Posts in Category: New Jersey

Female Cardinal!

Female Northern Cardinal. Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area, Cape May NJ

There is a slightly funny story about the female Cardinal shot from Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area in Cape May, New Jersey. It was still fairly early in the morning, as you can see by the angle of the light, and I was taking a second turn around the meadows at Higbee. I heard the Cardinal chipping in the brush beside the path, and was busy photographing it, when I heard something crashing through the brush and trees behind me. I turned slightly, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk burst out of the foliage, below my eye-level, and shot up and across the path about a foot from my head…after my Cardinal. I ducked, and the Cardinal apparently did too, because the Sharpy landed in a tree just beyond without any prey. So, of course, I took pictures of it. Fair play. it scared off my subject…it became my subject!

This shot, despite the drama, shows off just how sharp the Nikon P610 is at full zoom in ideal light. 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.

Palm Warbler

Palm Warbler. Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, Cape May NJ

As I mentioned, warblers of any variety other than Yellow-rumped were very scarce during this year’s Cape May Autumn Bird Festival. On the last morning I was in Cape May, this winter-plumaged Palm Warbler hopped across the trail at Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park and sat long enough in a tuft of daisy like flowers for a few shots…pumping its tail all the time.

Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom.

Carolina Wren Twice

Carolina Wren. Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, NJ

Carolina Wren. Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, NJ

I heard several Carolina Wrens singing on the trails at Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, but they remained tucked well back in brush and totally invisible. It was on my last morning there, in less than ideal light, when one finally popped out where I could see it…and get a few shots. This is a collage of two shots of the same wren, as it flitted actively around this perch. Carolina Wren only vary rarely makes it up as far as Maine, so I am always happy to see one on my travels. It is certainly one of the more robust wrens…with a song to match. 🙂

Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, Cape May NJ

Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Cape May Point Lighthouse State Park, Cape May NJ

My last morning in Cape May for the Cape May Autumn Bird Festival was overcast and on the dull, chill side…but there were several cooperative birds, including this Ruby-crowned Kinglet…one of a small flock of Kinglets that was feeding along the trail behind the Hawk Watch Pond. I am always pleased to get a photo of this tiny, hyper-active bird, and especially pleased to get one with any of the ruby crown showing. 🙂

Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.

Northern Grey Treefrog

Northern Grey Treefrog, Cape May Point, Cape May NJ

My friend Rich went out with the New Jersey Audubon Young Birders on Saturday morning of the Cape May Autumn Bird Festival (ZEISS, who we both work for, sponsors the Young Birders), and they found a Northern Grey Tree Frog in a tree on the back side of the trails behind the Hawk Watch platform and the Lighthouse. He pointed out the spot on Sunday morning when he and I walked the same trails. Monday I was back there for one last loop around the trails before heading for Philadelphia and my flight back to Maine, and just for fun, I checked the tree. What do you know? The frog was there, tucked deep into the V where a branch rose at a sharp angle from the main trunk. The Grey Treefrog is small by North American frog standards…this is an adult and is only a bit less than 2 inches long. I was amazed at how well camouflaged the tree frog is. It matched the grey mottled, lichen covered bark of the tree almost perfectly. If I had not known where to look, I would never have seen it. And I had to look twice at that 🙂

I suspected at least some degree of chameleon like ability (color cloaking), so I had to look up the Grey Tree Frog this morning, and indeed, the males, like this specimen, can change through a range of greys and greens to match the bark or foliage where they sit. It is not a quick change like the chameleon, but over a hour or so, the male Grey Treefrog can mimic its perch, provided it picked a perch within its color pallette, most convincingly. What do you know?

Nikon P610 macro at 105mm equivalent field of view. Since it was overcast with limited daylight, I used the flash for an exposure of 1/60th @ ISO 160 @ f5.3. Processed in Lightroom.

Sharpy!

Sharp-shinned Hawk, Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area, Cape May, New Jersey

I spent a few hours at Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area in Cape May, New Jersey, on Saturday morning. Some good birds and some good photo ops. Probably the best were the two cooperative Sharp-shinned Hawks. One flew within a foot of my head as it chased sparrows through a hedge row and across the path where I was standing to photograph a female cardinal at close range. It perched in a tree above me…partially obscured by twigs, but close. An hour later, just as I was on my way back to the car, this Sharpy flew in from behind me and settled in much better view, if a bit further away. I pushed the Nikon P610 out to 2600mm equivalent using Perfect Image digital zoom for this close portrait. You can see that the Sharpy was totally aware that I was there. 🙂

Nikon P610 as above. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom. Below is a full body view shot at 1440mm equivalent (full optical zoom) and cropped slightly for scale.

full body view.

full body view.

Swamp Sparrow Beauty. Happy Sunday!

Swamp Sparrow. Higbee Beach, Cape May NJ

“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light…” Jesus

This is a very early post as we have Sunday morning plans. We are New Jersey, Cape May, for the Fall Birding Festival, and on Sunday morning we are at Uncle Bill’s Pancake House on Beach Avenue when it opens at 6:30, and then do a lap at the Meadows before the show opens at 10. If you have done the autumn thing in Cape May, you know exactly what I mean. Pancakes and birds! That is already enough to make this a good Sunday…with at least two forms of worship. 🙂

But seriously, take a look at this sparrow. I nominate the Swamp Sparrow, despite its muddy name, as the most beautiful sparrow in North America. I love the rusty tones and the sharply contrasting pure grays, the black accents, and the highly patterned nature of this little creature. Those who lump all sparrows into “little brown jobs” are missing the subtle beauty of the family. I posted a panel of “how we normally see Swamp Sparrow” yesterday…4 shots buried deep in reeds and brush, with only bits of sparrow showing…but every once in a while even a skulker like the Swamp has to get up and sit up and be counted in the early morning sun, as it did here at Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area yesterday early. Then you see the sparrow for what it is…and it is an eyeful…a generous eyeful!

Now, what Jesus said about the generous eye was not a conditional statement, though it is often taken that way. It is a declarative statement. It is not “if” your eye is generous, “then” your whole being “will be” filled with light. It is “if you eye is generous, your whole being is full of light.” In such a statement the two phrases do not depend on each other…each phrase is simply testimony to the truth of the other. Fact. Those who are full of light have generous eyes. Fact. Those who have generous eyes are full of light. I point this out on behalf of the sparrow. There are those who can see the beauty of the Swamp Sparrow…many such…and those are the folks who are full of light…those are the folks with generous eyes. You want to get to know them…in fact…if you are a person of generous eye, you already know them as such, pretty much instantly, on meeting. There are a lot of generous eyed birders! Which is why a birding festival is so much fun for me. They don’t all know they are filled with light…but even so they are…and it is such fun to watch them watching the birds they love. Even the Swamp Sparrows. Especially the Swamp Sparrows. Happy Sunday!

Yet another Yellow-rump!

Yellow-rumped Warbler against Black-gum leaves. Cape May Point, NJ

As I have mentioned, there is a super-abundance of Yellow-rumped Warblers in Cape May New Jersey these past few days. I get so I don’t even raise the camera for a Yellow-rump unless it is perched in a irresistible setting. Here the fall warbler is set off against the turning leaves of a Black-gum tree. That is special enough for yet another Yellow-rump portrait. 🙂

Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent. 1/160th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.

Red Admiral

Red Admiral Butterfly, Lighthouse State Park, Cape May NJ

Red Admiral Butterfly, Lighthouse State Park, Cape May NJ

I have not been out this morning to see if the front pushed any other birds in, but yesterday was certainly another Yellow-rumped Warbler day at Cape May. There were also lots of Red Admirals…mostly well worn specimens…probably migrants. They were, mostly, moving fast and fluttering high. For some reason this Admiral sat nicely for me, in good light. This collage shows both front and back-side views. The front side view is a tele-macro at 1440mm equivalent field of view, but the back side view is a true macro at 95mm equivalent. I was within a few inches of the butterfly. 🙂 In my experience, you don’t get to do that often in the field.

Nikon P610. Front side: 1/250th @ ISO 125 @ f6.5. Back side: 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4.8. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.

Cape May Warbler (not!)

Yellow-rumped Warbler. Lighthouse State Park, Cape May, New Jersey

If you know your birds, you know that this is NOT a Cape May Warbler. It is a Yellow-rumped Warbler, but I am in Cape May, New Jersey for the Cape May Autumn Bird Festival (formerly Cape May Autumn Weekend) and, as in most years, 70 out of every 100 migrant warblers you see here at the end of October are Yellow-rumped. Yesterday it was more like 99 out of 100, or, to be more precise, 499 out of the 500 or so warblers I saw. (The hold out was a female Common Yellow-throat.) You could easily be forgiving for assuming that the Yellow-rumped Warbler should be called the Cape May Warbler…at least for this weekend. 🙂

I like the lighting on this shot…subtly backlit. If you can view it large enough you will see every pin-feather on the bird’s breast. Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view from about 8 feet. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.