Monthly Archives: November 2020
Perfectly happy to be gray, thank you
Dark-eyed Junco, White-winged race, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — yesterday we featured a proud Bluebird. While I was photographing it, this Dark-eyed Junco was on the deck under it harvesting spilled seed…perfectly happy to be plain gray. 🙂 We have the White-winged race of the junco in southern Maine, along with the more common Slate-colored…and I am pretty sure many of the lighter colored (or lighter gray) birds are intergrades, as the white in the wings is very subtle. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Proud to be blue!
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — You have to love bluebirds, in whatever aspect they choose to show. This proud fellow found the highest perch overlooking the mealworm feeder and watched as his mate and youngster helped themselves to the buffet. The out of focus background and over the shoulder lighting make this look like a studio portrait. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
The Bluebirds are back…
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — After our Bluebirds fledged their second brood (a single chick), they disappeared, as they always do, for late summer and early fall. I have no idea where they go. But, as of Sunday, they are back. This is early. We generally don’t see them until December. We have one male, a female, and an immature coming in for mealworms, and I am assuming that they are “our” bluebirds from the summer. If the past is any indication, they may stay at least through early winter, and perhaps all winter. They might disappear briefly in the early spring before breeding season, but I hope to see the male and female back for another year. They have been with us at least 3 years now. They have yet to nest in our yard…though we have a box out, but they nest close by. This bird is displaying the typical Bluebird intensity. They might be called the “bluebirds of happiness” but anyone who has observed Bluebirds for any time knows that life is a serious business for them. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
And another Nuthatch view
White-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Endlessly entertaining. Birds around the feeder and the house. Nuthatches in particular. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
That old sunflower seed dance…
Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — another shot with the lovely light of early November in Maine…highlighting the typical sunflower seed dance of the Black-capped Chickadee. You wonder about the efficiency of a chickadee eating sunflower seeds. Can the bird really get back the energy used to open the seed? Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 250.
More Nuthatch antics…
White-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Nuthatches are always fun to watch as they get up to (and down to) the strangest things. This one almost escaped the frame, but I caught him at the edge and was able to crop for composition. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 160 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Chickadee in Autumn light
Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I am really enjoying the early November light. I have mentioned that I have been in Texas and New Mexico this time of year for going on 20 years, and so the light these first weeks in November in Maine is something that I don’t have a lot of recent experience with. The sun is low to the horizon and has swung around way to the south, putting my feeders in the good light from 10am until sundown. This Chickadee was doing it’s usual sunflower seed dance. It had picked one up from the feeder and retreated to a branch to bash it open. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Nuthatch not at the feeder…
White-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — After yesterday’s Nuthatch at the feeder…here is the same bird caught on a branch away from the feeder. It is a lot harder to do. Our Nuthatches may or may not be typical, but they tend to come in for a few moments at the feeder, and then, unlike the Chickadees which often perch close to the feeders to work on a sunflower seed shell, the Nuthatches take off into the far reaches of the neighbor’s yard and I don’t see them again until they are back at the feeders. On rare occasions one will work its way from the feeder branch and trunk to branch and trunk, but generally they don’t pose on perch for long. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Nuthatch at the feeder
White-breasted Nuthatch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I don’t post many photos of birds at the feeder…around the feeder, yes…but I try to keep the feeders out of frame as much as possible. Sometimes you do get a feeder shot that is just too good to pass by though. This perky little nuthatch with the seed and the chickadee peeking out the back…the level of feather detail…the lighting…the background…all add up to a memorable image. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Titmouse in the November shade…
Tufted Titmouse: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — If the November sun is a different kind of light, the November shade is a different kind of shade. All summer photography under the pines were one set of feeders are was difficulty because of the abundance of vegetation and the depth of the shade. Now, as the leaves are mostly fallen, and the light is coming in more obliquely, and from across the yard as opposed to behind the house, the open shade under the pines is becoming slightly more photographically assessable. This Tufted Titmouse only sat for a second, as is their habit, but long enough for a couple of frames. The light brings out the subtle hues of the bird’s plumage. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.