Point & Shoot Nature Photographer

Snowy Egret: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2026 — another from my unusually close encounter with a pod of Snowy and Great Egrets (and a few Greater Yellowlegs as well). I used highlight metering on these white birds in the bright sun to try to hold some detail in the feathers. 🙂 Again in this shot, the reflections from the sun on the water really add to the photo. And the tension between bird and reflection adds drama. Intention is in every feather of this bird. Sony a7CR with Sony FE 100-400 f5.6-8 at 400mm. Cropped to 5mp, about 1400mm effective field of view. My custom birds and wildlife mode. Processed in Photomator.

Great and Snowy Egret: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2026 — We did not have our large flocks of feeding Egrets on the marsh this summer. Only now, as they pass back south, are we seeing any numbers. This was a rare (in Maine) opportunity to photograph some fairly close—not Florida close—but close. They were feeding in a pool up against the forest edge. I like this shot for a lot of reasons. The juxtaposition of the two species—the reflections in the water and the reflected light on the Snowy’s flanks, the pattern of the ripples in the water, the warm tones of the grasses contrasting with the crystal blue of the pool. Yes, all of that, plus two very nice birds. Sony a7CR with Sony FE 100-400 f5.6-8 at 400mm. Cropped to about 800mm effective field of view. My custom birds and wildlife mode. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.

Black-capped Chickadee: Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA, September 2026 — I am pretty sure what we have here is a sequence of a chickadee caching a bayberry in the lichen on a tree trunk. Chickadees eat bayberry. Chickadees cache food randomly. This looks like a bayberry. Therefore. Sony a7CR with Sony FE 100-400 f5.6-8 at 400mm (600mm in APS-C mode and cropped to about 1550mm effective field of view (4mp) so a very heavy crop.) My custom birds and wildlife mode. Processed in Photomator.

Pine Warbler: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2026 — I watched this Pine Warbler foraging in a squat red pine along the trail, probing deep into the needle clusters, until it came out with this small caterpillar. It turned, almost as though to show me its prize. After a lot of back and forth with ChatGPT and uploading several photos from the sequence and an enlargement of the caterpillar, this might be a Jack-pine Tube Moth caterpillar. Might. There is a lot to like about this photo though. The lighting. The pose. The background. This is a pine warbler at work, doing what pine warblers do. In September. In southern Maine. USA. Sony a7CR with the new Sony FE 100-400 f5.6 – f8 lens at 400mm. Cropped to 13mp so about 900mm effective field of view. My custom bird and wildlife mode based on Program. Processed in Photomator.

Familiar Bluet (90% sure). Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, West Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2026 — Not many damselflies left in southern Maine in September. But the Familiar Bluet has one of the longest flight spans. Comes in early and leaves late. The lighting here and the contrast with the fallish background make for an eye-catching photo. Sony RX10 V at 600mm equivalent. Cropped to 1200mm effective field of view. My custom birds and wildlife mode. Processed in Photomator.

Clouded Sulphur Butterfly: Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, West Kennebunk, Maine, September 2026 — not your conventional pose but effective, I think. Kind of mysterious. Not an uncommon butterfly, but still a beauty. Sony RX10 V at 600mm equivalent. My birds and wildlife Mode. Processed in Photomator.

Clouded Sulphur Butterfly: Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, West Kennebunk, Maine, September 2026 — not your conventional pose but effective, I think. Kind of mysterious. Not an uncommon butterfly, but still a beauty. Sony RX10 V at 600mm equivalent. My birds and wildlife Mode. Processed in Photomator.

Perhaps another in my series of pictures of nothing. Flood tide on the marsh along the lower Mousam River in Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2026. Sony RX10 V at 24mm equivalent. My custom Landscape mode. Processed in Photomator.

Green Metallic Sweat Bee in tall Aster: Kennebunk, Maine, September 2026 — Among the bees, I really appreciate the small green metallic bees. The green is just so vivid, and they are so small! (Of course, I appreciate Honey Bees for other reasons, and Bumblebees have their own charm, and even wasps have their attractions.) Late afternoon light. Sony RX10 V at 600mm equivalent. Cropped to 1200mm effective field of view (5mp). My birds and wildlife mode. Processed in Photomator.

Northern Paper Wasp: Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, West Kennebunk, Maine, USA, September 2026 — it was the Sweet Everlasting that caught my eye. A single plant along the trail on the Plains. Only when I stopped to photograph it did I see the wasp. Enjoying the Sweet Everlasting just as much as I did, maybe more. Sony RX10 V at 600mm equivalent. Cropped to about 1200mm equivalent. My birds and wildlife mode. Processed in Photomator.