Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, snow, wildlife, Winter, tagged bird in snow, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Twitter, white-throated sparrow, Woodbridge VA, Zonotrichia albicollis on January 25, 2024| 5 Comments »
Despite my best efforts, I could not get this White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) to smile for me during a mini-portrait session on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The sparrow seemed to think that a serious look was more appropriate for his LinkedIn profile photo.
Birds were much more active on Twitter before its name was changed to X, but now are searching for new social media fora. Are postings on X still called “tweets?”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, snow, wildlife, Winter, tagged bird in the snow, Canon 7D, Melospiza melodia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, snow bird, song sparrow, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 23, 2024| 1 Comment »
I observed Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) foraging for food on the ground at multiple locations last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Most of the time they would fly away as I approached, but occasionally one of them would choose a new snow-covered perch that was still within range of my long telephoto zoom lens.
The two photos below are mostly monochromatic, composed primarily of various shades of brown and white. The warmth of the browns helps to warm up the photos a little, despite the abundance of snow. I think the photos would have felt cooler and more stark if I had converted them to black and white.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, snow, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 7D, Melospiza melodia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, snow bird, song sparrow, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »
This Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) looks like it was buried in deep snow, but was merely hidden by a small snowdrift between the two of us as it foraged for food in a small open patch on Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
This photo reminds me of my childhood days growing up in New England. After a snowfall, we would build snow forts and have massive snowball fights. We would crouch behind the walls of our forts and periodically peer over the top of the walls (like this sparrow) before raising up to launch another volley of snowballs. These days I am more likely to build a snowman than a snow fort, although, alas, I did not take advantage of the opportunity to do so this past week.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, snow, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 7D, Dark-eyed Junco, junco, Junco hyemalis, Runnymeade, Tamron 150-600mm on January 17, 2024| 12 Comments »
We ended up getting 4-5 inches (10-13 cm) of snow in the storm that concluded yesterday. That may not sound like a lot of snow, but it was enough for the federal government and all of the school districts in the Washington D.C. area to be closed for the day. The roads were icy in my neighborhood, so I played it safe and did not venture out in my car at all.
However, I did go for a walk in my townhouse community in search of birds. It felt a little strange to be carrying a long telephoto zoom lens in such a heavily populated area and I alternately between feeling like a Peeping Tom and a member of the paparazzi.
I was happy to find a few birds in a strip of woods in our community, including this Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis). It was initially foraging on the ground when I spotted it, as you can see in the first photo, and then flew into some trees when I took a few steps closer.
It is sunny out today and the roads are mostly clear, but that is a bit deceptive, because the temperature was only 14 degrees (-10 degrees C), the last time I checked. Yikes! I have not reviewed all of my photos from yesterday, so I probably will stay inside and finish that review, rather than venture out with my camera today.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in dragonfly, Landscape, Photography, snow, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Bless My Soul, dusting of snow, iPhone 11, KIA Soul, snow, snowy dragonfly on January 15, 2024| 3 Comments »
I have not been paying much attention to weather forecasts, so I was pleasantly surprised this morning to wake up to world covered with a dusting of snow. Normally this small amount of snow would not be newsworthy, but we have been in a snow drought for quite some time in my area. It has been two years since we last had an accumulation of two inches (50 mm) of snow in a single storm and for the entire winter last year we had a total of only about a half an inch (13 mm).
I probably did not need to do so, but I got out my snow shovel and cleared my steps and the sidewalk in front of my house. I don’t really plan to drive anywhere, but I brushed the snow off of my car to keep it from freezing into any icy crust. Many of you know that I drive an orange KIA Soul and the final photo shows my BLESS MY license plate inside of a frame that says SOUL. I like this positive message and frequently get thumbs-up signs of approval from my fellow drivers.
Weather forecasters predict that we could get another 2 to 4 inches (50-100 mm) later today. I grew up in New England and that amount of snow would be a minor annoyance, but here in the Washington D.C. area, it will paralyze the area, undoubtedly resulting in numerous accidents and delayed school openings or even closures tomorrow. Some of the effects may be mitigated by the fact that today is a federal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so traffic congestion should be lighter than usual, which will allow road crews to more effective clear and treat the roads.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 