The skies were the color of flat steel yesterday, with a silver-colored, dim sun that looked a bit like someone had punched a hole in the steel and lit it from behind.

Tags:   Black and White monochrome NIkon D750 Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED coast guard beach cape cod national seashore

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It *is* Negroni Week, after all.

Botanist gin, Carpano Antica, and Campari, with a not-terribly-twisty twist.

Tags:   negroni Massachusetts United States botanist gin carpano antico campari

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Late yesterday I headed over to Mass Audubon's Allens Pond (the "Stone Barn" entrance), with the intent to check the owl boxes to see if they're occupied at the moment (no.) As I rounded the first bend on the trail, I saw a Cooper's Hawk on the ground, picking at its kill, a rabbit about the size of the hawk itself. It stared at me, and spooked right as I started to move the camera. I moved behind the small amount of cover that was there, and saw the bird move in a bit closer, but it still wouldn't return to the kill while I was there.

Then I realized that I had a clear line of sight to the rabbit from the parking area through a gap in the wall, so I moved my car and got in, using the car like a blind. That worked. The rabbit itself was just below my sightline, but the Cooper came back in and perched for a bit on a branch in the sunlight for a few minutes, then returned to the ground to try to haul off the rabbit.

Nikon D750 w/Sigma 150-600 and 1.4xTC, 1/1600s @ ƒ/9, ISO800. Color finishing in Adobe Lightroom Classic.

Tags:   Westport Massachusetts United States Mass Audubon Allens Pond NIkon D750 Sigma 150-600mm ƒ5-6/3 OG HSM Contemporary bird hawk cooper's hawk

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The Herring run at the Agawam River in Wareham is still busy, but I think the peak has passed. Two weeks ago you could have walked across the river below the run on the backs of the fish.Tthis weekend there's far fewer fish but still enough that plenty of Osprey are successfully making meals of the passing herring, though.

Despite catching at least a dozen different birds making dives from perches around the run, I still haven't managed to get the shot I've been looking for, either because I'm not fast enough to get it framed or my camera's AF system isn't fast enough to lock on in time. Not to say that I didn't get some good shots, regardless.

Nikon D750 w/Sigma 150-600 HSM @ 180mm, 1/2000s @ ƒ/5, ISO12800. Noise removal in Topaz Photo AI, with the rest of the post-processing in Adobe Lightroom Classic.

Tags:   agawam herring run Wareham Massachusetts United States Nikon D750 Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Osprey Blueback Herring

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An Osprey with its catch taking to the air near the Agawam River fish ladder in Wareham, MA.

Nikon D750 w/Sigma 150-600 @ 240mm, 1/1600s @ /7.1, ISO6400. Color finishing in Adobe Lightroom, noise removal in Topaz Photo AI.

Tags:   agawam herring run Wareham Massachusetts United States osprey nikon d750 Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM

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