Flame Skimmer, AZ Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson AZ

The Flame Skimmer is a favorite dragonfly of mine, for many of the same reasons yesterday’s Vermillion Flycatcher is a favorite bird. I only see them here in Arizona or in South Texas, so I don’t see them often, and they are actually kind of the same surprising color! This one was flying around the Mountain Islands habitats at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum when I visited this week. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with Program Shift for greater depth of field. 1/60th @ f11 @ ISO 250. Processed in Polarr.

Vermillion Flycatcher, Kino Environmental Restoration Area, Tucson, AZ

The Vermillion Flycatcher is one of my favorite birds…perhaps in part because I only see it when I visit Arizona or South Texas, so, at most twice a year. Every encounter is memorable. This one was one of two males hanging out along the edge of the Kino Environmental Restoration Project in Tucson, Arizona yesterday on a hot August afternoon. Great storms were passing north of us in the Oro Valley, but the sun was intense in Tucson, and the Vermillions were keeping to the shade along the edge of ten ball field parking. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/500th @ ISO 500 @ f4. Processed in Polarr.

Costa’s Hummingbird, Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson AZ

Total disclaimer: this shot was taken at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum inside the Hummingbird Aviary. It is not a free flying bird. These birds are wild, but captive, and they are very used to human presence. This one hovered within inches of my face 🙂 Still, it is an impressive shot of an impressive bird! Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 2000. I had the ISO set to a minimum shutter speed of 1/1000th. Processed in Polarr. (No noise reduction by the way.)

Bull Frogs and Pickerel Frogs, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains WMA, Maine

The frogs were out in force at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area when I visited last…and they were unusually cooperative. The panel shows 4 different individuals. Two American Bull Frogs. The one on the right is actually considerably smaller than the one on the left. And two Pickerel Frogs, both about the same size…which is to say, much smaller than the Bull Frogs. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 400 and 640. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.

Monarch Butterfly on Blazing Star, Kennebunk Plains WMA, Maine

There is nothing to match a Monarch Butterfly on Northern Blazing Star. This is a good year for Monarchs in Southern Maine, after a very troubling year last year. I have seen many in different locations. Last year I saw only 2 Monarchs all summer. To see one on the endangered Blazing Star on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area near Kennebunk is very special. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr.

Clearwing Moth on Blazing Star, Kennebunk Plains WMA, Maine

These photos of a Clearwing Moth are some of my “most wanted” photos over the past few years. I saw my first Clearwing about 5 years ago here in Maine, and I have chased several in the years since, but never managed a good photo. When it happens it happens! And on Northern Blazing Star too, one of the rarest flowers in Maine, and threatened nationally. As to which Clearwing this is, Snowberry Clearwing or Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris Diffinis or Hemaris Thysbe) I am not expert enough to know. Both are possible in southern Maine. Snowberry is more likely, but this looks more like a Hummingbird Moth from the pictures I have been able to find on the web. Any help would be appreciated from those who know. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/1000th @ f4.5 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic. You can tell how fast the wings beat…1/1000th did not quite stop them. 🙂

Mushroom, near Fernald Brook Pond #2, Kennebunk Maine.

While doing landscape shots at the second of the small ponds in the Fernald Brook drainage along Route 9 in Kennebunk, Maine, I found this mushroom in the leaf litter. It made a good “ground level” shot, so I flipped out the LCD panel and got down low. The mixed lighting I find interesting. Sony RX10iv at 37mm equivalent. In-camera HDR. Nominal exposure: 1/80th @ f3.2 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and TouchRetouch.

Tom Turkey, Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine

I don’t know how I managed it, but I lived 70 years on planet Earth without noticing the beard on a Tom turkey. After seeing it my recent photos of a rafter (group) of Toms at Laudholm Farms in nearby Wells Maine, I had to Google it to make sure it was a real thing. It is. All Toms (and small percentage of hens) grow chest beards…modified feathers similar in texture to a horse’s tail…from their chests. Some say you can tell the age of a Tom by the length of its beard, and that they reach 8-10 inches, so this Tom is indeed a mature male. (Hens’ beards, when they have them, are always shorter, a few inches at most.) One more strange thing about this very strange bird. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 250. Processed in Polarr.

Tom Turkeys, Laudholm Farms, Wells Maine

When I found this rafter (flock) of Wild Turkeys across from the Trust building at Laudholm Farms, I assumed they were all hens, as I have never seen a large group of anything but hens in Maine. However, looking at the photos this morning for this post I realized that they were, in fact, all males, mostly mature Toms, and a few young Toms, or Jakes among them. I would not have believed that there were this many Toms in all of York County, let along all together in one field at Laudholm Farms. If there are this many Toms (there were 20 or more in the rafter), then that must mean that there are literally hundreds of hens somewhere in the woods around us. That is a good thing I think. In the photo above there are three birds. Note the one looking over the back of the bird in the foreground. Such a look! 🙂 Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 250. Processed in Polarr. The title, of course, is a play on the name of a famous toothpaste and deodorant company founded right here in Kennebunk Maine.

Slaty Skimmer, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains WMA, Maine

It was a good day for Slaty Skimmers on my last visit to Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area in southern Maine this week. They were by far the most numerous Odonata. This panel shows three poses, and three different individuals. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with Program Shift for greater depth of field. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.