Daily Archives: October 11, 2024

Yellowstone! Magpie

Black-billed Magpie: Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, September 2024 — We did not see many birds at all in Yellowstone. The season and the wide open terrain don’t favor birds, but we did encounter Black-billed Magpie on several occasions, mostly around well used parking areas. Such a striking bird. These were around us near some picnic tables one morning early as we stopped to photograph the Elk of Mammoth. Who can resist a few photos? Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at various focal lengths to frame the bird. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Maine! Aurora Borealis

We will take a break from our coverage of Yellowstone to bring you last night’s Aurora Borealis from the beach here in Kennebunk, Maine. I missed the 7PM maximum by two hours, but when photos began to appear in my wife’s Facebook feed around 9, we went down to beach to see what we could see. The moon was up by then and offering some competition but still, a long exposure captured an impressive green curtain with fading red above. Sony a5100 with the E 10-18 f4 zoom at 15mm equivalent. Superior Auto with Low Light scene mode for an exposure of 2.5 seconds at ISO 3200. Processing and noise reduction in Photomator.