Posts in Category: Ohio
Yellow!
Yellow Warbler, Magee Marsh, Ohio
The Biggest Week in American birding is slightly earlier this year…and the warblers are slightly late…so the warbler show at Magee Marsh is getting off to a slow start. Yellow-rumped Warblers are in, Palms have mostly passed through, there are a few Black-throated Greens, Perulas, and Morning Warblers…and lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a few House Wrens, and Baltimore Orioles. But there are a LOT of Yellow Warblers, especially at the east end of the boardwalk. This bright male is showing fresh spring plumage.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 180 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Tailed Blue
Tailed Blue, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, Columbus OH
I mentioned yesterday that I had a good bug day, with several species of both butterflies and dragonflies. This is, I believe, an Eastern Tailed Blue. It is a tiny butterfly, only about 3/4 of an inch from wingtip to wingtip. There were two, doing their rapid Blue spieling dance over a grassy path. I just about gave up on getting a pic, when both of them settled out and sat long enough for a few shots.
Nikon P900 at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom.
Green Darner up close
Green Darner Dragonfly, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, Columbus OH
By the time I got out for a walk at the American Birding Expo at Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus Ohio things were quiet on the bird front…but there certainly were a lot of bugs. I saw at least 7 species of butterflies, and four species of dragons. This Green Darner, the largest Dragonfly in North America, was perching along the grassy wetlands trail below the Center. Due to the focus limitations of the Nikon P900, I had to back up quite a ways to get this shot…taken full frame using the Perfect Image Zoom function at a 3600mm equivalent field of view. Handheld!
It certainly shows off the amazingly intricate structure of the dragonfly.
Nikon P900 at 3600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 250 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Artist at Work. Happy Sunday!
Catherine Hamilton talking art with John Sill at the American Birding Expo in Columbus OH
“If your eye is generous your whole being is full of light!” Jesus.
The first American Birding Expo attracted a handful of the best bird artists in America. I hope to see the art selection expand in future years. This is Catherine Hamilton talking her art with John Sill, both accomplished and well known artists. Catherine spent her days so far at the ZEISS booth and I got to spend significant time with her…and heard her show her portfolio to hundreds of people. I have come to appreciate her love for both birds and art. She certainly has a generous eye!
I love discovering the spirit in people I encounter. I have known Catherine for several years now, and recognized the spirit in her right away. We have shared several adventures (minor adventures) and talked a lot. On the way back to the car after a long day at the expo last night, as we walked along in silence, she said “I am so glad we are already at the point where we can be together without feeling like we have to talk.” (Which is something, since Catherine is a talker! And I mean that in the best possible way 🙂 We are comfortable together. And that is, of course, the shared spirit. We have not talked about what she thinks of the spirit…of the light she is so full of…and certainly not of where she thinks it comes from. It is not necessary on my part. I am so comfortable with her that I know exactly where it comes from. The generous eye is the generous eye, and the light, as far as I can see, and as much as I know, is the light. There is only one good and loving God over and in all, the light of the world. That is my faith. And it is always good to see it in another. Happy Sunday!
Columbus Egret panel
Great Egret, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, Columbus OH
More from the cooperative Great Egret at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus Ohio. I am working the first Great American Birding Expo so I did not get out to take any photos yesterday. Still, these Egret shots from the day before at too good not to share. Nikon P900 at various focal equivalents from about 1000mm to 4000mm. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Columbus Egret gets lunch
Great Egret, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, Columbus OH
I am at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus Ohio for the first American Birding Expo. Optics vendors and tour companies from around the world have gathered here to show off to what we hope is a large and eager crowd of birders. The event is modeled on the British Birding Fair which attracts 20,000 people a year to the midlands of England. This year the American event will not be nearly that large, but it should grow.
There are several wetlands and ponds on the Audubon property, and I discovered the Great Egret actively feeding in one of them. Nice catch.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 140 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Bay-breasted Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler, Magee Marsh, Oak Harbor OH
We have had a few rainy days in Maine, and I don’t have any new pics, so this is an ideal time to drop back and pick up a warbler from The Biggest Week in American Birding. I always come back from Magee Marsh with hundreds of warbler shots, most of which no one else ever sees (the pictures that is). Bay-breasted Warblers were crossing Magee Marsh in great numbers the week I was there, and I managed several keeper shots of them. I like the attitude this bird is showing.
Nikon P900 at about 1800mm equivalent field of view. 1/125 @ ISO 640 @ f6.3. Processed and cropped slightly for scale in Lightroom.
Blue Jay Posing (with bokeh)
Blue Jay, Pearson Metropark, Oregon OH
On my last morning in Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding, I spent a few hours, before the drive to the airport, at Pearson Metropark right on the edge of Oregon, just a few miles from my hotel. The day before had been slow at Magee Marsh, and not much had changed at Pearson. There were a few warblers, Cardinals, Robins, and this very cooperative Blue Jay, posing on a branch long enough for a few shots. Still it was better being in the park than sitting in my hotel or waiting at the airport for the extra hours. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightrtoom. The interesting bokeh is from a chain-link fence a few yards behind the bird.
Blackpole views…
Blackpole Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH
Sometimes, especially when migration hits when the leaves are already well out at Magee Marsh in Ohio, warbler photography is even more difficult than normal. My friend Rich was doing his first serious warbler captures this year and his constant refrain was “Why is there always a stick between me and the bird?” And, of course, there generally is, except when it is a thick bunch of leaves 🙂 Warblers sitting right out in plain sight, preferably in full sun, are simply very hard to come by, at Magee Marsh or anywhere else during spring migration. So when you see those killer shot of warblers, realize that they are the exception, not the rule.
This Blackpole warbler worked overhead, about 20 feet up, for 10 minutes or more, and I shot a lot of frames to get these four. Still, the panel shows off the Blackpole pretty well. Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Black and White peek-a-boo
Black and White Warbler, Magee Marsh OH
Woodpeckers unwittingly supply nest cavities for many other species. I never thought of the Black and White Warbler as one of them, but this B&W was obviously laying claim to a cavity along the Magee Marsh boardwalk. It sat with its head out like this for about 5 minutes then disappeared back into the cavity and did no reemerge for at least the next 15. I know, because we waited, hoping my friend Rich could also get a shot. (I tried to get him on the bird earlier, but another photographer stepped into the spot I made for Rich. 🙁
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/100th @ ISO 800 @ f6.5. Processed in Topaz Denoise and Lightroom.