Monthly Archives: September 2015
Pileated Panel
Pileated Woodpecker, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
I can not resist posting the Pileated Woodpecker again…this time a panel of three shots showing off the bird in three poses. The panel is actually two shots from the Nikon P900 and one for the Sony HX90V. Not only was this the biggest Pileated Woodpecker I have ever seen…it was the most cooperative…giving me a chance to photograph the bird from several angles and with two cameras as it worked around two trees. Definitely a memorable experience.
Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Pileated Woodpecker. My alleluia bird. Happy Sunday!
Pileated Woodpecker, Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
When I got to Laudholm Farm (Wells National Estuarine Research Center) yesterday, the fog was just rolling in over the top of hill and the farm buildings and I almost turned around and left. I am certainly glad I did not do that. 🙂 I took some lovely foggy landscapes on my way across the bog boardwalk, and from the observation deck just north of the Drakes Island bridge, but the fog had mostly rolled on by the time I neared the crossing where the Pilger Trail meets the road to the beach. I went slow that last 100 yards, as on my last visit, that was where the Immature Red-tailed Hawk was sitting. I stopped on the spot where I had taken the photos and had a good look around. While looking I became aware of a heavy tapping somewhere overhead, and turned to see the largest Pileated Woodpecker I have ever seen working a dead snag something over 40 feet from me. The bird was in the open, flicking large chunks of dead bark and sawdust from the tree, and I only had to move slightly to the right to clear foreground foliage. Amazing! I worked the bird as it worked the tree. At first it had is back completely to me, silhouetted against the trunk…a difficult spot for photography…but eventually it moved around to the side in search of fresh forage. I took pictures and video with both cameras I had with me…everything from head shots to full body portraits. Eventually, while I was actually videoing it, it climbed up and glided over to a tree deeper in the forest, but still in easy sight, and, what is better, landed on the sunlit side of the tree. It stayed there as I moved down the trail for a better angle. I got off another set of images, this one among them. (Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view.)
This is all the more exciting to me as the Pileated Woodpecker, photographically, has been my nemesis bird (nemesis bird is what birders call a species that they are always close to seeing but never see). I have  seen the Pileated, but not often…so rarely that I can clearly remember each instance…several in Maine, a few in Florida, and a few in Arkansas (including a glimpse of an albino)…but, though I have tried as often as I have seen the bird, I had yet to get any really satisfying images. Until now. The bird at Laudholm Farm provided me with enough good shots to satisfy my Pileated hunger for some time to come. 🙂 Alleluia! There is a special satisfaction when a nemesis bird finally yields.
And the Pileated is such a great bird. They are all large as woodpeckers go…a size bigger then any other North American Woodpecker…almost the same size as Crow…and this one was big as Pileateds go. When it glided silently off through the forest, flashing the white on its wings, it looked absolutely huge. It has, as you can see from the photo, a long neck and a massive bill, and it does real damage to a tree trunk with each blow. And look at the intent in that eye! There is power in its foraging. Bark flies. Bugs can not hide! Such a beautiful bird. Such a privilege to see one…such a wonder to be able to photograph it.
Again, alleluia! For me it was a real “thank you Jesus” moment…a moment when I could not help but be conscious of the love of God the creator…and God’s love specifically for me. Now, I am not blind. I know that for many this world is a hard place to be. I know there is pain here, that people, some much more deserving than I, suffer…and I know, more than that, that I, myself, have caused some of that pain. There is no way that I deserve to be so blessed. In no way have I earned, or could I ever, the privilege of seeing and photographing a Pileated Woodpecker as I saw and photographed it yesterday. No way! And yet, alleluia, there it is…my alleluia bird! Alleluia, hallelujah: God be praised! And I am compelled to say it.
The light that fills me, that illuminates a world of wonder through an eye made generous by the gift of Jesus, is hallelujah. I don’t own it, it is not mine, but it lives in me by faith…a faith that is ever renewed in every encounter. Yesterday it was my alleluia bird…the Pileated Woodpecker.
