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Archive for the ‘wildlife’ Category

Shaggy beaver gets a massage

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 20, 2012| 9 Comments »

A couple of weeks ago I finally got some relatively clear shots of the North American Beavers (Castor canadensis) at my local marshland and showed you one image in a posting called Beaver at dusk—the sequel. A brief overseas trip and other distractions have kept me from posting additional photos (as I promised to do in the original blog entry), but I finally have worked up a couple more photos.

The first image shows a shaggy, dark-haired beaver in profile. It was late afternoon, about an hour before sunset, and this beaver and the lighter-colored one that you can see in the background had emerged from their lodge and seemed to be grooming themselves and each other. Judging from the crying sounds that I have heard coming from inside the lodge, I suspect that there is a younger beaver in there too.

Shaggy beaver

Shaggy beaver

The second images shows the two beavers interacting. It looks like the lighter-colored one is giving the other beaver a massage, but I wasn’t close enough to determine for sure what they were doing. Could it be love or is he merely loosening up for a night of heavy lifting?

Beaver masseuse

Beaver masseuse

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Lady cardinal

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on December 19, 2012| 6 Comments »

Male Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are featured in photographs much more frequently than their female counterparts. In fact, last week a male cardinal was the star of my blog entry entitled Cardinal Directions. The male cardinal is so bright and conspicuous that he is hard to miss, like a song played with the volume cranked up.

Sometimes, though, my eyes prefer a more delicate, refined beauty and at those moments I find the look of the lady cardinal more to my tastes. There is still some bright red coloration, but it serves as a tasteful accent against the warm brown tones of the rest of the body.

I usually have trouble getting clear shots of female cardinals, who seem to prefer the inside parts of bushes. In this case, I managed to get a mostly unobstructed view and the green of the background blurred out pretty well.

The position of her body is interesting too. It looks like she was facing forward and turned her head to look at me. Perhaps, though, I caught her in the midst of her morning exercise routine—the pose looks like the trunk twists that are done in aerobics classes. Cardinals (like most of us) are not immune to putting on some extra weight during the holiday season, it seems, and she may be trying to stay toned and fit.

Lady Cardinal

Lady Cardinal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Hide and seek

Posted in animals, commentary, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 18, 2012| 4 Comments »

Do you ever find that you totally missed a cool element of a photograph during initial review because the element was not near the center of the image? Today I looked over some squirrel shots from a week and a half ago and realized that the photo of a squirrel perched on the trunk of a tree was a whole lot more interesting than I had previously thought.

Hide and seek

Hide and seek

My attention had been so drawn to the downward-facing squirrel (is that a yoga pose?) that I didn’t even notice the squirrel in the upper right corner, peering out from inside the hollow tree. That squirrel is so cute that I enlarged the corner of the photo so you can appreciate its cuteness even more.

Cute squirrel

Cute squirrel

By itself, the cute squirrel would have been worth posting, but in combination with the other squirrel, it’s a really fun image.

The lesson learned for me is that I need to look at my photos more carefully during my first review or take the time to look at them later a second time with fresh eyes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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American Tree Sparrow

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 18, 2012| 4 Comments »

Thia little bird that I photographed this past weekend is not in a tree, but I am pretty sure that he is an American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea). The reddish eye stripe and the two-toned bill made this identification easier than usual for me. This sparrow was amazingly active, pecking at a variety of plants close to the ground.

Why is he called a Tree Sparrow if he’s not in a tree? According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the birds were misleadingly named by European settlers reminded of Eurasian Tree Sparrows back home.  American Tree Sparrows are in fact ground birds that forage on the ground and nest on the ground.

Has anyone ever told you that you eat like a bird? If so, I hope they weren’t referring to this sparrow. American Tree Sparrows need to take in about 30 percent of their body weight in food and a similar percentage in water each day, according to the Cornell Lab website.

American Tree Sparrow

American Tree Sparrow

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Posing duck

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 17, 2012| 2 Comments »

Most of the mallard ducks that I encountered today were busily foraging for food. One female mallard, however, had found a prime location on a mossy log in the pond opposite the beaver lodge and spent a lot of time preening her feathers.

It may have been my imagination, but she seemed to realize that she had an audience and began posing for me. Periodically she would even glance coyly in my direction (or so it seemed) to confirm that I was still watching her. As for the male mallards that would swim by from time to time—she ignored them completely.

Shy duck

Shy duck

Looking back

Looking back

Ready for my profile shot

Ready for my profile shot

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Simply a duck in flight

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on December 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This morning I am in the mood for simplicity, so I am posting a single photo of a male Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos) in flight. I like the geometric shapes in the image and how the light illuminates one wing, while keeping the other in the shadows. There is some color, but it doesn’t overwhelm the eyes. The photo is a simple one of a common subject—sometimes I need to slow down and see the beauty in simple things.

duck1_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hyperactive little woodpecker

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2012| 3 Comments »

Never seeming to tire, a very active Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) yesterday was moving back and forth and up and down the stalks of cattails and other vegetation. I got tired just watching him as he performed some amazing acrobatic feats. The woodpecker would start at the bottom of each stalk and would gradually work his way up, grabbing whatever insects might be hidden inside. Many of the stalks seemed to thin to support the weight of a bird, but Downy Woodpeckers are not only small, about 5.5-6.7 inches long (14-17 cm), they are also really light at 0.7-1 oz (21-28 g), according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

I managed to get a few good shots of a male Downy Woodpecker showing some details of the bird. The first one includes a good view of his claws and the second one shows his beak, which is still partially imbedded in a piece of a stalk that had broken free.

downy2_blog

downy_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Sparrows in the water

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on December 16, 2012| 8 Comments »

Birds seemed to be everywhere yesterday, foraging for food in the water, on dry land, 0r sometimes in between the. The latter was the case for two little brown birds, pecking for food in the still-green vegetation in the shallow marsh. Sometimes it seemed like they would stop and drink the water or gaze intently into the water, as though fascinated by their own reflection.

I am still not very good at identifying most birds on the spot, but my research skills are improving and I am pretty confident that these birds are Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Gradually I am starting to see the distinguishing characteristics, like the color on the top of the head, the markings on the breast, and the shape and size of the beak.

This growing sense of the broad diversity among birds serves to magnify their beauty, as I see them as individuals, not merely as nameless little brown birds. Who knows, maybe birds appreciate it if you can call them by their names.

drink_blog

bird_green_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Red-Shouldered Hawk

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 15, 2012| 3 Comments »

It was nice today to get back to nature after a week in the city of Vienna, Austria. Still a little jet-lagged, I got up early and headed out to Huntley Meadows Park on a cold frosty morning. There are still lots of migrating geese noisily coming and going through the park, and a smaller number of ducks too.  Familiar cardinals, blackbirds, and sparrow were active today as well.

One real highlight for me today was having a hawk fly overhead. I’ve been told that there are Red-tailed Hawks, Red-Shouldered Hawks, Cooper’s Hawks, and Sharp-Shinned Hawks at the park, and I had no idea what kind of hawk it was that I managed to photograph. I saw him land in a tree across a small field and I was able to get some shots of him there. Neither of these two photos is super sharp (the light was not good and they are cropped, especially the one with the hawk in the tree), but I am happy to have been able to capture images of a beautiful, powerful bird. I think that this is probably a Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), although I am not one hundred percent sure on the identification.

I hope that I will be able to see the hawks in action this winter (and possibly some bald eagles that are occasionally sighted here too).

Hawk in flight

Hawk in flight

Hawk in tree

Hawk in tree

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cuteness in a tree

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 8, 2012| 5 Comments »

The photos in yesterday’s postings about Black Vultures were dark and gloomy and perhaps a little creepy. Today I am going to the opposite end of the spectrum with photos of a squirrel that are warm and cute.

I took these first two shots just outside of my house. Watching this squirrel through my kitchen window as he was digging in the grass, uncovering an acorn, I decided to try to take his photo. When I appeared, he slowly climbed up a tree and found a comfortable spot to enjoy his treat. The first image, my favorite, shows him posing before eating. I really like the effect of the light coming in from the side. The second one shows a more serious side as he seems to have adopted a more dignified pose.

squirrel1_blog

squirrel2_blog

Earlier in the morning yesterday I watched as two squirrels chased each other around—I think at least one of them had amorous intentions. Part of the time they went in an out of a hollow remnant of a tree. They would enter the tree at ground level and come out of the side of the tree. Here are a couple of photos of one of the squirrels as he vainly searches for his playmate.

squirrel3_blog

squirrel4_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Vultures in a tree

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on December 7, 2012| 5 Comments »

I suddenly realized that all my photos of the Black Vultures that I posted were close-up shots. Here’s a shot of what two of them looked like when they were roosting in a tree. I really like the look of the tree, especially the branch on the right side. The sky was almost white today and the two vultures were virtually silhouettes. It’s kind of a creepy image—maybe I need to save it for Halloween next year.

vultures_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Black Vulture roosting

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on December 7, 2012| 6 Comments »

Earlier today I posted a photo of a colorful cardinal to counteract the gloominess of the day. Here is an alternative if you prefer instead to relish the grayness of the day—an image of a Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus ) roosting in a dead tree.

vulture3_blog

It was a damp, cold day today as I was walking through the marshland. I happened to look up and saw a couple of large birds perched in a dead tree. At first I thought they might be wild turkeys, but when I looked at them more carefully I realized that they were Black Vultures. Previously I had seen them soaring through the air and thought they were quite beautiful, with magnificent wingspans. When you see them up close, however, “beautiful” is not an adjective that springs to mind. To be generous, you might say that they look “distinctive” or “interesting.”

vulture1_blog

Why were they hanging around? I had no idea until I talked with some folks at the information desk in the visitor center. Apparently there is a dead deer in a nearby area and the vultures have been feeding on its carcass. I guess the vultures were resting in the trees in between meals.

vulture2_blogI processed each of these images a little differently, trying to compensate for the fact that there was not that much light,  which forced me to deliberately underexpose the photos. I think I like the first one best, the one that I desaturated almost to the point of making it black and white, although I like some aspects of the other two images as well.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Good day for vultures

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on December 6, 2012| 3 Comments »

Monday was a good day for vultures. It was warm and sunny and there must have been lots of thermal updrafts on which to soar. For a short while, a mixed group of turkey vultures and black vultures circles over my head and I couldn’t help but admire again their impressive wingspans. Remembering  the response of my fellow photographer and blogger Lyle Krahn to a previous posting I did on vultures, I made sure that I moved around from time to time. He commented, “If I saw that many vultures overhead, I’d be checking my pulse!”

The lighting was pretty interesting that day, for it illuminated one wing more than another, giving the birds an asymmetrical look. I decided to post a similar shot of each of the two types of vultures so that you can see some of the differences between the two.

Turkey vulture

Turkey vulture

Black vulture

Black vulture

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Beaver at dusk—the sequel

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on December 4, 2012| 11 Comments »

Beaver at Huntley Meadows Park

Beaver at Huntley Meadows Park

This past Saturday I introduced you to one of the local beavers in a posting entitled Beaver at dusk. The photos of the beaver were shot at a very high ISO and were pretty grainy. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to photograph the beaver in better light, when he came out of his lodge an hour or so before sunset. I’m still going through my photos and may work up a few more, but wanted to post one immediately.

He is a beautiful specimen of a North American Beaver (Castor canadensis). From what I’ve read, it is almost impossible to tell a male and female beaver apart, except when the female is nursing a kit (baby beavers are called kits), so I may be wrong in using male pronouns with this particular beaver.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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A gnawing sensation

Posted in animals, Humor, Landscape, Nature, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on December 3, 2012| 4 Comments »

The beavers in my local marsh have been really busy recently as winter draws near (“busy as beavers,” you might say). Each time I visit the marsh I can see evidence of their handiwork. Hmm, “handiwork” is probably not the right word, since most of the evidence I see is work they have accomplished with their teeth. Maybe I should call it “dentalwork,” but that terms conjures up images of beavers with braces on their teeth. I’ll just call it “work.”

Over the past few weeks I have been noting their progress on chewing through a pretty large tree. First they chewed one side and then it looks like they gradually moved around the circumference of the tree. Circumference? Who says that high school geometry doesn’t have everyday applications? They now have gnawed (try saying that phrase quickly multiple times) into the center of the tree and I expect to see to see a fallen tree soon. I won’t be disappointed, and certainly not crestfallen.

On a slightly more serious note, I am genuinely amazed that the beavers don’t just take down small saplings. I confess that, as a result of living most of my life in the suburbs, I don’t know much about wildlife. It’s fascinating to me to look at all of the individual tooth marks in the wood that bear witness to the persistence of this industrious creature. I also see its work in the mud walls that have been built up along the edges of parts of this little pond and the ever-increasing amounts of mud that have been packed on the lodge.

The beaver is ready for a cold winter. Am I?

Let the chips fall where they may

Let the chips fall where they may

How do they gnaw this high?

How do they gnaw this high?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Beaver at dusk

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on December 1, 2012| 9 Comments »

The beavers at my local marshland park have built a lodge that spills onto a bench on the boardwalk and the entrance to the lodge appears to be in the waters underneath the boardwalk itself. There are signs that the beavers have been actively getting ready for winter with new mud walls and fallen trees each time I visit. I’ve only seen a beaver a few times and it has always been a time of reduced visibility, i.e. early morning or late in the day.

As I was walking back toward the park entrance yesterday evening after taking photos of the sunset, I heard noise near the beaver lodge and saw that a beaver was visible through the brush. I snapped a couple of photos, but realized that ISO 400 would not work, so I cranked up the ISO to 1600, the highest that my camera would go. This was uncharted territory for me, because I had already seen prominent grain when I set the ISO at 800. Even with the ISO set that high, the shutter speed was around 1/15 sec, so I tried to keep my camera on my tripod. The beaver was somewhat preoccupied and did not immediately dive, the normal reaction of a beaver when I see them, so I was able to get some shots of the beaver in action.

In many ways, these are aspirational shots, for they reflect photos that I want to take in the future with better results. I am sharing some of them, however, because I find them to be interesting, poor quality notwithstanding. It will definitely be a challenge to figure out a solution to the dilemma of getting quality shots in limited light.

Gathering more sticks for his lodge

Gathering more sticks for his lodge

Beaver close-up

Swimming beaver

Beaver with open mouth

Beaver with open mouth

Beaver looking at me

Beaver looking at me

Swimming toward the light

Swimming toward the light

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Green-winged Teal

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on November 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) are the smallest of the North American ducks, according to duck.org (yes, that’s really the website), but I find them to be exceptionally beautiful. Their diminutive size and their predilection for congregating at the far reaches of the little pond where I have been photographing ducks have combined to make it really challenging to get good images of them.

Green-winged Teals are dabbling (rather than diving) ducks and they prefer shallow ponds to open water, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. As the weather has gotten colder, they may have migrated out of my area now, so I am posting some of the best shots I have of them. I had been holding off, hoping I might get some better photos. The photos at least give you an idea of the duck’s overall  appearance and the first photo shows you the green feathers responsible for the its name.

Male Green-winged Teal swimming

Male Green-winged Teal swimming

Green-winged Teal with bushes

Green-winged Teal with bushes

Pair of male Green-winged Teals

Pair of male Green-winged Teals

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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No piece of wood is too small

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on November 28, 2012| 12 Comments »

Downy Woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) are so small and light that they can perch almost anywhere. I was little surprised, however, when I looked down into the water of the marsh and saw a Downy Woodpecker on a very small piece of wood that was jutting out just a little above the surface of the water. I had never before seen a woodpecker that close to water level.

Downy Woodpecker just above the marsh water

The branch was small, just big enough for him to relax, but the woodpecker was not there to rest—he was there to work. There doesn’t seem like there is much room for him to maneuver, but somehow he got into position and was soon hammering away at that little piece of wood. I was concerned that the vibration might loosen the branch and cause him to tumble into the water, but that didn’t happen.

No piece of wood is too small

I guess that if you are a small woodpecker, almost any piece of wood is fair game—size does not matter.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Immature male blackbird

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , on November 28, 2012| 5 Comments »

If I were judging from behavior, I’d have to say that most male Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) seem immature. They remind me a lot of teenagers—they are hyperactive and prone to attention-seeking behavior; they are extremely loud; they like to hang out with their friends (who are all dressed the same); and they appear to suffer from a kind of moody teenage angst.

