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Archive for the ‘spring’ Category

Moving in slow motion

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 27, 2016| 3 Comments »

I love watching Green Herons (Butorides virescens) stalk a prey. Their movements are so focused, cautious, and deliberate they appear to be moving in slow motion.

Like the Great Egret that I featured yesterday, Green Herons migrate out of my area during the fall and it is always exciting to welcome back these colorful little herons. Green Herons often are often hidden in the vegetation at water’s edge, but this one cooperated by moving along a log in the water as it tracked its potential prey. This particular hunt was not successful and shortly after I took this photo, the heron flew off to a more distant location.

Green Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Return of the Great Egrets

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 26, 2016| 13 Comments »

Every spring I look forward to the return of the elegant Great Egrets (Ardea alba) to our area. Unlike Great Blue Herons, which are with us throughout the winter, the egrets migrate south and return only in mid-spring when the weather has warmed up a bit.

One of the highlight of egrets at this time of the year is their beautiful breeding plumage and the green lores (the area between the bill and eye). When I spotted an egret grooming itself in the early morning, I was able to capture a sense of the long additional plumes that it was sporting.

Great Egret

Unlike Great Blue Herons, which patiently wait for a big catch, this Great Egret at Huntley Meadows Park seemed content with a series of small bites. I think that it is a little fish, but I am not entirely certain what the egret is consuming as a snack.

Great Egret

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spring Peeper

Posted in Amphibians, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 21, 2016| 12 Comments »

The high-pitched calls of the Spring Peeper frog (Pseudacris crucifer) are one of the harbingers of spring for many of us, but have you ever actually seen one of these diminutive songsters? Even when there was a loud chorus of Spring Peepers, these tiny frogs seemed to be invisible.

Last Friday, while hunting for dragonflies at Huntley Meadows Park with my friend and fellow photographer Walter Sanford, we almost literally stumbled upon a Spring Peeper near the edge of the water. As we were photographing one peeper, another jumped into view. The thing that struck me most about the spring peepers was how small they are, a bit over one inch and certainly less than two inches in length (about 3-5 cm). The other thing that I noticed was how low they were to the ground—it was tough getting a good viewing angle even when my elbows and knees were submerged in the marshy soil.

Here are three of my favorite shots of the Spring Peepers in a couple of different settings. You can’t help but notice how well the frog blends in with its surroundings, which helps explain why I had never been able to spot one previously. My one regret is that we never heard a peep from the frogs. Perhaps next time I will be able to get a shot of a Spring Peeper with its vocal sac inflated.

Spring Peeper

Spring Peeper

Spring Peeper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Capturing a heron with a macro lens

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 19, 2016| 17 Comments »

Do you find yourself shooting the same subjects with the same lens all of the time? Sometimes it’s fun to try to try to photograph a subject with the “wrong” lens.

Conventional wisdom tells me to use a telephoto lens to photo birds, a macro lens to photograph insects, and a wide-angle lens to photograph landscapes. Following that wisdom, I had my macro lens on my camera this past weekend when I traveled with some friends to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia, where I anticipated that I would be shooting flowers and insects.

As I was walking around a small pond, hoping in vain to spot some dragonflies, I suddenly came upon a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). From a distance, vegetation at the water’s edge had blocked the heron from view. With the heron right in front of me, I had two choices—I could try to change to the 70-300mm lens that I had in my camera bag to gain some additional reach or I could make do with my macro lens. I chose the latter option.

My macro lens is a 180mm Tamron lens. It is slow and noisy when focusing at close distances, but when I pay attention to my technique, I have taken some pretty good macro shots with it. How would it do with a bird? I have gotten used to photographing birds with a 150-600mm Tamron lens that has a built-in image stabilization system and, obviously, lets me zoom in and out. My macro lens lacks both of these capabilities, so I really did not know how well it would fare, particularly when I tried to capture some in-flight shots of the heron—I was pretty sure the heron would be spooked by my presence and I proved to be right.

Well, I ended up following the heron around for quite a while and captured images of it at several locations, including in the air. It worked out remarkably well. In some ways, it was even more enjoyable shooting with a prime lens than with a zoom lens, because I could concentrate better on tracking and framing the subject—my decision process was simplified when I had to zoom with my feet.

I particularly like the first photo below. The lighting at that moment was very unusual and the colors are so vivid that a friend asked me if I had used some kind of art filter. With the exception of a few minor tweaks in post-processing, however, the image looks like it did when I first looked at it on the back of my camera.

So what did I learn? I have a greater appreciation of the capabilities of my macro lens and realize that I can use it for more than just macro shots. I think that I also appreciate better the experience of shooting with a prime lens—I think my zoom lenses sometimes make me a bit lazy and sloppy.

I look forward to trying to shoot some more little experiments like this of thinking outside of the box and shooting more subjects with the “wrong” lens.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Teneral Common Whitetail dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 18, 2016| 9 Comments »

Unlike many species with “common” in their names, Common Whitetail dragonflies (Plathemis lydia) actually are abundant and frequently seen during their peak season of June through September. In mid-April, however, they are much more rare and I was thrilled to spot this newly-emerged female this past Saturday at Huntley Meadows Park.

Members of this dragonfly species often perch on the ground, making them a bit difficult to photograph when they are in in area of heavy vegetation. This individual made it a easier for me to get some shots by perching almost vertically. My 180mm macro lens let me get some close-up shots without having to move too close.  I really enjoy trying to get somewhat “artsy” macro shots of dragonflies.

Mature female Common Whitetail dragonflies have distinctive dark patches on their wings. This dragonfly’s wings are mostly clear, which is why I judge that she is a teneral, i.e. she only recently underwent the transformation from living in the water as a nymph and emerged as an air-breathing acrobatic dragonfly. For comparison purposes I have included a photo from May 2014 of a fully-developed female Common Whitetail in which you can see the wing patches.

Common Whitetails are one of the first dragonflies to appear in the spring and they are around until late in the fall. I find them to be beautiful, especially this early in the season when they do not have to share the stage with very many other dragonflies.

Common Whitetail dragonfly

Common Whitetail dragonfly

Common Whitetail dragonfly

Common Whitetail dragonfly May 2014

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Stern disapproval

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 17, 2016| 5 Comments »

Yesterday when a Great Blue Heron at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia turned and intently stared at me, its look conveyed a definite sense of stern disapproval.
I went to the gardens with some friends with the intent of photographing flowers, but my attention was hijacked by this very photogenic Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). Despite the fact that I was shooting with my macro lens, I managed to get some wonderful shots of the heron, including some in-flight shots, that I will post later. I loved the look in the heron’s eyes and its pose so much that I decided to post this image immediately.
Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Springtime Darner

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , on April 17, 2016| 10 Comments »

I have captured images of many beautiful dragonflies in the past, but I am not sure that any of them can quite match the spectacular colors and pattern of this female Springtime Darner dragonfly (Basiaeschna janata) that I photographed this past Friday at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia.

Springtime Darners appear to be be pretty uncommon at our park—they are few in number and are active for only a very limited period of time early in the spring. Last year, fellow photographer Walter Sanford and I spotted the first known Springtime Darner at Huntley Meadows Park, but it was only a brief encounter and we never again spotted one.

Walter and I were determined that we would do better this year. Already this spring, he and I have separately explored likely locations for hours on end without success. On Friday, we decided to work together as a team. Our experience has shown that having an extra set of eyes really helps in spotting and tracking our elusive flying subjects.

After several hours of searching, we finally caught sight of a dragonfly in flight. It flew about a bit and then it finally perched—our moment had arrived for indeed it was a Springtime Darner. Springtime Darners will generally perch vertically on vegetation low to the ground. My view of the dragonfly was obscured, but fortunately Walter could see it and began to compose some shots.

