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Archive for the ‘spring’ Category

Gray Hairstreak

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 11, 2018| 5 Comments »

I am delighted to see that butterflies are finally appearing as we move deeper into spring, like this tiny Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) that I spotted this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Since I was mostly looking for birds, I had my trusty Tamron 150-600mm lens on my camera. Although this lens is not optimal for such a small subject, it did a pretty good job in capturing the delightful details of this little butterfly, like the little “tails” at the bottom of the wings and the patches of orange on the wings themselves.

The same day I also saw a larger orange butterfly that I think was a Question Mark butterfly. If my photos are clear enough, I’ll probably post them soon. Stay tuned for coming attractions.

Gray Hairstreak

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Warbler on the rocks

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 10, 2018| 8 Comments »

I was a little shocked (and really happy) to see this Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica) at the edge of the water rather than high in a tree yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, allowing me to capture some of the bird’s beautiful markings.

A couple of weeks ago I caught a glimpse of a Yellow-throated Warbler for the first time, but that bird was high in a pine tree and too far away for me to appreciate fully its beauty. When I read about the species, I learned that it likes to spend its time near the top of the pines. So when I spotted a bird hopping along the rocks at the water’s edge yesterday, I was not expecting to see a Yellow-throated Warbler.

It was a cold, cloudy day and all of the colors seemed subdued—most of nature is still clothed in its monochromatic winter gard. My heart rate jumped when I saw a flash of bright yellow as I gazed at the little bird through my telephoto lens. It didn’t completely register on my mind that this was a Yellow-throated Warbler, but I knew for sure that it was a warbler.

When it comes to small, hyperactive birds, seeing them is one thing—getting a photo is an entirely different matter. One of the biggest challenges about using a long telephoto lens is locating the subject quickly when looking through the lens. It is a skill that improves with practice, but there were numerous times yesterday when I would locate the bird and it would move away as I was trying to acquire focus.

I followed after the bird, trying to keep it in sight as it moved down the shoreline. I was on a trail that paralleled the water, but there was often a strip of vegetation that separated me from the water and the warbler. Eventually I was able to get a few photos of the beautiful little bird before it disappeared from sight.

Whenever I see a new species, I am excited to get any shot of it, but then I seek to improve on those initial images. That was certainly the case with the Yellow-throated Warbler and I am hoping that I will be able to repeat this cycle with a few more warbler species this season.

 

Yellow-throated Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spread eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 9, 2018| 11 Comments »

Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) are really cool and I have been photographing them quite a lot recently.  However, they can’t quite match the majesty of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), like this one that soared almost directly over me on Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

I never cease to be thrilled by the mere glimpse of a Bald Eagle and it is always a joy to capture an image of one in flight.

Bald Eagle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fragility of spring

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 8, 2018| 3 Comments »

Sometimes in my photos I try to capture a feeling and this recent image of an elusive Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge speaks to me of the beauty and fragility of spring.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Horned Grebe in the spring

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 8, 2018| 7 Comments »

This Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus) that I spotted on Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge has incredible red eyes with a golden ring around the pupil. The beautiful details in the natural world never cease to amaze me, which is why I tend to do most of my shooting with either a telephoto zoom lens or with a macro lens.

When I first spotted this bird, it was swimming in the same direction that I was walking as I followed a path parallel to the water. The grebe would swim a little and then look in my direction for a split second and dive. I would hurry along the path to try to find another opening in the vegetation to reacquire the grebe when it resurfaced. I kept thinking that the bird would swim out into the deeper water away from me, but instead it stayed a consistent distance from the shore and we played our little game for quite a while until the trail turned inland and I lost sight of the little grebe.

Horned Grebe

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Heron gathering sticks

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 7, 2018| 10 Comments »

The skies over Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge were busy yesterday with ospreys carrying sticks for their nests. A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) joined in on the action and carefully checked out a lot of sticks before choosing a perfect one.

A few seconds after this photo the heron flew off to an as yet unknown nesting site.

Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bird in the hand

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2018| 6 Comments »

Last weekend I again visited the bird banding station at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and was thrilled to see the friendly folks there process a pair of Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa), which are among the smallest birds in our area. Bands come in all different sizes and kinglets require the absolutely smallest-sized bands.

Here are some shots of the encounter including the initial processing of the bird; the actual banding of the bird (note its tiny legs); examination of the feathers of the bird; and the moment before the release of one of the little birds by a young visitor.

I love the fact that I was able to get so much closer to the bird and see so many wonderful details about its feathers and coloration than I would ever be able to do in the wild. As the old saying goes, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Eye-level osprey nest

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 5, 2018| 8 Comments »

Most Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge are busily building nests high in the trees, but at least one chose a location that is almost at eye level. The nesting site is on top of a duck blind not far from the shore. The blind is essentially a small wooden shack that sticks out of the water on stilts or pilings.

The nice thing about seeing a subject at eye level is that it gives a very natural perspective that helps you, I believe, to engage more directly with that subject, literally seeing eye-to-eye. That is why it is usually recommended that you bend down to photograph children and pets.

In theory, it is easier to get a shot like this that to shoot upwards into a mass of foliage. In reality, though, I had to find a big enough break in the vegetation and shoot over a chain link fence topped with barbed wire, while moving stealthily so as not to disturb the skittish sitting osprey. I ended up stopping by the spot multiple times during the day before I finally got a shot that I liked. (For what it’s worth, I am not sure what the object in the foreground is—at first I thought it was a partially eaten fish, but now I don’t think that is the case. Any ideas?

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Tenderness of an eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 4, 2018| 7 Comments »

Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) appear really fierce with their intense eyes and powerful talons and beaks, but they also have their tender moments, as you can see in this image that I captured on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Officials have blocked off an area of the wildlife refuge for the security and privacy of the nesting eagles, but I was able to get this shot by shooting over the barrier with a long telephoto zoom lens and by cropping the image.

The female eagle, which I believe is the larger one on the right, seems to be sitting much higher than she was several weeks ago, making me wonder if one or more egg might have already hatched. A few moments before I captured this image, she was repeatedly lowering her head down into the nest and then raising it. Perhaps she was just eating, but I like to imagine that she was feeding an eaglet.

From what I have read, eagles mate for life and actually are quite affectionate with each other. Additionally, they share the responsibilities for sitting on the eggs and for raising the young. I am somewhat more familiar with some duck species, where the female is left with responsibility for caring for the ducklings, and it really causes me to admire the devotion and commitment of the eagles to each other.

So what about you and the ones that you love? Do you get weary? Maybe we too should follow the words of the classic Otis Redding song and “Try a Little Tenderness.”

Bald Eagles

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Displaying Wild Turkey

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 3, 2018| 7 Comments »

I was amazed and thrilled yesterday when I spotted an impressively large male Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) putting on a showy display at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge near the edge of an open field. I suspect the lady turkeys were impressed too.

I have seen wild turkeys multiple times at this wildlife refuge, but generally it has been groups of females and their offspring. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, “Courting males gobble to attract females and warn competing males. They display for females by strutting with their tails fanned, wings lowered, while making nonvocal hums and chump sounds. Males breed with multiple mates and form all-male flocks outside of the breeding season, leaving the chick-rearing to the females.” I was not able to get close enough to hear any gobbling, but the visual display by itself was stunning.

Spring is the season for love and I will be on the lookout as more male birds try to outdo their competitors and find mates using their brilliant colors, musical calls, or elaborate courting rituals.

Wild Turkey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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Kinglet and branchlet

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 2, 2018| 5 Comments »

Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa) are not woodpeckers, but a tiny kinglet that I spotted this past weekend at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge seemed to be doing its best imitation of one as it pecked away at a little branchlet.

For those of you who are not familiar with Golden-crowned Kinglets, they are really, really small birds. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, these kinglets are 3.1-4.3 inches in length ( 8-11 cm) and weigh only 0.1-0.3 oz (4-8 gm). It is always exciting to spot a kinglet and always a challenge to get a unobstructed, in-focus shot of one.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Yellow-throated Warbler

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 1, 2018| 9 Comments »

I photographed this Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica) really high in a pine tree yesterday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. A helpful birder pointed out the bird to me, but it took quite a while before the bird revealed itself enough for me to get a shot.

Birders in my area are starting to get really excited because it is warbler season. In theory, that means there will be all kinds of birds around with varying patterns of yellow. I have very little experience with spring warblers, but suspect that many of the warblers will hang out at the top of the trees and will be tough to photograph. In past years I have concentrated on ducks at this time of the year, but I think I may try to devote some attention to warblers this spring.

On a totally unrelated note, I spotted some Common Green Darner dragonflies yesterday, the first dragonflies that I have seen this season. Hopefully it won’t be too long before dragonfly photos show up in a posting.

Happy Easter to all those who are celebrating Easter today.

Yellow-throated Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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First egret of the spring

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on March 31, 2018| 12 Comments »

Perched high in a distant tree, this first Great Egret (Ardea alba) of the spring made an appearance for me on Thursday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I love this egret’s long feathery breeding plumage.

My only regret is that I was unable to get a closer look at this beautiful bird. The egret seemed content to remain in its standing perch for a long time—perhaps it was tired from an extended migration flight. I don’t yet know if this was merely a resting spot for the egret or if it will remain in our area.

Great Egret

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Semi-submerged Cormorant

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 31, 2018| 1 Comment »

Its heavy weight and non-waterproof feathers cause the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) to float really low on the water. The cormorant that I spotted yesterday in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, however, was even lower than usual, with most of its body almost completely submerged.

Double-crested Cormorant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Visit to a banding station

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on March 30, 2018| 5 Comments »

This week I visited the bird banding station at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This is a very small operation, run almost entirely by volunteers, that bands mostly smaller songbirds.

While I was there, they captured a Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) and a Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). Both birds were weighed, measured, and examined. The tiny Carolina Wren already had a band from a previous year and the much larger Thrasher got a band. The bands come in all sizes—it was amazing to see the range of sizes.

When it was time to release the wren, one of the volunteers handed her over to me. It was such an amazing feeling to hold the little bird in my hand and then to slowly release my grip and feel the tiny points of her little feet press down on my palm as she took to the air.

Click this link For more info on the banding station including hours of operation.

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren

Brown Thrasher

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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American Pipit

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 29, 2018| 5 Comments »

An enthusiastic birder who I encountered on a trail earlier this week excitedly informed me that she had just seen a pipit. Before I had a chance to respond, she described for me the general area where she had seen the bird. I am pretty familiar by now with Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, so I knew that I would have no trouble finding the spot. I thanked her and we continued on our separate ways.

It suddenly dawned on me that I had no idea what a pipit looked like or the kind of habitat that it preferred—all I had was a name and a general location. When I arrived at the location, the intersection of two trails, I started looking around for birds. I spotted some familiar species and then started to watch one particular bird that caught my eye. At first I thought it was a sparrow, but it seemed to act differently from other sparrows, including wagging its tail from time to time.

The unknown bird eventually flew into a small tree and I was able to capture some unobstructed images of it. Had I somehow managed to find a pipit? I posted a photo on a Facebook bird identification and folks there confirmed that my bird was in fact an American Pipit (Anthus rubescens).

It’s nice to be lucky sometimes when it comes to photographing wildlife.

American Pipit

American Pipit

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

 

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Salute to the sun

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 28, 2018| 2 Comments »

Monday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I captured this shot of an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) as it assumed a yoga-style pose and saluted the early morning sun.

In many ways, this is one of my favorite styles of wildlife photography. I find an ordinary subject, in this case the robin, and try to capture it in a way that highlights its beauty.

Of course, “ordinary” is a relative term and I have become more and more conscious of the fact that subjects that are common in one area may well be considered rare and exotic in another location. That heightened consciousness also caused me to identify this as an “American Robin,” because I have learned that Europeans have an equally beautiful, but different, bird that is also called a “robin.”

Beauty comes in many forms and one of my goals as a photographer is to capture a sense of that beauty and to share it with others. Ideally, it will cause some of those viewers to pause and wonder how it is that they did not notice that beauty themselves.Perhaps the next time they are out in nature, they will linger a little longer and look a bit closer and find that beauty revealed to them as well.

American Robin

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

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First butterfly of the spring

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , on March 27, 2018| 6 Comments »

I was a bit shocked and absolutely thrilled this past week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge to spot my first butterfly of the year, which appears to be the appropriately named Spring Azure butterfly (Celastrina ladon). We have had some slightly warmer and sunny days recently, but the temperatures continue to be below freezing most nights.

When I encountered the tiny butterfly, I had my trusty Tamron 150-600mm lens on my camera, which is not exactly the optimal lens for this kind of subject. Life is often about making do with what you have, so I extended the lens to its full length, steadied myself as well as I could, and focused manually on the butterfly as it perched on some vegetation, a few inches above the ground.

It won’t be long before I see some bigger and more colorful butterflies, but this one is really special to me as the first butterfly of the spring.

Spring Azure

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Muskrat in early morning light

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 26, 2018| 14 Comments »

All wild creatures seem especially beautiful in the early morning light, like this cute little muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) that I spotted last week in one of the small ponds at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Muskrat

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Cedar Waxwing and berry

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on March 25, 2018| 12 Comments »

It was pretty cool yesterday morning to see a small flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) foraging at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. One of them was using gravity to help it ingest a berry that it had managed to found. If you look closely, you can see what appears to be the bird’s tongue.

It seemed to take a bit of effort, adjusting ever so slightly the head and mouth, but eventually the beautiful little bird was able to get the whole berry into its mouth. In many ways, it was similar to watching a Great Blue Heron swallow a fish, albeit on a greatly reduced scale.

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cartoonish kinglet

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 24, 2018| 3 Comments »

I photographed this cute little Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The angle and exaggerated proportions make this kinglet look almost like a Disney cartoon to me.

If you have never seen one, Ruby-crowned Kinglets are tiny, even smaller than chickadees. They seem restless and are in perpetual motion, hopping from branch to branch and flicking their wings almost constantly, so I am happy whenever I am able to photograph one.

I can’t help but smile when I look at the photo and it almost looks to me like the tiny bird is smiling.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Two extremes

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 23, 2018| 13 Comments »

Are you attracted more by something that is powerful and exciting or by something that is familiar and comfortable? When it comes to photography, it seems like I constantly face this dilemma. Should I be chasing after the large predators of the air, travelling, as some birders do, hundreds of miles in the hopes of photographing a rare species like a snowy owl? Should I be content to spend my time scanning the branches and bushes for familiar birds that some dismissively call “backyard birds?”

Fortunately, this is not an either-or proposition—it is what academics would call a “false dichotomy.” I don’t have to choose only one type of subject on which to focus my attention and my camera. The reality is that I want to photograph them all and find equal enjoyment in photographing a modest White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) and a majestic Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). I photographed both of these birds this past week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and for me they represent the two extremes that I mentioned earlier.

One image is a carefully composed portrait of a small bird at rest and the other is an action shot of a powerful predator in the air taken on the fly, relying on reactions. Is one “better” than the other? Maybe it is better to ask if you find one more appealing, one that speaks to you more.

It is a bit of a cliché to state that beauty is in the eye of the beholder—beauty is often subjective, but sometimes people talk of universal beauty. How can that be? Personally, when I think about beauty, I realize that it is inherently contradictory, that it is an elusive mystery that we can never fully understand, but that is worth pursuing.

Beauty can be found in many places and in many ways. As you prepare for the weekend, I hope that you too will find time to discover the beauty that surrounds you, in the familiar or the exotic or somewhere in between those two extremes.

White-throated Sparrow

Bald Eagle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Osprey nest

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 22, 2018| 6 Comments »

Like many other places, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge has some raised platforms on which ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) build nests each year. Sometimes violent winter weather destroys much of a previous year’s nest, but quite often the nest survives pretty much intact and all that is required is some spring cleaning and minor renovation.

The latter seemed to be the case with one of the osprey nests that I spotted this past Monday. An osprey was in the nest and appeared to be moving around some of the branches. In the first shot you can see some of the man-made elements of the platform on which the nest is constructed and get a sense of the relative size of the nest. I couldn’t get a really good look at precisely was it doing, though, because the nest was high in the air on a tall post, as you can see in the second photo below.

As I was watching the osprey, a bald eagle flew by and seemed to startle the osprey. The final shot captured the osprey just after it took off from the nest and really emphasized the massive wingspan of the osprey.

osprey

osprey

osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Touched by the sun

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on March 21, 2018| 7 Comments »

Eagles in flight are always a challenge for me to photograph, so I was really happy when I managed to capture this image of a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that flew by me on Monday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge as rays of sunlight illuminated different parts of its body.

Quite often when I spot eagles in flight, they are really high up in the sky and it is difficult to capture details of the majestic birds. As you can probably tell from the angle of view in this shot, this eagle was flying at a relatively low angle when I took this shot. Additionally, the eagle was pretty close—I cropped some from the top of the original image, but not much at all from side to side. In fact, one of the biggest problems I had was keeping the eagle within the frame. On several other images I took, I cut off portions of the wings or of the body.

Bald Eagle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Osprey gathering sticks

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 20, 2018| 8 Comments »

Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) were really active yesterday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, including this one that was gathering materials to either build or repair a nest.

Initially I was standing next to a field that had been cleared some time ago, when an osprey swooped in and snatched up some branches lying on the ground. I was surprised and remember wondering if the osprey would return to the readily available supply of building materials. The osprey returned two or three more times and I was able to capture some cool shots of the osprey transporting some pretty large branches. I was pretty fortunate that the osprey had to fly almost directly over me when it was making its return trips to the unknown nesting location.

There are several nesting platforms in the refuge for ospreys and later in the day I spotted an osprey in one of them. The nest seemed to be pretty much intact from last season, though the osprey seemed to be busily making adjustments and probably was doing some spring cleaning. That may be the subject for a future blog post.

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Glaring eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 19, 2018| 8 Comments »

Last Friday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I spotted a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in a distant tree further down the trail. I decided to try to sneak closer to the eagle, hoping it would not see me through the tangle of branches separating us.

When I got close enough for a mostly unobstructed shot, I focused on the eagle and realized it was glaring down right at me with what looked to be disapproval. A few seconds later the eagle took off and disappeared from sight.

Sneaking up on an eagle? I am not sure that it can be done—the eagle’s superior sight and reaction time seem to win out every single time.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

 © Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Otter in the morning

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 18, 2018| 11 Comments »

 When I spotted a dark shape in the distance yesterday morning at the edge of a trail alongside the water at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I had no idea what it was—then it started to move. These images suggest to me that it was a North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis), the first time I have seen one at this location and the first time that I have seen one in the wild on land rather than in the water.
North American River Otter
North American River Otter
As my mind was busy processing what my eyes were seeing, the otter scurried into the brush and then into the water, where it was joined by a second otter. When I watched the otters swimming away, I was facing almost directly into the sun, so all I was able to capture was this “artsy” silhouette of one of them. I really like the way that the backlighting shows off the otter’s whiskers as it turned its head around and watched as the other otter caught up.
North American River Otter
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Foraging wild turkey

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 17, 2018| 4 Comments »

This past Monday I was thrilled to catch a glimpse of several large wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) foraging in a field just off of the road early in the morning as I was driving into Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I stopped the car, grabbed my camera, and leaned out of the window, but was unable to frame a shot. I quietly got out of the car and was able to capture several images of one of them before they sensed my presence and scurried into the treeline and out of my sight.

wild turkey

wild turkey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Preparing for takeoff

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 16, 2018| 4 Comments »

On a recent early morning trip to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I spotted a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) perched on a broken-off branch below what appears to be an active eagle nest. Perhaps this was the male keeping watch or possibly the female taking a break. The nest is so high up and deep that it is difficult to determine if another eagle was sitting on the nest.

Despite my best efforts at stealth, the eagle detected my presence as I tried to move further down the trail to get a better angle, but I was able to get these shots as the eagle was preparing to take off. In the middle shot, I did a less severe crop than on the other two in order to give you an idea of how closely the eagle was perched to the nest—the sticks in the upper portion of the image are the bottom of the nest.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Greater Scaup

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 15, 2018| 7 Comments »

Sometimes when I take a photo of a bird, I have no idea what kind it is—I tend to shoot first and ask questions later. That was the case last Friday when I spotted this beauty at Belmont Bay, an area of open water at the confluence of the Occoquan and Potomac Rivers in Northern Virginia.  Fortunately some more experienced birders on the What’s This Bird Facebook forum helped me identify it as probably a Greater Scaup (Aythya marila), a type of diving duck.

I had tried to identify the bird on my own using a field guide that I have at home and some on-line resources, but I confess that I got stuck. I couldn’t figure out if this was a Greater or Lesser Scaup. Most of the information on distinguishing between the two species is comparative, i.e. the head is narrower or more oval. It’s hard to make a comparison when you see only a single member of a species.

As you can see from the photo below, conditions were a  little strange and there were distinct color bands in the water. I am not sure exactly what caused them, but perhaps it was the angle of the sunlight or the way the wind was moving the water. Whatever the case, it made for a pretty distinctive color change in the top third of this image that almost looks artificial.

Greater Scaup

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Wind-blown hair

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 14, 2018| 3 Comments »

Most diving ducks quite naturally prefer to hang out in places where the water is deep, which makes it a challenge to get any shots of them and almost impossible to get close-up shots. Last Friday I was happy to spot some Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator), a species of diving duck that I rarely encounter, in the wind-swept waters of Belmont Bay at the confluence of the Occoquan and Potomac Rivers in Northern Virginia.

Both the male and female of this species have spiky hair that takes on wild shapes thanks to the effects of the wind and the water. The male in the middle of the first shot was busy preening, so I am including a separate shot of him when he deemed he was ready for an individual portrait.

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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