crazyfingers
Supermagnon
Here is another on maximum optical and x2 digital.
Image stabilization is so good.
Image stabilization is so good.
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Post Your Own Wildlife Photography
- Thread starter RavenSky
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You can hold it stable enough to get that shot?! What are you, a sniper?
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
Seriously. It's the image stabilization that the camera has.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
Some photos from today
Baby bunnies are still around the yard
I went to the pond down the street where I saw the muskrat the other day
Mommy mallard with chicks
Snapping turtle crossing the road
Red Wing blackbird
A double crested cormorant flying. It's very rare to see one around here.
The mute swans are bold. I walk by it and it looks at me and I look at it. Passed about 3 feet to it
Male mallards
I was hoping to get more photos of the muskrat. I saw it or several of them several times but this is the only shot worth keeping. It's got a pile of lily pads in it's mouth coming at me.
Baby bunnies are still around the yard
I went to the pond down the street where I saw the muskrat the other day
Mommy mallard with chicks
Snapping turtle crossing the road
Red Wing blackbird
A double crested cormorant flying. It's very rare to see one around here.
The mute swans are bold. I walk by it and it looks at me and I look at it. Passed about 3 feet to it
Male mallards
I was hoping to get more photos of the muskrat. I saw it or several of them several times but this is the only shot worth keeping. It's got a pile of lily pads in it's mouth coming at me.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
Sight and Smell
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
I think mission accomplished as far as the muskrats are concerned. I went down a little later today and 5 were out and about in the reeds and one on the grass. I don't know if the first one is an adult but its coat looks different than the one in the grass. The one in the grass is probably smaller than a gray squirrel. No idea how big the fist one is.
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Saw Porky again today. Pulled in the driveway and there he was right in the middle by the garage. For a fat guy, he can move pretty fast.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
So it's hanging around. That's cool.
Yesterday I pulled into my parents house around 6:45pm and a ground hog ran across the field and went under the wheelchair ramp by the house. I think there is a good chance the hole is there.
My sons were watching some car races on TV today. I don't know what but not NASCAR. They report a ground hog crossing the race track during a race and that it made it across OK.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
There is a cooper's hawk in the area that I see in the yard from time to time.
www.allaboutbirds.org
From yesterday. In the trees by my driveway. It sat here for a bit never giving me a good angle. It left after a bit and landed about 200 feet away in the neighbor's yard.
It's likely it's the same cooper's hawk I posted from May 8
Probably the same hawk as this from a week ago.
On the top photo from yesterday. I was in the driveway and was alerted to the hawk when it chirped. It wasn't being quiet. I could see two chipmunks from the same place that I photographed the hawk.
This chipmunk was right below the hawk and right at its hole. I know where most of the chipmunk holes are. The hawk could only get this chipmunk if the chipmunk quit paying attention to the hawk.
The second chipmunk is on the steps up to the cat fence. It was right next to a huge batch of pricker bushes. (wild black raspberries)
Chipmunks and bunnies are really good at patiently staying completely motionless.
I wonder if I foiled the hawks plans by blundering onto the driveway from the basement with my camera. Maybe the chirping was it swearing at me for screwing things up. Or maybe not. I wonder if the chipmunks considered my appearance as a good thing.
Cooper's Hawk Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide. With...
www.allaboutbirds.org
From yesterday. In the trees by my driveway. It sat here for a bit never giving me a good angle. It left after a bit and landed about 200 feet away in the neighbor's yard.
It's likely it's the same cooper's hawk I posted from May 8
Probably the same hawk as this from a week ago.
On the top photo from yesterday. I was in the driveway and was alerted to the hawk when it chirped. It wasn't being quiet. I could see two chipmunks from the same place that I photographed the hawk.
This chipmunk was right below the hawk and right at its hole. I know where most of the chipmunk holes are. The hawk could only get this chipmunk if the chipmunk quit paying attention to the hawk.
The second chipmunk is on the steps up to the cat fence. It was right next to a huge batch of pricker bushes. (wild black raspberries)
Chipmunks and bunnies are really good at patiently staying completely motionless.
I wonder if I foiled the hawks plans by blundering onto the driveway from the basement with my camera. Maybe the chirping was it swearing at me for screwing things up. Or maybe not. I wonder if the chipmunks considered my appearance as a good thing.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
I've been collecting, grouping, etc the wildlife photography from my 30 days in Maine this summer.
I can't really do it all at once so my initial groups will be:
Birds that Dive Underwater (Common Mergansers, Cormorants, etc...)