In this case, however, I am referring to the appearance of this Red-winged Blackbird that I photographed this past weekend at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, VA. At first glance, I was pretty sure that this was a female Red-winged Blackbird. I’ve gradually gotten used to the notion that the female of the species is not black nor does not have red wings, but is still called a Red-winged Blackbird.

Immature male Red-winged Blackbird ?

When I looked a little closer, though, I could see a small patch of red on the upper part of the wing, where the adult male has the red and yellow patch of color. I’ve read in a number of places that male Red-winged Blackbirds start out looking like females and darken as they mature. I confess to being a little confused in identifying this bird? Sometimes I think it is a female with a touch of color, but most often I think it is an immature male? What do you think?

In any case, I like this informal portrait of the bird, who seems relaxed in this angular pose. A minute or so later, the bird turned to the side and assumed a more formal, upright pose. You couldn’t ask for a more cooperative subject. It was almost like the bird realized that I was thinking of it as “immature” and wanted to demonstrate that it could be serious and dignified.

Immature? I can be serious.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Facing the world together

Posted in Birds, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on November 27, 2012| 3 Comments »

As I mentioned in another post, Monday there was ice on the small ponds that a week before had been full of migrating ducks. The ducks were all gone, it seemed. As I was passing the beaver lodge, however, I notice a small bit of bright orange on a log across the beaver pond. I looked through my telephoto lens and realized that what I had seen were the feet of a female duck, perched on the log that jutted out into the water. She was so well camouflaged that I almost missed see her. When I moved to one side, I noticed a second duck, a male, right behind them. They were huddled together, with their heads tucked in between their wings, resting and sharing their body warmth on a cold morning. Why were they alone? Had they become separated from a larger group? Were they on their way to another destination?

There was something very tender, almost intimate about this scene, about the closeness of this duck couple. The environment might be hostile and threatening, but they could face it together—at least they had each other.

Facing the world together

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Out on a limb

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 27, 2012| 6 Comments »

After two days that were heavily overcast, we finally had some sunshine yesterday, although the day started out below freezing.A light sheet of ice covered then pond where I have been photographing ducks and geese, and they had all disappeared.

Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) were very active, though, taking advantage of the weather to scamper about and gather food. It was fun to watch them run around, sometimes chasing each other like little kids playing a game of tag. I came upon this squirrel on a broken off limb, enjoying a snack. He was high enough up in the tree that he did not seemed to feel threatened by my presence.

There was some beautiful lighting from the side and the back that illuminated his underside when he turned in certain directions. My first few shots were really overexposed. If this had been a human subject, I might have tried using some flash to add some light, but that did not seem to be the right thing to do for a squirrel out on a limb. So I intentionally underexposed the image, blowing out the background (which was mostly sky, so it wasn’t a problem). I recaptured a little of the sky’s color in post-processing and played with the settings to try to bring out the texture and color of the squirrel’s fur. I guess that I never realized before that the fur is not a solid gray, but is a mixture of lighter and darker hairs.

I especially like how the light hits the upper portion of one of his ears and the tip of his bushy tail. The reddish brown tones of the wood also help to bring out the colors of his face.  It was nice to have a cooperative, photogenic subject.

Out on a limb

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Profile of a goose

Posted in Birds, commentary, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 24, 2012| 4 Comments »

The Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) continue to make migratory stops at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland in which I have been taking a lot of photos recently and I have been able to observe them closely. I am always struck by their beautifully expressive eyes, which seem to reflect an inner gentleness.

The old proverb says that the eyes of the mirror of the soul. I have been told from the outset that I should always strive to have the eyes in focus when I am photographing people and animals. As far as I can tell, that’s one of the few rules of photography that is almost never broken.

How often do you make eye contact with other people? I am amazed at how infrequently people acknowledge the presence of others by looking into their eyes. It was one of the biggest adjustments I had to make when I left military service, in which you saluted and greeted everyone in uniform that you passed. So often people pass each other without any visual signal that they recognize the presence of other sentient being. Needless to say, I am not a fan of wearing headphones in public.

People may think that you are a little strange, but I encourage you to look others in the eye and smile and greet them—it’s amazing how their attitude and expressions change.

Profile of a Canada Goose

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Look of determination

Posted in Birds, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 23, 2012| 4 Comments »

Some birds seem to enjoy relaxing and posing and showing off their beauty, embodying a carefree approach to life. Woodpeckers, on the other hand, seem to be serious and focused, with a look of sheer determination in their eyes. It’s the same look that I see in so many of the people here in the Washington D.C. area, so driven in their professional lives that they are in danger of losing their identities apart from work.

Today, I photographed this Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) as he was preparing himself for work. Look deeply into his eye and what to you see? (Click on the photo to see more details.) The dead tree seems huge in comparison to this tiny bird. Yet he seems determined, determined to beat his head repeatedly against that wood, determined to find the food that he hopes and believes may be hidden inside.

Determined Downy Woodpecker

 

Do you ever feel like this woodpecker?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Straining mallards

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 21, 2012| 7 Comments »

I have been watching migratory birds recently and observed that mallard ducks feed mainly by tipping forward and placing their fringed-edged bills in the water, straining out plants, seeds, and other material. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology categorizes mallards as “dabbling ducks” versus  “diving ducks” that go deep underwater to forage for food.

One mallard, though, used a different technique. Instead of dipping his head forward, he flattened himself out and placed his bill almost parallel to the water. He then slowly and systematically paddled back and forth with his beak in the water or just above it, continuously straining and restraining the surface of the water. (Did he require a restraining order?) As the photo shows, there was a lot of plant material available for him to gather. His female partner used the same technique, though I was not able to get a clear shot of her doing so.

Straining mallard

I observed another mallard straining in a different way. Along with his female companion, he was perched on a tiny piece of land. I must have startled him a little when I walked by, because he slipped into the water. Realizing he had nothing to fear from me, he tried to regain his spot. It required several vigorous attempts for him to climb out of the water and I managed to capture him straining to do so. I love the contrast between the determined look on his face and the impassive expression on the female’s face.

Mallard straining to regain his spot

Strain or strain? It’s so amazing that words can have so many different meanings—it strains the imagination.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flying geese redux

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Travel, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 20, 2012| 3 Comments »

Geese and ducks continue to arrive and depart with such frequency in my local marsh that I feel like I am in a major bird airport. Fortunately, there are no long lines or security checks for them to endure. We must have a special arrangement with our northern neighbors, for the Canada Geese are not subject to any special customs scrutiny.

I continue to try to take photos of the geese while they are in flight, usually when the are coming in to land or taking off. Often the geese will circle around and honk loudly to announce their arrival (a kind of bird intercom system). Perhaps the birds on the ground can interpret the honks to mean something like, “Now arriving on pond number one, Canada Geese flight number one from Toronto.” My first photo is one of a Canada Goose banking. No, he is not at an ATM machine, withdrawing cash. He is making a sharp turn as he prepares to land.

Banking goose

The second photo shows a goose in flight. If you click on the photo, you will notice that the goose has a zen-like look of contentment on is his face. Scientists have been working on implanting a tiny device into geese that will provide them an in-flight entertainment package (and autopilot features too) and this goose may be one of the early test subjects.

Goose in flight

Some geese hate to fly alone and prefer companionship during the long flight. A new business has sprung up that provides escort service for the lonely goose, a fledgling matchmaking company that is just getting off of the ground. The company’s contracts are full of fine print about additional charges, but some geese continue to be surprised with the bill they are presented at their final destination.

Lonely goose escort service

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flickers of color

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on November 19, 2012| 11 Comments »

As I was walking this weekend past the beaver lodge at my local marshland park, a flash of brilliant yellow in the trees across the little pond caught my eye. Through my telephoto lens I could see that there were a couple of birds in the trees, but I couldn’t see them clearly because of tree branches nor could I identify them. Still, I kept shooting, aiming at the spot where I could see the movement and the flashes of color. Here is an example of what I was seeing (though this image is significantly cropped).

Northern Flicker couple

After returning home and doing a little research, I found out that I had photographed a pair of Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus), a type of woodpecker that I had never seen before. I love their speckles and their black and red markings. These two birds were interacting in peculiar ways, with both of them flashing their feathers at the other, revealing the bright yellow colors that I had seen earlier.

Is this mating behavior? Were they putting on a performance for my benefit? I have not idea what was the cause for all of that behavior, but it certainly was intriguing.

None of my photos of these birds are that great, but I am always excited to share my photos when I see something for the first time. Perhaps the next time I will be better placed to get clearer shots.

“Maybe some sweet words will make an impression?”

“How do you like me now?”

“Two can play at that game.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Geese in late afternoon light

Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 16, 2012| 3 Comments »

The light was sinking lower in the sky late this afternoon when I took this photo of two Canada geese (Branta canadensis) in the still waters of a little pond. The light was beautiful, as are the reflection of various parts of the scene in the water. If you click on the photo, you can see a higher resolution view of the scene. To use the term of a fellow blogger, Steve Schwartzman, I consider this photo to be a “semi-landscape.”

Geese in late afternoon light

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Soaring Black Vulture

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 16, 2012| 5 Comments »

As the cool morning air was warmed by the sun last Monday, I caught sight of a group of seven large birds soaring together through the air. I could tell that they were different from the turkey vultures that I had previously photographed, but I wasn’t sure what they were. A friendly birder identified them for me as Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus).

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, one of my favorite places to go to learn more about birds, notes that the Black Vulture have a less developed sense of smell than Turkey Vultures, and have to rely on their sight, which is why they may soar at greater heights than the Turkey Vultures. More social than the Turkey Vultures, Black Vultures often travel in flocks and may share a common roost before they go off to forage. (I saw a whole group of them in a single tree earlier in the morning that I took these shots).

I am still in awe of these large birds with impressive wing spans. At the marshland park where I do a lot of my photography, there are a number of species of hawks, and I hope to be able to get some photos of them eventually.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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The buck stops here

Posted in animals, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 14, 2012| 3 Comments »

I was attempting to get a photo of a bird in the cattails, when suddenly I noticed that a deer had entered into the frame. Deer are pretty common and I have even seen them in my suburban neighborhood, but I have rarely seen them at a moment when I had my camera in my hand, so I was excited.

The lighting was a little uneven and harsh and it was difficult to get a completely unobstructed shot, but the deer cooperated and paused a few times, allowing me take a few relatively clear shots. I grew up in the suburbs of Massachusetts and even though my deer identification skills are not strong, I am pretty confident that this is a buck, probably a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

I am not a politician, but I am glad to affirm with great conviction,  “The buck stops here.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Geese in flight

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 13, 2012| 5 Comments »

Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) continue to stop in at my local marshland (Huntley Meadows Park) as they migrate to unknown destinations. Sometimes they come in large groups, though most often I have seen them come in small groups of two to  six geese. I watched them for quite some time during this sunny weekend, and it seems that they spend most of their time on the ground foraging for food or simply relaxing and grooming themselves.

I’ve tried to take photos of the geese when they are flying and have found that this is much more challenging than I had anticipated. Lighting is perhaps the biggest issue, but the speed and direction of the geese is an almost equal problem—profile shots are great, but their relative speed seems fastest when they are moving perpendicular to the camera direction. Camera settings are sometimes hard to choose and adjust, especially when the geese decide at the spur of the moment that it’s a good time to take off. As I’ve found out repeatedly, the settings appropriate for taking photos of the geese in the water are not appropriate for geese in the air.

Here are some of my photos of geese in flight from this past weekend. As you can see, the weather was sunny and the skies were blue.  I am still working on my techniques, but I like the results so far (though I wouldn’t dare reveal how many shots I attempted in my quest to capture the geese in flight). If you click on the photos, you can see a few more details in a higher resolution view.

Migrating Canada Goose

Soaring Canada Goose

Climbing Canada Goose

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fall reflection of a heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 12, 2012| 4 Comments »

Yesterday afternoon, I took some photos of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in the little pond in my suburban neighborhood. He seemed amazing mellow and content to relax in the shade. Consequently, he was pretty tolerant of my presence and that of the nearby Canada Geese. Here’s a sneak preview of the shoot, an image that captures the heron with the reflections of the remaining fall foliage.

Fall reflection of a Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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