Double-creased Cormorant: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2025 — This cormorant seems two be checking the suggestion box…someone put it out in the marsh a few years ago as, I assume, a joke, and I have photographed several different species of birds using it as perch. I am pretty sure that same someone gave it a fresh coat of paint this summer renewed the lettering. That might be taking the joke too far…but I do appreciate the efforts. (I am not sure the birds care one way of another.) Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Chipmunk: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA, September 2025 — Yes it is apple season in southern Maine, and the old orchards at Laudholm Farms are paved with windfalls right now. What an opportunity for chipmunks to fatten up for the coming cold. There were more chipmunks out and about than I have seen all summer. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.

Indian Pipe (Ghost flower) Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2025 — it is still super dry in the forests of Southern Maine…there are very few Indian Pipes, and mostly close to the base of trees. They are not doing well either. Most are blackening before they reach full flower. I have watching this one for a couple of weeks, and here it is with the bud upright at last and showing its innards. As you see, the flower is not without pigment, and has all the traditional flower parts. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 150mm equivalent. Aperture program for increased depth of field (f16). Processed in Photomator.

Great Blue Heron: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2025 — Down at the marsh the other day I spotted this Great Blue Heron just as he decided to take a short hop closer to me. I love to see the spread wings of birds, especially such wings as the Great Blue Heron has. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.

Semipalmated Sandpipers: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2025 — Yesterday I identified these birds as Sanderlings, but, of course, they are not. They are Semipalmated Sandpipers coming into winter plumage. I should pay more attention! No excuse. There were many of them mixed in with the Semipalmated Plovers down at the end of the beach. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Sanderlings and Semi-palmated Plovers: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2025 — What unites these two photos, besides the fact that the Sanderlings and Plovers were part of a mixed feeding flock on the same stretch of beach, is that both are digital manipulations combining two images with the focus on the individual birds into a single image where they are in focus at the same time. At 600 equivalent, even with the lens stopped down for greater depth of field, such a depth of focus is impossible. This is called focus stacking, and while my Sony a6700 will take the images on its own, changing the focus in steps between foreground and background, I find it easier to just take two photos, one focused on each bird, and manually combine them in software like Pixomatic with touch-up in Photomator and Touch-Retouch. This is a case of using postprocessing to restore a “human eye” view of the subjects, even at higher magnifications than we can see with our naked eye. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed, as above, in Photomator, Pixomatic, and Touch-Retouch.

Found on the beach while looking for shorebirds, and fitting for a sabbath day. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 120mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Photomator.

Semi-palmated Plover: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2025 — I have been looking for the Semi-palmated Plovers which generally come through our local York County beaches in late August for several weeks now. I finally found some, a good number actually, way down the end of a long beach were only the most dedicated walkers go. They are such perky little birds. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Speaking of the beauty of the September marsh. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 @ 162mm equivalent. Aperture Program. f16 for depth of field. Processed in Photomator. Great and Snowy Egrets in the distance.