Admission time – I did some color adjustment to these photos. The sunset itself did have a soft pink quality to it, which didn’t quite come through in the original digital files. So while in ACR I went into the toning tab and added some pink to the highlights. I even pushed it farther than I normally would have.
This little guy is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, although the ruby-colored crown on the top of his head that gives him his name isn’t showing in these images. He’s one of those lucky grabs that happened unexpectedly, while I was up at Fords Pond. I wasn’t really there with any expectation of photographing wildlife, but I saw him flitting around in the large pine in front of my parking space and, since I had the gear with me, I figured I’d try to get some shots.
I started this post writing about how I’d finally seen my first Common Loon up at Lackawanna State Park. It would have been only the second loon I’ve ever seen and the first locally. But I kept looking back at the photo thinking that it wasn’t right and, to satisfy my nagging doubts, I did a quick check. Turns out I was right – as I should have known, Common Loons have all-black heads. This is not a Common Loon.
But it is still a loon. Actually, a Red-throated Loon, which is a great deal more exciting, seeing as they are pretty rare in this area! Red-throated Loons have a very narrow range below the Arctic, the southern most end of which extends through a small part of New York and Pennsylvania. So this one is definitely a migrant, stopping over on his way to his (or her) northern breeding grounds.
This is the real thrill of wildlife photography. Not only am I able to make images of all manner of critters (and sometimes even good photos), but time and again I’ve been able to find species that are uncommon, or even outright rare, in my area. And that’s pretty exciting. Photography is my doorway to being an explorer which, at least for me, is as valuable as the images I come home with.
Sandpipers are fairly uncommon in Pennsylvania during any time of the year. Your might assume that these wading shorebirds are at home on oceanic beaches, which is a habitat that the Commonwealth lacks. Turns out that’s not quite the case, and some species actually prefer marsh, field, and even wooded environments.
I’ve encountered more sandpipers than usual this spring, or at least more than are usual for me. I’m not sure if this is because there are more sandpipers passing through the area this year or if it’s just because I’m able, via the kayak, to reach them more easily.
Monday evening, 6 May, became my first river outing in the new kayak. I put in at Falls, PA, and paddled three miles up the Susquehanna River to a point where a large island divided the river. The division caused the current to intensify to the point where I just could’t paddle through it; besides which, sunset was approaching, so I turned around and floated back with the current.
Paddling on the river was much different from paddling on the lakes and ponds and, for the first hour or so, I was rather unsettled by it. The river is much more dynamic. You can feel it with each paddle, even when you’re no in the main current. The water feels harder when you bite into it. It took a while for me to begin establishing a comfort zone but, by the time I reached the island I was starting to feel more at ease. Enough so that on the trip downstream I got the camera out. Read more »
The female Common Merganser pictured above has become one of my regular subjects up at Lackawanna State Park. She hangs out in the marsh at the northern end of the lake, where the South Branch of Tunkhannock Creek empties into it. For several weeks in a row I’ve found her sitting on the muddy shoreline along with a Canada Goose and a male Mallard.
So what’s the trouble? If you click in the photo after the break for the larger view, look closely at the area under her beak, where there’s some sort of long, fleshy tumor dangling from her chin.
I was at Courthouse Square in downtown for 1st Friday, getting ready to cover “Pride & Prejudice’s” activities that night, when I came across this Flowering Dogwood tree in the square. I’ve always loved Flowering Dogwoods and think they may be the most lovely of all the flowering trees.
Predator: the Great Blue Heron. A large and somewhat ungainly bird in flight, or especially if you’ve ever seen one land on a pine bough. They’re a bit skittsh and, when startled or irritated, let out a cartoonish squawk as they take off and fly away amid a flurry of beating wings. But put one in its element, a shallow marsh or shoreline, on a still morning when there’s prey nearby and watch the transformation. Read more »
The news about Adobe’s new Creative Cloud model is pretty much common knowledge now; there’s been plenty of posts about it on other sites. Some of those just reiterate the Adobe PR release and others take a personal stance. If you haven’t read much about this yet, I’ve linked to the highlights after the break. I won’t bother with a summary, since the links will cover that. But if you want to skip the rest of this and get the 5-second version, it’s this: no thanks.
I’ve been trying to write a post about these guys since I saw them over a month ago and just haven’t been able to come up with anything that accurately expresses the thrill and excitement of getting to see them in the wild. So in the end, I’m just going to share the two photos I got and tell you outright that it was incredibly exciting to get to see them up close in their natural habitat, and that I cannot wait to meet them again!
