Posts in Category: marsh
Blanding’s and Painted Turtle: Magee Marsh
It is not all warblers all the time, or even all birds all the time, at Magee Marsh and the Biggest Week in American Birding. I found these two turtles along the large canal by the eastern section of the boardwalk. We have a rare (relatively) Blanding’s Turtle and a super abundant Painted Turtle sharing the same perch.
Blanding’s is listed as endangered by ICUN Red List, and has threatened status in a number of states and all of Canada. Unless I am much mistaken this is my second sighting of this individual. The pattern of moss on its shell is quite distinctive. The first time, 3 days go, it was crossing under the boardwalk most of a mile from this log.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 640. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Chestnut-sided Warbler: Magee Marsh
After the high point on Saturday afternoon, warbler activity has returned pretty much to normal at Magee Marsh where I am working the Biggest Week in American Birding Festival, so getting new species has been difficult…and many of the nesting species have yet to arrive. There are no Prothonotarys yet, and no American Redstarts. This is strange, but hopefully they will show up before next Sunday.
This is a Chestnut-sided Warbler, on of the most abundant along the boardwalk right now, and certainly on of the most cooperative. They feed at eye-level and have no fear of humans, so they will land on a branch a few feet from your head…often too close for photography. Lots of fun.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Bay-breasted Warbler: Happy Sunday!
One of the interesting things about Magee Marsh in the first days of May is that the cast of characters changes daily. New warblers and other migrants arrive daily. On Thursday there were no American Redstarts. On Friday there were. Saturday’s arrivals included Cerulean Warbler and Bay-breasted, Summer Tanager, and Whippoorwill (or at least Whippoorwill was seen for the first time on Saturday…it is hard to tell if Whippoorwills are around unless you hear them call).
This Bay-breasted Warbler was not a cooperative as it might look from the burst of shots above. It was certainly close. At one point it landed no more than 2 feet from my face for a second. But it was fast! It did not perch anywhere for more than that few seconds, and it stayed well hidden in the emerging leaves most of the time. I was there 20 minutes before I managed this sequence.
Canon SX50HS in my usual long zoom configuration. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And for the Sunday Thought. Awe and wonder are central to my experience of God…and I firmly believe that anyone still capable of awe and wonder is still open to God, whether or not they know it. Out on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh the level of awe and wonder is so high (among the birders gathered there) that you can almost taste it, and I am pretty sure you can smell it if your nose sensitive enough. 🙂 It fills the air like sunshine, whether the sun is shining or not. If you have never been around birders when bright spring warblers are flitting around heads and through binocular fields…where there are literally birds where ever you look, then it may stretch the imagination when I describe the level of excitement. I heard one young lady say, when her mother pointed out yet another warbler in the brush beside the boardwalk: “I know mom, but I just can’t look at them all. I don’t know which way to turn!”
The two other emotions that run high on the boardwalk, and are also hallmarks of my experience of God, are delight and anticipation (hope). These birders are enjoying the warblers they see. You only have to listen to the delighted cries (no shouting, of course, these are birders among birds) that sound through the marshy forest of Magee to know just how happy these people are. And anticipation fills every birder that joins a crowd on the boardwalk where something rare has been seen.
The emotion that I can only hope is also there, since it is not so readily observed, is thanksgiving. Even I, who know better, can get so caught up in the awe and the wonder and the delight and the anticipation and forget to let myself feel the thanksgiving. That is what this morning is about. This moment I am letting myself feel the full rich flow of my thanksgiving for the privilege of being here…for the God who shares his creation with his children in bright warblers at Magee each spring.
A Second Helping of Magee Marsh
I promise not to show you every warbler and every bird I find at Magee Marsh, but here is a second helping at least. (And I promise not to lead off with a Blackburnian every post from The Biggest Week in American Birding, unless, of course, I have an image like this one…which I just can not resist 🙂
Again yesterday I only managed an hour on the boardwalk. I did not even get there until just before 6PM. There were a lot of warblers! I am sure it was totally amazing earlier in the day. And there were many new species, just arrived, like this Black-throated Blue and the Nashville beyond. I had a lot of fun trying for a decent image of the Ovenbird as it feed deep in the undergrowth.
Of course it is not all warblers all the time at Magee Marsh. An American Woodcock or two were drawing crowds, as was the Eastern Screech owl (who has found a new perch this year).
And, just so you don’t think warblers have the corner on color at Magee Marsh, I will finish up with this Rose-breasted Grosbeak…certainly one of the most vivid birds in North America.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. Mostly 1200mm equivalent field of view. Lightroom processing for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Oh! Another Wren.
Yes. Depending on your point of view it is one more wren, or one wren too many. 🙂 I always come back from Acadia with enough singing and perching wren shots to paper the office. Occupational hazard. I am in the air as I write this on my way to The Biggest Week in American Birding so for the next week or so if the weather cooperates you can expect to see warblers (expect, hope, or dread, again depending on your point of view).
This perky little fellow was doing his level best to convince any available female to throw her lot in with his…to accept one of the nests he had started in the cattails. He had abundant competition and he was well aware of it. He would have had to be deaf to be otherwise.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. – 1 /3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Sir Song: Arcata Marsh
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There is just no place like Arcata Marsh for Marsh Wrens and Song Sparrows. This year the Song Sparrows were there in greater abundance than I have seen them before, and more vocal. And certainly easier. They were popping up and singing all along the trails. This gentleman popped up right beside me, maybe 10 feet away, on a misty, almost raining morning, and sat and sang while I snapped a series of images at point blank range. This is 1200mm optical zoom.
I like the subtle, overcast day, light in the eye, and the deep bokeh,
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. f6.5 @ 1/400th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Shouted down by a Wren
The Marsh Wrens of Arcata Marsh, in Arcata CA, were in good form this trip. There is nothing like standing in the marsh being shouted down by a wren!
Wrens sing with everything they have…sometimes it seems they will turn themselves inside out with song. These “down the hatch” shots attest to the unfettered expression of the wren.
Comparatively speaking, the Song Sparrow is just not in the same class, though it is in a class of its own, and a more musical class at that. Note that the wren aims its song directly at another male (or me if I am in the way), while the Song Sparrow tips its head back and sends its song to the sky!
🙂
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. 1800mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Quintessential Singing Wren Shot
You well may get tired of wrens over the next few days and weeks. It only happens once a year, when I visit the Godwit Days spring migration festival in Arcata California…world capital of Marsh Wrens. There is a trail at Arcata Marsh Wildlife Center where, on a good day in April, the male Marsh Wrens compete from the cattail tops every 30 feet. Three way duels are common. And, since the trail runs right along the edge of the cattails, and the birds are perched, for the most part, against the blue of water behind, it makes for some spectacular opportunities.
Like this one. I only had to wait about 5 minutes for him to hop up on that cattail. I used full zoom and the 1.5x digital tel-converter function to fill the frame (1800mm equivalent field of view). In processing I cropped a bit from the left for composition.
Canon SX50HS at 1800mm equivalent as above. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 125. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Confluence at High Tide
Which is a high-flaunting way of describing where little old Back Creek meets the Mousam River behind the barrier dunes on their way to the sea. 🙂 I have a lot of versions of this view. It is a great place, as on this day earlier this week, to catch the clouds of a passing front. And, of course, I really like the driftwood in the foreground.
Canon SX50HS. In-camera HDR Mode. 24mm equivalent field of view. Recorded exif: f5 @ 1/500th @ ISO 80. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.I really like the In-camera HDR files from the Canon. They are very easy to work with in Lightroom to produce a very satisfying extended range image. I took a comparison image in Program, and while I could have worked with it, the HDR simply has more life and more pop…especially in the foreground.
Hoodie Strikes a Pose
As I have mentioned, the Hooded Merganser is my favorite duck. Striking looks. Jaunty attitude. And just rare enough in my life to be really interesting. I see them in Florida, and on occasion in Texas, and on most trips to Bosque del Apache in New Mexico…I have even seen them in Maine, but not often. The easiest place to see them, for me, is at Viera Wetlands in Florida in January. They are always there in fair numbers, but they are also close. With patience, you can see them 30 feet from the foot of one of the dykes…even closer on occasion.
And, as I have also said before, they are not easy to photograph. It is very difficult to hold detail in both the white and the black and the eye, for whatever reason, never seems to be quite in focus. I think it has to do with the way it refracts light 
This gentleman was cursing with his harem when he stopped to pose for his portrait. Canon SX50HS at 1800mm equivalent field of view (1200mm optical plus 1.5x Digital Tel-converter). f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 400. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.