Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘wildlife’ Category

Reptiles seeking sunshine

Posted in Art, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 10, 2012| 2 Comments »

I haven’t seen a frog in a couple of weeks, but the turtles and snakes still make an appearance when the sun is high overhead, seeking somehow to warm themselves in the rays of the sun.

The first shot is a red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans), a type that I have featured before in blog posts. I find them to be amazingly photogenic. In this shot, I particularly love the reflection that he is casting. The blue of the water is a little unusual and reminds me a little of some of Monet’s paintings in which he used a similar blue.

Sunning turtle in the fall

The second image is a head shot of a Northern Water snake (Nerodia sipedon). He was stretched out in a grassy portion of the marsh, probably trying to expose the maximum amount of his body to the sun. I got down pretty low to get the shot and, as you can see, the grass made it difficult to get an unobstructed shot.

Sunning snake in the fall

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Soaring on the wind

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 9, 2012| 6 Comments »

Looking for subjects to shoot this morning, I happened to look up and saw a large bird soaring on the wind, headed in my direction. My heart raced a little as I made a quick setting adjustment on my camera, because I figured the bird with the impressive wingspan was perhaps an eagle or at least some kind of hawk.

I was a little disappointed initially when I discovered later that the bird was “only” a turkey vulture (Cathartes aura). After a while, though, the wings and feathers and the coloration started to grow on me and I realized that the turkey vulture has a beauty all its own. (In some ways I might compare it to some of the wild turkeys that some of my fellow bloggers have featured recently in their postings—suffice it to say the turkeys are not traditionally beautiful.)

I’m still working on photographing birds in flight, but it sure is a lot easier when a bird is soaring like this one, not flying at full speed.

Turkey vulture in the fall

Turkey vulture at Huntley Meadows Park

Turkey vulture soaring on the wind

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Cardinal in the open

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on November 8, 2012| 7 Comments »

It’s difficult enough for a bright red cardinal to hide when there are lots of leaves on a tree, but when the leaves are gone, it’s impossible.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Backlit squirrel

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 5, 2012| 9 Comments »

Backlighting adds drama and glamor, even when the subject is as ordinary as a squirrel.

I was almost done shooting photos today when I decided to try to capture a few images of squirrels. Usually they are too quick for me and I often end up with blurry photos. As I approached a squirrel, he climbed a tree and I stopped and waited to see if he would climb higher. Instead, he climbed out onto a tiny branch, offering me a profile shot with beautiful backlighting. I love the glow around the face and tail and the warmth of the light showing though the squirrel’s ear. Even the bokeh is nice.

Even a squirrel can look glamorous, under the right conditions.

Squirrel glamor shot

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Cardinal reflection

Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on November 2, 2012| 4 Comments »

It seemed like this beautiful male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) was posing for me on the dead log, somehow knowing that this position would provide for an equally beautiful reflection.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Looking back

Posted in animals, Landscape, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on November 2, 2012| 7 Comments »

On a cold and overcast morning, I walked through the marsh today, heading toward a little pond area where I was hoping to see migrating ducks and geese. As I arrived at that area, I realized there was a deer in the distance near the far side of the water’s edge. I didn’t have time to make many adjustments and got off only two shots. This is the better of the two, and I like the pose of the deer, as she back at me before taking off. To give you an idea of the limited light, this was shot at ISO400, f5.6, and 1/30 second. I was at the far end of my 55-250mm zoom lens (and still had to crop quite a bit).

Early morning deer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Dipping, dripping geese

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Uncategorized, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 1, 2012| 4 Comments »

Last week I encountered Canada geese twice. The first time was when a few migrating ones made a brief stop at a local marsh. The second time was at a suburban pond where the geese seem to be semi-permanent residents. I had a great time observing and photographing the geese in the latter venue and have a couple of photos this morning of geese dipping their heads into the water. I couldn’t tell for sure if they were grabbing for  plants underwater, drinking, or doing something else. Often they would submerge just their heads and blow bubbles in the water and then, as in the second photo, just let the water dribble out of their mouths.

Synchronized swimming geese

Dripping, dipping goose

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Geese bath time

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 29, 2012| 2 Comments »

It looked like it was bath time for the Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) in a local pond and they seemed to be having fun playing in the water (and occasionally stopping to groom themselves). The geese were exuberantly beating the water with their wings, creating giant clouds of water droplets. It reminded me of trying to give a bath to a two year old child, who splashes almost as much—the only thing missing was the yellow rubber duck. Some of the geese would then rise up in the water a bit and flap their wings, presumably to dry them, and then get soaked all over again. Perhaps they were following the instructions on the shampoo bottle, “Lather, rinse, and repeat.”

I managed to get a couple of fun shots in which the goose’s head is in focus, but the wings are a blur—I think the effect is kind of cool.

Splish, splash, I was taking a bath

Ruffling some feathers

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Duck, goose!

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 27, 2012| 4 Comments »

While I was watching migrating geese at a local marsh yesterday, one of them suddenly stretched out its wings. There was another goose right behind the one with outstretched wings and I wanted to warn him by crying out, “Duck, goose!” Instead I instinctively pressed the shutter release and got this photo. The image makes me laugh when I look at the face of the crouching goose, who does not appear to be too happy with his fellow traveler.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Canada Geese flying

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on October 26, 2012| 8 Comments »

A trio of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) paid a short visit today to my local marsh at Huntley Meadows Park. I suspect they are migrating, though I am not sure about that. They announced their arrival loudly and circled around before landing, so I had time to attempt some shots. I don’t have much experience in photographing birds in flight, but had limited success, as you can see in these shots. I could not get all three of them close enough to each other in the frame, so you only see two at a time. In case you wonder, the day was extremely overcast and there was not much sunlight—that is why the sky looks white in some of the photos.

This is the kind of photo that I want to be able to take, so today was good practice for me. I can tell I still need a lot of practice in tracking birds in the air.

Geese in flight at Huntley Meadows Park

Geese circling for a landing

Geese in flight during the fall

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Autumnal praying mantis

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on October 23, 2012| 5 Comments »

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something fly past me and land on a nearby leaf. At first I thought it was a big dragonfly (my peripheral vision is not that great), but closer examination revealed that it was a praying mantis.

Earlier in the summer I spotted my first praying mantis “in the wild,” but it moved away as I was getting my camera ready—I was hoping to avoid the same fate this time around. As I tried to frame a shot, I realized that praying mantises are not easy to shoot. Their bodies are so long and skinny that it’s hard to fit them into a photo, especially when there is heavy vegetation that prevents an unobstructed view. I finally managed to find a narrow visual pathway through the branches that resulted in this shot.

It almost looks like the praying mantis is impatiently posing for me, with its tilted head and inquisitive facial expression. The eyes are wonderful too—they seem to be expressive. The orange tones of the leaves in both the foreground and the background help to give this portrait of a praying mantis an autumnal feel.

Praying mantis in the fall

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Early morning goldfinch

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on October 22, 2012| 4 Comments »

I am going through a bird phase, it seems, as I continue on my journey into photography. Perhaps it’s a seasonal thing, as flowers and insects seem to be in shorter and shorter supply, or perhaps it’s a kind of evolution in an unknown direction. Whatever the case, I find my lenses pointed more and more frequently at birds.

Here are a few shorts of an American Goldfinch that I took in the early morning, when the dew was still clinging to the strands of spider web silk on the plants. The sunlight was not yet strong and was coming from the side.

When I pulled up the RAW files to make a few adjustments, I was faced with the dilemma of the yellow coloration of the bird. In I changed some settings, the yellow became “dirtier,” but you can see more details. That’s what I did in the first photo. I can’t decide if the contrast is too much, but it seemed to me that the bird’s more severe facial expression lent itself to this treatment. On the other hand, if I changed settings differently, the yellow became a little brighter, but the image got a little softer. That’s what I did in the second and third photos. Again, I was guided a bit by the bird’s expressions.

Do you think that one of the two approaches worked better? I’ve come to realize that there is no magical recipe, no secret formula that will guarantee me great shots. That’s why it’s fun for me to try out different approaches and see what happens.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Spider returns in time for Halloween

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 21, 2012| 5 Comments »

Throughout much of the summer I posted photos Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spiders (Argiope aurantia). Having not spotted one in several weeks,  that they were gone until next year. I was happy to be wrong, however, and photographed one yesterday. I was even more delighted that the background colors work well for autumn and for Halloween (and nothing says Halloween more than a creepy spider).

Autumn spider

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

A few more blackbirds

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

As I have worked to improve my skills in photographing birds, I have had the most success with red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus). Why? First of all, the red-winged blackbird is a lot bigger than most of the birds that I try to photograph. Secondly, the blackbirds like to perch on cattails, which are closer than the trees in the areas in which I shoot. Finally, the blackbirds seem a bit more tolerant of my relative proximity (unlike some other birds that fly away at the slightest movement long before I get in camera range).

Here are three shots of male red-winged blackbirds from yesterday that I like. The first one shows some details of the feathers, which for this bird are not solid black. This may be a not-quite-nature male blackbird (immature males have wings with buff or orange edges and have yellow on their shoulders, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology).

Red-winged blackbird with feather details

The next two photos show the same bird in slightly different positions. The first one looks almost like the bird was posing for me for a profile shot. The last one gives us a peek inside a blackbird’s mouth as he begins to call out—it seems that male blackbirds always need to get in the last word.

Red-winged blackbird profile

Red-winged blackbird with open mouth

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Cuddling turtles

Posted in Humor, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on October 20, 2012| 5 Comments »

I often see turtles lined up on branches in the water, basking in the sun. Usually they are arranged as neatly as cars in a parking lot, though occasionally I see them in haphazard patterns or so close to each other that they are touching (I see that in parking lots too, actually). Nonetheless, I really like the configuration of the turtles in this photo, who all appear to be red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans). I find the different positions of the heads and bodies to be interesting and the facial expressions particularly fascinating.

My favorite element, though, is the little turtle near the bottom of the photo, who is mostly in the shade, but has managed to extend his neck to catch a bit of the sun. Do you prefer a different turtle?

Turtles in the sun

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 17, 2012| 6 Comments »

As the weather has cooled off, there have been fewer and fewer dragonflies buzzing around in the marsh area. Occasionally I see a Common Whitetail dragonfly, but that has been pretty much it. This past weekend, however, I encountered some new, colorful dragonflies that I am pretty sure are Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum).

It was relatively early in the morning when some fellow photographers pointed out an orange-colored dragonfly perched on some leaves. According to their information, the dragonfly was unlikely to move until the temperature rose to about 70 degrees. I wasn’t so sure about their calculations and so I hastened to take some shots with my 55-250mm zoom lens. Here is an overall shot to give you an idea what an Autumn Meadhawk looks like (the sun was a bright and I couldn’t shield it so there are some unfortunate hot spots).

Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

Once I had a record shot, I became a bit bolder and decided to try my 100mm macro lens. The major problem I had was that the dragonfly was about a foot below me and about two feet away from me (I was on a raised boardwalk), so holding the lens steady was a problem. I did get a couple of close-up shots, like this one. I am always amazed when you can see the little hairs on a dragonfly’s “face.”

Close-up shot of Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly

There were still some harsh shadows and hotspots, so I decided to use my collapsible diffuser to soften the light. Unfortunately, the dragonfly must have thought I was a predator, because it flew away as soon as I cast a shadow on it with the diffuser. Later that day, however, I encountered the Autumn Meadowhawks several times, but they refused to perch on plants, preferring to land on the boardwalk. Feeling a little frustrated, I took some shots of them on the boardwalk and ended up with the following image that I like, even if it’s not exactly a “natural” environment.

Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly on the boardwalk

I am not sure how long these dragonflies will hang around, but it is nice seeing some new species as the seasons change, an unexpected bonus for me this past weekend.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

.

Read Full Post »

Male Downy Woodpecker

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

This weekend I learned some new things about woodpeckers. I always thought that woodpeckers were found exclusively in the trees. Isn’t it logical that woodpeckers need wood to peck? (It reminds me of the response attributed to Willie Sutton on why he robbed banks—”Because that’s where the money is.”) Well, I saw a woodpecker pecking at the stalks of cattails and other similar vegetation that clearly were not made of solid wood.

Secondly I learned that the woodpecker that had a big red spot on the back of his head was not a Red-Headed Woodpecker. Fortunately, it was not too hard to determine that the little woodpecker that I saw and photographed was a male Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens). He was very active climbing up and down the stalks of a whole series of plants in the middle of a marsh and was a lot of fun to watch.

Here are a couple of photos of that beautiful bird. I am not sure that I did full justice to the blazing red color on his head that initially attracted my attention or to the wonderful black and white pattern of his feathers. I hope that I have another chance soon to see more woodpeckers and learn even more new things about them.

Male Downy Woodpecker in the field

Downy Woodpecker looks to the side

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Whimsical fall frog

Posted in Humor, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 16, 2012| 9 Comments »

I have a confession to make—I really like to photograph little green frogs. Maybe it’s the influence of Kermit the Frog on my perceptions, but, whatever the reason, there seems to be something whimsical about frogs. Like this little frog that I photographed yesterday, they appear to have a perpetual half-smile, as though they find this world to be unceasingly amusing.

It brings to mind one of my favorite movies scenes, the opening sequence of The Muppet Movie, in which the camera gradually zooms in on Kermit, sitting on a log in the swamp and playing the banjo. The words of the song he is singing express the kind of eternal optimism to which I aspire, “Someday we’ll find it, the Rainbow Connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me.” (Here’s a link to the video of that scene on YouTube—I highly recommend that you take a couple of moments to relax with it, especially if you’ve never seen it before.) With all of the cares of everyday life, it’s hard to be a dreamer, it’s tough to see hope in rainbows, it’s not easy to see whimsey in frogs. It’s my hope, though, that we all can maintain (or rediscover) that child-like optimism about our world.

Fall frog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Red-winged Blackbird on a cattail

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 13, 2012| 11 Comments »

There was a lot of bird activity early yesterday morning as I walked through the cattail-filled marshy area of Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia. Many of the birds were in groups, it seemed, including large flocks of noisy black birds that several  of my fellow bloggers have helped me identify as grackles.

Most of the birds seemed to be be passing through and perched high in trees or landed too far away for me to capture them individually with my modest telephoto zoom. (Another photographer I saw had a massive 600mm telephoto lens with a 1.4x teleconverter attached and seemed to have greater success.)

However, I was able to take this photo of bird on a cattail stalk and amazingly I can identify it—it’s a male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus).  I realize that the Red-winged Blackbird is probably one of the easiest birds to identify (along with the robin, bluejay, and cardinal), but I have had so many problems recently identifying the birds in my photos that it is satisfying to be able get one right.

There were flocks of birders present too, equipped with telescopes and binoculars, and some of them were almost as loud as the grackles. I heard lots of interesting debates, like whether a large bird soaring in the distance was a red-shouldered hawk or a redtail hawk (and I had no idea previously that there was a bird called a Coopers hawk). Most of the bird people were so intense that I didn’t dare to attempt to engage them in conversation.  One gentlemen, however, talked with me at length, periodically referring to a tattered guide that he had with him (it was a Peterson’s guide to birds east of the Rockies and he recommended it for a beginner like me). I think that I may have to break down and buy a little guide like that to start to learn more about birds.

For now, I’m happy that I can identify a Red-winged Blackbird most of the time, especially a male one!

Red-winged Blackbird on a cattail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Migrating birds

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 12, 2012| 10 Comments »

As I was walking through the marsh land early this morning, a flock of very loud black birds flew overhead. I was surprised at how many there were and how noisy they were. I think they may be some kind of blackbird and that they are in the process of migrating. I managed to snap a few photos of some of the birds as they were flying. It is fun to look at all of the different body positions of the individual birds when I took the shots.

I especially like this first photo. It looks to me like the bird who is lagging behind is calling out to the other birds, requesting that they slow the pace a bit so that he does not fall behind. The birds look almost cartoonish and the photo just makes me smile.

“Please slow down.”

The second photo shows an even greater number of different positions. You may want to click on the photo for a higher resolution view so that you can appreciate the uniqueness of the individual birds.

Unsynchronized flying

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Another look at a brown pelican

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, zoo, tagged , , , , , , , on October 11, 2012| 8 Comments »

A little over a week ago I posted a photo of a brown pelican at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. that was full of vivid colors in the pelican and in the reflections of light on the water. Today, I want to show the same pelican in a different way. I changed the angle of the camera and captured a background that was more somber and simple.  In post-processing I desaturated the colors a bit to place the emphasis on the textures of the feathers, the branch on which the pelican is perched, and the rock in the right hand corner. I toyed with the idea of going completely to black and white, but decided I liked the hint of a color in the beak and part of the pelican’s head, as well as on the branches. The overall look is more somber and perhaps a bit more formal.

I haven’t made my mind up yet whether I like this presentation of the brown pelican more than the previous one, but it certainly was fun experimenting with various settings in Photoshop Elements with the intent of making the colors less bright (usually I am moving in the opposite direction).

Somber brown pelican at the National Zoo

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Little bird feeding in the wild

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on October 10, 2012| 6 Comments »

When it comes to photographing birds, it doesn’t take much to make me happy. If I can get a clear shot of a bird with a relatively uncluttered background, that constitutes a good photograph for me.  By that low standard, this image that I took a week ago is a successful one. My bird identification skills are still so weak that I won’t even hazard a guess at what kind of bird it is, but I like this modest image of this little bird.

Little bird feeding in the wild

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Early morning heron silhouette

Posted in Art, Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 9, 2012| 1 Comment »

It was early in the morning and I was walking almost directly east along a stream. The sun had already risen and was in my eyes, but I spotted a Great Blue Heron in the water. I was able to get a shot that I knew would turn out as a silhouette, but the heron was standing in such a way that I was pretty confident that his silhouette would be immediately recognizable. The glare caused the color to wash out almost entirely and there are all kinds of artifacts from the light, but I like the overall effect.

Great Blue Heron Silhouette

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Focused blue heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 8, 2012| 1 Comment »

This is another shot of the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) who was so cooperative today in permitting me to get close to him. In this shot, his eyes are fixed intently on the water, which unfortunately was covered with some combination of algae and duckweed. There was virtually no way for him to spot any potential prey below the surface of the water. His body seems coiled, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. He remained in this position for quite some time, but eventually he relaxed and gave up the hunt. Later, he moved to the other small pond and was equally unsuccessful there.

Focused blue heron (click for a higher resolution view)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Cooperative blue heron

Posted in Birds, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 8, 2012| 5 Comments »

I was lucky today. Normally when I have tried to photograph Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias), I have had to do so at the maximum range of my telephoto zoom lens and even then would have to crop the image significantly. The result has been that my photos have not been as sharp or detailed as I would have liked.

Today was different. I was walking around the little ponds at Green Spring Gardens, a county-run historical park where I had previously taken photos of a green heron, when I startled a Great Blue Heron who had been perched in a tree. He flew off high into a tree across the pond and remained there as I followed him and tried to take some photos. I have not yet looked at those photos, but suspect that they are a little distorted, given that I was shooting almost straight up.

It started to drizzle a bit. When all of the other visitors left, the heron flew down from the tree and landed no more than 30 feet from me. He wandered along the water’s edge, periodically entering the water and staring intently at its surface, probably searching for something to eat. I cautiously approached him and he let me get with fifteen feet or so of him and I even circled around him trying to get a decent angle and background for a shot. How close was I? At times I could not use the full range of my 55-250mm lens if I wanted to capture his whole body.

Here is one of my initial favorite shots. I shot it with the lens extended to 194mm with settings of f9.0, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, and an exposure compensation of -.67. Other than a little sharpening and a little cropping, this is the way the image came out of the camera.

Indeed, I was lucky today to encounter an unusually cooperative Great Blue Heron.

Cooperative Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Wading for food

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 8, 2012| 3 Comments »

I became engrossed watching some little shorebirds (or wading birds) this past weekend as I was attempting to photograph herons and egrets at Cameron Run, a stream tributary of the Potomac River. These small birds (there was a little group of them) would zigzag through the shallow water and periodically bob down to peck at some tasty morsel of food. They seemed to be aware of my presence and would move away whenever I tried to approach them, although they would not fly completely away.

I was unable to get any clear close-up photos of these unidentified birds, but I did manage to produce this image that I really like. There is a kind of graphic quality to the photo and the light and the reflections are nice, even though it is obviously no technical masterpiece.

Wading bird at Cameron Run

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Pensive turtle

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 6, 2012| 6 Comments »

What do turtles think about? When I came upon this red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans), that was my first thought. Perched at an angle on a branch, the turtle seemed to be lost in contemplation. His eyes looked out over the expanse of brown, muddy march water, but he seemed inwardly focused.

Maybe this is a form of turtle yoga.

Pensive turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Blue heron in the underbrush

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 6, 2012| 1 Comment »

Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) look graceful when they are flying or when they are wading, but they sure look awkward and gawky when on dry land. This heron seemed to be taking a break in the shade on a sunny, fall day. I took this photograph yesterday at Cameron Run, a tributary stream of the Potomac River, where I often see both egrets and heron. I do not know if they will remain here through the winter, but I hope that they do.

Great Blue Heron in the underbrush

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Monarch and a lady on yellow flowers

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 6, 2012| 3 Comments »

We continue to fade to brown, with only muted color changes as the leaves begin to fall from the tree. As if to compensate for the lack of spectacular foliage, brightly colored flowers are still blooming. I managed to get some shots of equally colorful insects interacting with yellow flowers. When I see Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexxipus), they are usually in the midst of blooming flowers, but I was surprised to also see a shiny red ladybug near the center of a yellow flower.

Monarch butterfly on yellow flower

Ladybug on yellow flower

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Egretfully yours

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 5, 2012| 6 Comments »

As many of you know, periodically I try to take photographs of the Great Egrets (Ardea alba) that are often present in the waters or the trees of Cameron Run, a tributary stream of the Potomac River. Usually I am frustrated, because the bright white bodies of the egrets caused my images to be overexposed and the highlights are almost always blown out.

Today, the light was a little more forgiving and I was able to capture an image of an egret with the light coming from the side. There is a dramatic glow surrounding part of its body and a nice reflection in the water. It is certainly not a perfect photo, but I like the way that it turned out.

Egret with dramatic lighting

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Snapping turtle on dry land

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 4, 2012| 7 Comments »

This summer has been a dry one and the recent fall rains have not done much to replenish the water in the local marshes. Recently I came across this snapping turtle in a sunny area relatively far from the water. The turtle looked like he was starting to dry out a little and I feared that he might be trouble. Fortunately, when I came back a little later, he had disappeared, presumably to another location with water, or at least shade.

I love the amazing texture of the neck area and even the head of the snapping turtle. I considered doing this photo in black and white to emphasize that texture, but would have lost the beautiful gold circles in his eyes and the green of the plants that make a semi-circle around his face.

When I gaze into the eyes of this snapping turtle, I am reminded of Yoda, the wizened sage of Star Wars, who had seen a lot during his nine hundred years. The turtle also seems to have the bemused, yet sad expression on his face that Yoda displayed when he was trying to train the young, impatient Luke Skywalker and said these words:

“Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless.”  (quote from imbd.com)

Snapping turtle on dry land

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »