Posts in Category: New Jersey
Cape May Warbler :)
Yellow-rumped Warbler in Cape May NJ
No, of course it is NOT a Cape May Warbler…but it is a warbler in Cape May. A Yellow-rumped Warbler like the hundreds that have been coming through Southern Maine, but here, at the tip of Cape May Point, where the migration is constricted by the Atlantic on one side and Deleware Bay on the other, the Yellow-rumped Warblers are thick, dripping from the trees as they say. It was actually raining when I took this shot, but I could not resist when the warblers repeatedly popped up on this branch maybe 10 feet from my face. I kept wiping the camera with my hand, and dried it off well when I got back to the hotel, and it survived. Not a great shot, as warbler shots go…simply not enough light…but still! š And not bad at all for ISO 1600 from a Point and Shoot camera.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 1600 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Back in Cape May
I am writing this from Texas on a rainy morning when I had planned to go birding but may in fact be caught in my hotel room doing work in deference to the weather.Ā Such is life. This is an HDR from Cape May taken a few weeks ago now. I love the effect of the light on the water. Aside from the sky and the light it is such a homely scene. With sky and light it is filled with suppressed drama.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Rich Tone mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014,Ā using the new HDR Scene filter.Ā
Yellow-rumped Warbler with grub
Evidently the junipers behind the Hawk Watch at Cape May Lighthouse State Park in October are full of grubs. They are certainly full of Yellow-rumped Warblers who feed on grubs. Still, catching a warbler with its grub is largely a matter of persistance. If you take enough pictures of warblers, you will very likely get a grub in one of them. This handsome bird was savoring the anticipation of its meal, or would have been if it were human, and if humans enjoyed grubs…okay…maybe it was just sitting there for reasons beyond our comprehension, holding the grub in its beak.
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.
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.
Close Encounter of the Rabbit Kind
I was taking a turn on the boardwalk behind the Hawk Watch Platform at Cape May Lighthouse State Park when a young man with a digiscoping rig set up motioned me to join him. There in the tall grasses, a few feet from the boardwalk, a rabbit was doing its best to look like “oh nothing…just a shadow in the grass…move along…nothing to see here”.Ā It was so close I do not know how the digiscoper was getting anything more than the eye in frame. This shot is at 1200mm equivalent. You can clearly see both of us humans reflected in the eye. Close encounter of the rabbit kind. š
Canon SX50HS in Program with -1/3rd EV exposure compensation and iContrast. f6.5 @ 1/100th @ ISO 800. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
The living logic of trees…
I am pretty sure these are Persimmon trees. We don’t have them in Maine, but in Cape May NJ, in the little patch of forest behind the dunes at Cape May Lighthouse State Park, they are among the most common trees. In summer all you see is the green crown, but fall shows off the fantastic forms the limbs take, in their living reach for the sky and light. There is a logic all its own the the growth of trees, and something to be learned from observing them. Unfortunately their lifetimes are considerably longer than ours. We never see anything but the latest episode, and have to use our own logic to trace back to what might have come before…the the forces, internal and external, that shaped the tree we see. And, when considering trees, our logic has to be suspect. Trees have a living logic all their own.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Rich Tone mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
American Ladies in the Daisies
The American Lady butterfly suffers an interrupted migration. They head north in millions to repopulate North America, well up into Canada, each spring, and in fall they turn around and head south. The fact is none of them make it back to Mexico. Once upon a time they probably did. It is a classic migration pattern still followed by the Monarch. But American Ladies repopulate North American with a new generation each year.
This past weekend in Cape May, the American Ladies were everywhere, and that is not an exaggeration: Anywhere there was a flower still in bloom…from the humble Goldenrod to the giant dasies in front of the hotel where I stayed. Many were well worn…missing trailing wing edges…but still eagerly feeding, not yet ready to give up the fight. Clearly they have no idea that they won’t see Mexico again.
And, among the dasies, they certainly make a brave show, and some interesting images.
Canon SX50HS in Program with – 1/3rd EV exposure compensation and iContrast. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f7.1 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.
Yellow-rumped Warbler on Deck
Well, it is a actually the new āman-made-materialā boardwalk out behind the hawk-watch platform at Lighthouse State Park in Cape May, NJ. It was a dull afternoon with heavy clouds and the Yellow-rumped Warblers were coming down onto the boardwalk to pick up either seeds or bugsā¦I could not see which. Then they would hop back up to the lower branches of the trees next to the boardwalk. Up and down. Down and up.
I like the feet here. You donāt often get to see a small birdās feet in this kind of detail. The subdued light, and the plain grey background, really brings out the remaining color in this fall plumaged bird.
Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. 1800mm equivalent field of view (full zoom plus 1.5x digital tel-converter function). f6.5 @ 1/160th @ ISO 100. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.