Monthly Archives: January 2016
America’s Most Colorful!
Painted Bunting, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville FL.
Song bird that is. The Painted Bunting. This male was coming to the feeders at the Visitor Center at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. This is an early morning shot.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/60th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Sora in the Sun
Sora, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is full of big beautiful birds: Great and Reddish Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks, White and Glossy Ibis, Bald Eagles, etc. These birds jump right out at you (sometimes literally) as you drive around Black Point Wildlife Drive. But some of the best birds are smaller and far less obvious. Take this Sora, a small Rail. Sora’s are generally difficult to see, and when they are, it is generally as they sulk along the edges of reed beds, in and out of the reeds. This one was caught out under the mangroves in the pond near the Rest Rooms on Black Point. The late afternoon light got in under the vegetation and lit the little Sora up!
Nikon P900 at 1600mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Spoonbills
Roseate Spoonbills, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville FL
We had wonderful light late in the day on Black Point Wildlife Drive on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and there were about 300 Roseate Spoonbills feeding in several groups along the drive. Folks who had been there all day said it was nothing compared to the early morning show, of course, but I am happy with Flordia afternoon light and relatively close Spoonbills any day! This group is just about in full breeding plumage. The heads will get greener, and the bodies brighter, but only just a bit. As far as I am concerned it just does not get better than this!
Nikon P900 at 1400mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Avant Guard
Ice along the Mousam River at Roger’s Pond.
So, due to the press of time (I am posting during a layover in DC) this is going to be both the Pic for Today and my Day 6 Nature Photography Challenge on Facebook. 🙂 And keeping to my theme, it is a challenging image. Ice gets into all kinds of strange shapes, given the right weather! This is along the Mousam River at Roger’s Pond in Kennebunk Maine. It is a ground level macro shot, taken with the LCD flipped out.
Sony HX90V. In-camera HDR. Processed in Lightroom.
Winter Robin. Happy Sunday!
American Robin, Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light.” Jesus
I went out, after clearing the next to the last snow storm out of the drive before dawn, to catch the early light on the fresh snow at Roger’s Pond, and to see if the Eagles were in. I was so early the fruit tree by the picnic shelter was still in shadow, but the Robins were there, perched on the snowy branches, eating fruit at a astonishing rate. It is a classic winter Robin shot, with the snow capping the red fruit, and the open beak of the bird.
Okay, so seeing a picture like this, I have to think of the time Jesus once told his disciples that they should not worry themselves about what they would eat. “Look at the birds of the air;” he said, “they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” These days, Robins can live through a Maine winter. They get by, at least in part, on the ornamental fruit trees we have planted around our houses. If food gets scarce, they do what they did before we got here…they go as far south as needed to find food. And, to be honest, not all of them make it. But that does not diminish the truth of what Jesus was really saying. Jesus was not saying that we would not have to work for our living (birds certainly work for theirs), or that life would not sometimes be hard to the point of breaking…he was saying that we should not worry about it…that we should simply trust in God and get on with it. We should have confidence that we matter to God as least as much as the birds. We should live with confidence, firmly founded on faith in a loving God.
In my experience, this is one of the hardest lessons faith has to teach us. And I think of that, and am both challenged and encouraged, when I see a winter Robin, eating red fruit in a snowy Maine tree. That too, is part of the generous eye.
Happy Sunday!
Song Sparrow in Winter
Song Sparrow. Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
This is another bird from Roger’s Pond in the interval between snow storms, busily feeding under the bushes by the parking lot. There were several. I approached perhaps too close, and they all scuttered back into the brush, but as I stood there, they all came back out, and this one worked its way to within 20 feet of me…so busy feeding that it payed me no attention. This collage shows off most off the bird in all its glory. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 200 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Cardinal in Winter Sun
Northern Cardinal, Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
Despite its name, in the US, the Northern Cardinal is really a southern bird. It only reached New England in the late 1950s and was not abundant in Maine until the 70s. Now, of course, you see them every where, right up into southern Canada. This specimen was foraging in the forest edge and under the bushes at Roger’s Pond in Kennebunk Maine one winter morning between snow storms. The January light, with the sun still low in the sky, brings up the color of the Cardinal. The bird was very actively feeding, so getting a sharp, still, shot was difficult.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 250 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly for scale in Lightroom.
Odd Couple. Blue Bird and Goldfinch
Blue Bird and American Goldfinch, Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
Another from my birdy morning at Roger’s Pond. Though they were just a bit too far apart to focus on both, this Eastern Blue Bird and winter American Goldfinch were certainly sitting close together. You do not often see this…especially with two different species, especially not with song birds. Winter makes for strange bed-fellows…or at least companions. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 160 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly for composition in Lightroom.
Robin in Red Berries
American Robin, Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine.
The other day I had a very birdy day at Roger’s Pond while looking for Eagles. This fruiting tree near the picnic shelter is a favorite with Robins all winter. I have seen Blue Birds, Goldfinches, and Cardinals in it too. This handsome Robin sat still while I approached to closest focus distance on the Nikon P900 (16.5 feet). I like the way it is nested among the berries.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 180 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Blue Bird in Red Berries
Eastern Bluebird, Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine
After several days of spitting snow clouds and cold rain, we had a cold, sunny day yesterday. I suited up and went out in the morning, to Roger’s Pond, to see if I could catch an Eagle. No such thing. However, as I walked around the pond looking for consolation prizes, I spotted some small birds flitting through the trees up by the picnic shelter. Blue birds. Actually Blue Birds! As it turned out, a small flock of Eastern Blue Birds were working their way through the park and up-stream. I eventually tracked them to this bush, at the very edge of the park, where this specimen sat for his portrait. The blue is never bluer than when contrasted with red. Not my closest shot…I cropped it a bit for scale, but certainly one of my most attractive. I like the pose too. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 110 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom.
Did I say “consolation prize”? This shot, even if I had found and Eagle, would still have taken the blue ribbon for the day! 🙂