Birds that Float on the Water (Gulls, Ducks)
Birds that Stand Around (Great Blue Herons, Plovers, etc)
Bald Eagle
Osprey
Harbor Seals
Misc.
I will post them as I can and mood.
Some of the groups may have subgroups
Start with Harbor Seals.
I saw one almost every day. That's a HUGE increase from a few years ago. For years I never saw one. I don't if there are more seals or I just notice them better.
If you ever hear what sounds like the roar of a rapid brook in the ocean that starts and stops, most likely it's a school of fish under attack by a seal. We can hear the water roar from the house and I sometimes go down the field to see how it's going.
One day I got a photo of the fish school under water with one fish who has jumped out of the water. There is no doubt that there is a seal below feeding on the fish school.
A few days later I was also around when the seal and the fish were off the shore from the house.
The seal is thrashing through the school of fish eating as many as it can
When it's done eating the seal takes a break. floats it's head on top.
The above photos were off the shore of our house looking at Frenchman Bay.
Below some pictures from Seawall in Acadia National Park looking towards Wonderland.
I have never seen what's clearly a group of seals in the water together like this. It's in a cove and the water is high. My guess is that they had finished eating or were just enjoying a break. It must be really relaxing to float vertical and just breath.
Back at the house, in the evening and night I frequently hear the seals bellowing in the dark. They gather in islands and rock outcroppings in the evening and bellow.
There is a rock island about three quarters of a mile from the field where I go to the shore. There is no doubt in my mind that this rock island has seals all over it. The lack if photo quality is due to ripples in the air. I haven't cropped any of these photos.
I can't really do it all at once so my initial groups will be:
Birds that Dive Underwater (Common Mergansers, Cormorants, etc...)
Birds that Float on the Water (Gulls, Ducks)
Birds that Stand Around (Great Blue Herons, Plovers, etc)
Bald Eagle
Osprey
Harbor Seals
Misc.
I will post them as I can and mood.
Some of the groups may have subgroups
Start with Harbor Seals.
I saw one almost every day. That's a HUGE increase from a few years ago. For years I never saw one. I don't if there are more seals or I just notice them better.
If you ever hear what sounds like the roar of a rapid brook in the ocean that starts and stops, most likely it's a school of fish under attack by a seal. We can hear the water roar from the house and I sometimes go down the field to see how it's going.
One day I got a photo of the fish school under water with one fish who has jumped out of the water. There is no doubt that there is a seal below feeding on the fish school.
A few days later I was also around when the seal and the fish were off the shore from the house.
The seal is thrashing through the school of fish eating as many as it can
When it's done eating the seal takes a break. floats it's head on top.
The above photos were off the shore of our house looking at Frenchman Bay.
Below some pictures from Seawall in Acadia National Park looking towards Wonderland.
I have never seen what's clearly a group of seals in the water together like this. It's in a cove and the water is high. My guess is that they had finished eating or were just enjoying a break. It must be really relaxing to float vertical and just breath.
Back at the house, in the evening and night I frequently hear the seals bellowing in the dark. They gather in islands and rock outcroppings in the evening and bellow.
There is a rock island about three quarters of a mile from the field where I go to the shore. There is no doubt in my mind that this rock island has seals all over it. The lack if photo quality is due to ripples in the air. I haven't cropped any of these photos.
Harry Bosch
Contributor
Very cool!
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
There are bald eagles at the house and around the area. Somewhere is a nest but I couldn't see it.
But this one would sit in the tree at the bottom of the field watching the bay.
Many mornings I'd go down the field and see it fly off to the other side of the cove or over to the harbor.
Frequently it would land in a tree across the small cove.
There is at least one juvenile
The eagles would come back towards evening.
But this one would sit in the tree at the bottom of the field watching the bay.
Many mornings I'd go down the field and see it fly off to the other side of the cove or over to the harbor.
Frequently it would land in a tree across the small cove.
There is at least one juvenile
The eagles would come back towards evening.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
One evening my wife and I were up the road. She was picking blueberries. We were just talking. Two eagles landed in a tree across a marshland. Far away for a good photo but here are the two eagles and they were across this marsh.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
I've always loved Osprey. All they eat is fish and similar critters that they catch in the water. They hover over a spot and then dive and plunge into the water for their food. Their worst enemies are eagles who will wait for the osprey to catch a fish and then steal the fish. Eagles really aren't very nice.
Anyway, in this thread and the old long one that's somewhere in the archives I've talked a lot about Mud Creek. Mud Creed is an inlet from Frenchman's Bay in Lamoine Maine. There have been Osprey nests on the power poles for years. Two years ago the nest was gone. but last year a new pole was put in and a pedestal placed above the wires. And a webcam too! The webcam works sometimes. A lot of the time when the webcam is working the birds are off somewhere but I did get a screen shot of two in the nest that are posted below with the photos.
Anyway, in this thread and the old long one that's somewhere in the archives I've talked a lot about Mud Creek. Mud Creed is an inlet from Frenchman's Bay in Lamoine Maine. There have been Osprey nests on the power poles for years. Two years ago the nest was gone. but last year a new pole was put in and a pedestal placed above the wires. And a webcam too! The webcam works sometimes. A lot of the time when the webcam is working the birds are off somewhere but I did get a screen shot of two in the nest that are posted below with the photos.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
Birds that stand and walk around
Great Blue Heron and Egrets. They do pretty much the same thing. They stand in the water and then in a flash, grab a fish or grog or something that gets too close.
The first three are a Birch Harbor, Maine. The route out of the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park.
The last two photos is of a great blue that flew in when I was down at the shore in front of the field up to the house.
Three related species that hang out by the waves and eat little things that wash up or worms and bugs.
Spotted Sandpiper and Semipalmated plovers and sandpipers.
The first was at the shore by the house.
The other two were a couple of about 100 along the shore at Wonderland. Different species the semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers but they pal around together in the hundreds. Wonderland cove is a sandy and small pebble cove. You don't see them until you get to close and 20 or 30 will take off together down the shore and pal up with other groups. I don't know of any other two separate species that pal around together like these two. When 50 or 100 fly off they even fly together.
Great Blue Heron and Egrets. They do pretty much the same thing. They stand in the water and then in a flash, grab a fish or grog or something that gets too close.
The first three are a Birch Harbor, Maine. The route out of the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park.
The last two photos is of a great blue that flew in when I was down at the shore in front of the field up to the house.
Three related species that hang out by the waves and eat little things that wash up or worms and bugs.
Spotted Sandpiper and Semipalmated plovers and sandpipers.
The first was at the shore by the house.
The other two were a couple of about 100 along the shore at Wonderland. Different species the semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers but they pal around together in the hundreds. Wonderland cove is a sandy and small pebble cove. You don't see them until you get to close and 20 or 30 will take off together down the shore and pal up with other groups. I don't know of any other two separate species that pal around together like these two. When 50 or 100 fly off they even fly together.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
Birds that dive under Water to chase down their food.
Double crested cormorants
They swim around and dive down frequently until they are fed. They they stand around with their wings outstretched to let the water drain out before they fly.
When they fly it's so common for them to fly in groups of three. They do fly solo or two or more but 3 in fomrations seems most common.
Common Mergansers
Common Mergansers also drive to chase down their food. They are ridiculously fast swimming on top of the water like a speed boat, or below like a really fast fish.
These common mergansers were at Jordan Pond where there is a sandy section about 12-15 inches deep, strewn with rocks.
They were very amusing. They were paddling around with their heads under water to see little fish. When they would see one they shot so fast it was really entertaining because they only had about a foot of water and boulders to avoid. They are so fast and agile.
Other visitors we saying "Look at the Loons! Look at the Loons" and I'd say, No. Those aren't loon. Loon are way larger and are mostly black and while they also dive to chase down their food they don't usual do it in shallow water. These are common mergansers. "Common what?" Common Mergansers. "Not loons?" No. Not loons. "Common what?" Common Mergansers. I had 3 or 4 conversations like that as different people came and went.
Double crested cormorants
They swim around and dive down frequently until they are fed. They they stand around with their wings outstretched to let the water drain out before they fly.
When they fly it's so common for them to fly in groups of three. They do fly solo or two or more but 3 in fomrations seems most common.
Common Mergansers
Common Mergansers also drive to chase down their food. They are ridiculously fast swimming on top of the water like a speed boat, or below like a really fast fish.
These common mergansers were at Jordan Pond where there is a sandy section about 12-15 inches deep, strewn with rocks.
They were very amusing. They were paddling around with their heads under water to see little fish. When they would see one they shot so fast it was really entertaining because they only had about a foot of water and boulders to avoid. They are so fast and agile.
Other visitors we saying "Look at the Loons! Look at the Loons" and I'd say, No. Those aren't loon. Loon are way larger and are mostly black and while they also dive to chase down their food they don't usual do it in shallow water. These are common mergansers. "Common what?" Common Mergansers. "Not loons?" No. Not loons. "Common what?" Common Mergansers. I had 3 or 4 conversations like that as different people came and went.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
More birds that dive.
