Tag Archives: Photography

Nature in a Minute: Osprey

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Sean K.

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As migration begins to kick into high gear, many birds are returning to Massachusetts and their summer breeding grounds. In particular, this past week many Osprey have returned. They are setting up territories, returning and rebuilding their nests, and fishing.

“…True to the season, o’er our sea-beat shore,
The sailing osprey high is seen to soar,
With broad unmoving wing, and, circling slow,
Marks each loose straggler in the deep below;
Sweeps down like lightning! plunges with a roar!
And bears his struggling victim to the shore.
The long-housed fisherman beholds with joy
The well-known signals of his rough employ;
And as he bears his nets and oars along,
Thus hails the welcome season with a song.”
~ The Fish-Hawk by T.A. Conrad

On April 16, 2020, I was walking with my three daughters at Wheaton Farm Conservation Land in Easton, Massachusetts. Each day we go exploring near our neighborhood and find peace with nature. As we were walking down the trail, I noticed a large bird circling overhead and realized it was an Osprey. We moved a little quicker to the pond and moved into a full run when I realized that it was hovering, ready to go fishing. Running full speed with a strolled while taking a camera out is a new skill that I’m well on my way to perfecting. Enjoy the photos of this amazing natural history moment.

Soaring

The Hover Begins

Full Speed Ahead

Ready for Splashdown

Splashdown

Powering up for Liftoff

Success!!! The Osprey landed Lunch

Cleared for Takeoff (or is it Takeout?)

Heading Out

Flying Away

A View from Below

Enjoy Barry Van Dusen’s Post from Great Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, Wareham on May 24, 2015 About Ospreys

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Nature in a Minute with a Great Blue Heron

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Sean K.

Many Miles by Mary Oliver

The feet of the heron,
under those bamboo stems,
hold the blue body,
the great beak above the shallows
of the pond.
Who could guess
their patience?
Sometimes the toes
shake, like worms.
What fish
could resist?…

A Great Blue Heron answers the dinner bell

Great Blue Heron, April 2, 2020, Norton Reservoir, Norton, Massachusetts

Although the iron grey sky hung low and the drizzle damped the muddy spring earth, I’ve been trying to spend time in communing with nature each day and enjoying the restorative power of simply being outdoors. Especially for those who can’t make it outside during our days of shared isolation, I’m always searching for the spectacular in the ordinary and not so ordinary that surrounds us everyday to bring you some wonderful glimpses of the natural world through my photography. As I was driving around the Norton Reservoir looking for Common Mergansers, Buffleheads, Bald Eagles, and other ducks, I spotted a faint flash of bright white in some cattails and reeds along the pond’s edge. I was delighted to see a Great Blue Heron and really excited when I realized it was enjoying a meal, mostly likely a sunfish – either a Pumpkinseed or Bluegill. I hope you enjoy these photographs of this amazing natural history moment.

Great Blue Herons will eat almost anything – from fish, small mammals, frogs, and more. Because herons and other birds lack teeth, they can’t chew and swallow their prey whole.

Will the Fish Fit?

It Fits!

Swallowing it Whole! Look at the Neck…

Where is my next meal???

Landscape of the Norton Reservoir with two Common Mergansers in the Distance

Thank you so much for reading our Nature in a Minute photo essay. We hope you are doing well in these challenging and uncertain times. Also, we have linked to a wonderful post by Barry Van Dusen, our former artist-in-residence at MABA, about his wonderful visit to a Heron Rookery at the Rocky Hills Wildlife Sanctuary in Groton.

Barry Van Dusen visits a Heron Rookery at the Rocky Hills Wildlife Sanctuary during his artist-in-residence at MABA

Enjoy this wonderful post from Barry Van Dusen about his visit to the Great Blue Heron Rookery at Mass Audubon’s Rocky Hills Wildlife Sanctuary.

Art, Nature, and Photography

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Sean K.

Sticks cracked, boots splashed in the stream, and the sanctuary burst with life as students from Canton High got into position to take the perfect photograph of our natural world. On December 11, Patricia Palmer’s photography class from Canton High School visited the wildlife sanctuary to take nature photographs. We spent time exploring near our vernal pool, pine, maple, and oak forest, and Pequit Brook.

Along the photography hike, we encountered lots of birds, including red-breasted nuthatches, a fisher (Martes pennanti), an extremely rare sighting, and a raccoon all curled up in a tree hole along the vernal pool trail. Special thanks to the Marilyn Rodman Council for the Arts for supporting these wonderful programs. 

A fisher ambled up a large white pine while we hiked to the brook. It spent most of the afternoon in the late fall sun high up in the tree.

The light and reflections of the ice were wonderful. Enjoy these photos of the trip.

Student photographing reflections on the ice
A raccoon all curled up in a tree by the vernal pool. It spent over 7 hours curled up in this spot right along the trail
Students photographing ice, water, and nature at the Pequit Brook

Take Control of your Digital Photos: Adobe Lightroom Workshop with Shawn Carey

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Sean K.

