Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of some moment in the cattails. At first I thought it was a Downy Woodpecker, which I have sometimes observed pecking on the cattails in search of insects, but I quickly saw that this was a smaller bird. When it finally climbed higher on a cattail stalk, it became clear that it was a Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis).
Initially I had trouble finding this tiny bird in my viewfinder with the zoom fully extended, but eventually I was successful. I am really happy with the effect that I managed to achieve, with the darker-colored bird really standing out from the lighter-colored backdrop of the cattails. Normally I like to crop to focus attention on the subject, but in this case I like the images better with a considerable amount of open space around the chickadee.
I couldn’t decide which of these two image I liked more, so decided to include both of them. Sometimes I like the horizontal pose of the first shot, but at other times the open bill in the second shot draws me in.
It’s always fun to try to get shots of owls and eagles and hawks, but my moments with this little chickadee reminded me that the little birds have their own special kind of beauty.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Screwed
Posted in commentary, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, auger, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, screw, screwed, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 12, 2015| 9 Comments »
For months I have observed this large screw-like tool partially buried in the ground at my local marshland park and gradually rusting with the passage of time. Was it deliberately abandoned during a construction project? Was it accidentally left behind? Will it be used in the spring to bore more holes into the earth?
Is it a symbol of abandoned hopes and plans, of dreams that never came to fruition? I leave the interpretation to others.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
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