Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Rio Santiago Nature Lodge, Honduras
Outside here in Southern Maine, we are well into a spring snowstorm. About 3 inches on the ground as I write this and perhaps another 3 expected before noon. On the second day of spring! That is life in the northern latitudes. So, as an antidote, we will drop back 6 weeks to my time in Honduras, and the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird taken at the Rio Santiago Nature Lodge on the slopes of Pico Bonito.
I will return to Hondruas in June, at the height of hummingbird season, and we will spend at least one day at Rio Santiago. You can come too! It is a Point and Shoot Nature Photography adventure. Bring you camera and a Point and Shoot attitude, and we will have a lot of fun with the birds, mammals, butterflies, flowers, and landscapes of Honduras, all from the comfort of the the world class Lodge at Pico Bonito…in the company of fellow Point and Shoot photographers. Great photo ops, good learning, and great people. Visit my Point and Shoot Nature Photographer site for more information.
Nikon P900 at 1500mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 640 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom. (We will have lots of time to learn to photograph hummers like this, and, for those who want it, even instruction in post processing).
This is your chance. Great pricing for a great Point and Shoot photo adventure.
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
I could see from my yard that drama was building in the sky to the west, and would sweep over us in the next rew hours, so I packed my cameras and headed out to catch some of it. We live a forested landscape…so much so that there are few places with a broad horizon…at least to the west. To the east, of course, we have the sea, and as broad a horizon as anyone could want, but weather systems move over us from the west, and the best you can do on the east is catch the storm going away. Still, the beach, and the marshes behind the dunes, do provide enough sky so that is the first place I headed in search of photos of the coming storms.
This is a sweep panorama of the western sky and the marsh from just behind the dunes. The clouds high in the sky are just the harbingers…the real storms are still down on the horizon just above the trees. I drove further inland, to the Kennebunk Plains, to catch those. Still, the sweep of the creek, the line of the road on the right, the trees on the horizon, and the balance of the sky make for a beauty worth seeing…and worth sharing.
I think our love of moving water and stormy skies comes from somewhere very deep within us. I think we see the power of our God, and the beauty, in such a landscape. God speaks presence and present action. “I am here and I am working. See what I make. See my making.” Or at least that is what the generous eye sees and hears.
It took the storms on the horizon about 90 minutes to reach the coast. Heavy rain, high winds, and thunder. I was out on the Plains when the weather and the drama reached there. Beauty runs ahead of the storm. Beauty runs in the storm, and beauty comes after. God is all in all.
Carol came running
early to the bedroom,
“turkeys in the yard,”
and I went running
barefoot and still wet
from the shower, camera
in hand, out the front door.
Indeed, four big birds
in full spring finery…
feathers aglisten in the
morning sun with
colors rarely seen,
(barely imagined).
They strutted mindlessly,
as only turkeys strut,
(I know they call it
a trot but it’s not…
something between
a strut and a stroll)
up the middle of the
road to the neighbor’s
yard where they circled
back just in time
to be a Turkey heart
attack for the lady
in the SUV taking the
corner on Brown
Street a tad too fast.
They scuttled (again
a better word than trot)
through another yard
into the relative safety
of a patch of forest
and where gone.
Ah to be as mindless
and a carefree as a
Turkey in the spring.
Snow Bunting, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, W. Kennebunk ME
We had amazing skies yesterday afternoon and of course I went looking for a venue to feature them. They were coming in from the west, so after a few shots from the beach looking inland, I headed out to the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area…one of the few places in forested Southern Maine where you have a decent horizon in all directions. The Kennebunk Plains are a remnant sand plain habitat, traditionally kept open by wildfire, and now managed with fire for several endangered and marginal species in New England and southern Maine. Black Racer snake, Northern Blazing Star (wildflower), Upland Sandpiper, Wood Lily, etc. Not to mention the abundant wild blueberries (not endangered but rare in Southern Maine), or the occasional amazing skies.
I was back in the car, actually backing out, and the first drops of rain were falling when a flutter on the ground between me and the edge of the parking lot caught my eye. I stopped and rolled down the window, then went for my camera. At first I thought it might be a Longspur of one variety or another but I soon realized that it was a Female Snow Bunting. I can’t not say for sure, but I think it might be a life bird for me…and certainly a first in Maine. It was all by itself, and I had the impression that it was running ahead of the storm. It was certainly feeding frantically along the edge of the grass.
This is a 4 panel collage of the bird so you can get a good look. Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
It seems like my last three trips run together, though they where spread over more than a month in real time. Maybe it is because they were such photographically productive trips. The birds were the best they have been at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in many years. Honduras was amazing, even better than a year ago, and San Diego had all the usual subjects on display, AND I had two excellent days in Anzo Borrego Desert with flowers in bloom and a Desert Bighorn encounter. I brought home over 700 keepers from each of the three trips, and I have only shared a very few of them. That makes me feel image rich and time poor 🙂
This is Reddish Egret standing against the sun. It is not obvious, except in this pose, that the reddish base of the bill is actually translucent. I saw the same thing on Black Skimmers later this same day, and have already posted a pic of that effect…but I never would have guessed that either bill would let this much light through…would light up like this with the sun behind. This is off Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island NWR.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
The breeding plumage Brown Pelicans of La Joya Cove and Scrpps Park in La Joya California are always a treat when I visit in March. Of course there are Brown Pelicans in breeding plumage on every bait float and every dock where fishing boats come in all up and down the coast of Southern California at that time, but I enjoy seeing them in the more natural setting of the rocks of the La Joya cliffs. Rock in the foreground, crashing surf in the background…what could be better?
This group of three pelicans seems to be posing for any theme involving the number three. The shot is enhanced by the diagonal of the rock, especially as it relates visually to the shallow triangle of the birds. There is a graphic satisfaction in the image as well as a portrait of the birds.
Nikon P900 at 800mm equivalent field of view. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom. (If you would like to see how this image was processed, I have featured it in an article about DIY Lightroom Plugins on my P&S Nature Photographer site. Here.)
Harbor Seals, Children’s Pool Beach, La Joya California
Harbor seals can give birth on land, on floating ice, or in the water. This is, I think, a new-born Harbor Seal, making contact with its mother for the first time out of the water. They identify each other by sniffing each other’s breath. I was in San Diego at the height of the pupping season for Harbor Seals, and saw many new-borns on the beach at Children’s Pool in La Joya just up the coast. I have never seen an actual birth. One of these years I will be there at just the right time.
Nikon P900 at 1600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Phainopepla. Palm Canyon, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, CA
The Phainopepla is a silky flycatcher, the only representative of its Central American family to reach the US. It is a desert dweller and is frequently seen around any water source in its arid habitat. This specimen, a male, was along the running part of the stream in Palm Canyon, up toward the Palm Oasis, in Anza Borrego Desert State Park in Borrego Springs California. They feed on insects and Mistletoe berries. Interestingly, according to the wiki, they peal the berries and digest the skins separately from the meat…so they extract maximum nutrition from the fruit. They are the only birds known to practice this trick. Unlike most flycatchers, they are also mimics, with a repertoire of half-a dozen or more other birds calls.
They are certainly striking birds, with their silky, glossy, jet black feathers, jaunty crest, and bright red eye. Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f6/5. Processed in Lightroom.
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light.” Jesus.
This is a “chance” arrangement of wildflowers from the end of Di Giorgio Road in Borrego Springs, California…part of my Desert in Bloom series from my visit to the Anzo Borrego Desert last week. If you believe in chance, which I don’t. 🙂 I see the hand of the Master Gardner here, in this arrangement of Desert Lily, California Evening Primrose, Sand Verbina, and Common Cryptantha (I think it is Common but it could be one of the others). All I had to do was see it, and put a frame around it. And even if you don’t believe in a Master Gardener who makes arrangements in the desert where they may or may not be seen and appreciated, there is a little bit of Master Gardner just in seeing, framing, and sharing the arrangement when found. Or that’s what I think. 🙂
The generous eye is active…proactive…constantly looking for, and therefore seeing, God in the world. God working beauty. God working love. God working good. God working blessing. God working protection. God working. Here in the desert, God works beauty, as the Master Gardener. In my drive over the mountains in a sudden snowstorm to get to the desert, God certainly worked protection. Both were a blessing…totally undeserved…total grace. Just God being God. That is what the generous eye sees. I remember the feeling of finding this arrangement of wildflowers in the desert. I was delighted! The light within me leapt up. I thought “What a God!” and gave thanks…thanks for the work, thanks for the seeing, and thanks for the opportunity to share. It was a moment of pure generosity. Happy Sunday!
Nikon P610 at 115mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed in Lightroom.
Desert Bighorn Sheep, Palm Canyon, Anzo Borrego Desert State Park, CA
During my encounter with Desert Bighorn Sheep in Palm Canyon at Anzo Borrego Desert State Park in California, the sheep were actively browsing the whole time I watched them…and that is using the word “browse” in its original sense 🙂 They seemed to be stripping fresh leaves, new shoots, and maybe even flowers from the desert bushes. Here you have Indigo Bush (purple) and Creosote Bush (yellow). Note the delicate technique of closing the lips and teeth loosely around the stem and drawing the head back to strip the good stuff! It takes a lot of tiny leaves and shoots to fill the belly of a Bighorn Sheep…which is undoubtedly why they were so intent on their browse.
Nikon P900 at various focal lengths and exposures. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
