interesting patterns emerge. I have a whole sequence of this leap to flight, and of them this shot best captures the effect of coordinated chaos.
Canon SX50HS in Sports Mode with -1/3rd EV exposure compensation and iContrast. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 800. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
And for the Sunday Thought. We have very little understanding of how the intricate, and tightly coordinated, flight maneuvers of a flock of Swallows happen.Ā These tight spirals in particular are hard to explain. What kind of communication is required to tame the apparent chaos, and how do the birds keep from hitting each other and knocking each other out of the air?
I know that when I see the Swallows in their spiral I feel a thrill, an amazement, an awe. Later on I come to the questions about how it is possible, but while I am watching, I am simply flooded with delight. In fact, I am not sure I want to know how it happens. I have a certain intellectual curiosity about how it is possible, but that curiosity is way overwhelmed by the joy in the fact that it does…and the sense of privilege in being there to see it. I don’t actually have to know how it happens.
And, aside from the difficulty of designing any kind of experiment to determine how it happens in a scientific way, that awe is maybe why we don’t know.
There are some things, I think, that are just too wonderful to yield to analysis. Like love for instance. Or joy itself. I am certain that there is a miracle of coordinated chaos in the chemistry of the brain that mimics the spiral of the swallows, that outdoes the spiral of the swallows, when we settle into delight. And a chemical energy just as restless and irresitably amazing as our thoughts take flight once more. Some things I don’t have to understand. Some things are enough to experience. For some experiences the privilege of being there is all you need to know.
Happy Sunday!
Front Passing. Cape May NJ
This is the time of year when New Jersey Audubon has someone stationed on the Hawk Watch Platform at Cape May Lighthouse State Park every day, counting the passing hawks. It is a long-standing research project, and the scientific community uses the data from this site, and others like it in Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and many other states, to assess the health of the environment as it is reflected in the numbers and distribution of migrating hawks. Besides…what could be more fun than standing on a open platform all day counting hundreds, sometimes multiple hundreds, of hawks of a dozen species coming over? The official counter is rarely alone…and on weekends there can be an actual crush on the platform…and it s a big platform.
I can also be a beautiful place to be, looking out over the marsh and Lighthouse Pond, north up the coast of New Jersey. And on a day with weather, it can be spectacular. While I was there yesterday, the first cold front of the year was passing, piling up the sky with massive clouds, and shadowing the windy landscape. Drama!
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Rich Tone mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Frog of the Oostvaarderplassen?
I am not sure what this huge frog is. It was several sizes larger than the Common Frog I saw out on the trails at the Oostvaarderplassen in Holland. If it had been in the US I would have called it a Bull Frog without hesitation, but in Europe I am not so certain. In fact, the American Bull Frog is a problem in many countries in Europe…one of the most invasive of introduced species, so this could, in fact, be exactly what it looks like š A Bull Frog on the wrong side of the pond. š
Canon SX50HS at 2400mm equivalent field of view. Program with -1/3EV exposure compensation and iContrast. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Nexus 7 2013.
A Day along Back Creek
This is an 180 degree plus sweep panorama from the shores of Back Creek where it meets the Mousam River, a few hundred yards from where the Mousam meets the sea. As you can see, I was there digiscoping, but I got distracted by the sky. š I never really get tired of watching the camera paint the image one line at a time as I sweep the camera around. There is a technological magic to it, and I can not argue with the results!
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Panorama mode. Processed in Snapseed, on the Google Nexus 7 2013. (You really should see it full sized…click on the image to enlarge it to the width of your screen.)
Power Moth on Pickerelweed
I was really hoping, when I took the photo, that this blue pond plant had a lovely name, like Water Hyacinth, and that the bug was, as I originally assumed, a Skipper, so I could have a euphonious title (I head the word “euphonious” on a British TV comedy this week…and I have been, apparently, looking for a excuse to use it :). “Skipper on Water Hyacinth”. Now that is euphonious!
Unfortunately in the interest of accuracy, this is just common Pickerelweed, but, as some compensation, it is a Powder Moth of some kind…so we have some nice alliteration to contribute to a mellifluous title, even if it is not truly euphonious (yes, I have been at the thesaurus trying to find the spelling of euphonious. I always enjoy a little thesauric browsing before breakfast).
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Program and Macro focus (as opposed to the Macro Mode). I used Intelligent Zoom which increases the normal 18x zoom on the camera and maintains image quality by reducing the number of pixels captured at higher zoom ratios. This was a 10mp image (down from the native 14mp) at something in the 500mm equivalent field of view range. I then cropped it slightly for increased image scale. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
Evening at Back Creek
Back Creek is a tidal creek that flows into the Mousam River a few hundred yards from its mouth in Kennebunk Maine. The beach homes you see are on Great Head, across the Mousam. It had been a day of rain, heavy at times, and the front was still moving off the coast…but the sun broke through just for an hour or so before setting. Great light. Great sky. Landscapes are never better, I think, than when the sun breaks through under a stormy sky. You have drama on the land and drama in the sky. What is not to like?
This is a sweep panorama from the Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. I really like the fact that you can hold the camera vertically and sweep it around horizontally…producing a panorama that is fully as wide as a conventional panorama (this one is about 200 degrees), but much taller…not nearly so “pinched”. These tall panoramas also fit computer displays much better…if you click the image above on any computer with a reasonably sized display, it should fill your screen.
As I say, Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Panorama mode. f4.6 @ ISO 100. I discovered a Panorama trick for these cameras that have sweep pano modes. You pick the part of the view that has either 1) average brightness for your planned sweep, or 2) the brightness you want for the whole sweep (you might, for instance, want to expose for the sky rather than the land), point the camera at that section of the sweep and half press the shutter release to lock in exposure, then swing the camera, holding the shutter half pressed, to the where you want your pano to begin, and fully press the shutter. That way the whole sweep has the exposure you intend, and not the exposure that happened to be at the start of the sweep. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
Branch Brook Sweep Panorama
I have done several panoramas in different seasons here at the “S” curves in Branch Brook at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. It is a tempting scene in any season. This is spring coming on…and it is my first “sweep” panorama at the spot. I generally build panoramas one shot at time, and stitch the shots later in PhotoShop Elements. For this shot I used my Samsung Galaxy S4’s Sweep Panorama mode. You just open the camera app, set it for Panorama, point at one edge of the scene, touch the shutter button, and slowly sweep the phone around however many degrees you want in aĀ continuousĀ motion. The screen displays a little track and gives you pointer arrows to correct when you drift too far off a horizontal line (or a vertical line if you are shooting a vertirama). It is easy, fast, and it works. And with the Galaxy, unlike some smartphone sweep panorama apps which automatically downsize the sweep, you capture the fullĀ resolutionĀ of the sensor times however long your sweep is. Holding the phone in portrait mode gives you relatively tall and and as wide as you want panorama. Once you touch the shutter button a second time, the processor in the phone “stitches” the panorama. If you look closely here you will see that it could not quite handle the rail that is parallel to the motion of the sweep. There are some jaggies there where the image was stitched. But in general, and with less challenging lines, the app does amazingly well!
With a little tweaking, either right on the phone in Snapseed, or in Lightroom on my laptop, the results can be pretty amazing. (Though Snapseed is an amazingly capable editing app it does downsize the results…this is a Lightroom version. You can see it as wide as your screen will allow by clicking the image to open it in the lightbox on my WideEyedInWonder galleries.) This is about 200 degrees of sweep.
And from a phone camera!