Posted in Autumn, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, autumn, autumn colors, autumn fungi, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, fall, Huntley Meadows Park, mushrooms, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 23, 2014| 8 Comments »
Fall foliage is great at this time of the year, but I am also finding beautiful colors as I walk deeper into the woods. I can’t identify these different fungi, but that doesn’t keep me from enjoying their beauty. I especially enjoy the rainbow shapes in the shades of autumn, with such a wide range of oranges and browns.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Belted Kingfisher, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, female Belted Kingfisher, kingfisher, Lake Cook, Megaceryle alcyon on October 22, 2014| 5 Comments »
A female Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) lives at a small lake not far from where I live and periodically I try to photograph, but she continues to remain elusive.
Generally I try to photograph the kingfisher at one of her normal perches in a grove of trees across a narrow portion of the lake from where I am standing. It’s tough to isolate her against the backdrop of the trees, especially at this time of the year when the leaves are still on the trees, and often I only catch sight of her when she starts to fly.
Most of the shots in this posting are my attempts to capture her in flight. I am getting better at tracking the bird in the air and keeping her in focus, but it’s not easy to do as she flies in and out of the shadows and against varying backgrounds and she is somewhat hidden in these shots.
This past weekend, I decided to try to approach the grove of trees from the other side of the lake, where there is often a group of fishermen. I was fortunate that I was alone and I was able to make it relatively close to the grove of trees. I was surprised to see that the kingfisher was on a low perch rather than high in the trees where I usually find her and I managed to squeeze off a few shots before she flew away. The first shot in this posting was from this new shooting position.
I plan to try this new approach again in the future and with a bit of luck, I may finally be able to get the kind of shot of this bird that I have been visualizing in my mind.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Lake Cook, Phalacrocorax auritus on October 21, 2014| 5 Comments »
As I slowly made my way through the tall grass on the lake shore, my eyes were focused on the low-hanging branches where I had seen a Belted Kingfisher earlier in the day. Suddenly the water exploded at my feet.
I was startled and so was the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) that scrambled into action and started moving across the surface of the water. The cormorant had apparently been resting or feeding at the water’s edge and had not heard me approach. It was interesting to see the cormorant move—it rose up a bit and seemed to walk across the water and then settled back into the water once it was a good distance away from me.
The action happened so quickly and in an unexpected location that I initially had trouble framing my shots. This is my favorite of the ones in which I managed to get the entire cormorant in the frame. I especially like the details that you can see on the wings. As I was working on the image, it was interesting to note that there are almost no colors in the shot, except for the bird’s bill. When I adjusted the hue and saturation, for example, almost nothing changed.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Cirque du Soleil, Huntley Meadows Park, mating dragonflies, Sympetrum vicinum on October 20, 2014| 6 Comments »
As their name suggests, Autumn Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum) appear later in the year than most other dragonflies. This past weekend I spotted quite a number of mating pairs, including this couple that I captured in an acrobatic position worthy of the Cirque du Soleil. The dramatic lighting and colorful background added to the theatrical feel of the image, as all the elements worked together to focus our attention on the performance.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, dragonfly eyes, Huntley Meadows Park, ommatidia, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 18, 2014| 22 Comments »
When I am trying to take a close-up shot of a dragonfly, I know that I have succeeded when I manage to capture some of the details of the ommatidia. What are ommatidia? Ommatidia are the up to 30,000 hexagonal facets that make up the incredible compound eyes of a dragonfly. For more information and a more scientific explanation, check out a posting entitled “Super-predators” that Sue did in June 2013 in her Backyard Biology blog.
Rather than think about science, today I would prefer to simply bask in the beauty of the blue-eyed Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum ambiguum) that I photographed yesterday as it perched on a fallen leaf at my favorite marshland park. The color of the dragonfly’s eyes completely captivate me.
As for the ommatidia, I’ve cropped a portion of the image and added it to the posting as a second image to make it even clearer what they look like. I chuckled a little when I examined the cropped image, because this dragonfly, like some others that I have photographed, has the sparsely distributed mustache and chin hairs that never fail to remind me of human teenagers who refuse to shave in a vain attempt to look older.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Anax junius, Canon 50D, Common Green Darner, Common Green Darner dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, migrating dragonfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 15, 2014| 12 Comments »
It’s migration time for Common Green Darner dragonflies (Anax junius) and last week one of my fellow photographers, Walter Sanford, reported a small swarm of Green Darners at my local marshland park.
I was walking in an entirely different area of the park from Walter and was surprised to see Green Darners, which are easily recognized thanks to their coloration and distinctive bullseye on their heads, flying up from the ground as I approached them. Rather than fly off into the distance, which is most often the case when I happen to disturb a dragonfly, these dragonflies moved only a short distance and came to rest again on the ground.
I don’t yet have the ability to interpret the movements of dragonflies, but it seemed to me that these Green Darners were conserving energy, as though they were resting in the midst of a long journey. I tried to be as quiet and stealthy as I could and moved closer and closer to one Green Darner perched near some green moss that was almost a perfect match for the color of the forward portion of her body. Judging from her overall coloration, I think this is probably a female.
My subject was amazingly cooperative and I was able to get shots of this beautiful dragonfly from a number of different angles. Although I normally try to have backgrounds that are must less cluttered than those in these images, I don’t find them to be too distracting here and they do help to show how well this colorful dragonfly blended in with her environment.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Banded Woolly Bear caterpillar, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, caterpillar, Huntley Meadows Park, Isabella Tiger Moth, Pyrrharctia isabella, Woolly Bear, Woolly Bear caterpillar on October 14, 2014| 8 Comments »
In between rain showers yesterday, I spotted this Banded Woolly Bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) at Huntley Meadows Park, my local marshland. Unlike this photographer, most of the wildlife seemed to be taking shelter from the rain, so I was particularly excited when I caught sight of this caterpillar as I was trudging through the wet, calf-high vegetation.
Folklore says that the width of the brown band is an indicator of the severity of the upcoming winter. I can never remember whether a narrow band means a severe winter or the opposite, but Google came to the rescue again and indicated sources that say a narrow band means a colder winter. If that’s right, we may be in for a mild winter, given the size of the broad brown area on this caterpillar. Of course, there is no real scientific basis for this folklore, but it’s probably about as reliable as the weather forecasters in this area, who are notoriously bad in predicting the weather. They claim that we live in a complicated meteorological area.
When I was photographing this caterpillar, I noticed that it had a number of water drops on its “fur” and I was happy to see that I was able to capture them. There is something magical about those little globes of water and light.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Crew, Nature, Photography, Rowing, tagged DC Strokes, DC Strokes Rowing Club, Occoquan Chase, Occoquan Chase 2014, Occoquan River, Sandy Run, Washington DC on October 13, 2014| 8 Comments »
Yesterday was a beautiful day to cheer on the rowers of the DC Strokes Rowing Club as they competed at the 3.1 mile Occoquan Chase. The weather was pleasant and the leaves were starting to change colors, adding to the natural beauty of the Occoquan River, a tributary of the Potomac River just south of the District of Columbia.
The river was pretty wide and unfamiliar to me, so I hadn’t figured out a good vantage point for capturing the action. Eventually I ended up perching on a rock outcropping near the water’s edge. I was probably about six feet above the level of the river and I had to be careful not to lean too far forward, given that it was a straight drop down into the water.
One of my main goals was to capture some action shots in which each of DC Strokes rowers was recognizable. I am happy that I was able to accomplish that goal and got some shots of the four 8+ boats in action (eight rowers and a coxswain in each boat), although I was not able to capture the action of the boats with four rowers.
DC Strokes Mens Novice 8+
DC Strokes Womens 8+
DC Strokes Mens 8+, Boat #349 (Pride)
DC Strokes Mens 8+, Boat #350 (Oscar)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Chicken of the Woods, Huntley Meadows Park, Laetiporus sulphureus, mushroom, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 12, 2014| 10 Comments »
When I think of mushrooms, I usually imagine tiny, pale specimens growing in dark places close to the ground. I was startled, therefore, when I encountered this big, bold bright orange mushroom in plain view. The color was so vivid that I spotted it from a long way off and couldn’t help thinking at first that it looked like a smashed pumpkin.
It didn’t take too much searching on the internet to find this mushroom—its scientific name is Laetiporus sulphureus, but it is commonly known as the Chicken of the Woods mushroom. There are lots of recipes available for this edible mushroom, which can be sautéed, deep fried, baked, and may be used in soups.
I’m a chicken, though; when it comes to eating questionable things and don’t think I’d ever eat a mushroom that I encountered in the wild. The beautiful colors of this mushroom include the shades that I associate with autumn, which lets me enjoy it with my eyes, even if I won’t be putting it in my mouth.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Pantala flavescens, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Wandering Glider, Wandering Glider dragonfly on October 9, 2014| 4 Comments »
The Wandering Glider dragonfly (Pantala flavescens) may look ordinary, but it has extraordinary flying abilities that fully justify its name. It is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the planet and is found on all continents except for Europe and Antarctica and one was even recorded at over 20 thousand feet (6200 meters) in the Himalayas, according to Wikipedia. It is also the only dragonfly to be found on Easter Island in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean.
These dragonflies are in almost constant motion, so I was thrilled when I stumbled across a male Wandering Glider perched on a plant at my local marshland last weekend. There were a lot of Green Darners buzzing around too and this Wandering Glider may have been part of a migrating group that had stopped for a rest. According to an article at Odonata Central, Wandering Gliders drift with the wind for long distances (even over water) and are often encountered by ocean freighters. They mate in flight and feed on aerial plankton when flying long distances. (I never knew that there was such a thing as ‘aerial plankton.”)
I wondered why there are no Wondering Gliders in Europe and found one answer in Wikipedia. These dragonflies like to fly in moist winds and the extremely dry winds coming off of the Sahara Desert may have a barrier effect.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Amphibians, Autumn, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, frog, Green Treefrog, Huntley Meadows Park, Hyla cinerea, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 7, 2014| 10 Comments »
It’s always great to spot a little Green Treefrog (Hyla cinera) in the reeds at my local marshland park, though they are often obscured by the vegetation and are tough to photograph.
I initially spotted this one on a large leaf, as shown in the second shot, shortly after I had mentioned to a fellow photographer how much I wanted to see one on one of these leaves. My wish came true.
As I was taking some shots, someone walked toward me on the boardwalk. I had to stop shooting, because of the vibrations of the approaching footsteps. As I anticipated, the passerby wanted to know what I was photographing and my efforts to point out the frog caused it to move.
Although I was initially a little irritated that the frog had jumped away, I quickly realized that it had not moved far and was in a more precarious and photogenic position. I had to work to shoot through the reeds, but ended up with a nice shot of this really cute frog.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, bumblebee, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, purple flower, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 6, 2014| 8 Comments »
Although it is already October and the weather is getting cooler, the local bees have not yet called it quits for the season. I am not sure what kind of purple flower this is, but the bumblebee was busily burrowing its head into its open blossoms.
I was happy to be able to catch the bee in action, capturing an “artsy” image of the moment.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 4, 2014| 6 Comments »
Many dragonflies species have disappeared by now as we move deeper into autumn, but some especially beautiful ones have taken their place, like these male Blue-faced Meadowhawks (Sympetrum ambiguum) that I photographed yesterday at my local marshland park.
According to the Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website, this species peaks in September to October and is the rarest and hardest to find meadowhawk in our area. I was walking through a meadow at the park with one of my fellow photographers when she spotted the Blue-faced Meadowhawk in the second photo perched on a log. At that moment, I happened to have a 70-300mm telephoto lens on my camera and I was happy to be able to get a shot that shows the spectacular colors of this dragonfly. Little did I know that I would have an even better opportunity a few minutes later.
As we continued into an area with thigh-high growth, my friend stopped for a moment and said she had spotted a spreadwing damselfly. I looked in the direction that she was pointing and didn’t see the damselfly, but I did spot another Blue-faced Meadowhawk perched atop one of the plants.
In a whispered voice, I asked my friend to freeze and I quickly changed lenses to my 180mm macro lens. Amazingly, the dragonfly stayed in place and I was able to get a number of shots, including the first one below. Given that these dragonflies are less than two inches in size (50mm), I am thrilled with the results. There is something almost magical about the combination of red, blue, and turquoise on this dragonfly.
.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea alba, baby egret, birds in flight, Cameron Run, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Egretta thula, Great Egret, Great White Egret, juvenile egret, Snowy Egret on October 2, 2014| 11 Comments »
I’ve seen lots of Great Egrets (Ardea alba) over the past couple of years, but until recently I had never seen a juvenile one and had no idea that they were so small compared to the adults.
I caught this little interaction between what I assume is a mother and a young egret at Cameron Run, a tributary of the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. The birds were standing on one of a number of concrete slabs that cross the entire width of the stream, presumably to slow down the flow of the water.
UPDATE: A number of more experienced birders have weighed in and pointed out that the smaller egret is not a juvenile Great Egret as I thought, but is instead a Snowy Egret (Egretta thula), a species that I had never seen before. As a result, the scenario below that I imagined is no longer valid—I’ll have to think a bit more about what herons of two different species might have been discussing.
The mother seemed to be giving instructions to the young one to stay put while she flies off to fish a short distance away.
Mom gets a bit excited as she warns the little one to stay put
The little one finally agrees
The mother eventually is reassured and takes off for the rocky edge of the water, hoping for a quick catch, so that she can feed the hungry youngster.
Flying away for a little while
Searching for the perfect spot for fishing
The young egret is left all alone to wait for the return of his Mom, hopefully with a tasty snack.
Waiting for Mom
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bumblebee, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 1, 2014| 4 Comments »
With rain and gray skies that started today, I feel the need to compensate with some bright colors, so I thought I’d post an image from this past weekend. I love the way that it looks like this bumblebee is clinging to a rolling red ball, which, of course, is merely the center of a flower in the garden of my neighbor and fellow photographer Cindy Dyer.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Photography, Sports, Urban, tagged Anacostia River, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, crew, DC Strokes, DC Strokes Rowing Club, rowing, Washington DC on October 1, 2014| 6 Comments »
This past weekend I traveled to Washington D.C. to cheer on a friend and her team, the DC Strokes Rowing Club, in the 3.1 mile Head of the Anacostia Regatta. I don’t have a lot of experience photographing sports or even people, so it was a challenge for me to capture some images of the event.
The last time that I watched my friend row, she was part of a four-woman boat, but this time she was in a mixed boat, with four female and four male rowers (plus a coxswain). I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to synchronize your efforts with such a large number of others of such varied sizes and strengths. It was fascinating, for example, to see how they carried the boat down the ramp to the water, with the rowers arranged in ascending order by height.
I learned from the last time that I watched a race at this location that the best way to get action shots of the entire boat was to place myself on a bridge that overlooks the finish line. So after I watched the rowers launch their boat, the Stonewall, and head slowly for the start line, I walked quickly to the bridge to await their arrival. As I looked upriver to see when the boats would be coming, it was tough see across several railings and four lanes of traffic.
Eventually their boat arrived and I was happy that I was able to get some action shots from above as they headed for the finish line. Congratulations to all of them!
(Click on any of the photos in the tiled mosaic to see the photos in a larger size.)
The rowers in action
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, fall colors, green metallic bee, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 28, 2014| 7 Comments »
When the urge to take some photos strikes me and I don’t want to travel very far, I can usually depend on Cindy Dyer, my neighbor and photography mentor, to have something interesting to shot in her garden. About five o’clock today, I photographed what looks to be a tiny metallic green bee on one of the colorful flowers still in bloom at the side of her townhouse.
I like my fall colors to be bright and vivid, not muted and faded.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Art, Autumn, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, backlighting, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Huntley Meadows Park, spider webs, sunrise, webs on September 28, 2014| 11 Comments »
One of the joys of arriving early at the marsh at this time of the year is having the chance to see spiders’ handiwork, backlit by the rising sun.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Belted Kingfisher, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, female Belted Kingfisher, Lake Cook, Megaceryle alcyon on September 25, 2014| 11 Comments »
It’s autumn now and my thoughts (and my camera) are starting to focus more on birds than insects. This past weekend, I returned to a location where I had previous seen a female Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). The kingfisher would perch on the limbs of some trees overlooking a small trout-stocked pond called Lake Cook, which is really more like a small pond, and periodically make a foray across the surface of the water and grab a fish.
I realized this time that I had a problem—there are so many leaves still on the trees that I couldn’t spot the kingfisher when I heard its very distinctive, rattling call. I could get a general idea of its location, but couldn’t see the kingfisher until it was already in flight, which mean I had to react really quickly to acquire and track it, hoping that I would be able to focus on it.
As it turns out, hope is not really an effective photographic technique and not surprisingly I ended up with a lot of blurry, improperly exposed images, in part because the kingfisher was flying in an out of the shadows. I was pleased, though, that I was able to capture a few decent images of the kingfisher in flight. I was shooting from across the pond from where the kingfisher was perched, so the shots are not close-ups of the bird, but are more like environmental action shots. Maybe I need a longer lens!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Runnymeade, sunrise on December 7, 2013| 5 Comments »
It rained all day yesterday, so it was especially nice to see the sun rise this morning. I didn’t get a photo of today’s sunrise, but thought I would share this shot from two week’s ago.
I was sitting at my computer in my bedroom in the top floor of my townhouse, early in the morning, when I happened to glance out the window. The colors of the sunrise were spectacular in the distance. Although the temperature was close to freezing, I ran out of the house with flipflops on my feet to try to capture the fleeting effects of the rising sun. I searched for a gap in the trees and the townhouses and managed to get this image at a moment after the sun had risen (I missed the peak moment), when the sunlight was reflecting off of the clouds.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Cathartes aura, Huntley Meadows Park, turkey vulture, vulture on December 6, 2013| 9 Comments »
This Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) was circling around me last week, so I followed the advice given to me by one of my fellow photographers—I made sure that I moved periodically as I captured shots of this large bird with an impressive wingspan.
I will be away from home on a business trip starting tomorrow and I am not sure how often I will be able to update my blog. I wanted to alert readers in case they are concerned if they don’t see any movement for me for a number of days—the vultures probably have not made a meal of me yet. 
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern cardinal on December 4, 2013| 1 Comment »
I looked up at her from below and then she cocked her head and looked down at me. Our eyes met and we shared a brief, magical moment together. Then it was over, my all-too-short encounter with a beautiful female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, blackbird, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, cattail, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird on December 3, 2013| 11 Comments »
Although it is exciting to search for new birds or for unusual interactions, I love to return to familiar subjects, like this male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) that I photographed last week.
There is nothing complicated about this image, a blackbird perched on a cattail, but the small details make it special for me. I like the angled body and the turned head. The feathers seem unusually glossy and the eye is shiny too. There are a few wispy feathers that are matched by the “fluff” from the cattail. The background is brown, but there are a wide variety of shapes and shades.
What does it take for you to be satisfied as a photographer? For now at least, I am content to stay relatively close to home and photograph whatever I can find as well as I can. Life doesn’t have to be complicated all of the time.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Cameron Run, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, duck, Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, Potomac River, Ring-billed Gull on December 2, 2013| 19 Comments »
Do seagulls hunt ducks? That’s a crazy question, but that was the first thing that came to mind when a Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) started aggressively chasing a Hooded Merganser duck (Lophodytes cucullatus) with what appeared to be hostile intent.
I was walking along Cameron Run, a tributary of the Potomac River, when the scene started to unfold in front of me. The gull flew toward the dusk with its legs extended, like it was trying to snatch the duck out of the water. The duck immediately started bounding across the water (as you can see in the third photos) in an effort to escape the gull, but did not take to the air. When the duck got close to the bank of the stream, the gull turned away and left the duck in peace.
Was this merely a cranky gull or maybe a bully? Was it a territoriality thing? All I know is that it provided me a fascinating moment as I treated to a brief interaction between these two very different species of birds.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Huntley Meadows Park, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red-headed Woodpecker, woodpecker on December 1, 2013| 6 Comments »
I suspect that I may qualify as a stalker, because I spent over thirty minutes on Friday sitting on a fallen tree, observing every movement of a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) high in the oak trees.
The small branches and the shadows made it almost impossible to get a clear shot of the little bird, but they did not keep me from trying. I was really fortunate to get this shot of the woodpecker as it took off from one of its perches with an acorn in its mouth and gave me a glimpse of its beautifully-patterned wings. As I understand it, when the Red-Headed Woodpecker becomes an adult, its wings will be pure black and white, so I am glad that I was able to get the shot of the black dots.
After I posted this photo, I noticed that there is a least one acorn jammed into a crack in the bark just above the top edge of the bird’s tail, mostly likely a snack that it has cached for future consumption.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Huntley Meadows Park, Melanerpes carolinus, Red-bellied Woodpecker, woodpecker on November 30, 2013| 6 Comments »
Why was this Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) pecking so feverishly at the top of this broken tree? It certainly did not look like a good spot to find insects.
A few seconds later, I got an answer to my unspoken question, when the woodpecker pulled an acorn out with its beak (at least that’s what I think it is). After a bit of research on the internet, I learned that these woodpeckers eat plant materials, like acorns, as well as insects and that they sometimes use cracks in trees to store food for use at a later time.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Humor, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, perching dragonflies, Sympetrum vicinum on November 30, 2013| 4 Comments »
I don’t know what it was about Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies, but they really seemed to like to perch on me during several sessions when I was stalking them with fellow photographer and blogger Walter Sanford, who was able to capture shots of them (including mating pairs) on various parts of my clothing and body. His shots are wonderful and provide some great views of these colorful dragonflies, which seem to have disappeared with the arrival of frigid weather in our area.
Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) like Mike! Mike Powell, that is, a.k.a. “Meadowhawk Mike.” The following photos were taken at Huntley Meadows Park on 15 November 2013. Each set of images, or individual image, features a different dragonfly (or dragonflies) perching on Mike at various times during the day. Disclaimer: No dragonflies were either injured or killed in the making of these photos.
Now you see it; now you don’t! A male dragonfly perching on Mike’s shoulder, that is. Or was.
A time-series of images showing a mating pair in tandem. Mating pairs are usually more skittish than this male and female.
Sometimes the same dragonfly — or more than one dragonfly — perched in different places.
Another male, testing a couple of perching places.
A male on Mike’s arm.
This isn’t an optical illusion — a male dragonfly actually is…
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Posted in Art, Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Huntley Meadows Park, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red-headed Woodpecker, woodpecker on November 29, 2013| 12 Comments »
Wouldn’t you know it, I finally see a Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) and its head is not red. It’s a juvenile one and if you look closely you can see a few traces of the spectacular red that it will eventually sport on its entire head.
One of the serious birders at my local marshland park identified the area in which two juvenile Red-headed Woodpeckers had been seen regularly and I was fortunate to spot one of them this past Monday. The woodpecker seemed to be carving out a cavity in the tree and actually climbed into the hole as it chiseled away the bits of wood. Earlier, I saw one of them in the distance at a nearby tree with two large cavities (see the third photo). The bird stuck its head inside one of the cavities and I couldn’t tell if it was checking out the hole or was storing food there.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology notes that the Red-headed Woodpecker is one of only four North American woodpeckers known to store food, and it is the only one known to cover the stored food with wood or bark. These woodpeckers have a varied diet and will eat both insects, which they sometimes catch in the air, and a a number of plant materials, especially acorns.
I don’t know how long it will take for this bird’s head to turn red, but I will certainly be keeping an eye out for it, now that I have an approximate idea of its territory.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Autumn, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Thanksgiving, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Indian corn, Nalls Produce Center, pumpkin, squash on November 28, 2013| 6 Comments »
“Do you want to go photograph some produce?” How was I supposed to respond to this question posed to me early in November by my photography mentor and fellow blogger Cindy Dyer? How exciting can produce be?
I have grown up in a world in which I buy my produce in a supermarket. That produce has been scrubbed and processed and transported from far away. I was pleasantly surprised when Cindy took me to Nalls Produce Center, a local produce market that has a wide variety of items that I have never seen in a supermarket. Who knew, for example, that pumpkins were not always orange with smooth skins?
I was pretty uncertain about how to photograph the produce, so I just concentrated on shapes and colors and textures. It somehow seems appropriate to post this selection of photo on Thanksgiving Day, a day when Americans traditionally celebrate the bounty of the autumn harvest.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, deer, ducks, Huntley Meadows Park, white-tailed deer on November 27, 2013| 5 Comments »
I don’t often see deer in the daylight at my local marshland park, so I was a bit surprised last week when a doe came running out of the cattails and began to pick her way thought the ducks that were foraging in the shallow water. She was immediately followed by a smaller doe, who was also running.
What was going on? What had spooked these two deer? I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. A small buck emerged and started chasing the other two deer through the water.
I don’t know if they were just playing or if the buck had amorous intentions, but it gave me the chance to get a few shots of what passes as “big game” for me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Wildlife Watching at Huntley Meadows Park
Posted in Autumn, commentary, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Huntley Meadows Park on November 28, 2013| 1 Comment »
Sometimes I jokingly refer to myself as a “Dragonfly Whisperer.” Well, as it turns out, the roles were reversed recently when a mature male Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum vicinum) whispered some words of wisdom about wildlife watching at Huntley Meadows Park. Here’s what the old-timer had to say …
Food for thought on the traditional day when we give thanks for our many blessings. I am especially thankful for the opportunity to be a frequent and careful observer of the natural beauty of the hemi-marsh at Huntley Meadows Park, and for many good friends with whom I share the experience. And thanks to WordPress.com for the free blog that enables me to share my sightings with others!
Copyright © 2013 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
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