Posts in Category: Pic of the Day
Early Northern Blazing Star. Happy Sunday!
Northern Blazing Star with Skipper, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
I have never seen the Kennebunk Plains so thick with Northern Blazing Star. The budded plants are everywhere, in thick stands this year. By the first week in August, the second at the latest, the Plains are going to be purple with Blazing Star. Right now, there are only a few plants here and there in bloom, but the promise is there, and barring any unnatural disaster, it is going to be a very good year for Blazing Star. Of course, the Kennebunk Plains are managed, at least in part, for Blazing Star, which is endangered in much of its historical range, and only has the one major foothold left in Maine. Blazing Star is fire dependent, and patterned and scheduled burns on the Plains keep the population healthy.
And, when the Blazing Star is in bloom, it draws its compliment of insects. Bees of several species, lots of Skippers (like the one captured above, which might be the Least Skipper), Hairstreaks (mostly Coral), Swallowtail and Monarch butterflies, and lots of orb weaver spiders. The Halloween Pennant dragonfly hunts among the the other bugs. And the insects draw the birds: Clay-collared and Grasshopper Sparrow, Upland Sandpiper, (all at the limits of their range on the Plains), as well as Savannah and Song Sparrows. The Blazing Star is the base plant, or the most visible member, for a whole community of life…and because it is so beautiful, and so visible, protecting it has protected the whole community. This is good!
I feel privileged to live so close to the remnant population of Blazing Star…to track it year to year in my informal visits to the Plains, and to share it with you in my photos. Being on the Plains when the Northern Blazing Star is in bloom is, for me, a spiritual experience…a instance of natural, spontaneous, worship. Though the Plains buzz with life in August, and hundreds of people come to pick blueberries, for me there is always a hush…a reverence in the presence of the stands of this rare and beautiful plant. It is awesome in the literal sense of the word. I feel the awe, and can only give praise and thanks. Happy Sunday!
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.
Jeweled Wood Lily
Wood Lily, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine.
I was on the Kennebunk Plains early enough, a few days ago, to find the Wood Lilies still jeweled with dew. Wood Lilies, at least on the Plains, come in two basic colors. This is the oranger of the two. The other is still orange, but edging over toward red. It is not a matter of age, though both get lighter as the bloom ages…it seems to be a genuine difference in the plants. We are seeing the last of the Wood Lilies this week. You can tell from the bare anthers that this one has opened several days now.
Sony HX90V at 44mm equivalent field of view. 1/640th @ ISO 80 @ f4.5. Processed and cropped for composition 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.
Walker Point
Walker Point, Cape Arundel, Kennebunkport ME
Walker Point is one of the major tourist attractions in Kennebunkport, and has been since the first Bush administration. It is the summer home of the Walker family, including Barbara Walker Bush, and 2 presidents, husband and son, have spent summers there. It has been the site of international meetings of heads of states, and too may Presidential Lobster Boils to count. There is significant security presence at the land end of the point, but the town has built a small parking area, done some landscaping, and installed a plaque in honor of the first President Bush. The thing is, it was already a popular spot, with informal parking along the margin, before George Bush was elected, as it overlooks Blowing Cave…a natural coastal feature that booms and shoots spray high into the air whenever the tide is just right.
This is about as classic a view as you can get, whether you count the Walker/Bush connection or not. The house on the point, the rugged rocks in the foreground, the arching sky with decorative cloud wisps overhead, and the three masted schooner passing the point. Romantic!
Sony HX90V in-camera HDR. Nominal exposure: 1/500th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
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.
Blueberry Art. Happy Sunday!
Blueberries, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine. Illustration Picture Effect.
Last Sunday I posed a very studied and classical composition of a Wood Lily, and talked about how, as an image, it drew attention to the artist behind the photo as much as to the subject…and how that made it different from most of the images I take. It was a celebration of the act of creation, as well as a celebration of creation itself…of my small part in the ongoing act of creation, and well as what the creator of all as done. Now, if you think about it, every photograph I take is both…but not so obviously, or so consciously, so.
This “photograph” of low bush Blueberries on the Kennebunk Plains takes the concept even further. Here I used an in-camera Picture Effect to intentionally render the image to look like a drawing…clearly an artifact…rather than a photograph. Though it was taken with a camera, and recorded pretty much just as appears here on the SD card…it is intentionally un-photo-like. The image is simplified to basic shapes and tones, so that the pattern becomes as important as, actually more important than, the subject…the blueberries. If it went any further it would be abstract…as it is it balances on the line between abstract and real, tipped just toward reality. It demands to be looked at as an image, an artifact, a rendering…not as blueberries in the field. And, I think it is beautiful. Striking. Arresting. It rewards your attention. It, itself, not the blueberries.
But, of course, I can not, and do not, take any more credit for this creation than I do in any of my work. Actually, my only creative decision was to play with the settings on the camera…the software in the camera…written by engineers who never saw these blueberries, and certainly never envisioned this image, did all the work. The creator of all still put the blueberries in the field, and, I have to believe, inspired the software engineers in their creative play…so that I could play with the camera. No matter what else I did, I am still only pointing and saying “look at what the loving God has created.” If anything, this image makes me smile…it is fun in way a straight photograph would not be…it is playful. And I like that about it. Because, of course, I appreciate the sense of play that infuses the work of the creator of all in everything I see, in all my experience…and that only inspires even greater love…providing evidence of the playful love of the creator of all. Play is creative love in action. Always! Happy Sunday!
Masses of Wood Lilies
Wood Lilies, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine
It was three years ago that I first found Wood Lilies growing on the Kennebunk Plains. I am certain they have been growing there for as long as there have sand-plains there…but I had not seen them. This year, though, is special. There are Wood Lilies everywhere on the plains…well, not everywhere, they tend to cluster in open clusters of 5 to 25 plants…but lilies in much higher numbers than I have seen before, by a factor of 10 at least. More clusters, and more flowers in each cluster. Not only that, but a much higher percentage of the plants are making double, and even triple blooms. In the past the vast majority of the plants hand only a single bloom, with a few doubles. This year at least half have multiple heads and at least a quarter of those are triples. I have even see a plant with 4 blooms, but they were not open simultaneously…or at least were not on the day I saw them. This shot is three plants, all triples, for 9 flowers in a single group. One Wood Lily is beautiful. Nine together is breathtaking. 🙂
Sony HX90V at 92mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 80 @ f5. 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).