Tag Archives: photography

This Week’s Highlights, 1/8-14, 2022

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My observations of note over the past seven days are as follows. With the first real cold spell of the winter, it’s not surprising that many of the noteworthy observations this week were of “lingering” or “pioneering” individuals that were moving around or seeking more tolerable locales. Of course, my two (almost) full days of birding this week were focused on the Boothbay area.

  • 1 American Pipit, 1 Turkey Vulture, 100+ distant scaup, etc, Maquoit Bay Conservation Trail, Brunswick, 1/8 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk Group).
  • 1 Double-crested Cormorant, inner harbor, Boothbay Harbor, 1/10 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Double-crested Cormorant, Knickercane Island, Boothbay, 1/10 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 drake Greater Scaup, Swinging Bridge, Brunswick, 1/10 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 drake NORTHERN PINTAIL, 29 Horned Larks, and 8 Snow Buntings, Rte 136, Durham, 1/13.
  • 1 GADWALL, unexpected fly-by at the Maine State Aquarium, Boothbay, 1/14.
  • After not seeing it on Monday, I went back to the Boothbay area today, 1/14 to see the Steller’s Sea-Eagle again, because, well, there’s a Steller’s-friggin-Sea-Eagle in Maine. Luckily, I was rewarded with a 20-25 minute observation of it perched and in flight from Spruce Point. The more I see this bird, the more I want to see this bird!
  • Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of it – it was too far, and I was just enjoying it in the scope. But I got a new camera, and I did take it out to play for the first time! This Common Loon made for an excellent subject for a test-drive.
No Zoom.
Camera-only Zoom. Not additional cropping. My first impression is that it’s much slower than my previous camera, and the resultant image is not as crisp. But, the zoom is stronger, and the maximum optical + digital zoom produces a better image, at least for “documentation.”

Random Photos Using SLR and Phone-scoping Techniques Over the Last Few Days.

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Over the past few days, I have squeezed in a healthy amount of birding, giving the season and a life in retail!  It has been fruitful birding, too, and I posted daily highlights to our store’s Facebook Page for the complete story of recent birding outings.

I also took an unusual amount of photos for me.  I’m really not a bird photographer.  Instead, I call myself a “birding photographer.”  I even wrote an article for the recent Birder’s Guide to Gear from the American Birding Association about techniques of birding photography, from traditional digital SLR’s to phone-scoping.

In the past few days, I have employed both techniques to grab some photos while birding.  Some are better than others, and some are nothing more than “documentation” shots. In the shots below,  I employed either a Nikon D80 with a 300mm F4 lens and a 1.4x teleconveter, or a iPhone 4s coupled with a Zeiss Diascope T*FL 65 using a Phone Skope brand adapter.  Unfortunately, fairly thick cloud cover on both days impacted my lame photographing attempts.  Please remember to double-click the photos to get a larger image.

Yesterday, Luke Seitz, Maegan Krieger, and I met at Back Cove in Portland.  While waiting for their arrival, I spotted this Snowy Owl, and phone-scoped it early in the morning.
IMG_2125_SNOWatBackCove,12-19-13IMG_2121_SNOW_BackCove2,12-19-13

When we returned to the parking lot around 2:00pm, the day was marginally brighter, and the bird was significantly closer.  We used an excersize wall in the playing field as a very convenient blind, and I went to the SLR.
DSC_0025_SNOW1,Back Cove,12-19-13

Upon our arrival at Pine Point, this 1st-year Bald Eagle landed nearby.  I was without the SLR, so I snapped these photos using my phone-scoping system!
IMG_2141_1stCBAEA,PinePoint,12-19-13IMG_2148_1stCBaldEagle, PinePt, 12-19-13

We also found some good birds during the course of the day, including these treats at Grondin Pond: a 1st-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull and a male Gadwall – both of which were phone-scoped.
1stWLBBG,GrondinPond,12-19-13IMG_2161_GADW,GrondinPond,12-19-13

This morning, I visited the Hatch Hill Landfill in Augusta to study gulls, such as this rather dark 1st-winter Iceland Gull, which I phone-scoped on top of the hill.
IMG_2173_darkish1stWICGU,HatchHill,12-20-13

However, at least a dozen Bald Eagles of various ages were particularly active today, so I grabbed the SLR and fired away.  There was this 4th-year bird:
DSC_0050_4thCBAEA,HatchHill,12-20-13-best

And this interesting 2nd or 3rd year individual:
DSC_0053_2nd-3rdBAEA,HatchHill,12-20-13DSC_0051_2nd-3rdBAEA,HatchHill,12-20-13_edited-1DSC_0058_2nd-3rdBAEA,HatchHillLandfill,12-20-13