Monthly Archives: March 2020
Red like a Sumac
The Sumac plumes are bright red this week. I found this one along Water Street here in Kennebunk just beyond the Roger’s Pond turnoff. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Macro at the long end of the zoom in program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Sparkly Crow
American Crow, Kennebunk, Maine, USA: Crows like sparkly things, but this Crow is itself kind of sparkly…sitting in the sun on a bright March day. It’s glossy black plumage is full of reflective highlights. This is just down the street from us on one of daily walks around the neighborhood…practicing social distancing, of course…not hard when I am the only one on the street…except for the crows, of course, and they keep their distance from me. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Coy Chipmunk…
Chipmunks are, almost by definition, coy. They have that strange mixture of boldness and timidity…bold to certain point, and then instantly timid, that makes them worth paying attention to whenever you see one. This one was near the beginning of the Kennebunk Land Trust Mousam River Sanctuary trail here in Kennebunk. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Bronze in passing
Something a bit different today. Along the back side of the loop at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, there was a land slippage on the high bank over Branch Brook last spring that took an overlook and part of the trail with it. One of the tall spruces that was on the edge of the bank is now down near the river, leaning against the back and out over the trail. It did not survive the fall, and is now slowly turning brown. They will get to it with a chainsaw one of these days soon, but for now it is like a rich bronze casting over the trail, especially in afternoon light. I moved in close and tried several different compositions out at the long end of the zoom, in an attempt to capture the effect. Sony Rx10iv at about 440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications (which I also use for macro). Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch, Kennebunk, Maine USA
The Goldfinches come to the feeder a few times a day. I have thistle out for them, but they also visit the mixed seed feeders. They are skitterish and I had to wait a long time on the deck to get this one to come in while I was there. This, I think, is a spring male, perhaps last years juvenile just coming into its summer plumage. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Mallards
Mallard, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk, Maine, USA
I don’t generally get excited about Mallards. They are our most common duck here in Southern Maine…present wherever there is fresh water…ponds, rivers, and marshes. This pair, however, posed among the floating debris of a little backwater between Roger’s Pond and the street above, are just too picture perfect to pass up…especially in these days of self-isolation and limited photo ops 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Two obtrusive reeds removed in TouchRetouch.
Acrobatic Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. Nuthatches are notorious for feeding upside down…so this one was right in its element hanging off the bottom of our squirrel-proof suet feeder. It might look difficult, and would be for us, but it is all in a day’s work for the nuthatch. 🙂 And certainly a lesson we might want to learn, in our pandemic “turned upside down” world. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Another Chickadee on the Back Deck
Black-capped Chickadee, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. Still having fun watching birds and taking photos under the back deck feeders while we wait out the pandemic. I have ordered a pop-up photo blind and some more feeders for a photo station out under the trees in our backyard, but until they come and I get that set up, I am just being as patient and as still as I can on the back deck. The chickadees, are always cooperative. My goal with Black-capped Chickadees is to expose so that you can see the eye in the dark mask. Not always easy. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Male Downy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. This is the male Downy Woodpecker from the pair that frequent our backyard. The Downy’s are, surprisingly, even bolder than the Chickadees. They will come down from the trees even when they have seen me. I know they see me, because they sit on a branch above me and watch me, often hoping to other branches for a better view, for several moments before diving down. 🙂 That little patch of red really stands out in the sun. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Bluebird, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. Sitting under the feeders during our pandemic isolation here in Kennebunk, the Bluebirds did eventually come in close. This is the female. I am still waiting for a photo of the male of this pair. They do not nest in our yard…though we have invited them by putting up a box…but I think I have found the box where they do next, about 2 blocks away. They come for the meal worms I put out, and they will bring their chicks when they fledge, later this summer. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.