Pelecinid Wasp is strange all over!
Pelecinid Wasp, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine
It has been at least a year, and it may have been two, since I encountered a Pelecinid Wasp. My first sighting was at Emmons Preserve in Kennebunkport. This one came from Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area. I was surprised to see it fly across the path in front of me and land in a small birch at the edge of the forest…but there is no mistaking this very strange bug with its extended abdomen trailing out behind a body with such small wings that it seems totally impossible that the thing could fly. The long abdomen is used to inject eggs into scarab beetle larvae while they are still underground. Close up, the hind legs feature strange bulges, which have no apparent use. Stranger still, almost all Pelecinid Wasps seen or collected in North America are females. Males, with a shorter, swollen abdomen, only account for 4% of sightings. It is possible that female wasps develop from unfertilized eggs…and that would make them very strange indeed, as insects just do not do that. But then, if that is case…why are there any males at all? Strange. The Pelecinid is strange all over.
Sony HX90V at about 1400mm equivalent field of view (using Clear Image digital Zoom). 1/250th @ ISO 400 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Snake Tongue
Common Garter Snake, Bay City Recreation Area, Bay City MI
We found this tiny (less than a foot long and not much bigger than a pencil) Common Garter Snake when returning from the trails at Tobico Marsh at the Bay City Recreation Area. It was just where the trail come back out on to the road, and it was crossing the pavement. My friend Rich had actually stepped over it without seeing it when I happened to look down. While I have seen snakes flick their tongue before, this specimen had its tongue in almost constant motion. I took lots of images, trying to catch it with its tongue fully extended.
Of course this morning I had to do some research to find out why snakes, and this snake in particular, flick their tongues. The reason I remembered is the most commonly held…the snake uses its tongue to collect microscopic scent oils from the air and delivers them to a sense organ in the roof of the mouth. The most recent research suggests that the tongue serves two related functions. When the tips are turned up, it is indeed sampling the air for odors, but when they are turned down, as in this image, it is more likely that snake is sampling the ground ahead of it for something more like taste than scent. This snake might then have been tracking something that crossed the pavement ahead of it, or it might just have been looking for the edge of the pavement for escape. Hard to say.
Sony HX90V at something over 1000mm equivalent field of view (using Clear Image Zoom). 1/250th @ ISO 200 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom and Topaz denoise.
Sailing Lake Huron
Catamarans on Lake Huron, Tawas Point State Park
Tawas Point State Park is apparently a popular put-in spot for sailing catamarans. There were 30 or more sailing a circle coarse off the head of the point on the Lake Huron side. And it was a glorious day to be on the water. This is a telephoto shot, reaching out to isolate the boats between the glitter of the water and the piled sky.
Sony HX90V in-camera HDR. 505mm equivalent field of view. Nominal exposure 1/1000th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Jeweled Frog
Northern Leopard Frog, Tawas Point State Park, MI
There is nothing unusual about a Northern Leopard Frog. They are common in fresh water ponds of Maine, especially at higher elevations…and evidently they are common in the lakes of Michigan as well…at least Lake Huron, at Tawas Point State Park. On the other hand, I have never seen one jeweled with sand as they all seem to be along the Huron shore. The ones I found were resting in the sand several feet from the water’s edge…two hops (and a Northern Leopard Frog is a champion hopper) at least. Since the shore is sandy, I suppose it is not strange to see that the frogs are coated with sand…just a bit outside my experience of frogs in general, and Northern Leopard Frogs in particular. 🙂
Sony HX90V at around 1000mm equivalent. 1/250th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Tawas Light
Tawas Lighthouse, Tawas Point State Park, MI
Tawas Point is a living hook spit, just like Cape Cod, but in the waters of Lake Huron, off Tawas City. This is the second lighthouse they built on the point, after the first lighthouse was left high and dry a mile inland as the point grew. This one suffered the same fate, and has been replaced by a fog horn on the point itself. Efforts were made, successfully, to preserve the lighthouse for its historical value. I was there on just about a perfect September day.