I stood still for what seemed like an eternity, fearful of spooking the dragonfly, but finally was able to move forward to a spot with a somewhat clearer view of the dragonfly. The only problem was that I couldn’t pick out the dragonfly amidst all of the vegetation. I was shooting with my 180mm macro lens, which meant that I couldn’t simply zoom in to get a better view. Walter patiently described for me the specific location and I took some initial shots without actually seeing the dragonfly.

Eventually I was able to see what I thought was the dragonfly and captured a few shots before it flew away, though I never had a really clear view of it. Although we searched and searched, we were not able to relocate the dragonfly, nor did we see another Springtime Darner.

I was not very hopeful when I downloaded my images from my memory card to my computer and was surprised when I saw that somehow I had captured some of the beautiful colors and patterns of the Springtime Darner. Normally I like to try to isolate my subjects from the background and the background in these two images was unavoidably really cluttered, but I’m really happy with them.

I am happy with the images, but not quite satisfied—I’ll be out again soon to search for more Springtime Darners, hopefully including a male, as well as other dragonflies and damselflies. My dragonfly season has only just begun.

Springtime Darner

Springtime Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Mama wood duck and babies

Posted in Baby photography, Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2016| 15 Comments »

I was thrilled on Friday morning to spot this Wood Duck mother (Aix sponsa) with thirteen little ducklings (if I counted right) at my favorite marshland park, Huntley Meadows Park. A few days ago, one of my fellow photographers was able to capture some shots of the moment when some newly fledged wood duck babies were called out of the nesting box by their mother and dropped into the water below. I suspect this is the same family, although I have been told that there are plenty of eggs in some of the other nesting boxes, so there may a lot more baby ducks soon.

I hope that all of the cute little ducklings can remain safe, but I remember with a tinge of sadness the experience of past years when I watched the number of babies decrease over time. The environment is hostile for these vulnerable little ones, with water snakes and snapping turtles as well as hawks and other birds of prey.  It has to be tough on the mother duck to try to keep them together and out of danger and it seems like she has to raise them on her own—the father duck does not seem to participate in the process.

Wood Duck babies

Wood Duck babies

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Close to a Garter Snake

Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2016| 9 Comments »

This past Monday as I was exploring Huntley Meadows Park with fellow photographer Walter Sanford, he spotted an Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis). We both like to photograph snakes, so we sprung into action. Following my normal instincts, I moved in close to the snake. How close did I get? At a certain point in time I actually had to back up a little to make sure I included the snake’s entire head in the image.

Some readers of this blog may recall that Walter and I use different camera systems and approach our shots in different ways, partly because he is using a zoom lens and I am often using a macro lens with a fixed focal length. If you shoot side by side with another photographer, you’ll often get the same shots, but that’s usually not the case for Walter and me. We normally choose different angles of view and frame our shots differently—I am usually the one sprawled on the ground.

Walter and I have shot together often enough that he knows the “tricks” that I employ when shooting. From my earliest days, my photography mentor Cindy Dyer emphasized to me the importance of using a tripod. Frequently I carry a tripod with me, but for low-angle shots, I prefer to use my camera bag as a kind of improvised tripod to help steady my camera. In the past month I have used this techniques with varying subjects including a jumping spider and a beaver. Special thanks to Walter for allowing me to use one of the photos he shot of me in action with my improvised tripod.

The snake was amazingly tolerant of our presence. Unbelievably it stayed in place when I moved a stalk of grass next to its head that was getting in the way of a clear shot. The first shot below was shot with my improvised tripod and was not cropped at all. The other two shots, I believe, were handheld and cropped slightly, because the snake had changed positions and I did not have the luxury of stabilizing my camera. In all cases I tried to focus on the snake’s eye and I really like the way that I managed to capture a reflection in the eye.

Walter will soon be posting a companion post that I will reblog, so that you can contrast the images that we captured when shooting the same subject together.

Eastern Garter Snake

alternative tripod

Using my camera bag as an improvised tripod (Photo by Walter Sanford)

 

Eastern Garter Snake

He’s got lips like Jagger

Eastern Garter Snake

Environmental portrait of a garter snake

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Depositing eggs

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , , on April 12, 2016| 3 Comments »

Now that the weather is warming up, I am searching in earnest for dragonflies, one of my favorite subjects to photograph. I am still having difficulties locating native-born species, but fortunately there are some migratory species in the area. Yesterday I spotted this Common Green Darner (Anax junius) dragonfly couple in tandem, with the male holding on as the female deposited her eggs in the floating vegetation.

In some dragonfly species the male will hover above the female as she oviposits, but in others, like the Common Green Darner, the male remains attached. I suspect that this method is one way of ensuring that the eggs that the male has fertilized are deposited before the female hooks up with another male.

Common Green Darner

Common Green Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Nibbling on a branch

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 11, 2016| 9 Comments »

Would you stop to watch a squirrel as it nibbled on a branch or would you move on in search of more exciting wildlife? I love trying to capture the beauty in the ordinary and spent quite some time recently observing and photographing this Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) at Huntley Meadows Park.

Although the tree looks kind of dead, I think that the squirrel spotted a fresh bud on the end of the branch and decided to chew on it for a little while. Normally a squirrel has its head down when feeding and it was nice to be able to get this shot with its neck extended. The little reflection in its eye was a bonus.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Teneral Common Baskettail dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , on April 8, 2016| 10 Comments »

On Monday, I finally captured my first dragonfly shots of the season at Huntley Meadows Park, a recently emerged Common Basketttail dragonfly (Epitheca cynosura). For a couple of weeks I’ve been periodically seeing migrating Common Green Darners, but this is the first “native-born” dragonfly I have spotted.

The dragonfly is in a juvenile stage known as “teneral,” which initially confused me when I was trying to identify it. I looked through a lot of photos on the internet and they didn’t quite match up with some of the markings of “my” dragonfly.

Fortunately an expert came to the rescue when I posted the photos on the Northeast Odonata Facebook page and asked for help. Ed Lam, who literally wrote the book on odonata in the Northeast, replied that, “It’s a Common. It’s teneral so the stigmas and the hind wing patch will darken as it matures.” You can check out Ed’s book, Damselflies of the Northeast: A Guide to the Species of Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States, on Amazon.

From my perspective, the dragonfly season has now officially opened. It is still really challenging, however, to find them this early, given that most species won’t emerge until much later in the spring and in early summer.

Common Baskettail dragonfly

Common Baskettail dragonfly

Common Baskettail dragonfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Teenager in love

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 7, 2016| 8 Comments »

I spotted this Hooded Merganser couple (Lophodytes cucullatus) last Friday at Huntley Meadows Park enjoying a few quiet moments together.

The male duck has a wide-eyed goofy look on his face that makes me think of a teenager who has fallen in love. He worked up the courage to ask the cute girl on a date and she actually said yes. She’s playing it cool, but he can hardly contain his excitement.

It’s springtime and love is in the air.

Hooded Merganser

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Peeping blackbird

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 6, 2016| 3 Comments »

I am not sure why, but this male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) was acting differently this past weekend. Rather than standing tall and singing out loudly, as is normally the case, he was instead hunched over and making a more gentle peeping sound.

Was he in pain or distress? Was this simply a different way of communication? It’s overwhelming sometimes to consider how little I know about the behavior of the subjects that I try to photograph, despite the fact that I am learning all of the time.

From a photographic perspective, I really like the geometric. almost abstract shape of the blackbird in this image.

Red-winged Blackbird

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Jumping spider in early April

Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 5, 2016| 19 Comments »

I know that spring has truly arrived when I start to walk around with a macro lens on my camera. I captured this shot of a Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax) on the boardwalk yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park.

As I was walking into the park, a departing fellow photographer alerted me to the presence of the spiders, so I changed lenses in the hope that I would see one. Most of the winter months I have been using my Tamron 150-600mm lens to shoot birds and other wildlife, but I had my Tamron 180mm macro lens with me. It’s amazing how my field of vision changes with the shift in lenses. With the long lens, I am used to looking up and out, in part because it has a minimum focus distance of 8.9 feet (1.7 meters). With the macro lens, I am am scanning a much smaller area, primarily near my feet and just beyond.

Eventually I located a jumping spider. It seemed to be spending most of its time in the cracks between the synthetic boards of the boardwalk, but occasionally would venture out. Despite its name, the Bold Jumping Spider seemed to be pretty timid. In fact, I never did see it jump—it seemed content to crawl slowly.

The coolest thing about jumping spiders, of course, is their eyes. I am absolutely mesmerized by their multiple eyes and I was really happy that I was able to capture some reflections in the eyes. The reflections are most noticeable in the head-on shot, but they are also visible in the action shot. It’s a fun challenge to try to capture action when this close to a subject, but somehow I managed, though the higher shutter speed needed when shooting handheld meant that that my depth of field was pretty limited.

Bold Jumping Spider

Bold Jumping Spider

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Look both ways

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 1, 2016| 14 Comments »

I keep trying without much success to get a close shot of a Belted Kingfisher, but they are very skittish and always seem to be perched on the opposite bank of the stream or pond from where I am standing.

This past weekend I was happy to get a clear (albeit distant) look at this beautiful female Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) at my favorite marshland park. The kingfisher seemed to be taking a break from fishing and spent most of her time looking to the left and to the right rather than down at the water.

I’ve spotted a kingfisher before on this perch, but can’t get any closer from this side of the pond. Occasionally I will trek to the other side of the pond and hope that eventually I will be able to sneak closer to this elusive bird from that direction.

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flying as a couple

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 31, 2016| 5 Comments »

I heard this Wood Duck couple take off at Huntley Meadows Park this past weekend before I actually saw them. Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa), especially the female, make a distinctive shrieking noise when disturbed and when taking flight. (Check out this page from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website to hear some of the sounds made by Wood Ducks.)

Normally Wood Ducks fly away from me and I often don’t even get to see them before they disappear in the distance. This time, however, the birds flew across my field of vision and I was able to capture this long-distance shot as they passed me. I really like the way that we get a glimpse of the beautiful colors on the inside part of the wings of these striking ducks.

Wood Duck

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Early spring butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , on March 30, 2016| 3 Comments »

Spring has definitely arrived in our area, but I was still quite surprised this past Saturday to see an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) at Huntley Meadows Park—it seems so early for butterflies like this.

I chased after the butterfly several times, to the extent that you can chase something while on a boardwalk, but each time the butterfly flew away. I had more or less reconciled myself to the likelihood that I was unlikely probably not going to get a shot of this early spring butterfly when I caught sight of it again.

The butterfly landed in a muddy open area where a flock of Canada Geese had previously been feeding.  There were no flowers around from which to get nectar, so the butterfly resorted to an organic source of nutrients.

This is definitely not the prettiest shot of a butterfly that I have ever taken, but it’s the first butterfly that I have photographed this season. Like the butterfly in the photo, I am content to settle for what I can find, hopeful that better things are to come as we move deeper into spring.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Lunch with an osprey

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on March 29, 2016| 14 Comments »

Yesterday afternoon I came upon this Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) at Huntley Meadows Park as it was enjoying a freshly caught fish. The osprey was perched in an exposed dead tree and I had a front row seat as it consumed its lunch. Despite taking what looked to be pretty small bites, the osprey downed the fish in a matter of minutes.

I managed to take quite a few shots of the osprey, which seemed so focused on its food that it tolerated my presence almost directly below the tree. I am still going through those photos and may do another posting later, but wanted to post one of my initial favorites.

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Southern Leopard Frog

Posted in Amphibians, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on March 28, 2016| 13 Comments »

Now that spring is here, you can see and hear frogs throughout Huntley Meadows Park. One of the most common types in our area is the Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus), like this one that I spotted this past weekend.

Southern Leopard Frog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Happy Easter 2016

Posted in Birds, Easter, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 27, 2016| 24 Comments »

Happy Easter (and best wishes to those not celebrating this holiday). This has been a really busy and special Holy Week for me and I am getting ready now to go to a sunrise Easter service.

I spotted this pretty little Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) yesterday during a daylong trek around Huntley Meadows Park.

Happy Easter!

Eastern Bluebird

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Early morning swim

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 26, 2016| 24 Comments »

A dark head broke the surface of the water just after sunrise yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park and the animal slowly and silently swam by me. Was it a beaver or a muskrat? It looks like a Norther American Beaver (Castor canadensis) to me, but I never got a look at its tail—the tail would have provided definitive proof of the animal’s identity.

The many gnawed off tree stumps testify to the presence of beavers in several lodges in the park, but the beavers themselves have remained remarkably elusive. Muskrats are active in the same areas and many park visitors have spotted them in action during the daylight hours.

Beaver or muskrat? What do you think?

North American Beaver

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Almost hidden

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , on March 25, 2016| 6 Comments »

Now that springtime leaves and blossoms are reappearing, birds in the trees are getting harder for me to spot. Earlier this week I was happy to find this semi-hidden female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) at Huntley Meadows Park.

One of my friends asserts that female cardinals are more beautiful than their more boldly-colored male counterparts—it’s hard to disagree with him.

Northern Cardinal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Setting up housekeeping

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 23, 2016| 7 Comments »

Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) have moved into at least some of the nesting boxes at Huntley Meadows Park as they get ready for babies. The accommodations are spacious and comfortable, but the views are undoubtedly much better from high atop the trees.

Strange as it sounds, it is unusual for me to get shots of Tree Swallows in a tree. Normally they are zooming about in the air when I see them and it seems rare for them to stop for a rest. They seem to weigh almost nothing, so they can perch on the flimsiest of branches at the very top of trees. As I learned earlier this week when observing them, however, those perches can become pretty precarious when the wind starts to blow, but that’s a story for another posting.

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Grebes and Buffleheads

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 22, 2016| 8 Comments »

The early morning light was a beautiful golden orange yesterday morning at Huntley Meadows Park and I was thrilled when I spotted a pair of Pied-billed Grebes (Podilymbus podiceps) and a Bufflehead couple (Bucephala albeola), two species of water birds that I rarely have encountered there.

I took these shots from a pretty good distance away, so I initially wasn’t sure what kind of birds they were. WhenI took a quick look afterwards at a couple of the images, the shapes and markings of these birds were so different from the usual birds that I knew I needed to do a little research. Fortunately they were not hard to find in my identification guide.

Somehow I can’t help but smile when I speak aloud the names of these two birds—they seem a little silly and slightly pejorative, though not overtly rude. I can imagine a grizzled cowboy confronting another and saying, “You’re nothing but a pied-billed grebe,” and the other cowboy responding, “And, you, you’re a bufflehead.” (My favorite bird name that makes a great cowboy cuss word, though, has to be the yellow-bellied sapsucker.)

Pied-billed Grebe

Bufflehead

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Three’s a crowd

Posted in Amphibians, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 21, 2016| 6 Comments »

The single American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) inched closer and closer to the couple, looking like he wanted to cut in. Growing impatent, he decided that the only way to dislodge his rival was to take action.  With a big splash, he jumped right onto the other male’s back.

Was the maneuver successful? Well, I think he separated the couple, but I couldn’t tell which of the males ended up with the female.

American Toad

American Toad

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Blue-winged Teal in March

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 19, 2016| 5 Comments »

Early yesterday morning, a fellow photographer pointed out some foraging water birds in the distance and I was fortunate to get a shot of some Blue-winged Teal ducks (Anas discors), a species of small dabbling ducks that I see only rarely. I love the bold white facial markings of the male Blue-winged Teal during breeding season.

One of the big advantages of going out early in the morning to take photos is that I am able to see some birds and animals that are more concealed later in the day. Blue-winged Teals, for example, tend to forage at the edges of ponds, where they are almost impossible to spot, but early in the morning they were in relatively open water. The downside, of course, is that there is not much light so early in the day, so it’s hard to get images with sharp focus and good contrast.

We are definitely in bird migration season in my area and it’s always exciting to see what birds will show up next. The trees are starting to put out buds now and soon there will be leaves, which will made it more and more difficult to the birds when I hear them singing—I have more of a fighting chance of getting a shot when the birds are in the water.

 

Blue-winged Teal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Guard duty

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 15, 2016| 12 Comments »

This colorful male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) was standing tall yesterday as he kept watch over a nesting box at Huntley Meadows Park. I kept watch for a while myself, hoping to photograph a female entering or exiting the box, but came up empty-handed.

It’s breeding time and all of the animals and birds seem to be looking for mates and preparing for the arrival of babies. At least some of the Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks use the nesting boxes at various locations throughout the park. Tree Swallows also use nesting boxes, although those boxes are much smaller than the ones used by the ducks.

I don’t know if this male Wood Duck is guarding eggs that have already been laid in the box or is merely helping to reserve the box for use by his partner. In the past I have spent extended periods of time waiting for the arrival and departure of female ducks at nesting boxes. I find it amazing that the females are able to arrest their forward momentum and enter the box through a hole that is a tight fit.

Wood Duck

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Camouflaged snapping turtle

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, tagged , , , , , , on March 14, 2016| 5 Comments »

I was a little surprised when an unusually shaped mound of dirt slowly began to move in the shallow waters of a muddy pond at Huntley Meadows Park. When it raised its massive head, I realized it was an Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) newly arisen from the bottom of the pond.

The extra weight of the mud on its back didn’t seem to affect the turtle’s swimming ability—it must be nice to be so big and strong.

Snapping Turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bazooka Joe

Posted in Amphibians, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 12, 2016| 16 Comments »

The marsh at Huntley Meadows Park is alive with the sound of frogs and toads—it’s the start of the breeding season.

Yesterday, I captured this shot of an Eastern American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus americanus) as he was calling out to females. It’s amazing how long the toad is able to hold that long, high-pitched trill, as much as 20 to 30 seconds according to the Virginia Herpetological Society.

His expanded pouch (officially called a dewlap) reminds me of my childhood days, when I would attempt to blow large bubbles with the ever present bright pink bubble gum. One of my favorite gums was called Bazooka and the individually wrapped pieces of gum included a comic strip starring Bazooka Joe. (For more information about Bazooka, check out this Wikipedia article.)

I’ve decided I want to call this little guy Bazooka Joe and my unofficial name for the Eastern American Toad is the Bubble Gum Toad. As a side note, fellow photographer and blogger Walter Sanford has given nicknames to several of my lenses and he calls my Tamron 150-600mm lens Bazooka Joe. This, of course, is more a reference to the anti-tank rocket launcher than to the bubble gum—the size and length of the lens brings to mind a bazooka. (If you are not familiar with this weapon, check out this Wikipedia article.)

In case you are curious, I captured this image of Bazooka Joe with Bazooka Joe.

Eastern American Toad

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Who needs a log?

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, tagged , , , , , , on March 10, 2016| 4 Comments »

With our recent warm weather, turtles have risen from the mud at Huntley Meadows Park.  Sunning turtles are now vying for space on logs that are more crowded than a mall parking lot on Black Friday.

On Monday, a Spotted Turtle (Clemys guttata) tried a different approach. He slowly clawed his way up out of the water onto some vegetation amid the cattails and assumed an almost vertical perch.

Who needs a log?

Spotted Turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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