Do you have thousands of digital photos and are having trouble organizing them? Do you need help on how to process a digital photo for output to e-mail or web? The Museum of American Bird Art is thrilled to host a workshop with wildlife photographer Shawn Carey of Migration Productions for Adobe Lightroom workshop on Saturday October 14, 2017 from 9 to 4 pm. Click here to learn more or register. 

In this all-day workshop, you will learn how to manage your digital photos and files in a way that makes sense, is easy to learn, plus learn many time saving shortcuts. This is an all day workshop that is broken up in three instructional units:

Section 1:

  • Understanding Lightroom and how it works, organize your photos/files.
  • Library Module
  • Importing files, rating and editing or culling images.
  • Proper backup of files and catalog

Section 2:

  • Keywords and Keyword list, the proper way to apply Keywords
  • Understanding collections and why there are useful.

Section 3:

  • Develop a Module
  • Develop and output for e-mail and web.

Shawn Carey’s Background

Shawn’s photos have been published in the Boston Globe, New York Times, Mass Audubon Sanctuary magazine, Science magazine, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary magazine and many others over the last 20 years. He has been presenting programs and teaching workshops for camera clubs, birding organizations and at birding events since 1994. (Mass Audubon, Maine Audubon, ABA, Manomet, HMANA, Eastern Mass Hawk Watch, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and many local bird and camera clubs). In 1997 he started teaching bird photography workshops (Fundamentals of Bird Photography) for the Mass Audubon and teaches for Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay’s Summer Field School on Cape Cod.

Shawn is a member of:

Mass. Audubon (Advisory Council)
Mass Audubon Museum of American Bird Art, Canton, MA (Advisory Board)
Eastern Mass Hawk Watch (Past President and current Vice President)
Nuttall Ornithological Club (Past Advisory Board)
Goldenrod Foundation (Advisory Board)
Brookline Bird Club (Past council member 7 years)
South Shore Bird Club
South Shore Camera Club
American Birding Assoc.
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

Shawn P. Carey
Migration Productions
cell # 617-799-9984
[email protected]
www.MigrationProductions.com

Spotlight on our Fall Homeschool Classes

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Sean K.

To learn or sign up for our fall homeschool classes, click here.

In an environment infused with science, nature, and art, our homeschool classes are exciting and filled with laughter and fun. Each class is thoughtfully designed to foster confidence, awareness, and curiosity for the natural world, science, and art. Homeschool classes are designed by Sean Kent, a dedicated field biologist, curious naturalist, accomplished photographer, and passionate science educator with has been teaching science for 15 years. Furthermore, he has conducted ecological research in Massachusetts, Arizona, and Belize on native bees, the monarch butterfly, interactions between plants and animals and much more. This fall we are offering classes in field biology, nature journaling, and photography, including a build your own camera digital photography course.

To learn or sign up for our fall homeschool classes, click here.

This fall picture your homeschool student:

  • Conducting experiments in our native plant meadow and throughout our wildlife sanctuary
  • Recording and analyzing scientific data that they collected
  • Creating art inspired by science and nature

Check out these pictures of homeschool students actively involved with conducting research and setting up our experimental native plant meadow.

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  • Conducting surveys of amphibian populations that thrive in our wildlife sanctuary
  • Getting up close with wildlife and possibly holding yellow-spotted salamanders, turtles, or wood frogs that live in our wildlife sanctuary

Check out a few photos of homeschool students closely observing wildlife

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  • Increasing their confidence by creating art infused with science and nature
  • Focusing and closely observing nature

Check out a few pictures of homeschool students sketching and observing nature closely in the field

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  • Making friends in a warm and caring environment
  • Exploring different art mediums

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  • Observing and learning about all the amazing wildlife we have living in our 121 acre wildlife sanctuary

Check out a few of the animals and plants that have been observed over the past year in our wildlife sanctuary

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To learn or sign up for our fall homeschool classes, click here.

Connecting Art with Nature: Highlights from our Wild Photography Week

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Sean K.

Campers have been having a great week during the Wild Photography Camp session. We’ve been having lots of fun learning about photography, creating art, and exploring the sanctuary. Check out our post on the campers building the cameras. Here are the top moments from the week:

Moment #1: Painting with light (seriously)

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Moment #3: Silkscreen and watercolor of an Audubon Owl Print

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Moment #3: Nature hikes and photo scavenger hunts

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Moment #4: Collagraphic printmaking with natural materials

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Moment #5: Creating paintbrushes out of natural materials to paint a wall mural

 

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Moment #6: Creating Audubon prints and then visiting the permanent collection to learn more about printmaking

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Moment #7: Creating photo stories in the bird and pollinator garden

 

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Wild Photography: Campers learn, create, and express themselves through digital photography

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Sean K.

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Learn, Create, and Express! Today, we kicked off our Wild Photography week at the Wild at Art Summer Camp. Campers spent the morning building their own digital camera, which they will use during the week to learn more about the art of photography. Camper build and use a bigshot camera, which was developed by Shree Nayar, a computer science professor at Columbia University.

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By building the camera, they will learn about how gears work, how power is generated, and the physics behind digital photography. Check out this gallery of the cameras being put together:

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