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Nectar robber

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, honey bee, honeybee, nectar robber, nectar robbing, salvia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 11, 2014| 9 Comments »

Flowers and bees have a mutualistic relationship—the flower provides the nectar and the bee assists in pollination. Sometimes, though, bees will circumvent the process by drilling a hole in the side of the flower and gaining access to the nectar without touching the reproductive parts of the flower, a process sometimes called “nectar robbing.”

Last weekend, I encountered this bee, which looks to be a honeybee, repeatedly taking nectar from the side of a Salvia flower. In an earlier posting, I showed that it was a tight fit for a bumblebee to enter the flower from the front, but it nonetheless did its part in pollination. The honeybee apparently decided it was easier to take a shortcut and go directly to the nectar.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Skipper in October

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, Peck's Skipper, Polites peckius, skipper, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 10, 2014| 9 Comments »

It’s a gray and gloomy day with intermittent rain—I feed the need for some color. This little skipper butterfly was busily at work last week on some very colorful flowers and I was able to catch him in action with his proboscis extended.

I am not sure what kind of skipper this is (there are more than 3500 species of skippers worldwide), but it looks a little like one that a reader identified for me as a Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius). I must confess, though, that many skippers look very similar to me, so my identification is very tentative.

Capturing the butterfly with my macro lens was not too much of a problem, but I had a real problem in processing these shots because of some super bright highlights coming of the yellow flowers. I ended up darkening the highlights and desaturating the color in order to restore some detail to those flowers. I am not sure if I am happy with the results and might choose to process them differently another time. (The RAW images are still intact.)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Wandering Glider

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.

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Unexpected hitchhiker

Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, hitchhiker, Huntley Meadows Park, spider, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 8, 2014| 9 Comments »

After I have set my camera bag down to take some wildlife shots, I’ve learned from experience that I need to check it carefully for “hitchhikers,” like this little spider that climbed aboard last week while I was focusing on dragonflies.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Wrapping up a meal

Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged aciniform silk, Alexandria VA, Argiope aurantia, Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, spider silk, spinneret, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 8, 2014| 13 Comments »

The more I watch spiders, the more I am fascinated by them. I used to think that spiders extruded only a single kind of silk, but I have learned that many spiders have multiple spinneret glands that are used for producing different kinds of silk.

One of the most amazing kinds of silk is known as aciniform silk, according to Wikipedia, which is used to wrap up and immobilize prey. This silk looks like a long gauze bandage as it is extruded by the spider.

Last month, I watched as a large Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider(Argiope aurantia) wrapped up a recently captured bee. I was amazed at how quickly it accomplished the mission, spinning the prey as it wound multiple layers of silk around it. Here are a couple of shot I took that show the spinnerets in action.

I loved the reaction of one of my friend to the first photo. He imagined the bee protesting being wrapped in bandages saying, “Hey, you’re not my doctor!”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Precarious position

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.

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Dragonfly eyes

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dragonfly eyes, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis, green spring gardens, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 5, 2014| 15 Comments »

One of the main reasons why I love having a macro lens is that it that it lets me capture photos like this extreme close-up image of a male Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicicollis) that I took yesterday at Green Spring Gardens, a historical, county-run garden in Alexandria, Virginia.

I have always been fascinated by the multi-faceted compound eyes of dragonflies and the blue-green eyes of the Eastern Pondhawk are particularly stunning. When I first caught sight of this dragonfly, he was sunning himself on a rock near the edge of a small pond. I kept low to the ground and approached him slowly. He didn’t fly away and seemed more curious about my presence than afraid.

For these shots, I rested the lens hood of the camera on the edge of the rock ledge to get this low, eye-to-eye perspective. This technique served to steady my camera, so I was able to capture a good deal of detail of the dragonfly’s face. In the initial photo, for example,which is a cropped version of the second image, you can see that the dragonfly has stubble on his chin. The third shot is a cropped version of the last photo, again to show greater detail and to draw the attention of viewers more directly to the eyes.

Do you think the shots are more effective when cropped or do you prefer the larger perspective images?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly

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.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Reacting more quickly

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park on October 3, 2014| 11 Comments »

This morning I spotted a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in a tree a my local marshland park, not far from where I had previously seen one. Once again, the eagle reacted more quickly than I did and took off before I was completely ready. This time, however, I was able to more quickly track the flying eagle and got a better shot than last time. I’m still not fully satisfied with the sharpness of this image, but I continue to believe that any day that I see an eagle is a great day.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Needham’s Skimmer

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Libellula needhami, Needham's Skimmer, Needham's Skimmer dragonfly, red dragonfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 3, 2014| 11 Comments »

Two weeks ago, during the waning days of summer, I captured this image of a beautiful Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami) at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland where I do a lot of my shooting. The vivid red of its body made it really stand out—camouflage did not seem to be a viable option.

Although this dragonfly species is pretty common, I only saw a couple of them this season and this was the only one that I managed to photograph. The dragonfly was perched on a dried stalk in a field and it was tough to try to get any kind of clear background, particularly because I did not want to move too much and risk scaring away the dragonfly.

In these two images, you can see two slightly different approaches that I used. In the first one, I was not worried that there were some horizontal stalks in the background. In fact, I actually like the repetition of the horizontal line and don’t find them distracting, given how blurred they are. In the second image, I tried to get as uncluttered a background as I could, which isolates the dragonfly a little better. I tend to like the first image a little more, but I welcome any thoughts about which image you prefer.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Juvenile egret and Mom

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.

Great Egret and baby

Mom gets a bit excited as she warns the little one to stay put

Great Egret adult and juvenile

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.

Great Egret adult and juvenile

Flying away for a little while

Great Egret in flight

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.

Great Egret adult and juvenile

Waiting for Mom

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fall bumblebee

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.

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Making art

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum vicinum on October 1, 2014| 2 Comments »

Here’s an awesome image of a pair of mating dragonflies by a photographer with whom I often go shooting at my local marshland park. Be sure to check out the rest of his blog for some more amazing shots.

walter sanford's photoblog

Lately I’ve been working harder at “making art” rather than just getting a shot. How am I doing?

The preceding photo shows a mating pair of Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) spotted during a photowalk at Huntley Meadows Park on Sunday, 28 September 2014. The pair is shown “in wheel.”

The copulatory, or wheel, position is unique to the Odonata, as is the distant separation of the male’s genital opening and copulatory organs. Source Credit: Paulson, Dennis (2011-12-19). Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East (Princeton Field Guides) (Kindle Locations 377-378). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.

All dragonflies and damselflies have a 10-segmented abdomen: male dragonfly secondary genitalia are located in segments two and three (2 and 3); female genitalia in segment eight (8). Therefore, the male dragonfly is on top; the female is on the bottom.

Copyright © 2014 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

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Greeter at the marsh

Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Common Ribbonsnake, Huntley Meadows Park, snake, Thamnophis sauritus sauritus on September 30, 2014| 9 Comments »

As I reached the boardwalk, I glanced to my right and realized that I was eye-to-eye with a snake that was loosely coiled on top of a bush. This Common Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis sauritus sauritus) seemed to have appointed himself as the official greeter of the day at the marsh, though I suspect that not all visitors welcomed his presence so close to them as they walked by.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Beautiful takeoff

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea alba, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Great Egret, Great White Egret, Huntley Meadows Park, takeoff on September 29, 2014| 15 Comments »

Do you photograph some subjects over and over again, hoping to get better (or at least different) images? I never grow tired of observing herons and egrets at my local marshland park. Most of the time, they (and I) are standing still, waiting for a brief moment of action, generally when they are fishing or when they take off into the air. These birds look gangly and awkward when on the ground or in the water, but when they are flying, it’s like watching an aerial ballet.

I took this shot last Friday as a Great Egret (Ardea alba) was just taking off from the muddy waters of one of the small ponds at the park. I was thrilled to be able to capture both a shadow and reflection of the graceful bird. Although I often have trouble getting a good exposure and frequently blow out the highlights, in this case I as able to capture some of the details of the wing feathers.

The egrets will be migrating out of this area soon, but I will continue to have the herons to keep me occupied in the upcoming months (and I’ll be trying to get more shots like this one).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Colors of fall

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.

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Early morning webs

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.

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Huntley Meadows Park, Libellula pulchella, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly on September 27, 2014| 5 Comments »

It won’t be long before most of the dragonflies are gone for the season, so I am really enjoying them while they are still around. A little over a week ago, I was able to capture images of some male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonflies (Libellula pulchella), a species that I had not seen previously this summer.

In the first shot, the dragonfly seems to be eating something that is bright red in color. I can’t tell for sure, but when I zoom in, it looks like it might be a ladybug. Whatever the case, I am happy that I was able to frame the shot to be able to get some of the yellow meadow flowers into the background.

In the other shots, I worked to get the wings into focus by shooting on a plane horizontal to their position. The dragonflies were reasonably cooperative and I am pretty happy with the resulting images.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dragonfly lunch

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, crane fly, dragonfly, dragonfly eating, Huntley Meadows Park, lunch, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 26, 2014| 8 Comments »

What do dragonflies eat for lunch? I stumbled upon this dragonfly earlier in September as it was beginning to enjoy a freshly caught insect. Judging from the long legs and wings of the prey, it looks like the dragonfly is munching on a crane fly.

The dragonfly was so focused on eating that it let me get pretty close without flying away and I was able to take a number of shots from different angles and with different settings. I defer to others on identification of the dragonfly species. I initially thought it was a Great Blue Skimmer, but the eye color seems wrong.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Tracking a kingfisher

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.

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Snake tests the water

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Nerodia sipedon, Northern Water Snake, Northern Watersnake, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 24, 2014| 14 Comments »

Over the last few weeks, I’ve repeatedly seen a Northern Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon) sunning itself on a log at my local marsh. I don’t know whether it was hunger or boredom that prompted it to move, but I was utterly fascinated this past weekend as I watched the snake make preparations to dive into the water.

The snake initially sensed the conditions by sticking out its tongue and then gradually slid its head into the water. After testing the water with its head, it slowly slithered into the muddy waters of the marsh, probably in search of fish or frogs.

I’ve never before used the slideshow feature on my blog, but decided to try it out here to show a sequence of shots of the snake diving into the water. (I think the slide show starts automatically. If not, click on one of the photos and it should start.)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The alternative to the slide show is to do the gallery look, in which you click through the images at your own pace (and the images show up a lot bigger). Here’s the same images in that format. You start by clicking on any one of the images. Do you prefer this look?

: Sunning on a log

: Testing the water with tongue

: Tentative entry

: Going deeper

: Fully commited

Just for fun, here’s a blown-up view of the image in which the snake is sticking out its tongue. Click on the image (if you dare) to see a higher resolution view of the snake.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Not as fast as an eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, juvenile Bald Eagle on September 23, 2014| 8 Comments »

Can you react faster than an eagle can? Yesterday, I was getting ready to step out of the brush that surrounds one of the ponds at my local marsh, when I spotted a large dark shape in a dead tree that overlooks the water. I suspected that it might be a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), since I had seen eagles perched on this tree a couple of times in the past.

As I stepped forward and was starting to bring my camera to my eye, a juvenile Bald Eagle took off. The eagle flew upwards so quickly that I had trouble finding it and keeping it in my viewfinder, as you can see in my first shot. I got a few more shots as I tracked the eagle’s flight, but in most of them, the eagle’s head is obscured by its outstretched wings. Just before the eagle flew behind the trees in the distance, I got a reasonably clear shot, the second image below.

What did I learn? If an eagle spots me at the same time that I spot him, his reaction times are going to be quicker than mine. Someone I’m going to have to figure out a way to be more stealthy and more ready the next time I find myself in a situation like this. That will be my challenge this autumn as I start to take more shots of birds as the insect population gradually decreases.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Handsome Meadow Katydid

Posted in Art, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, favorite insect, Handsome Meadow Katydid, Huntley Meadows Park, Orchelimum pulchellum, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 22, 2014| 8 Comments »

Do you have a favorite insect? I realize that’s a strange question and, if pressed, most people probably would respond with the name of a butterfly or perhaps a ladybug or a dragonfly, but my favorite is unquestionably the Handsome Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum pulchellum).

Two summers ago, I had my initial encounter with the rainbow-colored grasshopper-like insect at my local marshland park and it was love at first sight. It was so unexpected to see those beautiful blue eyes staring at me with apparent curiosity. The amazing colors of the body are so vivid and varied that one of my friends accused me of creating them in Photoshop. I can’t help but be cheered up by the mere sight of one of these beauties.

There was a lot of reconstruction work at my marsh this past year and water levels are a lot higher than in the past. All summer I waited for my friends to reappear, fearing that the changed habitat or the polar vortex of this past winter had adversely affected their survival. Suddenly, two weeks ago I started hearing from others that the Handsome Meadow Katydids were back.

Last week, I finally saw a few of these beauties myself and took this shot of one of them. In addition to the gorgeous colors, you can’t help but notice the really long legs and antennae (is one of them missing).

I don’t care who you are—you have to agree that these katydids really are handsome, even if it’s not at the top of your list. As for me, it’s still my favorite.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flying below the radar

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea alba, Canon 50D, egret, Great Egret, Great White Egret, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 21, 2014| 7 Comments »

Sometimes when the Great Egrets (Ardea alba) are moving from one place to another at Huntley Meadows Park, my local marshland park, they fly really low, almost like they are in stealth mode and are trying to avoid being picked up on the radar.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Extraordinary

Posted in Art, Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, cabbage, Cabbage White, Cameron Run, Canon 50D, extraordinary, ordinary, Pieris rapae, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 21, 2014| 1 Comment »

There is perhaps nothing more ordinary than this, a simple Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) on a small white flower (which is possibly a weed), but the ordinary can be extraordinarily beautiful.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Six-spotted Fishing Spider

Posted in Arachnids, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Dolomedes triton, fishing spider, Huntley Meadows Park, Six-spotted Fishing Spider, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 20, 2014| 12 Comments »

One of my fellow photographers, Walter Sanford, pointed at the water and exclaimed, “Spider!” A spider in the water? Yes, fishing spiders don’t make a web and instead hunt by sensing the vibrations on the surface of the water.

There are numerous species of fishing spiders, but I think this may be a Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton). Yes, I realize there are more than six white spots on its back—apparently the name refers to six dark spots on the underside of the spider, a part of the spider that I have never seen.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Young green darner

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Anax junius, Canon 50D, Common Green Darner, Common Green Darner dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 19, 2014| 12 Comments »

As I was walking through a meadow at my local marsh this past Monday, dragonflies would take off from the high grass and low vegetation as I approached. Most of them appeared to be Common Whitetail dragonflies (Plathemis lydia), a species that seems to like to perch on the ground.

One of the dragonflies, however, really caught my eye, because it was larger than the rest and was a pastel green in color. At first, I thought it might be a female Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis), one of the few green dragonflies that I have encountered. The green dragonfly flew weakly away and came to rest on some low vegetation a short distance away. As I drew closer, I noted that the dragonfly was hanging from the vegetation and was not perching on it, so I knew it was not an Eastern Pondhawk, which perches horizontally.

When I got a clear look at the dragonfly’s body, I could see that it was shaped like a darner, and I concluded the beautifully-colored dragonfly was probably a young Common Green Darner (Anax junius), judging from its shape and pale coloration. I hadn’t really considered the possibility that this might be a Green Darner, because dragonflies of this species are really strong fliers and I had never seen one behave like this.

I’m going out shooting later today, searching for more beautiful butterflies and dragonflies, enjoying the good news that they are still here with us.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Clouded Sulphur

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Clouded Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur butterfly, Colias philodice, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 18, 2014| 8 Comments »

Strange as it seems, I have been seeing more butterflies in the waning days of summer than I did at its height. I think that this little beauty, which I spotted on Monday at my local marshland park, is a Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Smeared Dagger caterpillar

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Acronicta oblinita, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Smartweed caterpillar, Smeared Dagger, Smeared Dagger caterpillar, Smeared Dagger Moth caterpillar, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 17, 2014| 6 Comments »

I love to photograph insects with cool or unusual names, like this caterpillar known as the Smeared Dagger Moth Caterpillar (Acronicta oblinita). Who makes up these crazy names? Freddy Krueger? Jason? Someone obviously had been been watching too many slasher or horror films.

The first time that I photographed this caterpillar, I called it the Pittsburgh Steelers caterpillar, because its colors matched those of the Steelers’ uniforms. I even proposed that the Steelers adopt the caterpillar as a mascot, but the idea didn’t catch on—a fuzzy caterpillar probably doesn’t match the Steelers macho image anyways.

Now that I have captured the Smeared Dagger, I’m searching for one of my previous subjects, the Twice-stabbed Stink Bug (Cosmopepla lintneriana). Yes, that’s a real insect. You can’t just make this stuff up, or maybe you can.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Encounter with a Painted Lady

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Painted Lady, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Vanessa cardui on September 16, 2014| 4 Comments »

I ran into a painted lady yesterday in a meadow at my local marshland park. No, I did not have a secret rendezvous with a tattooed female, but a chance encounter with this beauty, a Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui).

The weather is getting cooler and the days are getting shorter, but as long as butterflies are still flying, it feels like summer to me.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Changing light

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, butterfly, Canon 50D, Great Spangled Fritillary, Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Speyeria cybele, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 15, 2014| 10 Comments »

As this Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly (Speyeria cybele) moved about on a flower, the light hit it in different ways, beautifully illuminating its colorful wings.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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