Posts in Category: animals
Visiting the Kennebunk Eagle again…
Bald Eagle, Kennebunk Maine.
I stopped by Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk, only just over a mile from home here in Maine, twice yesterday. The first stop early there were no eagles. However, after my run to Walmart, I stopped on the way back, just in case, and there it was…on its usual perch across the river. Good light. No wind. And no obstructing branch. I was able to get as close as possible…right to the edge of the river on the frozen snow. It was still there, observing its territory, when I left.
Sony Rx10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view. (In-camera crop.) Program mode. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Beauty shot…Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron, Merritt Island NWR, Florida
Great Blue Herons are easy subjects. They are abundant…especially off Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville Florida…big, calm, and attractively plumaged. They are not bright birds…that is their plumage does not have a lot of color…but they make up for it by posing for the camera. You might say that posing is what Great Blue Herons do best…though of course they are totally unaware that the way they go about their business is photogenic. I caught this bird in an ideal setting, framed by the reflections, in wonderful light, arrested motion in perfect balance and grace, and with a ruffling of the back feathers to lend visual interest. Even the ripples in the still water add to the beauty of the shot. No credit to me. I just pressed the shutter. 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Tricolor up and away
Tricolored Heron, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville FL
This is the Tricolored Heron that owned the feeding rights along the stretch of water channel between the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive restrooms and the observation tower on the Cruickshank Trail at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I was all focused and ready for a portrait when he sprang into action…moving down the channel a dozen yards.
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed and cropped for composition in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Green Heron in the rain
Green Heron. Viera Florida
Almost a month ago now, on my last full day in Florida for the Space Coast Birding Festival, I took a group of Point and Shoot Nature Photographers to the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera to photograph birds. It rained off and on all morning, but we had a great time. This Green Heron was working the ditch on the outside of the tour loop, in the company of several White Ibis and a couple of Snowy Egrets. He was particularly acrobatic and kept us entertained long enough to get too damp 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program mode. 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr and assembled in Framemagic on my iPad Pro.
Downy
Downy Woodpecker, Kennebunk Maine
We are in Conneticut for our daughter Kelia’s Senior Recital at Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, but this is from the back deck at home. A nice close-up of a female Downy Woodpecker.
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
A line of Little Blues
Little Blue Herons, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
We have 6 inches of new snow this morning, and I will have to go out and move it out of the drive in a few moments, so, as a form of resistance, it is back to last month’s trip to Florida. It was actually only a few degrees warmer than it will be here today when I took this off Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville. I was as bundled up as I could be and the wind was blowing a gale. Little Blue Herons working a line in a shallow pool. Ever hopeful. 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 447mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4, using my specialized flight and action mode. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Yet another shot of the Kennebunk Eagle
American Bald Eagle, Kennebunk Maine
In my never ending quest to get a really good shot of the Bald Eagles that hang out on the Mousam River at Roger’s Pond Park here in Kennebunk Maine, this is the best so far. I would certainly like to get closer! At least this one is in the open and in the early sun.
Sony Rx10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view (in-camera crop from 600mm). 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Thistle!
Thistle, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville FL
I saw these giant thistles in bloom along the first mile of Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville Florida every time I drove the loop, but it was not until my last visit of the trip that I forced myself to take a moment for a photo. I think they are just Bull Thistle, a common weed, but the specimens on Blackpoint were certainly spectacular. This was my 3rd and final thistle stop. I pulled over because of the particularly intense color but was rewarded with the perfect contrast in the Florida White feeding deep in the bloom.
Sony Rx10iii at 24mm equivalent field of view. Program mode. f4 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Spoonbill
Roseate Spoonbill, Viera Wetlands, Florida
Outside here in Southern Maine there is a blizzard blowing. It started mid-afternoon yesterday and will not blow itself out until late this afternoon. We are expecting 12-24 inches of snow. I would say we already have 12. So, as a counter measure I am going back a few weeks to my visit to Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Nature Festival in Titusville. I still have many images I have not shared. A year ago in Florida, Roseate Spoonbills were everywhere at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge…in large numbers and close in on Blackpoint Wildlife Drive. This year they were few and far between. I never did see in the water at Merritt Island. They were all flybys. The only one I saw feeding was a lone Spoonbill at Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Viera Florida on our last rainy day field trip there with my Point and Shoot Nature Photographer group. The subdued, damp light brought out the deep pink of the breeding plumage (note the green skin cap as well).
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode for various exposures as the light changed. Processed in Polarr and assembled in Framemagic on my iPad Pro.
The Bluebird of unhappiness
Eastern Bluebird, Kennebunk Maine
We continue to get unusual numbers of Bluebirds in the yard this winter…any at all is unusual, as before this winter we had never had one…but they are appearing in small flocks of 4-8 individuals at least once a week. We even had one at the sunflower feeder yesterday, and that is very unusual for a Bluebird. I have to say, they did not look like the bluebirds of happiness yesterday with a foot of new snow on the ground covering their feeding areas and temperatures in the single digits. This image was taken through the thermopane glass of the kitchen sliding door, so it is not as sharp as it might be, but it does catch the frumpy attitude of a cold Bluebird. There is another foot or more of snow in the forecast over the next 2 days, so I don’t think the Bluebirds’ mood is going to improve anytime soon. We may see more of them at the sunflower feeder though. 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.