A friend told me about bird banding being conducted by the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) here in Portland, so I stopped by to have a look. The feature attraction was a Northern Saw-whet Owl resting in a tree just above the entry path to the preserve. These birds are just passing through, on their way to Canada. They seem to be pretty comfortable around people.
Northern Saw-whet Owl on its way to Canada’s arboreal forests.
Northern Saw-whet Owl on its way to Canada’s arboreal forests.
The staff from the BRI were there to capture song birds so they could record their vital signs along with any prior banding information. Birds without bands were then banded. Aside from showing the birds to us lay folks, the birds were quickly released to minimize stress. Bird banders have to have a federal and state license to capture and handle birds. Here’s a rare Warbler that they were excited to find:
Well, I did in fact return to Presumpscot Falls Park today with the monster camera. No problem today, as I rattled off the frames as the birds flew by. As you can see, I also managed to photograph a Gull flying through. I shot 276 frames to get these images.
Film looks great and I shoot with it most of the time. But when it comes to action and clarity, you can’t beat digital.
Snowies are starting to show up around the northern U.S. Here in Western New York there are three birds hanging out at the Finger Lakes Regional Airport (0G7) in Seneca, NY. The airport staff allowed us on the field where a friend of mine and I got many wonderful shots of a juvenile on the ground by the runway. The owl didn’t seem to mind so long as we walked
Juvenile Snowy Owl
slowly and kept our distance. However, the bird finally tired of us and flew a short way down the field, our shutters continuously snapping as he/she launched.
We then drove to the nearby Empire Farm, and wouldn’t you know, there was another juvenile sitting on a metal roof. We were able to photograph it from both sides of the building, all the while sitting in our car. It was just a great photo op.
The juvenile birds are more likely to fly south during the winter since food is more plentiful here, as the young birds are not yet skillful hunters. However, every several years there is a great irruption of Snowy Owls (the last was two years ago), the birds sometimes going as far south as Alabama. These irruptions include far more mature birds and occur in those years when the tundra’s lemming population crashes, the owls’ staple food.
The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Friends joined me this past Sunday to celebrate the release of a photo book started by Susan and me several years ago. Although the book is a remembrance, it also documents the declining populations of several bird species, something likely due to the lightning growth of our human, industrialized population. The highlights of the day can be found at: Shrinking Birds
Well, here I am, pretty much settled on Peaks Island. I repositioned my car off-island at one of Portland’s garages on Labor Day. Although most of the Labor Day week-end involved unpacking and food shopping, I did manage to take a few shots “down front” on the island where
“Down front” leading to the ferry.
people were coming and going (the first photograph shows the downhill to the ferry dock). Walking along the back shore I saw an interesting composition with waves breaking over the wonderful rocky coast (second photo).
As summer wanes Labor Day eve saw heavy rain and thunderstorms. When my clock radio went off at 5:30 the following morning I checked to see if there was any fog. There was! I threw on some clothes and walked the quarter mile to the island’s east shore. I set up my tripod and camera on a rocky beach and took a few fog shots. I then moved further along the island’s perimeter and took several more. There, I caught a wonderful mix of granite, fog, and island shoreline (third photo). A few photographs from this series will likely end up as black and white prints.
Waves breaking on the back shore
Fog meets granite
Although I was planning to head up the coast on Route 1 today, there was heavy fog this morning also so I decided to stay on the island. Again, I headed for the back shore where I photographed several more scenes. I particularly like the fourth photo showing Great Diamond Island shrouded in fog with one of the Casco Bay ferries off in the distance to the far left, and a somewhat closer unidentified boat to the ferry’s right (i.e, starboard).
The photograph of the cormorants shows what they do after diving for food, they hold their wings out to dry (good luck to them in this fog!). There were several boats moored nearby. They looked so lonely just sitting there in the fog. In any event, here’s my rendition of the G. Purslow in the sixth photo. I should mention that these photographs are unprocessed JPEGS from my cameras, which means they don’t have the cropping and polishing that can only be done on my home desktop using Lightroom.
Beach, fog & boats
Cormorants in a fog (through the 400mm super-telephoto)
Moored sailboat
Tomorrow’s weather “promises” drier air so my plan is to travel up the coast to check out photo sites and camping accommodations.
I have no internet connection in my cottage so I have to rely on public access at the local library—just a 10 minute bike ride away. Given the constraints of limited internet access and island/mainland logistics, I’ll likely post but once a week. I do, however, have email via my smart phone. Speaking of bike rides, the bike is courtesy of island friends, Ralph and Jeanne. Thanks so much guys!
Earlier this Spring we heard of a Great Horned Owl’s nest at one of the local parks. The word was that the parents and the two juveniles typically sat during the day, making good subjects for the public, birders and photographers alike. My wife and I headed over there one afternoon. Sure enough, there were people watching and photographing the birds–the latter sitting inside a hollow near the crotch of a large tree. Unfortunately, the Owls were somewhat back-lit at that time of day and their view was obstructed. We decided it would be better if we returned early the following morning when we would have the sun at our rear.
Great Horned Owl & Juvenile
We showed up around 8:00 AM the next morning–and found some photographers already in place. We were lucky. The birds were sitting out in the open. Mom was in the distance keeping an eye on her older juvenile (the younger was still in the nest), while the juvenile was sitting closer to the path where we humans were congregating. I mover further down the path which provided me with a good angle for capturing both birds, as shown in the photograph on the left. Mom is in its bottom portion.
Dad was more difficult to find. However, one birder located him by following the agitated crows. He was sitting about 200 feet away, close to the tree trunk, facing away from his family. He did look around occasionally, as well as calling out to announce his presence every so often. Unfortunately, he was too obstructed to present a good photo opportunity. His role was one of diversion, as well as providing back-up protection, should it be necessary.
Shortly after taking this shot mom flew over to join the juvenile. This offered several good photo-ops, three of which are shown, below.
Affection
The juvenile was glad to see mom, but being “out on a limb” can be tiring.
The yawn
The stern look
I used my Canon 100mm-400mm lens with a 1.4X III extender @560mm with image stabilization turned off. My Canon EOS 7D and lens were mounted on my Manfrotto (055X) tripod. I set the camera to mirror lock-up and used a cable release to minimize vibration.
We recently took a “quick” walk through Oatka Park. As it was late morning things had begun to chill-out in the avian community. However, one fellow, an Eastern Phoebe, suddenly landed in a tree not far from us where it sat for a long time with a large insect in its beak. I took several photos, hoping for it to provide several poses. Alas, it held its position, except for turning its head. The best photo is shown, below.
Eastern Phoebe
Since this type of behavior seemed unusual and that this was the nesting season, we surmised that the bird was distracting us from its nest where it intended to go to feed its young once we left. We therefore “took the photos and ran.”
