Monthly Archives: March 2024
Maine! Icy Sunday
Sunday Morning in Maine. This is a hand-held focus stack with the OM System OM-1Mkii and the M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 338mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Carolina Wren far from home?
Carolina Wren: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — not so long ago this Carolina Wren in the icy branches after our weekend storm would indeed have been far from home, but their range is extending north and they are now becoming regular in York County (and breed as far north as Orino and Ellsworth). A few winter over. We have had one in our neighborhood for the past 2 years as a regular visitor to our feeders for mealworms and especially the mealworm crumbs the Bluebirds drop. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Green-crowned Brilliant
Green-crowned Brilliant Hummingbird: Feather’s Garden, Savegre Mountain Hotel, Spa and Reserve, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2023 — After our lunch and the amazing bird show at the Miriam’s Quetzals, the rest of the group took jeeps up into the Cloud Forest for a walk high above Sevegre Mountain Hotel. I have done that walk many times and decided to stay behind and spend the afternoon at Feather’s Garden, a small back yard garden that is maintained by Melvin, a guide who lives on the Resort grounds. I have stayed at Sevegre many times, and somehow never knew this garden existed. It is designed for photography, with a small shelter in case of rain, chairs to sit in and watch the birds come and go. It is well through out, well maintained, and attracts all the birds common at the 7500 foot elevation of Sevegre, including this Green-crowned Brilliant. You can have high expectations for any hummingbird named Brilliant and the Green-crowed (or Green-breasted as it sometimes called) does not disappoint. OM System OM-1 with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Post Card Cardinal
Northern Cardinal: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — We woke yesterday to trees glistening with frozen rain after maybe 3 inches of snow on Saturday. Right at first light our neighborhood male Cardinal was under the pines and up in the glistening branches…too far away and still too dark for a photograph. As the sun got up, I bundled up and spent an enchanted hour or more photographing birds…bluebirds, robins, goldfinches and even the Carolina Wren…in the back yard among the icy branches…but I kept hearing the siren call of the Cardinals somewhere out there in the larger neighborhood and eventually it was too much. I went walkabout with my camera. I went around our local blocks many times. I could hear the Cardinals calling but wherever I went, by the time I got there, the Cardinals were somewhere else. Finally I traced them to some tall trees a few corners over from our house. They were close. I could hear them but I just could not see them. And then the male popped out of a hedge of evergreens right in front of me, right at eye-level, way lower than I was expecting from the calls. Alright! A gift pure and simple. I took way too many photos. This is not necessarily the best one…I have many I will keep…but the one I chose this morning. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Cruickshank Woodpeckers
Red-bellied and Pileated Woodpeckers: Helen and Alan Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2024 — While looking for (and at) the Florida Scrub Jays that are the main attraction at the Cruickshank Sanctuary, I encountered a couple of woodpeckers. One was the very orange variety of the Red-bellied Woodpecker they have in Florida, and the other was a female Pileated. I am always happy to see either as they are both fairly elusive around my home in Maine…or I should say more elusive than our other local woodpeckers. I see them less often. The Red-belled was right against the sun and required a good amount of Exposure Compensation, and then some extra shadow control in post processing. OM System OM-1 with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Bluebird in the snow
Eastern Bluebird: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — Nothing like a March snowstorm to bring the birds close in to the feeders. Our Bluebirds and chickadees and nuthatches and titmice and woodpeckers (both Hairy and Downy) are with us every day (just about) but yesterday, as the snow and then freezing rain fell, they were with us all day…never going further from the feeders than the overhanging branches. There were also the five or six bullying Robins that seem to be laying claim to our back yard, a few Mourning Doves, a Carolina Wren and a large mixed flock of black birds that passed through and did their best to empty the seed feeders under the pines while I was warming supper…mostly Brown-headed Cowbirds but some Red-winged Blackbirds and Starlings as well. This Bluebird does not look very happy, up there with the snow on the branches and the brave first maple buds for contrast. My camera got very wet and so did I getting this shot…but no harm done. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Sooty Thrush
Sooty Thrush: Miriam’s Quetzals, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2023 — A common bird of the highlands of southern Costa Rica and northern Panama in fields and oak forest edges, the Sooty Thrush is a large true thrush, similar in size and behavior to our North American Robins. In fact it used to be called the Sooty Robin. The yellow bill, legs and feet, make a strong contract with the sooty body. OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100=400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Practice makes perfect
Eastern Bluebird: York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — I am not sure what this behavior is? I am almost certain that this is last summer’s chick, well able to feed itself, and not begging that I saw. And I am pretty sure this is our full adult male, who has raised 8 broods (at least) while we have watched over the past 4 years. Maybe he is just getting in practice for this year’s first brood. And maybe he is just a provider by nature, which is why he has had so many successfully fledged off-spring. I was photographing the young bird and was very surprised when the male edged into the frame. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Scrub Jay at eyelevel
Florida Scrub Jay: Helen and Alan Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2024 — Up and posing nicely! Nothing like Florida light. And really a wonderful bird. OM System OM-1 with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Mallard close-ups
Mallard Ducks (male and female): York County, Maine, USA, March 2024 — A pair of Mallards out on the bank of a local pond, and posing nicely for my. camera. OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator.