Posts in Category: animals
Cedar Waxwing Bookends
Cedar Waxwings. Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
There is always something happening at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area in West Kennebunk. I was on the Plains to check the progress of the Northern Blazing Star bloom, which is coming on nicely, and, of course, I had to take a turn around the pond. There is a little grove of pines and birches near the east end that always has birds feeding. These Cedar Waxwings were eating berries. I like the pose here, with the birds in opposition… and, of course, the light… late afternoon light slanting through the grove.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Are you done yet…
Chipmunk, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
My late afternoon photoprowl at Laudholm Farm a few days ago was particularly productive. Just down the trail from the Common Yellowthroat with the bugs from yesterday’s post, I heard a chip close by and looked up into the branches of a small tree to find this Chipmunk posing. He was patient with my photography, giving me different sides, and letting me work around for angles for several minutes. He was inside the close focus on the Nikon P900 (16.5 feet) so I could not use full zoom. I even switched cameras for this shot, which uses the Sony HX90V’s Clear Image digital zoom for 1440mm equivalent field of view and a nice close-up. By this time the Chipmunk seemed to be wondering if I was done yet. 🙂 I moved on.
Camera as above. 1/250th @ ISO 160 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Uncommon Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
Oh, Common Yellowthroats are common enough this year. They are another bird that seems to have benefited from the late spring…if numbers are any indication. They are everywhere I go and in good numbers. On a late afternoon photoprowl on the trails at Laudholm Farm yesterday, I saw at least a dozen. Birds were uncommonly active for a late afternoon, perhaps because it had been rainy and gloomy until the sun broke out at about 3PM. This Yellowthroat had taken a grasshopper/beetleish thing, and was, perhaps, in retrospect, waiting until I passed on to take it to its nest. It hopped around in the branches of a tree overhanging the trail for several minutes as I photographed it. In fact I left it still hopping there when I moved on. I did not see the prey in its beak until I got the images up on the monitor at home.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 360 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Song on a post
Song Sparrow, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
Song Sparrows are common in the marsh behind the barrier dunes and along the Mousam River. Though it is also ideal Salt-marsh Sparrow habitat, and though the marsh is protected in part because of that, I have yet to see a Salt-marsh there. Lots of Songs though. This one is perched on one of the old pilings that line the raised path where it crosses marsh. The marsh was diked and hayed for generations. They are working on restoring it to its native tidal state now. That will likely increase the likelihood that Salt-marsh Sparrow will be seen there in future generations, and perhaps diminish the number of Song Sparrows. My children might be able to see the results. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 3200mm equivalent field of view (full optical plus some Perfect Image digital zoom). 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Bobolink in flowers…
Bobolink in Knapweed. Kennebunkport ME
While photographing this meadow full of Knapweed, I observed several male Bobolinks competing for territory. I had, through an oversight, only my little Sony HX90V with me, and it only has 720mm equivalent field of view…only! That really shows how spoiled we are in the Point and Shoot Superzoom world. I used some Clear Image Zoom (Sony’s enhances digital zoom) to stretch out to 1440mm for this shot of the Bobolink with prey among the flowers.
Camera as above. 1/250th @ ISO 125 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Halloween Pennant
Halloween Pennant, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine
On my photoprowl to the Kennebunk Plains late yesterday afternoon, I was surprised to find a few Northern Blazing Star in bloom. This is going to be a year with a lot of Blazing Star, and I am expecting a bold display, but not for several more weeks…well into August. Still I was happy to see them in bloom, as often I am traveling when the Blazing Star is a its peak. Maybe early this year 🙂
I also found at least two, probably teneral, Halloween Pennants among the Blazing Star. Again, this is a Dragonfly that I have seen on the Plains when the Blazing Star is in bloom, in August. These might be early, and they were almost certainly newly emerged, as the wings were quite light in color. The one on the right is on a Blazing Star bud, far from open.
Sony HX90V at 720-1000mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Peek-a-boo Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
I was photographing a Snowy Egret in the marsh pools along the Kennebunk Bridle Path late the other day when a Song Sparrow let off relatively close beside me. I swung around to see where it was. All I could see was the head peaking out between tree trunks and branches, but of course I had to try a shot or two. One of the joys of using the long, amazingly well stabilized, zoom on the P900 is the ability to get shots like this! You might note the tricky focus too. The P900 auto focus is up to the job. In the end though, I just like the preky bird poking out from behind the trunk. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/125th @ ISO 800 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Upland Sandpiper!
