Daily Archives: February 12, 2024

Florida! Little Blue? Heron

Little Blue Herons: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — I have to admit that Little Blue Herons have never looked very blue to me…but then Great Blue Herons are not blue either. And then there is the completely white immature phase of the Little Blue, easily mistaken at first glance for a Snowy Egret. I was happy to get shots of both within an hour of arriving at Merritt Island. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 472 and 800mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Maine! Sunday gift

Immature or Sub-adult Bald Eagles: York County, Maine, USA, February 2024 — I went for what is becoming my customary Sunday morning photoprowl, visiting our local park along the river and then the river mouth and the marshes behind the dunes where it meets the sea. I am generally pleasantly surprised by something…and yesterday it was an immature or sub-adult Bald Eagle that came, chased by noisy crows, and settled in the dead top of a far pine. I took some shots from where I stood, but then began to walk closer. I was still a long way off when, again, surprise, a second and a third sub-adult eagle flew in from behind the first and attempted to dislodge it from its perch. Nothing doing. The first eagle was not budging and the second never really got settled before the third was on them both. After some interesting areal maneuvers, which I will share tomorrow, all three Eagles flew off, far out over the marsh, where one settled into a tree even further away. On my way out I found the other two in a tree on a rise of the farm fields. A surprise and a gift indeed. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent (from way too far away). Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator. Shutter speed 1/1600th.