Carolina Wren: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — After a fresh snowfall (maybe 6 inches total), the Carolina Wren showed up with the early birds, looking for mealworm crumbs the Bluebirds dropped under the feeder, in the snow shadow of the lower deck rail. I had my a7RC with the Tamron 150-500 out on a tripod in front of the deck doors because the birds were so active and was able to catch several shots of the wren at work in the snow and around the feeder. It was way too cold to have the deck doors open, so these are through two sheets of glass. The sun was behind heavy clouds. At 500mm, cropped to around 800mm equivalent field of view. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.

What is it about a snowy woods? Woods to me always have a holy feel…add a shroud of snow over every twig and bough and branch and the wood resounds with subtle praise…a chorus that cannot help but stir the heart. Or maybe that is just me? Catching that feeling in a photograph is not easy. I have tried repeatedly and will probably go on trying every time we have a clinging snow, and as long as I can get out into the woods to wonder at it. This image is 5 wide-angle frames (24mm equivalent field of view, Sony a6700 and Sigma 16-300), processed in Photomator and stacked in Bimostitch to form a vertical panorama. It is a vertical slice about 70 degrees wide and about 150 degrees tall, out of our approximately 180-degree total field of view. Like all panoramas, it bends reality and challenges the mind a bit…but then that is what any cathedral is actually designed to do. It is part of what produces the sense of awe. For best effect, view it on a screen that shows the whole image, so that you do not have to scroll. 🙂

Eastern Bluebird in crabapple/chokecherry: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — more shots of the Bluebird with the red berries…this time an attempt to suggest the active nature of the encounter. The berries were evidently reluctant to let go, but the bluebird was determined. I have not been able to determine if this particular winter berry tree is crabapple or chokecherry, or some ornamental. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 450mm equivalent field of view. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator. Assembled in FrameMagic.

Eastern Bluebird in crabapple. Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — I went to the pond by the river to look for eagles…I saw one there this week for the first time this winter. None yesterday. But just as I was thinking of leaving, I walked up to check the crabapple tree one more time for Cedar Waxwings or Robins. There was one Robin, and a pair of Bluebirds enjoying the small red fruits (no Cedar Waxwings yet this winter). The Bluebirds would swoop down from a maple branch overhead and wrestle a berry from the branch, with lots of wing flapping and struggle, and then fly back up to eat it. I picked this photo from 30 or more frames I took as the bird returned, because even though it is the female, it shows the most blue on the bird, and I wanted the contrast with the red…and I adjusted the crop at least half-a-dozen times trying to get the right balance of bird and berries. It turns out to be a somewhat unconventional framing, but it works for me. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 450mm equivalent field of view (cropped to close to 800mm fov). Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Another shot of the January water meadow in the marsh along the lower Mousam River here in Kennebunk, Maine, USA. I like the feathery grasses in the foreground, and the pools stretching out behind under the heavy sky. It is more of an “atmospheric” shot than a standard landscape. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 24mm equivalent field of view. Auto Landscape Scene Mode. Processed in Photomator.

Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — I went out yesterday to explore with my camera, what I call a “photoprowl”, down along the Bridle Path where I have not been since the whole pacemaker saga. We have had enough rain and warmish days now so that the snowpack is completely gone, but it is still January light, low, and horizontal even in early afternoon. The sun broke through as I got nearer to the ocean, and though the clouds were still massive, they only added drama to the winter sky. This is a view I have photographed many times in all seasons. This happens to be a panorama…5 wide-angle shots stitched together by a very clever app on my iPad. It is close to the full 180-degree field of view of the human eye, and way wider than our normal 60-degree field of active attention…so it bends both spatial reality and our brains. But it captures a bit of the waiting, resting, beauty of the January day, when the earth is still asleep but maybe dreaming so avidly of spring that it has kicked the covers off. To really “see” the image, you will have to turn your phone sideways…or view it on as large a screen as you have. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 24mm x 5. Auto with Landscape scene mode. Processed in Photomator and assembled in Bimostitch Pro.

Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Mettitt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Once again, we go back a year to the 2025 Space Coast Birding Festival. I always try to find some Skimmers skimming to practice on. I don’t get to see them often enough so that my encounters are ever anything more than practice. My first attempts are always an exercise in frustration, but if I persist and get more opportunities, I generally come away with a few keepers. Modern cameras make it easier…but easier is a relative thing. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program with my action modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Cattle Egret: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Returning to my last visit to the Space Coast a year ago. The Cattle Egrets hunt lizards right at the edge of the road on Blackpoint. You can often pull up beside them, roll down the window, and just about reach out and touch them as they hunt. (Probably not a good idea, lest they mistake your finger for a lizard.) They are so close it is a challenge to focus on them and keep them in the frame long enough for a photo. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Again, nothing much happening in the neighborhood critter-wise in early January, but when out on a photoprowl (or out anytime and anywhere), I keep my eye peeled for anything that might fill my frame. This tree trunk is wet from falling rain and melting snow, and that only brings out the contrast in color and texture provided by the rugged bark and the delicate (if dense) moss and sketchy lichen. Add the few pine needles at the bottom to give scale to the whole composition, and I can spend some time with this image. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 52mm equivalent field of view. Aperture with macro modifications. f10. Processed in Photomator.

Grey Squirrel: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2026 — Things are pretty quiet in our neighborhood, critter-wise, here in the early days of January. We pretty much are reduced to the year-round resident birds (with a few who winter here from higher latitudes) and even the chipmunks and mice are somewhere out of sight, keeping warm and alive. The squirrels, on the other hand, are out and about, and as active as ever. In summer, you see the squirrels stretched out as long as they can reach along a branch in a shady spot on their bellies with their legs hanging down on either side, trying to cool off in the mid-day sun. In winter, they cuddle up to branches near the trunk out of the wind, paws tucked under, in a sunny spot if they can find one, trying to stay warm. Clever critters. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 450mm equivalent field of view. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.