Monthly Archives: January 2017
Pelicans landing in early light
American White Pelicans, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida
American White Pelicans joining a feeding flock along Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge early in morning, just after sunup. Lovely light on lovely birds.
Sony Rx10iii in my specialized birds-in-flight mode. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 250. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. You can find more info on the BIF mode at http://psnp.lightshedder.com/?p=998.
Limpkin
Limpkin, Ritch Grissem Memorial Wetlands at Viera, Viera Florida
Limpkins are strange, ancient, highly specialized birds of the Florida swamps and marshes. (They also range down through Central American and into South America, but they only reach the US in Florida.) Though they resemble Herons and Egrets, and Ibis even more, they have no relatives in the bird world. They are specifically adapted to eat the Apple Snails that enhabit Florida waters. Their beak is a tool that is not good for much else, but is incredibly efficient at finding and eating the snails. It is sensitive enough to allow the Limpkin to find the snails in the mud under the shallow water at the edges of the marsh by touch, and its shape, tweezer-like and often with a right curve, allows them to extract the snail without breaking the shell. You see fewer and fewer Limpkins in Florida as their habitat is built over or becomes impossibly polluted and Apple Snail populations fall, but I heard from a native Floridian that there is a new invasive species of a more resilient and slightly larger snail moving into the marshes that Limpkins find appetizing. Maybe we will see resurgence in the population. This was the only Limpkin I could find at Viera Wetlands (Ritch Grissem Memorial Wetlands at Viera) yesterday. I generally see several at least.
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 160. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Water dancer. Happy Sunday!
Snowy Egret, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
Snowy Egrets dance on the water when hunting fish. They lift off just enough so they can flit from spot to spot, just touching their feet on the water to pursue fish across a pond…and then pounce when they catch up. It is a fascinating and beautiful action to watch, the white birds with bright yellow feet (yellow slippers we birder’s call them), slim and graceful, dancing across the water.
Walking on the water is, of course, one of Jesus’ more famous miracles. He did it in a storm on the Lake of Galilee while his disciples in a boat feared for their lives. The gospel says “walked”, but I wonder, with the Snowy Egret in mind, if “danced” might be closer. I wonder if Jesus danced with the waves of the storm. I hope he did, graceful and wonderful as the Snowy Egret.
One of things about the generous eye is its willingness to believe in miracles when they happen, “right before our eyes,” and the tendency to see the miracles in even in the common happenings in this world. Isn’t the Snowy Egret dancing on water a miracle in its own right. I certainly can not analyze the physics behind it, or image how it is done from a mechanical and aerodynamic stand-point. I am amazed every time I see it. Amazed and delighted. I like living in a world where Snowy Egrets dance on water. It is good to remember, when the politics and stormy troubles of life in the world get to be too much, that once upon a time Jesus walked on water in the storm, and somewhere, even now, there is an Egret dancing on the waves.
Happy Sunday!
Bald Eagle!
American Bald Eagle, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida
I always tell my students, photography is all about being in the right place at the right time, and ready! This is especially true of wildlife photography. We pulled off on the side the road to photograph this American Bald Eagle on a snag about 200 feet in. I walked back along the margin a few dozen yards for a better angle and was set up on the Eagle when it decided to fly. I could tell by the shift in body posture that it was about to go, so I was able to pan with it as it lifted off. Bam!
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f5.6. Processed and cropped for scale in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Breakfast, Snow Egret Style
Snowy Egret, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, FL
I was photographing this Snowy Egret across a small pool off Black Point Wildlife Drive at Mettitt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville, Florida when it flew out and did its dancing on water thing and came up with a little fish. To my surprise it proceeded to fly in to a submerged Mangrove stump right in front of me, not 10 feet out in the water. It balanced on its precarious perch for 7 or 8 minutes, as it maneuvered the fish for swallowing. Ideal light, a great bird in close, and some action for interest. It does not get any better than that. 🙂
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ f6.3 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Pelican in flight
American White Pelican, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville FL
There were lots of American White Pelicans off Black Point Wildlife Drive, at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville Florida yesterday. In fact, they might have been the most numerous birds. I saw them in the air and on the water in large groups. Of course, you have to try for flight shots!
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ f5.6 @ ISO 100 using my special custom flight mode. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Florida light on a GBH…
Great Blue Heron, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Fl
I could not post another pic of Maine winter or Maine winter birds, being in Florida today and all. 🙂 So I got up early and went out to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Black Point Wildlife Drive. Lots of Great Blue Herons. And Florida light!
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program mode. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Downy Woodpecker on the thistle sock
Downy Woodpecker, Kennebunk Maine
I am on my way to Florida today, traveling most of the day, so this is an image from last week.
I am not sure if the Downy Woodpecker ever actually takes seed from the Thistle Sock, but it hangs there often, using it as a intermediate perch on its way to the bottom of the suet cage, where it hangs upside down and pecks at the suet blocks inside. From my post at the far corner of the deck outside the glass doors from the kitchen, there is a narrow window between the apple branch perches, so the image is cropped accordingly. There was a little nub of branch sticking out from foreground perch and almost toching the woodpeckers head (not in reality, but in perspective), which I was able to remove in TouchRetouch after processing the image in Polarr.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 200 @ f4. Processed as above.
Titmouse at the feeder
Tufted Titmouse, Kennebunk Maine
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 200 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.
Cherry Chickadee. Happy Sunday!
Black-capped Chickadee, Kennebunk Maine
Just yesterday I posted about the acrobatic Chickadees at the feeder, and yesterday they were back, along with Titmice, Goldfinches, Nuthatches, Juncos, and Bluebirds, to continue their show around the back deck feeders. There is nothing more cheerful than a Chickadee. They are bold enough so my presence on the deck while they are feeding does not disturb them and it certainly seems as though nothing can get them down. Always busy. Always active and alert. Always poised and confident. Always, to all appearances, cheerful.
With all that is going on in the world right now, I feed the need to channel the chickadee’s cheerfulness. In fact, I woke this morning full of hope…full of good cheer. I don’t know exactly why, but I am certainly thankful. My Day Poem yesterday was about the Woman’s March protests that took place all across the country, and, while I do not agree with some of the things espoused (Choice is much too complex and troubling an issue to put up on a placard), I did and do appreciate the energy…the “pro” in protest, and the testimony to good will and generosity that the movement exemplifies.
If I were to make a protest sign it would be something like this.
I choose life
(and life for all that lives)
I choose hope
(hope that carries us all toward good)
I choose joy
(in service to my fellows and all that lives)
I choose love
While that might be a bit heavy, philosophically, for a chickadee to carry, it is what I imagine the chickadee’s sign might also say. It is a cheerful message. Poised and confident. It is a “pro” message, not an anti message, and is, therefore, right in the spirit of true protest.
I woke with that sign, if not in my hand, at least in my heart and mind. I woke to the realization that no one can take my faith in life, my hope, my joy, or my love. They are my creator’s gift to me, knit into my bones, renewed by faith in Jesus Christ. And I woke to realize that, no matter what they had on their signs, there are a whole lot of other people in this country and this world who share that generosity of spirit (whether they share my faith or not) and that generosity can not, and will not, be put down. My hope for the next four years is that the movement that embraces Bernie Sanders Revolution, Occupy, the Woman’s March, the Obama legacy, and so much more, will find a clear voice…a pro voice, never an anti voice…that affirms life, hope, joy, and love. If that comes to pass, then what people will remember about the next four years is not Trump and his silver spoon henchmen, but the way people of good will rose up to take our country, and our lives, back.
And it begins with the cheerfulness of the Chickadee. Happy Sunday!