Monthly Archives: May 2025
All about the song
Song Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2025 — It is all about the song! This avid singer was posted up on a no parking sign, singing the new day when got to our local beach. I just stepped off the trike and shot. You could even say the song lifted my camera and pressed the shutter. Just glad to be there. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed (and cropped a bit) in Photomator.
Canada Mayflower
Canada Mayflower: Wonderbrook Preserve (Kennebunk Land Trust), Kennebunk, Maine, May 2025 — The forest at Wonderbrook Preserve is carpeted with Canada Mayflower…as thick and as lush as I have ever seen. Mayflower is not as flashy as Pink Lady Slipper, which is also in boom right now, but in its own quiet way it celebrates the coming of the warmth, the bursting out of life. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 127mm (insert) and 75mm. Aperture Preferred Program with my macro modifications. Processed in Photomator. Assembled in Pixomatic.
Prothonotary Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2024 — I borrowed a Sony FE 100-400 GM lens from Sony for a few hours. They were the lead sponsor of the Biggest Week in American Birding this year, after several years of giving the festival a miss. I am hoping their sponsorship and presence signals that they are taking the birding and wildlife market more seriously these days. The 100-400 is a great lens, but my short experience with it only reinforced my growing conviction that, given reasonably well performing equipment, it is more about what the birds and wildlife are doing than what you have in your hands. This would have been a great shot with almost any camera and lens because the bird was just so close and so cooperative. 🙂 Sony a6700. Sony FE 100-400 GM. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
A bunch of Lady Slippers
Lady Slipper Orchids: Rachel Carson NWR Headquarter’s trail, Wells, Maine, May 2025 — A bunch or a cluster of Lady Slippers from Rachel Carson. Several of the historical patches of Lady Slippers along the headland trail have disappeared over the years, but this stand seems to still be doing well. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 102mm equivalent. Aperture mode with my macro modifications. f16 @ 1/30th. Processed in Photomator.
Willets in love
Willet: York County, Maine, USA, May 2025 — I was down at the local beach one of the first sunny days we have had in southern Maine in what seems like a very long time, just in time to catch these two Willets “going at it” as they say. They were a long way down the beach from me, on my way back from looking for plovers, and these are deep crops from shots at 600mm. I think they might have been too busy to know I was there anyway. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Lady Slipper
Lady Slipper Orchid: Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters trail, Wells, Maine, May 2025 — It is Lady Slipper time again. I took advantage of the sunny day yesterday to trike out to the Rachel Carson NWR headquarters trail to see if they are in bloom. Since I hoped to be working low, I strapped my little travel tripod that folds down to ground level to the trike rack and carried into the woods with me. I don’t often use a tripod, but there are times when one just makes photographic life that much easier. Lady Slippers have a symbiotic relationship with a species of fungus that grows only on the roots of certain trees, so they are limited to patches where the conditions are exactly right. (Which is why they cannot successfully transplanted to your yard, and why you should not try. Enjoy them where they grow.) Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 126mm equivalent. Program mode with my macro modifications. f16 @ 1/40th to get the whole flower in focus. (Tripod 🙂 Processed in Photomator.
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2025 — Tis year, during the Biggest Week in American Birding, there were lots of Black-throated Blue warblers along the boardwalk…my impression is more than normal. They are another warbler that, when present, often feeds low and close to the artificial edge the boardwalk makes through the marsh. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Least Tern
Least Tern: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2025 — I got my trike back on the road yesterday…all assembled and some minor adjustments in the morning, and out to the beach with my camera in the afternoon. I was surprised by the number of Least Terns already making themselves at home on our local beach. Last year they did not come in numbers until their original nest site at the mouth of the next river south of us failed. This year they seem ready to establish a first nest on our beach. It will take me a while to get my eye and hand in for tern flight shots…but I am happy with this for a first day effort. (The terns have probably been on the beach for a few weeks…but I have not been to a long stretch of too cool, too wet, May weather.) Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Black-throated Green
Black-throated Green Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2025 — A “I see you” shot from a second encounter with a friendly Black-throated Green Warbler. The warblers at Magee do mostly seem aware of the crowds of humans on the boardwalk, but it does not seem to bother them. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Rufous-winged Woodpecker
Rufous-winged Woodpecker: Nectar and Pollen Reserve, Gualpies, Costa Rica, March 2025 — Nectar and Pollen Reserve is a small hummingbird garden, with fruit feeders, on the side of the mountains coming up out of Gualpies on the way back to San Jose. In the past year the owner, Miguel Delgado, a retired birding and nature guide, has built a hide for King Vulture observation as well. We were there early on our last morning in Sarapiqui to see if we could see some vultures…but this Rufous-winded Woodpecker entertained us while we waited. Looking at the red just on the nape, this is a female. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.