Sony HX90V in-camera HDR. Processed in Lightroom.
Raccoon Story
Raccoon. Bay City Recreation Area. Tobico Marsh. Michigan.
I wish I knew this Raccoon’s whole story. I only know a page of it, perhaps even only a sentence. Due to some misunderstanding at the beginning of Saturday’s Midwest Birding Symposium field trip to Bay City Recreation Area and Tobico Marsh, Rich and I were driving around looking for an open gate to get a dozen cars safely parked. While at the Tobico Marsh parking we saw this Raccoon by the side of the road, just sitting, watching us pass. Strange. Stranger, when we got back with all the cars, it was still on the side of road, but it had moved about 100 yards closer to where the trail enters the marsh along the road. We split the group in to two, and my group walked from the parking to the trail along the road, and the Raccoon was still sitting there, right out in the open. I cautioned the group to give it a wide berth, as, by now, I was suspicious it might be sick or injured…perhaps even rabid. The birders obediently crossed the road and went around the Raccoon while I brought up the rear. I thought sure it would scamper off into the brush behind it, but it just sat there, looking at us, as we passed. Of course, I took a few pics. Close up, it does not look either sick or injured. So, what is its story? I can only wonder. I hope it lived on to write the next paragraph, page, etc. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 1200mm equivalent field of view. 1/50th @ ISO 800 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Coco Loco. Happy Sunday!
The Mariachi Band at Coco Loco in Bay City MI
While at the Midwest Birding Symposium we searched Yelp for a good Mexican Restaurant. Coco Loco had a good rating and the reviews sounded promising…the name was certainly intriguing…it was not far from our hotel…so, why not? Quite a place! The decor was over the top, the atmosphere was fun fun fun…and they had an old style four piece Mariachi Band roaming the floor. The food was not bad either. I, of course, had my Sony HX90V in my pocket, so (uncharacteristically for me in that setting) I took quite a few pics…trying to catch a bit of the fun while remaining as unobtrusive as possible. I am not that much of a tourist yet 🙂
This couple had a request for the band…something slow and old and romantic…and they were clearly moved by the experience. As was I. I felt a bit like an intruder zooming in this close, but that is why I carry a real camera and not just a phone…even into restaurants. I don’t think they knew I was there. No flash…just Hand-held Twilight Mode.
As I say, this is not a typical image for me…I am more into nature, landscapes, birds and wildlife, etc…but I know I need to take more pics of people, and I am trying to remind myself of that at every opportunity. The creator of all who shares a spirit with us is evident in nature, of course, but there is no expression of the creator’s love more complete than what we see in each other…the children of God…as we live out the spirit of creation. A generous eye certainly must see, and respond to, the light that is in each of us…and I am called to celebrate that love as much in humanity as in nature. I want to do that. It does not come natural yet, but I intend to make it so…to begin to photograph my fellows with as much joy as I photograph a dawn or sunset…or a bird. We will see what success I have…
Let this be a beginning, and a commitment. Happy Sunday!
Tennessee Warblers of the Fall
Tennessee Warbler, Bay City Recreation Area, Bay City MI
The Tennessee Warbler is one of the archetypal “confusing fall warblers”…easily mistaken for Orange Crowned Warbler, especially first season Orange-crowned. This one showed its white under-tail in other shots, making the id easier, but often it is a real head-scratcher. Â We watched an cloudy afternoon mixed feeding flock (typical fall behavior) of Downy Woodpeckers, Titmice, Chickadees, and Black-throated Blue, Palm, and Tennessee Warblers from the first of the two observation towers at Bay City Recreation Area on the Tobico Marsh trails. It was lead by the woodpeckers and Titmice, followed by the Black-throated Blues, and the Tennessees were the last to pass the tower.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/160th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom.