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Archive for the ‘Birds’ Category

Running water takeoff

Posted in Birds, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 10, 2013| 4 Comments »

I stumbled upon a pair of Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus) at Lake Cook, a tiny urban lake, shortly after I photographed a Belted Kingfisher this past weekend. As soon I spotted them, they also became aware of my presence and immediately took evasive action. In most cases in the past, that has meant that they started swimming away. This time they seemed to have decided that more decisive action was needed and they immediately took off.

Fortunately my camera was already in my hands and the settings were about the right ones for the situation. When I started photographing birds, one of the more experienced birders whom I met recommended keeping the camera set for burst mode and that’s where I keep it most of the time now. Occasionally that means I shoot off a few extra exposures unintentionally when my trigger finger is a little heavy, but sometimes it lets me get an exposure I might not have gotten otherwise. Now, let me be clear that my almost ancient Canon Rebel XT is not a professional DSLR, so burst mode means about three frames a second, which worked out this time.

I fired off a half-dozen frames as the two ducks, a male and a female, took off from the water and I am pretty pleased with the results. It looks like the ducks get a running start on the water before they take to the air. The photo of the male duck that I featured at the start is the second one in the chronological sequence, but I thought it was the most interesting in showing the little water “explosions” as the ducks skipped across the surface. The rest are pretty much self-explanatory. I especially like the way that the heads flatten out into more aerodynamic shapes as the ducks start flying and the reflections are pretty nice. A couple of the shots are cropped to show only the male duck, because his position happened to bemore interesting than that of the female in the image (no discrimination intended).

Takeoff2_blogTakeoff1_blogtakeoff3_blog Takeoff4_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Feather texture

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on January 9, 2013| 2 Comments »

I really enjoy watching woodpeckers at work—they are so determined and industrious. I find their simple black and white coloration (sometimes accented with a bit of red) to be tasteful and elegant. Usually I end up watching them from a distance or with my neck at an uncomfortable angle as I look high up into the trees or low near the ground.

This weekend, though, I observed a woodpecker—I think he was a Downy Woodpecker—at relatively close range and at eye level. He was hanging upside down on a branch and was systematically pecking away at it. I really like the lighting in this shot and the way it is reflected in his eye. My favorite element, however, is the feathers on the breast area. The texture is simply amazing and looks like almost like a loosely woven fabric. It is a nice contrast to the black-and-white feathers on his back that look like they are stacked from this angle.

I never tire of photographing the same subjects, whether they be birds, insects, or flowers. Familiar subjects somehow seem different when viewed from new angles or in different light.

Downy feather texture

Downy feather texture

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Breaking the ice

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 8, 2013| 13 Comments »

On rare occasions I can anticipate a photo opportunity as a series of actions seems to heading towards an inevitable conclusion. That was the case this past weekend.

The weather here has warmed up and the layer of ice on the ponds has started to melt a bit. I watched as a mixed group of Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks started walking across the iced-over beaver pond.

A duck walked past a branch sticking out from the ice and I thought I detected some water, suggesting to me that they were walking on thin ice. A goose (in the second photo) looked down at the ice and made a mental calculation that it was safe to cross. His calculations proved to be wrong as he broke through the ice and started to sink into the water. I caught his initial reaction in the third photo. I especially like the startled look in his eyes.

Without further delay, he flapped his wings and was able to lift himself out of the water. The photo I took of that moment is the first one shown on this blog posting and is my favorite. I am happy that I was able to capture a lot of the the details of the wings and of the ice. You can see, for example, the sheets of ice that have broken off on either side of the goose. I also like the sense of action in the position of the goose, a moment frozen in time (sorry about the obvious pun).

I always feel a little strange when I post a series of action shots in non-sequential order, but I worry that folks won’t stay around to see the dramatic conclusion if all they see is the first shot (which is not that exciting, but is an important part of the story). That is why I led with the conclusion, thereby giving away the end of the story. Maybe I need to employ the kind of techniques used in television, “Stay tuned as this goose rescues himself from the frozen waters of the pond…”

Breaking the ice

Breaking the ice

Testing the ice

Testing the ice

Starting to go under

Starting to go under

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Belted Kingfisher

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on January 7, 2013| 12 Comments »

This past weekend I decided to return to a little lake (it’s actually more like a pond) where I had previously seen some Hooded Merganser Ducks. This lake is part of a regional park and, according to posted signs, is stocked with trout.

As I was looking down at the water, I was surprised when a powder blue bird flew across my field of view. It was a pretty good size bird, but I didn’t have a clue what it was. It perched on a tree across the small lake and I was able to get a couple of shots to help me identify it. I came back later in the weekend and found the bird again and was able to take some additional photos. None of the photos yet is very good, but I thought I would share some of them, because I find the bird to be exceptionally cool.

What is the bird that has me so excited? It is a female Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology article, the Belted Kingfisher is one of the few bird species in which the female is more colorful than the male.  In a couple of my photos you can see the blue and chestnut bands across the breast of the female kingfisher (the male has only the blue band).

The Belted Kingfishers eat mostly fish and you can see a fish in the mouth of the bird in a couple of my photos. I suspected that the kingfisher swallows the fish whole, but I was too far away to see it happen. The same Cornell Lab article states that the kingfisher often dives from a perch, catches a fish and returns to the perch. It then pounds the prey against the perch before swallowing it head first.

As I mentioned, these photos were heavily cropped and are not that great in quality, but I hope to be able to take some better ones in the future. In addition to the shots of the bird in the tree, I am including one in which I attempted to photograph the bird in flight.

kingfisher5_blogkingfisher3_blog kingfisher1_blogkingfisher2

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Blackbirds fill the sky

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on January 7, 2013| 4 Comments »

We had some sunny weather this past weekend and temperatures soared to the upper 40’s (about 8-9 degrees C). As I was walking through my local marshland park, I heard an approaching loud noise, and before I knew it the sky was full of blackbirds. I turned my camera skyward and snapped off a few shot.

From the photos, I can’t identify all of the types of birds, but there seems to be a mixture of Red-winged Blackbirds and grackles and maybe a few others. What I find most fascinating, though, is the variety of wing positions, sizes, and shapes that you can see. Unlike the geese that I see flying in beautiful V-shaped formations, these blackbirds seem to be utterly lacking in organization as they move from place to place.

blackbirds_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Mockingbird in black and white

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 7, 2013| 6 Comments »

On an overcast day last week, I came across this Northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), silhouetted against an almost white sky. As I was focusing on him, he hopped to a slightly higher branch. He didn’t flap his wings at all, and I managed to catch him in mid-air.

hopping_blog

The image was underexposed and as I played with it to bring back some of the details, I realized it was already almost black and white. It was not a far stretch to desaturate the photo and play around in black and white. In fact, it was so much fun that I decided to work on a second photo of the same mockingbird.

mocking2_blog

I think I need to work on my techniques a little more, but I like the initial results of my dabbling in black and white.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Hooded Merganser Ducks

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , on January 6, 2013| 6 Comments »

I generally have had difficulties getting good photos of Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus), because of their size, speed, and skittishness. These little ducks also hang out in different bodies of water than the Mallard Ducks and Canada Geese that I regularly feature and the little streams where they can be found are pretty inaccessible and offer obstructed views of the water.

I did manage yesterday to finally get some decent photos of a Hooded Merganser couple together and separately. I ended up having to walk and down the banks of a stream repeatedly as the ducks changes directions every time they seemed to sense me (and eventually flew away) The first photo is probably my favorite, but I like all three of them.

Merganser(C)_blogMerganser(M)_blogMerganser(F)_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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More tree sparrows

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 6, 2013| 1 Comment »

Last month I featured a photo of an American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea), a species that is among the most visible and active during the cold, gray days of winter. I should probably caveat my statement about the sparrows being visible, because they are usually only partially visible as they root around in the tangled undergrowth and move quickly from place to place.

Occasionally I manage to get a somewhat clear shot of the American Tree Sparrow and I decided to share a couple of them this morning. The first one shows the sparrow in what I consider his most “natural” environment, mostly surrounded by vines and branches. I like the way he just poked out his head, permitting me to get a clear profile shot. The second image shows a sparrow at the top of cattail, a place where I rarely see them, which made it a little easier to get a clear shot.

Although I may not show photos of some of these smaller birds as often as I post photos of ducks, geese, and herons, I am attempting to photograph them almost every time that I am out shooting. I enjoy the challenge, even if my success rate is relatively low.

sparrow_blogsparrow2_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Mixed couple

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2013| 4 Comments »

As I was out shooting today, I was happy to encounter Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus) a couple of times, They are the coolest-looking ducks in my opinion (although Wood Ducks are in the running too). It’s a real challenge to get good shots of them, because they are small, fast, and skittish. I would love to find myself in a position like Phil Lanoue, a fellow blogger and incredible photographer, who recently photographed a Hooded Merganser duck coming in for a landing next to him (check out his blog posting).

I’m still going through my photos, but this one jumped out at me. It shows two duck couples swimming in formation. What is unusual is that one of the pairs appears to me a male Mallard and a female Merganser. Oh, I know that some of you are thinking that such a relationship could never work, but true love always finds a way.

I can only imagine what their children will look like.

Mixed couple

Mixed couple (click for higher resolution view)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Urban heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Urban, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on January 5, 2013| 5 Comments »

A few days ago I featured a Black-crowned Night Heron in a posting called Heron of a different color. One of the most unusual things about that heron was the location where I found him—a man-made canal at the edge of the runways at Reagan National Airport, across the Potomac River from Washington D.C.

That day there was another heron, a Great Blue Heron, fishing just opposite the night heron. I thought that herons preferred clear water, to help them see their prey better, but this water did not look to be very clear.

The first photo shows part of the canal, with a concrete wall in the lower right and the peeling paint of a bridge support in the upper left. I captured the image as the heron was moving around a freshly-caught little fish in his beak prior to swallowing it.

Urban_GBH2_blog

In the second shot, the heron had just dipped his beak into the water. I like the concentric ripples in the water and the drops of water visibly dripping off of the heron’s beak. This may have been an unsuccessful strike or he may have decided to rinse out his mouth (to get rid of the fish taste?).

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In this final photo, the heron is crossing the canal. As you can see, the water is fairly deep. I particularly like the heron’s reflection and how the details of the long feathers in the front are visible.

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Six months ago, I didn’t realize that there were Great Blue Herons in the area in which I live, but now I seem to find them with some regularity. As long I continue to see them, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be seeing them again in this blog.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Zen duck

Posted in Birds, commentary, Humor, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on January 4, 2013| 8 Comments »

Earlier this week I managed to photograph this male Mallard Duck as he secretly practiced the ancient art of Zen levitation. Note his closed eyes and relaxed concentration as his body is gently lifted out of the water. With sufficient practice, Zen master ducks can take off and land in this position,  like a helicopter or a Harrier jet.

Zen levitation

Zen levitation

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Canada Geese lay siege to Washington D.C.

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on January 4, 2013| 5 Comments »

They came from the skies, invaders from the north in a tight military formation, seeking for openings to breach the defenses of their southern neighbor’s capital city.

Invaders

They sent out reconnaissance forces, in the air and on the waters of the Potomac River, collecting information and looking for a spot for a larger landing force.

Reconnaissance

The landing zone secure, a larger force arrived and thus began the naval blockade of Washington D.C. A declaration of war has not yet been made by either side.

Landing Force

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Another blue heron photo

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on January 3, 2013| 9 Comments »

Earlier this week I posted a photograph of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) that I encountered while walking along the Potomac River here in Virginia. As I looked over the images from that day I came across another one that I really like.  The heron’s posture and his feathers make this image stand out for me, especially the way the feathers merge with his reflection in the water.

It’s probably clear to many readers that Great Blue Herons are among my favorite birds and that I never tire of finding opportunities to photograph them.

Great Blue Heron on Potomac River, Take 2

Great Blue Heron on Potomac River, Take 2

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Warbler in December

Posted in Birds, commentary, Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 3, 2013| 15 Comments »

Birders, I’m finding out, are an excitable breed. Sometimes they travel in flocks and sometimes alone. You can often identify them by their binoculars and spotting scopes and sometimes their cameras with enormous camouflaged lenses. They have special apps on their smartphones and frequently can be observed with their heads buried in one of the numerous identification guides they may be carrying.

I encountered a very excited member of this species as I passed by the bird feeders at my local marshland park this past weekend. He had his camera—with a large lens and flash—set up on a tripod pointed at the feeder.  Crouching in the shadows with a remote release in his hand, he was obviously waiting for something.

Before I could pose the obvious question, he asked me in a whisper if I also was there to photograph the Wilson’s Warbler. He must have mistaken me for one of his own kind, probably because I had a camera with a telephoto lens around my neck. I got the impression that this bird was rarely seen here and that word had circulated in birding circles of this find. Suddenly he snapped a few photos and went rushing off into the underbrush, saying that a fellow birders had alerted him that the bird had also been seen near one of the benches in the park. His closing words to me were that the warbler had been timed as coming back to the feeder every four to five minutes.

Caught up in the excitement, I waited near the feeder with my camera. The only problem was that I did not have a clue what a Wilson’s Warbler looked like. How was I going to photograph it if I couldn’t identify it? An assortment of Downy Woodpeckers and nuthatches arrived and departed at the feeder and I was beginning to despair that I would see this elusive bird, when all of the sudden I saw a flash of bright yellow. It was a small yellow bird, a welcome sight on a gray late December day, and over the course of the next fifteen minutes or so I attempted to take his picture.

When I arrived home, looked at my photographs on my computer, and did a little research, I realized that I had photographed a Wilson’s Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla or Cardellina pusilla). Judging from the range maps on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, Virginia is on the migratory path for these birds, which breed in the northern and western parts of North American and winter in the tropics.

I am not used to photographing birds at a feeder, but managed to get a few interesting shots of the Wilson’s Warbler. To avoid scaring off the bird, I was at a pretty good distance from the feeder,  so I had to crop the images quite a bit. I am quite content, though, that I have managed to capture some of the essence of this happy little bird.

Wilson's Warbler Walking

Wilson’s Warbler Walking

Wilson's Warbler Hovering

Wilson’s Warbler Hovering

Wilson's Warbler Feeding

Wilson’s Warbler Feeding

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Heron of a different color

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on January 2, 2013| 6 Comments »

In the past six months I have photographed Great Blue Herons and little Green Herons, but I had never encountered a black-and-white heron like the one that I saw yesterday.

He was about the size of a green heron, but the coloration was different. At first I wasn’t sure that it was a heron, but as I watched him, he perched on the bank and stared intently at the water, just like I had seen the Green Herons do.

Actually, I am exaggerating a little when I call it a “bank,” for the little heron was in what appeared to be a man-made canal at the edge of the runways at Reagan National Airport. The water was muddy and slow-moving, but there must have been some kind of sustenance in it, because there were also ducks nearby.

What kind of a bird was it? Judging from the photos that I took, it was a Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). The scientific name, Nycticorax, means “night raven”, according to Wikipedia, and refers to this species’ nocturnal habits and harsh crow-like call. This “Night Heron” was actively hunting for food during the day, despite his name. Maybe he was hungry or the noise of the nearby jet engines was too loud for him to sleep. The Black-crowned Night Heron is the most widespread heron in the world and has a range that spans five continents, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

This photo of the heron shows part of the concrete wall of the canal in the background and the netting that was being used to contain the rocks. The lighting was not that great, but I think that you can see some of the details of this interesting-looking bird, including his red eyes.

I don’t know why, but every time that I look at this photo, it looks to me like the heron is wearing an ill-fitting toupee.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Cold ducks

Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , on January 2, 2013| 17 Comments »

This past weekend there was a thin layer of ice on many of the little ponds at my local marshland park. I thought the ice would deter the migrating ducks and geese from stopping in, but I was wrong. Perhaps they just needed a break from flying.

It seemed unusual enough that I took some photos of the ducks walking on the frozen water. The first two images are pretty straightforward, but I tried to be a little creative in framing the third image, as a female duck contemplates the vast expanse of the ice in front of her.

I even tried to capture a duck landing on the ice in the last photo. A female duck is making a soft landing as her male companion prepares to come in right behind her. It’s not really sharp, but it gives you the idea. I had previously thought that the ducks would aim to land in the water that had not yet frozen, but obviously the ducks know what they are doing.

I never know what I will find when I venture out into nature—it’s one of the reasons that I keep returning to the same places, in hopefeil expectation of new surprises.

cold_duck1_blogduckwalk_blogice_duck_blogice_landing_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Great start to the new year

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on January 1, 2013| 15 Comments »

The weather was overcast today, but I decided to take a long walk along the Potomac River. There is a bike/walking path that parallels the river and I set out for Washington D.C. from Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

I stumbled upon a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) late in the afternoon, in one of the inlets just off the bike path that was raised above the water at that point. I have taken multiple photos of Great Blue Herons in the past, but I think that this image is my best to date. The pose is interesting and there are a lot of details. In addition the reflection is nice and the background is simple.

For me, this is about as close to a “great” shot as I can get at the moment, but this year I am hoping to raise my personal bar even higher.

Great Blue Heron in the Potomac River

Great Blue Heron in the Potomac River

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Into the new year

Posted in Birds, commentary, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on January 1, 2013| 9 Comments »

The new year has started. Like these Canada Geese, we have taken off and are continuing our journeys. Who knows where we will stop along the way? The wind and other obstacles may cause us to make unexpected stops or detours—things will undoubtedly not go according to our plans or maybe not even our desires. Best wishes and prayers for all of you on your own adventures this year, that you remain safe and healthy, joyful and at peace.

newyear

Click on the photo for a higher resolution view

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Sound the alarm

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on December 31, 2012| 1 Comment »

We have had temperatures below freezing most nights recently and many of the ponds at my local marshland are now covered with a thin sheet of ice. I was a little shocked today to see that ducks and geese continue to fly in and out of the pond, in some cases landing on the ice itself (some of the birds find areas that are not frozen over in which to land).

I am working on a number of photos showing these migrating birds on ice, but I thought I’d share this initial image. The goose to the left seemed to be sounding the alarm, signalling the others that it was time to fly away. As you can see from his open mouth, he was honking loudly and was flapping his wings. If you focus your attention on his feet, it looks like he may be slipping on the ice as a result of his vigorous actions. The two geese in the background appear to be ignoring him and all of his noise, although they may have joined him when he took off a few seconds later.

alarm

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Three’s company

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on December 31, 2012| 2 Comments »

This past weekend I spent some more time watching migrating geese and and attempting to photograph them in flight. Often the geese flew in large formations, though sometimes they would arrive and depart in pairs. As I looked overt my photos, though, my favorite photos of the day feature geese trios.

I love shots like these in which it’s fun to compare the positions of the different birds, and the degree to which they are synchronizing or varying their body positions and wing movements. Each of these photos seems to form a mini-progression within itself, as though they were made up of multiple exposures of a single bird.

goose triogoose trio 2

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Sleeping in the moonlight

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on December 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This past Friday I was up before the dawn to try to photograph the almost-full moon and already posted some photos of the moonlight reflected in the water and of the sunrise. As I was making my way along the boardwalk in the marsh, I saw that geese were asleep in the fields. With my camera on a tripod, I took some photos. This was shot at ISO100, f11, and a 25 second exposure. I like the fact that the moonlight was strong enough to cause a reflection in the water and illuminated what looks to be a thin sheet of ice on the water.

Goose asleep in the moonlight

Goose asleep in the moonlight

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Crow in the snow

Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on December 29, 2012| 3 Comments »

The skies turned dark and gray this morning and rain gradually turned into snow, a wet snow with large flakes that quickly covered the ground. It snowed hard for an hour or so, but the snow clouds eventually blew away and sunshine arrived to destroy all of evidence of the snowfall.

As the snow was falling, however, I went walking through the neighborhood with an umbrella in one hand and my camera in the other. Wondering if I would see any birds (I had visions of brightly-colored cardinals on pine branches against a backdrop of snow), I heard the unmistakable sound of a crow. It wasn’t hard to locate him and as I was focusing on him he took off. Mainly on instinct, I snapped a photo and got an interesting photo.

It’s a moody, dark photo that is perhaps a little ominous.  The crow seems to be a perfect match for the rest of the elements of the scene.

I’ll have to wait for another time for photos of beautiful birds in the sunshine with glistening snow.

Crow in the snow

Crow in the snow

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Splashdown

Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on December 28, 2012| 1 Comment »

I haven’t been out shooting in nature for almost a week, so I ventured out into my marshland park early this morning. I have not yet had a chance to go through all of my shots, but I knew I really liked this one as soon as I took it and did a quick review on the LCD of my camera.

I found myself in a good position when several Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) were coming in for a water landing and was able to track them and get a good focus. The buffer of my camera fills up pretty fast, so I didn’t want to start shooting too early. Just before they hit the water, I snapped off a few exposures and managed to get this shot in which one of the geese has landed and created a splash.  A goose in the foreground is landing in the midst of the splashing water. My shutter speed (1/320 sec) was fast enough to freeze most of the motion, with the exception of a slightly blurred wing. I like the blurry wing and thing it helps give the sense of motion, as do the droplets of water.

I have been trying to shoot a scene like this for quite some time and think that this is my best result to date. (I recommend clicking on the image to get a higher resolution view.)

Splashdown

Splashdown

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Fuzzy mockingbird

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on December 27, 2012| 6 Comments »

A few days ago I featured a photo of a mockingbird in a posting entitled Song of Hope. That photo was unusual for me, because the bird was perched on the top of the bushes and not buried inside.

My goal, of course, is to show the beauty of the birds as clearly as possibly, ideally with an unobstructed view. Sometimes, though, you can catch a glimpse of a bird’s unique characteristics even when the view is partly blocked.

That was the case in these photos of a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). I took the shots on the same day in the same general location as the photo I mentioned earlier, so it may have been the same mockingbird, but he looks a little different in a different setting.

My favorite parts of these images are the wispy, downy feathers on the bird’s stomach. In some places, they stick out like a sidewards cowlick (back in the days when I had hair, it would stand out at odd angles like that if it grew too long). The bird was accommodating enough in posing for me that I have included both left and right profiles.

I have been told that most people have asymmetrical faces and have a preference for one profile over the other. Which profile would this mockingbird choose?

fuzzy_blog

fuzzy2_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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A few more migrating geese

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on December 26, 2012| 1 Comment »

As of last week, Canada Geese continued to populate the pond and fields of my local marshland pond in great numbers. Many were engaged in foraging for food, but some look like they have been assigned sentinel duty. The photos are pretty self-explanatory—I’ll let them speak for themselves and make this posting short.

Goose in waterSentinel goosegoose_grass_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Christmas cardinal

Posted in Birds, Christmas, commentary, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on December 25, 2012| 9 Comments »

Deep inside a bush with red berries, a male Northern Cardinal was almost camouflaged, most of his body a dusty red that blended in with his surroundings. His head, though, was a bright red, a defiant red that refused to be hidden. For me, it’s like the true meaning of Christmas, that is often camouflaged with bright lights and tinsel. My simple prayer today is one that we sang at a Christmas Eve service last night, Dona nobis pacem (Grant us peace). Peace to all this Christmas day and in the coming new year.Hidden cardinal

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Song of hope

Posted in Birds, Christmas, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged , , , , , , , on December 24, 2012| 14 Comments »

On a cold, windy day this weekend, I visited one of the local gardens. Most of the color was gone and it was a desolate, lifeless place.

Then suddenly I heard a sound, the beautiful song of a bird. It was a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) defiantly singing a song of hope and good cheer. It seems so appropriate for this Christmas season, a message of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Takeoff variations

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 23, 2012| 2 Comments »

I keep trying to photograph geese and  ducks taking off and landing, using a variety of techniques. Normally I will try to catch the birds in flight, though sometimes I have trouble getting my lens to acquire focus quickly enough. I stumbled onto a panning technique when I tried to photograph geese landing in the early morning. This weekend I experimented using both techniques.

I took this first shot when several geese took off without warning almost directly in front of me. I didn’t intend to cut off the goose to the left, but I like the effect of him entering into the frame. In this image, the action is completely frozen.

Geese takeoff

Geese takeoff

The second image is an example of the panning technique. The geese are not quite in as sharp focus as I would have liked, but you can see some details. I like the way that the background is blurred and provides a sense of motion. This panning was much more deliberate than the photos that I posted previously with motion blur.

Geese liftoff

Geese liftoff

It’s so much fun experimenting with different techniques—photography is still new enough to me that I often feel like a little kid on a voyage of discovery.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Almost perfect

Posted in Birds, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 23, 2012| 7 Comments »

Do your find yourself shooting the same subjects over and over, hoping that you will find the perfect combination of lighting, pose, and background? That is certainly the case for me when it comes to photographing birds. It is both frustrating and challenging to realize that the only variables over which I have any control are me and my trusty camera. I can try to creep closer to birds or adjust the exposure and composition, but luck and perseverance are the overwhelmingly dominant factors in achieving success, however you choose to definite it.

Walking along a path at my local marshland park this past Friday, I heard the now-familiar tap-tap of a woodpecker. I looked up and saw a male Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) at work in the upper branches of a tree. Instantly I knew I had a chance for a pretty good shot, because the lighting was good, the view was uncluttered,  and the sky was blue in the background. The woodpecker was persistent as he moved along the branch and so was I, snapping away with my head bent back at an uncomfortable angle.

Downy Woodpecker portrait

How did I do? Well, you can judge for yourself, but I think that this is about as close to perfection as I can achieve with my current skills and equipment. The elements fell into place and I managed to take an image with which I am pretty happy, a nice portrait of a Downy Woodpecker.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Spectator for a landing

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on December 22, 2012| 2 Comments »

Yesterday I spent some time watching geese and ducks at the marsh. I thought that the numbers would drop as the weather gets cold, but there actually seem to be more than there were in November, especially the geese. Once again I have been trying to take in-flight shots of these migratory birds, especially when they are taking off and landing.

I like the contrast in this photo between the impassive female Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos), who seems only mildly curious about the activity taking place right in front of her, and the two Canada Geese (Branta canadensis), who are making big splashes and generating waves as they land. They look like they could be a synchronized swimming pair, though I think in that sport you lose points if you make big splashes. In the background you can see some of the fields of cattails at the marsh, as well as some additional geese in the distance foraging in the fields and in the water.

Impassive observer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Peaceful duck

Posted in Birds, Christmas, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on December 22, 2012| 5 Comments »

The subject of this photo, a male Mallard duck, is very common. He’s not doing anything strange or unusual. The environment, the beaver pond at my local marsh, is not particularly exotic.

Somehow, though, I feel a sense of comfort and peace in the very ordinariness of this simple composition and in its soothing color palette. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, it’s good to slow down and regain some inner peace (even if it’s necessary at other times to paddle hard beneath the surface).

In the words of a song that I heard yesterday on the radio, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”

mallard

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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