Upland Sandpiper, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk ME
Not a great photo, but a photo against the odds, and a great bird for Southern Maine. There have been, historically, a few nesting pairs of Upland Sandpiper on the Kennebunk Plains each year. Upland Sandpiper reaches the far north-east limits of its range on the remnant sand-plains west of Kennebunk. I have not seen sandpipers there for at least 6 years…but that does not mean they were not there. I am spending a lot more time on the Plains this year, and, perhaps inevitably, yesterday I saw my first Uppies…doing what I assume was distraction flights around a nest. This bird flew up, circled calling loudly, and returned to this little pine repeatedly over the 20 minutes or so I watched. There was a dog near the parking area on the other side from the nest, and the bird was very aware of it.
Shot against the odds: this shot was taken at a distance of 70-80 yards, too far for decent photography…but that was as close as I wanted to approach. The heat haze was terrible over the Plains at noon, and there was a stiff breeze blowing. Everything was in motion…as you can see from the bokeh. I pushed the camera close to its limits by zooming past optical zoom to an equivalent field of view of 3200mm. And it is handheld. While it is not a great image by any standard…it is certainly a satisfying record of a great bird.
Nikon P900 as above. 1/500th @ ISO 280 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom (to eliminate a telephone pole in the background).
Great Spangled Fritillary!
Great Spangled Fritillary, Emmon’s Preserve. Kennenbunkport Land Conservancy.
You just have to love the name! Great Spangled Fritilllary! Great Spangled! (And then, of course, there is the issue of remembering how to spell fritillary…or is it frittilary? I always have to Google it to be sure.) There were dozens of Great Spangled Fritillarys in the fields at Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport yesterday…doing their thing…which is fritting. They frit constantly, often never coming to full rest while in sight. You get the occasional bug, like this one, who is apparently nectaring, and therefore lighting on the Knapweed, at least for a few seconds. This bug turned and showed me all sides. This composite image shows both the Greatness of the wings, and the Spangles on the underside…or is great spangles on the back?
Nikon P900 at 500mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 220 @ f5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Virginia Ctenucha Moth
Virginia Ctenucha Moth, Timber Point / Timber Island Trail, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, ME
I have not been to Timber Point for many weeks and yesterday seemed like a good day, so… I got as far as a wonderful hay meadow full of Knapweed and other wildflowers, where I stopped to add to my “If Monet had lived in Maine” series of painterly meadow shots. While shooting the meadow I found many male Bobolinks singing from perches in the tall grass and flowers, so I went back to the car for my Nikon P900 and its long lens…only to discover that I had grabbed the wrong camera bag on the way out the door. My Nikon was still at home. 🙁 So there I was on a photoprowl with just my Sony HX90V and its 30x zoom. I know…it was only 4 years ago that 30x was the absolute limit of the superzoom world. I have to admit I am totally spoiled by the 83x, 2000mm equivalent zoom on the Nikon P900. Still, it was too far to go back, so I spent the morning pushing the limits of the HX90V and enjoying every moment of it.
After many Monet-like shots in the meadow, and, yes, a few of the Bobolinks with the HX90V’s zoom pushed out to 1440mm equivalent with 2x Clear Image Zoom, I went on to Timber Point. Unexpectedly fog was rolling across the point. Yes well…best laid plans and all that. You take what your get in photoprowls and as in life. I caught sight of this creature in the grasses near the point and could not get a pic, but there it was again in the deep shade along the boardwalk, working the Meadowsweet on the way back. I did my best to photograph it, and took many exposures. I honestly had no idea what it was, but it was an easy search on Google when I got back. I mean, how many orange-headed, blue bodied, moths can there be in Maine? Turns out: just one 🙂
Virginia Ctenucha is a common diurnal moth across the northern states and Canada, currently expanding its range all the way to the west coast in Canada. No one knows whether the nominal specimen was actually collected in Virginia, but Virginia is the extreme southern range of the moth, if it exists there at all. It is much more common further north. And I will cheerfully admit I have no idea how to pronounce the name…I could find no guidance on the web. Ctenucha. Either the C or the T must be mostly silent, or you must fake a vowel…as in “si ten u cha”. Anyway. Really interesting creature.
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 125 @ f6.4. Cropped and processed in Lightroom.