Black Guillemots
I saw this one off the shore at the harbor. It has food.
And most exciting for me was this lifer. A razor bill. First ever for me. It was a Frazer Point on the Schoodic section of Acadia. They can dive as deep as 300 feet looking for their food.
Black Guillemots
I saw this one off the shore at the harbor. It has food.
And most exciting for me was this lifer. A razor bill. First ever for me. It was a Frazer Point on the Schoodic section of Acadia. They can dive as deep as 300 feet looking for their food.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
I've mostly lost interest in photographing herring gulls. I have thousands. Unless they are doing something interesting.
These two shots are interesting. I don't know how a herring gull could have caught a fish. Herring Gulls are totally ill-equipped to catch a fish. My guess is that it was accidentally dropped from 100 feet up by an Osprey and was stunned or killed or it was dying or dead. Anyway, this gull has a fish.... for the moment. They are also ill-equipped to hold onto a fish.
And here's a herring gull doing some good. The invasive green crab is taking over the entire US east coast. Terrible. Voracious eaters. They are decimating the native mussel and soft shell clam population. It's good to see at least one native species learning that green crabs are food.
These two shots are interesting. I don't know how a herring gull could have caught a fish. Herring Gulls are totally ill-equipped to catch a fish. My guess is that it was accidentally dropped from 100 feet up by an Osprey and was stunned or killed or it was dying or dead. Anyway, this gull has a fish.... for the moment. They are also ill-equipped to hold onto a fish.
And here's a herring gull doing some good. The invasive green crab is taking over the entire US east coast. Terrible. Voracious eaters. They are decimating the native mussel and soft shell clam population. It's good to see at least one native species learning that green crabs are food.
crazyfingers
Supermagnon
Miscellaneous
And a few extra wildlife that will finish these series of posts of wildlife from our 30 days in Maine this summer.
White-tail deer. This is up the road from the house just in view. One of the local neighbors has a big sign on a 6foot by 4 foot plywood board resting against a tree by the road. "DEER Crossing" Yep. For sure. This mama deer and the kid were crossing the road.
And this cat, Walle..... Oops. Never mind. Not wildlife. Move along....
Crows! Crows! If there are bird of pray around, there will be crows to taunt and pester and make pests of themselves. We have birds of pray so we also have crows!
Large hard shell clams. Huge. I sometimes find one or two at very low tide. It's large enough for a meal. But I always toss them out into deeper water. These huge hard shell clams may be the only shellfish left who have a chance of protecting itself from the hoards of green crabs.
A brown fuzzy feather-headed dingbat with a nurf dart. Semi-wild. Oops. Never mind...
Finally a medium sized snapping turtle on Eagle Lake. It's too bad they don't live in cold salt water. Maybe they would kill off the green crabs. But unfortunately they like fresh water ponds.
I think that's it for the interesting wildlife from my month in Maine. I haven't bothered to post the song sparrows, barn swallows, phoebe's, chickadees, goldfinch, tree swallows, robins and all those songbirds. I didn't see anything new so I didn't spend a lot of time trying to get good shots. Mediocre shots of birds I have by the hundreds aren't worth the effort.
And a few extra wildlife that will finish these series of posts of wildlife from our 30 days in Maine this summer.
White-tail deer. This is up the road from the house just in view. One of the local neighbors has a big sign on a 6foot by 4 foot plywood board resting against a tree by the road. "DEER Crossing" Yep. For sure. This mama deer and the kid were crossing the road.
And this cat, Walle..... Oops. Never mind. Not wildlife. Move along....
Crows! Crows! If there are bird of pray around, there will be crows to taunt and pester and make pests of themselves. We have birds of pray so we also have crows!
Large hard shell clams. Huge. I sometimes find one or two at very low tide. It's large enough for a meal. But I always toss them out into deeper water. These huge hard shell clams may be the only shellfish left who have a chance of protecting itself from the hoards of green crabs.
A brown fuzzy feather-headed dingbat with a nurf dart. Semi-wild. Oops. Never mind...
Finally a medium sized snapping turtle on Eagle Lake. It's too bad they don't live in cold salt water. Maybe they would kill off the green crabs. But unfortunately they like fresh water ponds.
I think that's it for the interesting wildlife from my month in Maine. I haven't bothered to post the song sparrows, barn swallows, phoebe's, chickadees, goldfinch, tree swallows, robins and all those songbirds. I didn't see anything new so I didn't spend a lot of time trying to get good shots. Mediocre shots of birds I have by the hundreds aren't worth the effort.