Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dragonfly, Epiaeschna heros, Huntley Meadows Park, Swamp Darner, Swamp Darner dragonfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 24, 2014| 7 Comments »
This might be the most beautiful dragonfly that I have ever photographed, a Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros) that I encountered yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia. Swamp Darners have gorgeous colors, including incredibly striking blue eyes—be sure to click on the image to get a higher resolution view of the dragonfly.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Libellula semifasciata, Painted Skimmer, Painted Skimmer dragonfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 23, 2014| 6 Comments »
My breathing stopped for a moment on Monday when I first caught sight of the colors and patterns of this beautiful dragonfly, a species that I had never seen before. The dragonfly was flying around near a drainage area just off one of the main trails at my local marshland park. Fortunately for me, the dragonfly landed and I was able to move in pretty close to investigate.
This dragonfly reminded me a little of a Halloween Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis eponina), a gorgeous species with orange veins and brown patches on its wings, but I was pretty certain that this was a different kind of dragonfly. (For comparison, check out my posting on the Halloween Pennant from August 2012 with one of the best photos that I have taken of any dragonfly.)
I am no expert on dragonfly identification, but the wing pattern here is distinctive and I have concluded that this is probably a Painted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula semifasciata). Not long ago, a friend introduced me to a wonderful resource for dragonflies in my area, a website on Dragonflies of Northern Virginia that is run by Kevin Munroe, the manager of Huntley Meadows Park, the marsh where I take many of my nature photographs, including this one. Here is a link to the portion of that website that covers the Painted Skimmer, including identification features and other fascinating bits of information.
As I maneuvered around composing this shot, I realized how tricky it is to get the proper depth of field for a dragonfly, especially if I want to have the face visible. In this case, the two wings closest to the camera are in focus and the wings farther away are out of focus, along with the background.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Bold Jumping spider, Canon 50D, dragonfly, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis, Huntley Meadows Park, jumping spider, Phidippus audax, spider on May 21, 2014| 13 Comments »
How does a jumping spider, a spider that does not build a web, manage to capture a dragonfly? I don’t know how this Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax) snagged an Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicicollis), but I came upon the two of them after the capture had been completed and managed to snap a series of photographs of the action.
I am still working on the images and plan to do a longer posting, but wanted to give you a sneak preview.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, orange poppy, poppy, Tamron on May 20, 2014| 5 Comments »
There is something about orange poppies that really draws my attention. Maybe it’s their bright color or maybe it’s the unusual looking central column topped by a star. I remember being mesmerized by their beauty last year and I felt the same when they reappeared this year. Roses are nice, but this flower attracts me even more.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, love, Love-in-a-mist, Nigella damascena, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 19, 2014| 8 Comments »
During a short visit to Green Spring Gardens this past weekend, I was thrilled to see that one of my favorite flowers is starting to bloom, Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena). I smile at its name and marvel at its delicate beauty.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, family Tetragnathidae, Huntley Meadows Park, Long-jawed Orb Weaver, Long-jawed Orb Weaver spider, long-jawed spider, spider, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 17, 2014| 10 Comments »
When you think of a spider, what kind of body do you imagine? I realize that most people don’t even want to think about spiders—they find them to be creepy and frightening. For some of us, though, spiders are beautiful creatures with some amazing features.
Still, I don’t usually think of a spider as having a long, thin body, and most don’t. Last week I encountered one that had such a body, which I think is a kind of long-jawed spider from the Tetragnathidae family. In addition to the elongated bodies, these spiders have legs of varying lengths, with the front pair appearing to be really long.
Spiders apparently come in all sizes and shapes. Who knows what new ones I’ll see in the coming months?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, ducklings, Hooded Merganser, Hooded Merganser ducks, Huntley Meadows Park, Lophodytes cucullatus, Mama duck on May 16, 2014| 8 Comments »
Several weeks after I first spotted a family of Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus) at my local marsh, I continue run into this single mother and her adorable ducklings. (Click here to see the original posting.)
The ducks seem to hang out a lot in one flooded, shady area of the marsh that is relatively shallow and doesn’t seem to have the snapping turtles that plagued similar families last year. The light is limited and the ducks start moving as soon as they sense my presence, so getting photos has been a challenge. Here’s a selection of some of my favorite shots to date of this cute little family.
Mama duck gives a reminder to the ducklings to stay together and follow her.
Trying to move out, but some of the ducklings want to look back toward me.
Mama duck takes up a rear position to ensure there are no stragglers.
Grainy close-up shot that shows some of the personality of the ducklings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Common Baskettail, Common Baskettail dragonfly, dragonflies, dragonfly in flight, Epitheca cynosura, Hidden Pond Nature Center, patience, Springfield VA, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 15, 2014| 11 Comments »
Do you want to learn patience? If so, try photographing dragonflies in flight, those speedy little flyers that patrol the edge of a pond without ever seeming to need a rest.
Several readers commented that I must have lots of patience after they saw the photos of dragonflies and damselflies that I recently posted. Comparatively speaking, however, it is a whole lot easier to photograph these insects when they are perched on a stationary object than when they are in constant motion.
My fellow blogger and photographer, Walter Sanford, a true dragonfly stalker, emphasized to me recently that many of the early spring dragonflies are found only in limited locations for very short periods of time. (Check out his blog for lots of wonderful shots of dragonflies and other wildlife creatures.) I decided to return to Hidden Pond Nature Center, a county-run park in Springfield, Virginia that is only a few miles from where I live. Last year I spotted a few common dragonflies there, and it seemed to be a good place to broaden my search for spring dragonflies.
Sure enough, I caught sight of a few dragonflies, flying low over the surface of the small pond. They seemed to have fairly well defined patrol areas and tended to move about in large, lazy circles. I tried tracking several of them using my camera’s autofocus, but that proved to be impossible, so I switched to manual focusing, which was merely difficult.
I took a few breaks to get some shots of the more cooperative damselflies, but persisted in my quixotic efforts to capture the dragonflies in flight. Over the course of a couple of hours, I managed to fewer than a dozen images that are more or less in focus. I think that my subjects for this shoot might be Common Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura), but I’m not very confident in that identification.
My adventures with dragonflies (and wildlife photography in general) continue teach important lessons about the value of patience and persistence.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, blackbird, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird on May 14, 2014| 10 Comments »
Although I wake up to the sound of birds loudly chirping at this time of the year, it is getting increasingly difficult to see most of them as the trees regain their thick covering of leaves. The male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a notable exception, because he does not hide behind the foliage. Instead, he seems to choose the highest point in the open from which to boldly make his loud calls—there is not timidity or shyness in this bird.
The blackbird puts so much energy into his “singing” that at times his perch becomes precarious. I captured this blackbird in one such moment, when his position seems so awkward and distorted that looks like a cartoon to me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Whitetail, Common Whitetail dragonfly, dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, immature, immature male dragonfly, Plathemis lydia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 13, 2014| 14 Comments »
As we move deeper into spring, dragonfly nymphs are emerging from the water and starting their transformed lives as acrobatic flyers. This past weekend I spotted some young male Common Whitetail dragonflies (Plathemis lydia) in different stages of development.
Not surprisingly, adult male Common Whitetail dragonflies have white tails—it seems like most species are named after the characteristics of the male. Check out one of my postings from last year to see what a mature adult male looks like. When they first emerge, however, the males have the same body colors and patterns as the females. Fortunately, it’s easy to tell them apart, because the wing patterns are different in the male and female whitetails. (For more information about these dragonflies, take a look at the pages at bugguide.net.)
The dragonfly in the first shot is well on his way to becoming an adult and was bold enough to be flying over the water. The one in the second shot is younger, and seemed to content to remain in the vegetation at a distance from the open water.
A “tween” male–the abdomen is beginning to turn blue, but the adolescent body pattern still shows
An immature male, with the body pattern of a female and the wing pattern of an adult male
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, flower, Huntley Meadows Park, luck, skill, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 12, 2014| 18 Comments »
I was on my hands and knees last Friday, trying to get a shot of a small wildflower growing on the forest floor, when a bee landed on the very flower on which I was focusing. What are the odds of that happening at the moment when my eye was glued to the viewfinder and I was focusing manually?
The flower was only about four inches (10 cm) tall, which gives you an idea of the low angle from which I was shooting. After a second or two on the first flower (shown in the second shot), the bee moved to an adjacent flower, and I took the image I presented first. It’s interesting to note the narrowness of the depth of field—in the first shot below, I managed to focus on the bee’s head, whereas in the second shot, the focus point was more on the center of its body. I like each of the images for somewhat different reasons, but I am still shocked that I managed to get them.
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than skilled.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, damselfly, damselfly eyes, eyes, Huntley Meadows Park, odonata, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 11, 2014| 8 Comments »
This is the last image in my mini-series on insect eyes from this past Friday—a close-up of a beautiful little damselfly at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland where I take many of my nature photographs.
Photographing damselflies is particularly challenging for me, because they are so long and skinny (not to mention the fact that they are really small in size). About the only way to get their bodies completely in focus is to be absolutely perpendicular to them. When I took this image, I couldn’t get into the optimal position, thanks to a sharp, thorny bush, so the lower half of the body was out of focus. That is one of the reasons why I chose to crop this image as I did, though the main reason was to focus viewers’ attention on the eyes.
This image shows the wide separation of the damselfly’s eyes, which is one of the ways to tell them apart from dragonflies, the other members of the Odonata family. Dragonflies have eyes that are very close together or even touching each other.
If you missed the earlier postings on insect eyes, check out the images of a fly’s eyes and a dragonfly’s eyes. In all three cases, click on the images, if you want to get a higher resolution view of the insects’ beautiful eyes.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Whitetail, Common Whitetail dragonfly, dragonfly, dragonfly eyes, Huntley Meadows Park, Plathemis lydia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 10, 2014| 11 Comments »
Yesterday, I seemed to be particularly fascinated by insect eyes and did a posting on a fly, whose compound eyes were pretty amazing. However, dragonflies have the largest compound eyes of any insect and I was thrilled to be able to capture this face-to-face shot of a Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia), peering right at me over the edge of a leaf.
A dragonfly’s eyes can have as many as 30,000 facets, known as ommatidia, that contain light-sensitive proteins, according to an article in ScienceBlogs. Although, humans also have these kind of proteins, called opsins, we have only three (red, green, and blue), whereas a dragonfly has four or five, giving it the capability to see colors beyond human visual capabilities. A dragonfly’s eyes also wrap around its head, giving it an incredible field of view. For more information and a more scientific explanation, check out a posting entitled “Super-predators” that Sue did last June in her Backyard Biology blog.
I took this shot in a wooded grassy area adjacent to a pond. It seems that the Common Whitetail dragonflies are hanging out there early in the season and not too many of them are patrolling over the water, as I commonly saw them do last summer. The fact that the dragonfly was not perched on a branch coming out of the water proved to and advantage as I was able to approach pretty closely to it in order to take this shot.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, beetle, Canon 50D, Cicindela sexguttata, Huntley Meadows Park, metallic green, Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Tiger Beetle on May 10, 2014| 12 Comments »
Some insects blend in so perfectly with their environments that they are difficult to spot. That is clearly not the case with this Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) that I spotted yesterday at my local marsh.
The beetle’s metallic green body glistened in the sun and made it stand out against the bark of the fallen tree on which it was perched. It flew away several times when I got close to it, but kept returning, eventually remaining in place long enough for me to get this shot. Click on the image to get a higher resolution view of the beetle, including its textured body and multi-segment antennae.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, close-up, fly, fly eyes, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 9, 2014| 16 Comments »
After a week in an urban setting with only a point-and-shoot, I couldn’t wait to get back to my marsh with my trusty Canon 50D in my hands. I kept my macro lens on my camera for most of the time, because the insects seemed much more active than they were only a week ago. Even flies seemed to be good subjects. I photographed this fly hand-held at really close range, which gave me a very narrow depth of field.
The first image is cropped, in order to give you a good look at the fly’s eyes—the second photo is the same image with a much less severe crop.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, Travel, Urban, wildlife, tagged Canon A620, ducklings, fountain, mallard duck, Vienna, Vienna Austria, Volksgarten on May 8, 2014| 11 Comments »
As I was walking through the Volksgarten in Vienna, I was a bit surprised to encounter three ducklings, living in a fountain along with two male adult Mallards. The city had constructed a ramp so that the ducks could enter and exit the fountain and a couple of plywood platforms, where the ducklings would rest and play.
Obviously there was a mother duck involved in giving birth to these ducklings, which were no longer babies, but I did not see her at all during any of my three visits to see the ducks.
Although I had only a point-and-shoot camera with a small zoom lens, the fountain limited the movement of the ducklings and I was able to move in close for some pretty good shots, which show the personality of the little ducklings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, spring, Travel, Urban, tagged benches, Canon A620, chairs, park, Vienna, Vienna Austria, Volksgarten on May 6, 2014| 8 Comments »
Vienna can be a crowded city, overflowing with people much of the time, but early morning in the Volksgarten, I had my choice of seats—both the chairs and the benches were completely empty.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, spring, Travel, Urban, tagged Athena Fountain, Austrian Parliament Building, Canon A620, conservatory, Rathaus, statue, Vienna, Vienna Austria on May 5, 2014| 5 Comments »
I am back in Vienna, Austria for a short business trip and captured a few of the sights of this beautiful city on an early morning walk today as the city was coming to life.
Conservatory in Vienna
Vienna City Hall (Rathaus)
Athena statue outside Austrian Parliament Building
Statue in Volksgarten
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue Corporal, Blue Corporal dragonfly, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, dragonfly, ephemeral spring dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Ladona deplanata on May 4, 2014| 6 Comments »
Some of the common species of dragonflies are around throughout much of the summer. Other dragonflies, sometimes referred to as “spring ephemeral” dragonflies, are around for only brief periods of time in the early spring, like this male Blue Corporal dragonfly (Ladona deplanata) that I spotted last week on the boardwalk at my local marsh.
I had never seen this species before, but fortunately my fellow blogger and local dragonfly expert, Walter Sanford, was able to assist me with the identification. Check out his blog to see some awesome shots of dragonflies and other nature subjects.
I would love to be able to photograph this species the next time in a more natural environment, but I am pretty excited any time I have the chance to get a recognizable photo of a new species.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Dragonflies, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, blue damselfly, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, damselfly, damselfly in May, Eastern Forktail, Eastern Forktail damselfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Ischnura verticalis on May 3, 2014| 8 Comments »
Most folks are familiar with dragonflies, but damselflies, the smaller members of the Odonata family, are equally impressive. I spotted this little beauty yesterday in the pond debris at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland area where I take many of my nature photographs.
I don’t know damselfly behavior very well, but noted that the very end of the damselfly’s tail is in different positions in this series of photos. In the first image, the tip is curved upward and then gradually returns to a more straight position in the final shot. Sometimes movements like this indicate that the damselfly could be laying eggs, but I haven’t been able to determine yet the gender or species of the damselfly. There seem to be a lot of different species of damselflies that are blue. (If I had to guess, I’d say that it looks like a female Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis), because of the color, the forked end of the tail, and the two-tone eyes).
Although this looks like a macro shot (and the subject was really small), this is another case in which I was able to use my telephoto zoom lens to get macro-like results. Click on any of the photos to get a higher-resolution view of the damselfly and you may be surprised to see how many of the details the telephoto lens was able to capture.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, red-eared slider, red-eared slider turtle, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Tracem, Trachemys scripta elegans), turtle on May 2, 2014| 8 Comments »
All of nature seems to be speeding up as we move deeper into spring. Even the turtles seem to be moving faster, like this Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) that I spotted recently at a county-run historical garden.
Initially the turtle was swimming around in a small pond (as shown in the second shot). I was pleased that I was able to capture a shot of the turtle as it was emerged from the water onto the shore.
I had my 180mm macro lens on my camera when I caught sight of the turtle and I was reminded of the need to zoom with my feet when using a lens with a fixed focal length. In my zeal to get a bit closer to the turtle, I narrowly avoided sliding down the bank into the water.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, beauty, Canon 50D, faded glory, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens, tulip on May 2, 2014| 1 Comment »
Do you pass by flowers that are past their prime? Their beauty is still visible in the fragments of their former glory.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Inspiration, Nature, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, takeoff on May 1, 2014| 4 Comments »
Some subjects are so awe-inspiring that I get excited just seeing them, even if they are too far away for a good photo—like this Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that I saw Monday at my local marsh. The eagle seemed to sense my presence and took off before I could get closer, but I managed to capture an image of its final preparations for takeoff from the branch.
When I am walking through the woods at this time of the year, I have to keep my eyes in constant motion. Leaves are still sparse enough on the trees that I am still able to spot some birds in the trees. However, insects are starting to appear too, so I have to scan the leaves and branches on the ground for these little creatures.
On early Monday morning, as I looked through a break in the trees, I caught sight of a large bird in the distance, sitting on the end of a branch. I immediately stopped, having learned from experience that even a single step forward would be likely to spook the bird. The light was not great, but the shape suggested to me that it was probably a bald eagle.
The eagle looked around for a few seconds and then took off. At that moment, I was absolutely certain that it was a bald eagle. I was not so certain that I had captured any useable images, but I was content just to have experienced the sight of that majestic bird in flight.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Coluber constrictor constrictor, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Black Racer snake, reflection, snake, snake's eye, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 30, 2014| 24 Comments »
What’s your first reaction when you see a snake? I was walking through the woods at my local marsh this past weekend when I spotted a snake curled up on the leaves. My first reaction was to move closer to get a shot of the snake.
The area was relatively open, but there were lots of leaves and sticks on the forest floor, so it was not really possible to get an unobstructed shot of the snake. I took a shot anyways, fearing the snake would leave, and include it as a second image here so you can see how the snake was positioned. I noticed that the snake’s head was in an uncluttered area and a clear shot seemed possible. I changed lenses from my telephoto zoom to my macro lens, set up my tripod as low as it would go, and moved really close, until the snake’s head almost filled the frame of my viewfinder. I took some shots in natural light and some with my popup flash. The snake seemed unbothered by my actions until I inadvertently moved a small branch when adjusting my position on ground and he slithered away.
When I looked at the images on my computer, I was struck by the degree to which my reflection is visible in the snake’s eye. If you click on the first photo, you’ll get a higher resolution view that shows me taking the shot (with flash this time).
I am not sure what kind of snake this is, but it looks a bit like a Northern Black Racer snake (Coluber constrictor constrictor) as described on the webpage of the Virginia Herpetological Society. I’d welcome a confirmation or correction of my identification from anyone with more experience with snakes.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 50D, Leucojum aestivum, Leucojum vernum, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond VA, snowflakes, Spring Snowflake, Summer Snowflake, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 29, 2014| 14 Comments »
Memories of this past winter’s unusually heavy snowfall are beginning to fade, but were revived when I saw these beautiful little Snowflakes during a recent visit to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA.
There are two varieties of Snowflakes—the Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum) and the Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum)—and I am not absolutely certain which variety I photographed.
I love the simple beauty of this delicate flower and am happy that I was able to isolate a couple of the blooms to showcase that beauty.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Barn Swallow, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Hirundo rustica, Huntley Meadows Park, swallow on April 28, 2014| 10 Comments »
Tree Swallows have been flying about for several weeks, but it was only this weekend that I finally observed one of their multi-colored brethren, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica). Last year, the Barn Swallows built a nest underneath a raised observation platform of the boardwalk at my local marsh, and it looks like they are doing the same thing this year.
I was able to photograph this swallow as it perched on a small branch coming out of the water directly opposite the platform. The sky was mostly overcast during the day, which caused the reflections in the water to look mostly white. As I made a few adjustments to the image, the background essentially disappeared, resulting in a photo that looks almost like it was shot in a studio.
I really like the swallow’s serious pose and the fact that I was able to capture its signature swallow tail. It won’t be long before I see swallowtails on some of my favorite butterflies.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, damselfly, Fragile Forktail, Huntley Meadows Park, Ischnura posita, spring on April 27, 2014| 12 Comments »
Damselflies are beautiful, delicate insects that are often hard to see and photograph. I captured this image of my first damselfly of the year at Huntley Meadows Park this past Friday. I am not very good at identifying these tiny insects, but think this might be a Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita).
I was standing my the edge of my favorite beaver pond when I saw the damselfly in flight. I followed it with my eyes and was delighted when it landed on a nearby stalk of grass. I didn’t have a lot of maneuver, because much of the area at the pond’s edge is covered with thorny bushes, and I had to pull back a bit to get within the minimum focusing distance of my 70-300mm telephoto lens , i.e. 4.9 feet (1.5 meters). At that range, the dragonfly filled a reasonable amount of the frame.
Lighting was a bit of a challenge and I tried a couple of different settings as the damselfly lifted its tail from time to time. Eventually, it climbed to the end of the stalk and I changed position too and tried a couple of shots (including the final shot) using my pop-up flash.
Most of the time the first shot below is my favorite, but sometimes I like the others as well or more. In any case, I am happy that I was able to get some good shots of my first damselfly of the spring.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, ducklings, Hooded Merganser, Hooded Merganser duck, Huntley Meadows Park, Lophodytes cucullatus, Mama duck, single mother duck on April 26, 2014| 6 Comments »
Female Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus) raise their ducklings as single Moms, which must be pretty tough when you have so many offspring to look after. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the male Hooded Merganser duck abandons his mate once she begins incubating eggs and it’s not known if they reunite the following season.
Last year, when the level of water at my local marsh was pretty low and there seemed to be lots of snapping turtles, most of the ducklings did not survive. After a lot of construction at the marsh, water levels are higher and I am hoping that things will be a little easier on the duck families.
I don’t know how old these ducklings are, but they appear to be tiny—even adult Hooded Mergansers are pretty small. A family of Hooded Mergansers was spotted earlier this week and I suspect that this is the same one, so they may be a week or so old.
I was not able to get very close to the ducks and the conscientious Mama duck started swimming away as soon as she sensed my presence early yesterday morning. You can see details in the first two shots, which are cropped a fair amount, but I included a final shot, which shows more of the setting, because I love the beautiful ripples in the water.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged bee, Canon 50D, carpenter bee, Eastern Carpenter Bee, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond VA, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Xylocopa virginica on April 25, 2014| 9 Comments »
Within minutes of seeing the elegant honey bee that I featured in a recent posting, I encountered this Eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica), which is built more like a sumo wrestler than a dancer, especially when viewed face-to-face, as in the second image below.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged baby goose, Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, Canon 50D, cute, gosling, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond VA, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 24, 2014| 8 Comments »
Folks may have mixed emotions about adult Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) and many consider them a nuisance, but I think that just about everyone agrees that goslings are really cute.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, tagged Apis, Canon 50D, honey bee, honeybee, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond VA, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 23, 2014| 7 Comments »
While visiting a garden during an event advertised as “A Million Blooms” I looked hard, but didn’t find any bees among the many tulips and other spring flowers. It was a bit ironic that I discovered this honey bee on a bush while waiting for my fellow photographers outside the gift shop of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia after seeing lots and lots of flowers.
I was hand-holding my 180mm macro lens for these shots, so I couldn’t close down the lens too far. In some of the shots, therefore, you can see that the depth of field was pretty narrow. Still, I am happy that I was able to capture some of the beautiful details of this honey bee, one of the first bees that I have observed this spring.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 