Monthly Archives: June 2023
India! Plain Prinia
Plain Prinia: Chambal Sarus Crane Conservation Area, Uttar Pradesh, India, March 2023 — From the endangered Sarus Crane to the common Plain Prinia…lots of wildlife hidden in the grasses and reeds of the Sarus Crane Conservation Area. A tricky shot! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine! So, just what exactly are your intentions?
Piping Plover: York County, Maine, USA — Okay, I guess it needs to be said again. You should never get as close as it looks like I might be from this photo to an endangered Piping Plover. I was not actually anywhere near that close. It is a long lens and a cropped photo that makes it look that way…and I did not approach the birds…they worked their way closer to me as I stood still. They are reclaiming territories on popular tourist beaches this year, and we want them to succeed. If you visit you will see them working between their posted nesting areas up against the dunes and the tide-line. It is what they do. Enjoy them, but give them their space. This bird is clearly aware than I am there…and I backed away and left soon after this was taken. He evidently wanted to explore the section of beach I was standing on, and I let him. 🙂 OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 320 @ f6.3 @ 1/3200th.
India! Nilgai
Nilgai: Chambal Sarus Crane Conservation Area, Uttar Pradesh, India, March 2023 — Sarus Cranes were not the only large wildlife to take advantage of the farmer’s fields in the Chambal Sarus Crane Conservation Area in Uttar Pradesh India. These Nilgai look like they are swimming in the see of grain…and I am sure they do much more damage to the crop than the Cranes do. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5 @ 1/1000th. -.3EV
Maine! Piping Plovers
Piping Plovers: York County, Maine, USA, June 2023 — This adult plover was telling me I was too close to the chick…though I was not moving. The chick was coming to me. So maybe it was telling the chick it was too close to me. At any rate, I backed off after this shot. Or these shots. If you know about long lens photography (these were taken at 800mm equivalent and cropped in so I was actually about 20 feet away) you will know that it is impossible that the both the adult and the chick could be in focus at the same time. The chick was several feet behind the adult…just barely in the same frame. I took a shot of the adult with the chick out of focus in the background, and then refocused on the chick and took a second shot. When processed and combined in Pixelmator Pro, and touched up, you get this…and even here I bet your attention is switching back and forth between the birds…it is almost impossible to focus on both at the same time, even in this flat composite. Just the way our eyes and brains work. 🙂 Olympus Systems OM-1 with 100 to 400mm zoom. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/2000th. -.3EV for the beach light.
Diving Least Tern
Least Tern: York County, Maine, USA — The Least Tern is also listed as “endangered” in Maine, and its nesting sites are protected. And again, this year they are nesting on our popular tourist and fishing beach. Please give them space. This diving Tern was over the river, right above the heads of the fishermen…but after considerably smaller prey. This is composite of a series of shots of the same Least Tern diving on prey…taken at 25 frames per second, with the OM Systems OM-1 and the 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent and assembled during processing in Pixelmator Pro. I could edit out the slight halos around the birds but I think in this case it adds to the effect, as though the tern was disrupting the air and carrying light with it. Taken in Program with my evolving birds-in-flight modifications. ISO 250 @ f6.3 @ 1/3200th.
Maine! Piping Plover. The Chick and the bug :)
Piping Plover: York County, Maine, USA, June 2023 — Piping Plovers are protected in Maine, and elsewhere in the US, as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Recent surveys put the total population in the US at about 1800 pairs, and the population in Maine is set to break the 150 pairs mark this year. Last year they raised over 250 chicks to flight stage. They are colonizing, or recolonizing, beaches beyond last year’s breeding territory. This year they moved onto one of the most popular tourist beaches in the area. Even this early in the year and mid-week, I had to negotiate beach blankets and umbrellas to get to the section where the nest protection ropes and mesh nest cage are, and where at least 3 chicks and their parents were running around on the open beach. These shots were all taken at 800mm equivalent and cropped in. I stayed at a respectful, and, I hope, safe distance. This is a story of a bug and a chick. Looking back through my photos of this chick, the bug had been on it for at least 10 minutes before the chick shook it off and picked it up. I am pretty certain the chick did not yet know what to do with it once it had it…but it will learn. Can I ask you, if you are visiting Maine this early summer, please give the Piping Plovers their space. Watch were you walk. Please do not put your beach encampment on the sections of beach where the nesting areas are marked off with ropes and signs, even if there is open beach in front of them. And please, please, do not bring your dog to the beach, even on a leash. The chicks are very vulnerable. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/2000th. -.3EV
India! Sarus Cranes
Sarus Cranes: Chambal Sarus Crane Conservation Area, Uttar Pradesh, India, March 2023 — The Sarus Crane Conservation area is a roughly defined and largely unprotected area of farm fields and wetlands in western Uttar Pradesh. where a growing population of Sarus Cranes nest. A number of organizations and local farmers are attempting to protect and promote breeding ares for the Cranes, which were in decline in the area, and the Indian Supreme Court is involved somehow. The Chambal Safari Lodge and a few other companies offer jeep safaris to view the cranes, but it is not a Refuge or a Reserve of the kind we are used to most places. Basically you drive one lane farm roads hoping to find the cranes. If you meet a tractor, you might end up backing up a long ways. 🙂 We did see cranes, in pairs and small groups feeding in the fields and saw several in flight. Wonderful birds, the worlds tallest crane, and worth protecting. Thankfully, Indian farmers have a soft spot in their hearts for the Sarus Crane, as it is associated with courting and marriage traditions in Uttar Pradesh, and they are making efforts to preserve the wetlands and feeding areas the Cranes rely on. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 and 125 @ f4 @ 1/1000th, 1/1000th, 1/640th, and 1/500th.
Maine! Honey Bee
Honey Bee: SMHC Kennebunk, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2023 — Busy bee! I am not sure what ate the petals of the flower, but it is not bothering the bee. Note the heavy pollen basket on the hind leg. This is a telephoto macro with the OM Systems 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent, on the OM-1 body. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications (which work, as you see, quite well for bugs). Processed n Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f8 @ 1/1250th. -1EV.
India! Ruddy Shelduck
Ruddy Shelduck: Chambal River, Uttar Paradesh, India, March 2023 — The Ruddy Shelduck breeds mostly in a wide band starting in southeast Europe and stretching across all of Asia at that same latitude. It also breeds in much of India and there are outlying areas in northwest and northeast Africa. It breeds in Spain, and you can see it in summer almost anywhere in Europe. So pretty widespread. These two were in the sony area along the Chambal River and were photographed from our boats on the river. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +3EV.
Biggest Week in American Birding: Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler: Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio, May 2023 — Lots of Black-throated Blue Warblers skulking through the under brush (or maybe it is just brush now that the canopy is gone) at Magee Marsh this year. Or maybe they are just more visible without the overhanging trees. OM System OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 770mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 640 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th. -.3EV