Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Clemmys guttata, Huntley Meadows Park, seeing spots, Spotted Turtle, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, turtle on May 6, 2015| 2 Comments »
At the edge of a steep-banked little creek, this Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) lifted its head above the surface of the water. I must have spooked it a little with the sound of the camera’s shutter for it moved to a more concealed position underneath the vegetation, but continued to keep an eye on me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on May 5, 2015| 5 Comments »
I was late in reacting when the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) took off from its perch and I was pretty sure that I had not gotten any decent shots of its departure. Consequently, I skimmed quickly through the shots during my initial review and none of them jumped out at me.
After I had done this morning’s posting, I had a few minutes before I had to depart for work and decided to review the images again. I was surprised to find this shot of the young eagle in flight, shortly after he had pushed off from the tree. It’s reasonably sharp and the wings are in a decent position, so I decided to post the photo as a complement to the first image that showed the eagle completing a difficult landing.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on May 5, 2015| 10 Comments »
No matter what else happened yesterday, I knew it was already an amazing day when I captured this shot of a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) early in the morning at Huntley Meadows Park.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Danaus plexippus, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Monarch, monarch butterfly, Richmond VA, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 4, 2015| 4 Comments »
I don’t know if this Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) migrated from the south or was a refugee from the indoor butterfly garden, but I was sure happy to see it this past Saturday at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden outside of Richmond, Virginia. Monarch butterflies have been pretty scarce in this area the last couple of years.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Common Baskettail, Common Baskettail dragonfly, dragonfly in flight, Epitheca cynosura, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond VA on May 3, 2015| 18 Comments »
What is the most difficult subject that you attempt to capture with your camera? Is it a certain moment when the lighting is perfect or perhaps an elusive, exotic creature in a distant location?
For me, the unicorns that I chase come in the form of dragonflies. I have an irrepressible desire to try to take photos of dragonflies while they are in mid-air. Sometimes the dragonflies will cooperate a bit and hover briefly over the water, but much of the time they are in constant motion as they zig and zag over the water in an often unpredictable pattern.
Yesterday I traveled with some fellow photographers to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, Virginia, primarily to photograph flowers. Not surprisingly for those who know me, I got distracted and focused much of my attention on searching for insects.
Toward the end of a gorgeous spring day, I finally spotted a dragonfly patrolling over a section of a small pond. I moved closer and tried to track it in my camera’s viewfinder. Over the winter, I’ve practiced tracking birds in flight and can usually keep them in the viewfinder—the challenge is to keep them in focus. With dragonflies, however, it’s a challenge to even keep them in the viewfinder and auto focus is a virtual impossibility.
Has anyone ever challenged you to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time? That’s how I feel as I try to track a moving dragonfly and focus manually at the same time. I ended up with some out-of-focus ghostly images of the dragonfly or empty frames with a view of the water.
I managed to capture a single image that I really liked of what appears to be a Common Baskettail dragonfly (Epitheca cynosaura). There is some motion blur, but you can see some of the beautiful details and colors of the dragonfly. (Check out a recent posting that I did to see an image of a perching Common Baskettail dragonfly at my local marshland park in late April.)
I don’t always check the EXIF data for my images, but I was curious to see what the settings were that produced this image. I was shocked to see the information, because I realized that I had neglected to change the settings of my camera when I moved from shooting a stationary subject in the sun to chasing a moving subject that was flying in and out of the shadows over the water.
The camera was set to ISO 100, f/11, 275mm (on a 70-300mm zoom lens) and 1/40 sec. Needless to say, that is not the shutter speed that I would have used if I had been paying more attention, but somehow it worked out ok. I was shooting in aperture-priority mode, as I do most of the time, and I probably should have been shooting at ISO 800, which would have given me a faster shutter speed. The bonus, though, of the low ISO was that I got a cleaner image that I could adjust more aggressively.
As we move into summer, I’ll continue my quest to capture other dragonflies in flight. For the moment, I am content with yesterday’s image, but fully recognize that a huge amount of luck was involved in capturing it.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on May 1, 2015| 13 Comments »
I love the morning light as it gradually illuminates different parts of the natural world. This Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) had turned its head toward the rising sun and the light was shining on its white face while other parts of its body were still hidden in the shadows.
In the limited light, I used a pretty slow shutter speed (1/80 sec) to keep from having to raise my ISO too high and I was able to get reasonably sharp shots when the heron was stationary. However, when the heron took off, I had a substantial amount of motion blur, as you can see in the final two shots.
I usually lead my postings with my favorite shot, but I had real trouble with this posting trying to decided which one to use. Should I choose one of the sharpest shots or should I go with one of the “artsy” blurred ones? I like different aspects of all four of these images and vacillated for quite some time before deciding to lead with the shot of the heron with his head tilted at an interesting angle.
Did I make a good choice?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Baskettail, Common Baskettail dragonfly, dragonfly, Epitheca cynosura, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 27, 2015| 13 Comments »
Despite its name, the Common Baskettail dragonfly (Epitheca cynosura), one of the first dragonflies of the spring, has been observed only infrequently at my local marshland park. Therefore I was pretty excited when sharp-eyed fellow blogger and photographer Walter Sanford spotted a Common Baskettail last week when we were out together searching for dragonflies.
Walter consulted with some experts and was able to confirm his initial identification of this dragonfly as a female. How do you tell the gender of a dragonfly? Check out Walter’s recent posting What was your first clue? to learn how he did it.
If you are more interested in photography than in dragonfly anatomy, check out Walter’s initial posting on the Common Baskettail dragonfly. We both photographed the dragonfly at the same time, but our angles of view and equipment were different, so the resulting images are similar, but not identical.
Personally i enjoy seeing how the creative choices that a photographer makes can influence their images. Walter and I have done several complementary postings in the past and will probably continue to do so in the future.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Whitetail, Common Whitetail dragonfly, dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Lydia plathemis, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 27, 2015| 5 Comments »
One of the earliest dragonflies to appear in our area is the Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia) and it is also one of the last to be seen in the fall. During the summer months, these dragonflies can be seen flying all around the ponds at my local marshland. I spotted this one last Friday in a wooded area and initially had trouble seeing it as it flew made a series of short, hopping flights among the fallen leaves on the floor of the woods. As is usually the case, I tried to get as close as I could for the first shot below, but decided to also include a shot that gives you a better idea of the surroundings in which I found this little dragonfly.
Later in the seasons, the Common Whitetail will in fact be common, but this early in the spring, I am pleased with my uncommon find.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, shield bug, stink bug, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 25, 2015| 14 Comments »
As we move deeper into spring, I am increasingly walking around with my macro lens on my camera and I view anything that moves (and some that don’t) as a potential subject. I recently captured some images of a shield bug that I spotted on a rotten bug. Most often people refer to these insects as “stink bugs,” but I figured I’d attract more readers with the word “shield” than with the word “stink.” There are a lot of different kinds of shield/stink bugs and I have not been able to identify the species of my little bug.
The bug was quite active and I remembered again how difficult it is to stop action when using a macro lens at close range. I am pretty happy with the shots I was able to get. The first one gives a good view of the shield shape and shows how well camouflaged this species is for the environment. The second images shows some of the details of the back and I can’t help but love the simple, smooth background. The final image shows the bug resting for a moment, having successfully made it to the top of an obstacle.
After a winter with few macro subjects to photograph, I am relearning a few techniques and rekindling my excitement for insects and other macro subjects. I’m pretty confident that you’ll be seeing a lot of macro shots in the upcoming weeks and months.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spr, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, luck versus skill, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 23, 2015| 16 Comments »
Sometimes accidents are good. I certainly didn’t expect this male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) to move when I pressed my camera’s shutter release, but I managed to catch the bird in a much more interesting pose than the one I was originally trying to capture.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Claytonia virginica, Coluber constrictor constrictor, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Black Racer, Spring Beauty, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 22, 2015| 12 Comments »
The forest floor is carpeted with tiny wildflowers at this time of the year and even this large black snake seemed to be taking time to appreciate their beauty.
The little flowers are Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica) and I think the snake may be a Northern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor), though I must confess that I grow a bit confused when reading the descriptions about how to distinguish Black Racers from Eastern Ratsnakes.
Unlike an earlier shot this spring of another black snake, which I photographed with my telephoto zoom lens, I took this shot with my 180mm macro lens, getting as low as I could and as close as I dared.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, dragonflies, Huntley Meadows Park, Walter Sanford on April 21, 2015| 1 Comment »
Fellow blogger and photographer, Walter Sanford, has an infectious passion for dragonflies and damselflies and has encouraged and inspired me to search for them in remote areas of my favorite marshland park. In today’s blog posting, he chronicles the new species that he has discovered and photographed in the park during the past two years. Individually and sometimes together, we are seeking to discover even more new species.
I encourage all of you to check out his blog to learn more about odonates and see some amazing images of these little beauties.
My interest in odonates, that is, dragonflies and damselflies, began during Summer 2011 at Huntley Meadows Park. Toward the end of Summer 2012 and continuing in 2013, my goal was to explore new venues for hunting odonates. Along the way, I spotted several species of odonates that are either uncommon or unknown to occur at Huntley Meadows, including Blue Corporal dragonfly, Stream Cruiser dragonfly, and Rambur’s Forktail damselfly, to name a few.
During 2014, continuing in 2015, I have been a man on a mission to explore the relatively unexplored areas at Huntley Meadows Park in search of habitat-specific odonates unlikely to be found in the central wetland area of the park. In retrospect, 2014-2015 has been a good run: five new species of odonates were discovered and added to the list of Dragonflies and Damselflies of Huntley Meadows Park.
Common Sanddragon dragonfly
20 June 2014
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Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Black Vulture, Canon 50D, Coragyps atratus, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, vulture on April 21, 2015| 4 Comments »
I know that vultures don’t really stalk live prey, but when this Black Vulture leaned forward from its perch on a dead tree, it sure looked like it was following something on the ground.
Most of the vultures that I see at my local marsh are Turkey Vultures, which have a distinctive red head, but occasionally I will also spot Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) like this one. I was in a remote area of the park searching for dragonflies when this vulture flew in my general direction and decided to perch for a while high on a nearby tree.
Initially the bird spent some time grooming itself, but then it assumed the pose that you see in this image. I tried to move closer to get a better shot and eventually I was almost underneath the tree. As I looked at my images on the computer, I initially thought that I might have photographed an immature Turkey Vulture, which also has a dark head, but I’m pretty sure this is a Black Vulture, because of its short tail.
When I was doing a little research on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, one of my favorite resources for birds, I learned that Black Vultures often hang out with Turkey Vultures to compensate for their weaker sense of smell. “To find food they soar high in the sky and keep an eye on the lower-soaring Turkey Vultures. When a Turkey Vulture’s nose detects the delicious aroma of decaying flesh and descends on a carcass, the Black Vulture follows close behind.”
In addition to its pose, I was struck by the dead-looking eyes of this vulture, which I can’t help but find a little creepy. I am not really paranoid, but somehow I am happy that it had not fixed those eyes on me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, damselfly, Fragile Forktail, Fragile Forktail damselfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Ischurna posita, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 20, 2015| 4 Comments »
This past weekend I managed to get my first damselfly shot of the season of what appears to be a pretty little female Fragile Forktail (Ischurna posita). Like the Springtime Darner dragonfly that I featured in yesterday’s posting, this photo was taken at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia. Fragile Forktail damselflies are only about one inch (25 mm) in length and it was my eagle-eyed fellow odonata enthusiast, Walter Sanford, who first spotted this tiny damselfly.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Basiaeschna janata, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Springtime Darner, Springtime Darner dragonfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 19, 2015| 9 Comments »
Local dragonflies are finally starting to emerge in Northern Virginia and yesterday I was thrilled to capture some images of the appropriately named Springtime Darner (Basiaeschna janata) at Huntley Meadows Park, the marshland where I spend a lot of my time exploring and taking photos.
This is the first time that I have seen this beautiful species, which will be gone by mid-June, according to information on the Dragonflies of Northern Virgina website, a wonderful resource put together by Kevin Munroe, a dragonfly expert and the manager of Huntley Meadows Park. If you want more information specifically about the Springtime Darner, you can go directly to this page, but I think it’s fascinating to poke about in the different areas of the site.
This is also the first documented sighting of a Springtime Darner in the park and I am pretty excited to be partially responsible for a new addition to the park’s species list. Yesterday I was trekking through the muddy back areas of the park with fellow blogger and photographer Walter Sanford, who is much more knowledgeable about dragonflies than I am. He knew precisely what dragonflies we could hope to see and the specific type of habitat where we should expect to see them. After several hours in the hot sun, our persistence was rewarded when Walter spotted this Springtime Darner. Check out Walter’s blog posting called Teamwork, and some take-aways for his observations about yesterday’s discovery.
With more new dragonflies soon to come, it won’t be long before I’ll be walking around primarily with my macro lens on my camera. Fortunately, I was prescient enough yesterday to have switched midday from my 150-600mm telephoto zoom, which would have had trouble capturing the dragonfly because of its minimum focusing distance of 107 inches (2.7 meters), to my 180mm macro lens, which was more suited to the situation we encountered.
I did, however, have to rely on manual focusing to get this shot, which I find to be challenging with a digital camera, especially when shooting handheld. The Springtime Darner likes to perch low on vegetation, so I was on hands and knees, hoping not to spook this specimen, which was the only dragonfly that I managed to photograph yesterday.
I think it’s safe to say that dragonfly season is officially open and I am pretty confident that there will be new blog postings in upcoming months as my adventures with dragonflies continue.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, chelydra sepentina, Huntley Meadows Park, mating, snapping turtle, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 17, 2015| 8 Comments »
It’s springtime. Love is in the air and mating is on the mind of many marsh creatures, including these Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina). The first image makes it look like love is a tender affair for these turtles, but the reality seems to be that mating is brutal and violent.
Most of the activity takes place underwater so it is hard to know what is going on, but it looks like the male jumps the female and essentially tries to drown her. Periodically she is able to struggle to the surface to grab a breath of air before the weight of the male forces her underwater. After a half hour or so, the female managed to decouple and to swim away, leaving the male, as you can see in the final shot,with a look of satisfaction on his face.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, beaver, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, beaver, Canon 50D, Castor canadensis, Huntley Meadows Park, North American Beaver, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 15, 2015| 10 Comments »
As I was going over my photos of my recent encounter with a North American Beaver (Castor canadensis), I was struck by the beautiful quality and color of the early morning light. Sure, it was cool to be able to get some close-up shots of the beaver swimming around, but the light was equally spectacular.
I’ve tried to convey in these two images a sense of the golden glow that surrounded us during the magical moments I shared with this beaver, though somehow the colors seem to get a bit desaturated when I move the image into WordPress.
Check out my previous posting to see more images of this beautiful beaver.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, beaver, Canon 50D, Castor canadensis, golden hour, Huntley Meadows Park, North American Beaver, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 13, 2015| 18 Comments »
One early morning this past weekend I spent a few magical morning moments with this North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) at Huntley Meadows Park during that short period of time when the light is golden and extraordinarily beautiful.
There is a beaver pond in a fairly remote area of the park that is my favorite spot in the park. In the past, I have observed an otter, a fox, a racoon, deer, and multiple bald eagles and hawks from that spot, but until a week ago, I had never observed the beavers that live there. A week ago, in the early morning hours I was pleased to see a beaver swimming away from the lodge and then back to it. I got some ok shots on that occasion, but decided I’d return to that spot again to see if I would get lucky again.
On Saturday, I returned and stood and waited as I drank in the beauty of the location. There is something really peaceful and special about those early morning moments. Suddenly a beaver’s head broke the surface of the water and a beaver began to swim slowly around in circles. The beaver seemed to be simply enjoying itself.
I crouched down and began to take photos. The light was beautiful, though not abundant, and my subject was moving, so I struggled a little to get the right settings. At one point, the beaver started swimming right at me and grew larger and larger in my viewfinder to the point that I actually stood up and startled the beaver. The beaver dove under the water, bur soon resurfaced and continued its swim.
Time seemed to stand still and I don’t really know how long my encounter with the beaver lasted, but eventually the beaver went under water and returned to its lodge.
I am still sorting through my photos, but wanted to share a couple of my initial favorites. Perhaps you will see some more of them in a future posting. (I am also including a shot of the beaver’s lodge to give you an idea of the surroundings.)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 11, 2015| 7 Comments »
In some of my photos, the ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) look really majestic, but in these two shots, the osprey looks almost like a cartoon caricature to me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Eastern Garter Snake, Eastern Ratsnake, Huntley Meadows Park, Pantherophis alleghaniensis, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis on April 10, 2015| 8 Comments »
I am seeing more and more wildlife as we move deeper into spring and even encountered a couple of snakes this past Monday as I was walking along some of the informal trails at my local marshland park. When I say “encountered,” I mean that I almost unwittingly stepped on them and was shocked when they made sudden movements.
The smaller of the two was a cute little Eastern Garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) a pretty common species in out area. The second, much larger snake is probably an Eastern Ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis), formerly known as the Black Ratsnake.
According to the Virginia Herpetological Society, the Eastern Ratsnake is the only snake in Virginia that can grow to a length of more than six feet (1.8 meters). This snake was not quite that long, but it was pretty big and rather fierce looking. Although I occasionally have photographed snakes with a macro lens, I was more than content to get this shot with my telephoto zoom lens extended to it maximum 600mm focal length.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, female Red-winged Blackbird, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 9, 2015| 14 Comments »
My life was much simpler before I started to photograph birds. I naively assumed that all Red-winged Blackbirds were black and had red wings. There is no way in the world that I would have even guessed that the bird in this photograph is a female Red-winged Blackbird, but I know now that’s what it is.
With experience comes wisdom, perhaps, but I generally feel more confused than wise when it comes to identifying birds. There are so many variables to consider, including the geographic location, the time of the year, the age of the bird, and, of course, its gender. Sure, there are lots of resources available over which to pore, but I’m often left with a certain degree of uncertainty about a bird’s identification. Apparently I am not alone, because I have overheard heated discussions among experience birds trying to identify a distant bird that they can barely see in their spotting scopes.
Female Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) are amazingly beautiful and I would love to feature them more often in this blog, but I find them to be unusually difficult to photograph. Unlike their male counterparts, who are visible and vocal to the point of being a bit obnoxious, the females tend to spend their time pecking about industriously in the undergrowth, rarely coming out into the open.
I was pleased to be able to get this mostly unobstructed shot of this female blackbird recently as she was singing in the rain. If you look closely, you can see a series of raindrops beading up on her back. Other birds may have been seeking shelter from the rain, but she kept working.
As the foliage reappears on the trees and bushes, it’s going to get tougher and tougher for me to spot birds. I’ll still be trying to photograph them for a while longer until I switch to macro mode and focus more on insects and flowers, which have their own identification challenges.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Osprey, osprey in action, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 8, 2015| 16 Comments »
Earlier this week I watched a pair of Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) at my local marsh circling about in search of a meal and captured a sequence of shots of a successful effort. I have previously seen ospreys flying with fish in their talons, but I had never actually seen an osprey catch a fish.
The first shot, my favorite, shows the osprey flying away with its prize, just after it plucked the fish out of the water. Initially the osprey spotted the fish (photo 2) and arrested its forward motion to prepare to dive (photo 3). I tried to track the osprey as it dove, but it dropped so quickly that all I got in the frame was the tail end of the bird. It looks like ospreys dive head first toward the water and then at the last minute bring their legs forward so that they hit the water feet first.
The fourth photo gives you an idea of how forcefully the osprey hit the water. It made a loud splash and much of its body looks to be submerged. The final shot shows the osprey emerging from the water, using its impressive wings to generate an amazing amount of power.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Portraits, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Five-Lined Skink, Huntley Meadows Park, Plestiodon fasciatus, skink, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 7, 2015| 8 Comments »
When this Common Five-lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) is standing up, it looks pretty tall, but as the second image shows, it can get down so low that I don’t think that you could want to challenge it to a limbo contest.
How low can you go?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Chelydra serpentina serpentina, Eastern Snapping Turtle, Huntley Meadows Park, snapping turtle, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, turtle on April 6, 2015| 14 Comments »
Creatures of all sorts are stirring in the marsh now that the weather has warmed up, including this particularly fierce-looking one with amazing eyes. What is it? It’s an Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina), a species that is pretty common in my local marsh.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 6, 2015| 7 Comments »
Most of the time I try to fill the frame of my camera with my wildlife subjects, but sometimes it’s nice when they are part of a larger landscape, like this shot of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in the rain from last Friday.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, rain, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 5, 2015| 16 Comments »
Sometimes I’m out with my camera even when it’s raining, which lets me capture shots like this Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) that I spotted this past Friday at Huntley Meadows Park.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 4, 2015| 6 Comments »
Eventually the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) that I featured yesterday decided to fly away, with its modest fish still tightly clutched in its talons. I thought that the bird was going to consume the fish while perched, but perhaps the osprey prefers to lunch in privacy or needs to share the prize with its mate.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Osprey, Osprey with fish, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 3, 2015| 11 Comments »
When an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) flew in my direction this morning at Huntley Meadows Park and landed in a tree, I had no idea that it was clutching a small fish. It was raining and I was trying to keep my gear dry, but the osprey was so close that I knew I had to try to get some shots. In fact, I was so close that when the bird opened its wings, I couldn’t fit the entire wingspan within the frame.
I noticed the fish in the talons of the right foot only later when I was reviewing the shots on my computer.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Aix sponsa, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, colors of spring, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, wood duck on April 2, 2015| 7 Comments »
This past Monday at Huntley Meadows Park I was thrilled to see one of my favorite ducks, the colorful male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), weaving its way with its mate among the trees in one of the flooded area of the marsh.
This was one of the few times when I have actually had the opportunity to observes a Wood Duck swimming around—normally they take to the air as soon as they sense my presence.
The natural world is gradually moving away from the monochromatic tones of the winter to the brighter colors of spring, a transformation that I welcome with open arms.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Sphyrapicus varius, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on March 31, 2015| 7 Comments »
Bird identification should be easier. Once again I have photographed a bird and I am not sure of its identity. I am confident that it is a woodpecker, but beyond that, doubts begin to creep in and none of the pictures in my identification guide really match the bird in my photos.
The woodpecker is a lot bigger than the Downy Woodpeckers that I frequently see, but smaller than the Pileated Woodpeckers that I see less often. The black-and-white pattern on its back seems different from any that I have seen before. In some of the photos, I detect a little bit of red just above the bill, especially in the last image.
So what is it? Well, if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say it might be an immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius).
I’d welcome assistance from more experienced birders in identifying my mystery woodpecker.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, hunting, Huntley Meadows Park, reminder, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on March 19, 2015| 8 Comments »
As I was wandering through remote areas of my local marshland park earlier this week searching for dragonflies, I was reminded of the need to be cautious when I came upon this hunter’s tree stand. At various times there is controlled archery hunting of deer at the park. I have not yet seen anyone with a bow, but this is the third location at which I encountered a tree stand. I was tempted to climb up into the stand and check out the view, but decided it was a bit too much trouble.
I have a bright orange stocking hat that I wear sometimes in the winter—it may not be a bad idea to get an orange baseball cap too.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 