It’s been hot as hell recently – again – and I haven’t been going out much to chase photos, so I decided this morning before it got too hot to get in a quick session down at Jordan Lake. Spoiler: there wasn’t a lot happening, even though i expected to see ospreys and perhaps eagles finding food for their young. As it was, I have just three images (well, three-and-a-half) to show for it – I got more, but this was what came out the best.
We’ll start slow, with the cicada-killer, now on time for the annual cicadas at least.
This is most likely an eastern cicada-killer wasp (Sphecius speciosus,) though a few years ago I would have called it a hornet – they’re quite big, not quite the size of your little finger, and yes, they sting and paralyze cicadas to carry them home to their burrows to feed their young. I have yet to get images of one with a cicada, but I’m trying. Overall, though, not bad for using the 150-600mm lens while I was watching for birds instead.
While I didn’t witness this osprey (Pandion haliaetus) capturing its prey, at least it passed close by, allowing enough detail to reveal that it probably got interrupted by some fishingfolk while it was consuming its meal – that looks partially-eaten to me. So no, this one was not for the kids it seems.
I could make out a small amount of activity on the osprey nest visible in the distance, but the sky in that direction was resolutely grey with heavy haze turning to cloud cover, reducing the direct sunlight on the nest itself while backgrounding it in white, so no photos turned out worth anything, and no one showed up with food for the young while I was watching, nor were they visibly hunting.
However, the real capture for the day was this:
Several times in the moderate distance, I heard a belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) cruising around, because they’re noisy birds when they’re disturbed and the same kids that likely spooked out the osprey were sending this guy around. I was staying put, however, knowing how shy kingfishers are and that I was unlikely to successfully stalk one. Luck was finally with me today, since this one circled around and landed in a tree about ten meters off, allowing me to fire off a bundle of frames. I’ve been trying for a decent portrait of a kingfisher for years, and this certainly qualifies. Moreover, the brownish throat band indicates that this is a juvenile, potentially this year’s brood, which might have helped a little in that the juvies of many species are often not as cautious as the adults. Don’t care – I’ll take it.
It’s cropped of course, but not by much – we’ll take a look at the full frame.
By the way, as birds go kingfishers are not large birds, a bit bigger than an American robin or red-bellied woodpecker, notably smaller than a crow – you couldn’t have “two in the hand,” in other words. This one remained there for about 10 seconds I think before disappearing again for good, but I had my shots. The Girlfriend remarked on how smooth the wing feathers looked, especially contrasted with the crest, but I liked the stippling of the neck band. Hell, I like all of it, because it took a damn long time to get this. Made the outing worthwhile for sure.