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Archive for the ‘wildlife’ Category

Portrait of a grasshopper

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , on September 19, 2012| 4 Comments »

It’s only a grasshopper, not an exotic insect, but I really like the way that his portrait turned out.

The grasshopper’s pose suggests that he is ready for action and his slightly cocked head helps to give him personality. I was able to get sufficient depth of field and sharpness by using an F8 aperture, ISO 200,  and 1/200 sec and by moving in a bit from the far end of my telephoto zoom (I was at 229mm of a 55-250mm lens). Both the foreground and the background are simple and are made up of a minimum of colors, mostly green and brown. The day was mostly cloudy, so the shadows are soft.

All these elements seemed to work in harmony and I was able to produce this nice, open-air portrait of a grasshopper.

Grasshopper portrait (click for a higher-resolution view)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Not a Cerulean Warbler, but a Nuthatch

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 18, 2012| 6 Comments »

Birds were out this past Monday and once again I went through the mostly frustrating process of trying to get some shots. I managed to get this unintentionally soft-focused image that I like. The angle of the shot is strange and the bird seems almost distorted, possibly because of the way in which he is sticking out his neck, but I love the blue markings on the wings. The blue color, in fact, helped me to identify the bird as most likely a Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea) for it turns out that there are not that many blue-colored birds.

UPDATE: Joel Eagle has corrected my false identification. It’s a Nuthatch, not a Cerulean Warbler. The name may not be as cool-sounding, but the bird is still as beautiful. Check out Joel’s blog “Pops & Mojo Photos” for some wonderful insect photos (and birds too).

Nuthatch

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Kleptoparasitic spider

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 18, 2012| 10 Comments »

I have repeatedly observed a small spider or two hanging around the periphery of the web of the large Yellow Garden Orbweaver spiders (Argiope aurantia) that I have been photographing recently. Initially I thought it might be the male of the species, which is considerably smaller than the female, but when I finally took a clear enough photo of one of these small spiders, I realized it was a different species.

My research suggests that this is a kleptoparasitic spider. Let me explain. It may sound like I’m trying to sound like a scientist, but “kleptoparasitism” is a single word that captures the idea that this spider steals or feed on the prey captured by another spider. According to Wikipedia, kleptoparasitic spiders occur in five different families and I am pretty sure the little spider below is of the genus Argyrodes, which are also called dewdrop spiders.

Kleptoparastic spider eyes another spider’s catch

Let me set the scene for you. The much larger Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider caught what looks like a bee and returned to the center of the web, leaving the wrapped bee on the periphery. The little spider moved in and appears to be checking out this potential new food source. Compare the relative size of the spider and the bee—the spider is tiny. That made it tougher to get a clear shot of both the spider and the captured bee. My shot is far from perfect, but it does allow you to see some of the details (and you can get a higher resolution view if you click on the image).

It seems to me that the little spider plays a risky game, living with (and maybe stealing food from) a larger, more dangerous spider. Maybe he’s a thrill-seeker, an adrenaline junkie who enjoys living in a state of constant danger.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Snake season in the marsh

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 18, 2012| 15 Comments »

Throughout this dry summer, the water level in the marsh area of Huntley Meadows Park has continued to drop. I was shocked to see how low the levels were today. In an area where the water had previously been deep enough to support large snapping turtles (an open area outside of a beaver lodge), I now saw snakes, at least four or five of them. They were swimming in the shallow water and even burrowing into the soft mud in search of food. I am pretty sure they were all Northern Water snakes (Nerodia sipedon), a fairly large, non-venomous snake.

Face-to-face with a Northern Water snake

As I was watching the snakes, a couple came by and they said that they sometimes like to pick up these kind of snakes, examine them, and then release them. In passing, they mentioned that the snakes will bite hard and will release musk when handled. I don’t know why they thought I wanted to play with the snakes (trust me, I had no such desire), but they warned me not to be surprised if the bite wound bled a lot. According to the Wikipedia article on Northern Water snakes, the snake’s saliva contains a mild anticoagulant.

Northern Water snake, full-body shot

I did not see the snakes catch any prey, but the Wikipedia article states that during the day they hunt among plants at the water’s edge, looking for small fish, frogs, worms, leeches, crayfish, salamanders, birds, and small mammals. At night, they concentrate on minnows and other small fish sleeping in shallow water.

Northern Water snake focusing on a potential prey

One other interesting fact about the Northern Water snake is that—unlike many other snakes—they do not lay eggs. According to one academic article, the mother carries the eggs inside her body for three to five months and, on average, gives birth to 26 babies, each about 7-9 inches long. Once they are born, the babies are on their own; the mother does not care for them at all.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fall Bee

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on September 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The weather is getting cooler and it’s getting darker earlier, but it’s nice to see that there are still lots of insects around to photograph. Here’s a recent shot of a bee, still busily at work in mid-September.

Bee in mid-September

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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More spider art

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on September 16, 2012| 9 Comments »

I’ve already posted some photos of spider webs from last Friday morning when I visited Huntley Meadows Park. When I looked over the photos again today, however, I realized I have some more pretty good ones. Once again I am struck by the complexity and the diversity of the webs. Some have primarily straight lines and others have mostly curves. Some are large and intricate, others are smaller and simpler.

All of them are breathtakingly beautiful to me.

A view from a jail cell (not really, but it almost looks like that)

An unusually-shaped spider web

An incomplete spider web

Scallop-curved web

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Amazing spider webs

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 15, 2012| 8 Comments »

Yesterday morning I was out early with my camera and managed to capture photos of some amazing spider webs at Huntley Meadows Park. There was moisture in the air, so some of them have beautiful droplets of water. All of them, though, are incredible in their geometric complexity, in the skill of the craftsmanship, and in their individuality.

Spiders webs are incredible.

Circular spider web

Spider web between two railings

Spider web with dew

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Northern cardinal

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , on September 14, 2012| 5 Comments »

I have even greater respect for photographers who can capture clear images of birds after my experiences today. Previously I had shot a few photos of birds, but primarily in a garden setting. Today I tried to photograph some bright red birds that I think are Northern Cardinals in a meadow with lots of vegetation. Even though these birds are much bigger than the insects that I often photograph, they seemed to spook a lot easier and rarely placed themselves within the limits of my lenses. I think that I understand now why dedicated bird photographer need those huge lenses that I see them carrying. It also proved impossible for me to isolate the background (and foreground), which was often cluttered and blocked a clear view of the bird.

This is the best image I managed of the cardinal. The focus is not perfect and I had to do a mega-crop, but I like the overall look of the image and there is a clear view of the face.

Cardinal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Creeping spider

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on September 14, 2012| 8 Comments »

As I was going through some photos this morning I realized that I have a lot of photos of the Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider (Argiope aurantia). I have posted quite a few photos, but most have shown the spider with a prey. I came across an image of the spider by herself and started playing with it in Photoshop Elements. This first image is the result of my experimentation—it is cropped and rotated and focuses on only part of the subject. I think it is a little more dramatic thank the original image. (You can get a higher resolution view of all of the images if you click on them.)

Creeping spider

You can see below the original image after a minor crop. I remember when I took the shot that I had to twist my body around to get the desired angle of view of the spider in the center of her web, waiting patiently for prey. This morning I initially liked the image a lot and was going to post it, but then decided to rotate it 90 degrees to see what it looked like.

Side view of spider

After the rotation, it looked like the image below. It seems to me that by simply shifting the plane of view, the spider appears like more of a predator, like she is more aggressively stalking her prey rather than waiting for it to arrive. I keep going back and forth in trying to decided if I like this image more than the cropped image that I started with. What do you think? Which of the three images do you like most?

Creeping spider (full body)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spreadwing Damselfly

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on September 14, 2012| 2 Comments »

Why does this damselfly have its wings in an open position? That was the question that popped into my mind when I first spotted this pretty little damselfly. As far as I knew, damselflies folded their wings together when they were at rest. A little research on the internet showed that there is a family of damselflies called Lestidae (more commonly known as Spreadwings) that hold their wings at an angle from their body when they are at rest.

I decided to show the same photo in two different ways. The first image is a cropped close-up and it lets you seem the facial expression and some additional details of the body, including the drops of water on the chest and legs. As you can see, one of the disadvantages of wings that are spread is that depth of field is a problem. The second view is the image more or less as I composed it in the view finder. It shows how really long and skinny the tails are for this type of damselfly. I think that this may be a Southern Spreadwing (Lestes australis), but I am not certain of the identification because there are other varieties that look similar.

Close-up shot of spreadwing damselfly

Full-body shot of spreadwing damselfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Climbing grasshopper

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on September 12, 2012| 2 Comments »

I have become hyper-attentive now when I walk through gardens, woods, and marshes. I have started to slow down and am more aware of my surroundings. A few months ago, for example, I would not have noticed this grasshopper climbing up the stalk of a plant. Now I can look with wonder at yet another fascinating creature, and my life is enriched by the experience.

Climbing Grasshopper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Suburban oasis

Posted in Language, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 12, 2012| 3 Comments »

Huntley Meadows Park is made up of 1,425 acres of forests, meadows, and fresh-waters wetlands and has become one of my favorite places to take photos of a wide variety of wildlife. What is most remarkable for me, though, is the fact that it is located in the midst of a heavily populated suburban area of Washington, D.C., only a few miles from where I live. I am clearly not the only one who enjoys being there. On any given day I am likely to be greeted by groups of giggling boys and girls or smaller, more sedate groups of adults, many with binoculars or cameras with very long telephoto lenses. The park’s website notes that it is a favorite location for bird spotting, with over 200 species having been identified there.

Monday was an especially beautiful day. The coolness of the fall mornings has definitely arrived and we were treated to brilliant blue skies, a relative rarity here. While at Huntley Meadows, I decided to try to capture a view of some of the elements of the park, including part of the half-mile long boardwalk that zigzags through the marshland.

Huntley Meadows Park in early September

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Tattered wings (and growing old)

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 11, 2012| 6 Comments »

I don’t know if this Blue Dasher dragonfly is long in the tooth (do dragonflies have teeth?) or has simply had a tough life. How do you tell the age of a dragonfly? In any case, his wings are tattered and torn to such a degree that it is surprising that he can still fly. Yet I seem to detect a smile on his face, a reflection of contentment. (Yes, I know, I am guilty of anthropomorphism.)

Tattered wings,but still able to fly

I have been thinking about aging ever since Sunday when I read a wonderful column in the Washington Post by John Kelly entitled “You can learn a lot about growing old from a dog.” Kelly describes how the accelerated aging process of his dog has made him more conscious of the fact that he too is growing old. I recommend the article to all, but want to highlight the final paragraph of the column. Kelly concludes:

“Aging is unknown territory for each of us, despite the fact that humans have been doing it forever. I think there are worse ways to spend your final years than napping next to someone you love, dreaming of what was and what still might be.”

I doubt that this dragonfly will end his final days in peace and contentment like Kelly’s dog, but it is my fervent hope that we can accept the infirmities of growing old with grace and patience, and can focus—as this dragonfly appears to be doing—on the things that we are still able to do, on contributions that can make this world a better place.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bullfrog with bubble

Posted in Humor, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This morning I captured this photo of a bullfrog. I was able—with gyrations that would have been hilarious to a spectator—to get almost low enough to look him eye-to-eye. I was happy also to get a reflection of the frog with a considerable amount of detail. As I was reviewing the images on my computer, I noticed the bubbles under his chin (do frogs have chins?), a delightful detail that adds a sense of whimsy to the frog. Blowing bubbles is something that I always associate with being a child, and I remember how much fun it was to blow bubbles in my drink with a straw or to blow soap bubbles with one of those little wands.

Perhaps this bullfrog was blowing bubbles in the water, remembering too when he was little, presumably in a post-tadpole phase.

Bullfrog with bubble (click for higher resolution)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Monarch caterpillar (with aphid)

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on September 8, 2012| 1 Comment »

The day before I left for my recent trip I managed to get some photos of Monarch caterpillars with my macro lens. It was the first time that I had seen them live. Not surprisingly they were on milkweed plants and seemed to be chomping away with great appetite. I noted too that some of the milkweed plants were full of aphids (and some of them had lots of ladybugs too). I checked a number of sources on-line and they all suggest that the aphids are not directly harmful to the Monarch caterpillars during the two-week stage when they are caterpillars. I looked around today to see if I could see any chrysalis, the next stage of development, or more caterpillars, but found neither. I’ll keep looking!

Monarch caterpillar (click to see more details)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bees with a point-and-shoot

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , on September 2, 2012| 2 Comments »

I am out of town at the moment and took along my Canon PowerShot A620, a somewhat glorified point-and-shoot camera. I had used this before for travel photos, but had never tried out the macro features of the camera. The manual claims that in macro mode you can get as close as 1 cm (.4 inches).

I decided to play around with macro on this camera by taking some shots of bees, one of my favorite subjects. The first photo is one of a bee taken straight on and I am surprised that I got the detail that I did. The other shots are pretty good as well. I would note that I had to get really close to the bees to get these shots. I also am feeling a little hamstrung, because I am producing these images on a netbook computer with somewhat limited capabilities and I am using Paint.Net to manipulate the images rather than PhotoShop or PhotoShop Elements.

Eye-to-eye with a bee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fishing spider waiting for prey

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 1, 2012| 3 Comments »

This morning as I was walking along the boardwalk that runs through the marsh in Huntley Meadows Park, I happened to glance down into the muddy water and was surprised to see something that looked like a cross between a starfish and a spider. I always though that spiders lived in trees and on other types of vegetation, but today I learned that there are also spiders that hunt for their prey in the water.

This spider is from the Dolomedes family, probably a six-spotted fishing spider (Dolomedes triton). According to the Wikipedia article, they are often seen with their legs sprawled out by the water while they are waiting for prey (which is what this one seems to be doing). They eat other invertebrates, tadpoles and occasionally small fish (and the female may also eat male fishing spiders if she has already mated). According to fcps.edu, these spiders can walk on the surface water and can stay underwater for 30 minutes. Not surprisingly, they don’t make webs.

This has been quite the day for unusual insects, beginning with a neon-colored grasshopper and ending with a fishing spider. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Fishing Spider Waiting for Prey (click for higher resolution)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Confrontation Between Snapping Turtle and Great Blue Heron

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 31, 2012| 6 Comments »

The water level in the marsh at Huntley Meadow Gardens here in Alexandria, VA has been getting lower and lower as the summer has progressed. I suspect that the situation had made it more difficult for some of the inhabitants to find food and may have increased competition for the available food.

Previously I posted photos of a Great Blue Heron catching a fish in the remaining water of the pond of the marsh. Last week I had the chance to watch a series of confrontations between a Great Blue Heron and a snapping turtle. It seemed to start when the  heron grabbed a fish out of the water just as the turtle was approaching him. I had the impression that the turtle might have been pursuing that same fish. The snapping turtle made a series of aggressive runs at the heron, getting really close to the heron’s legs. I have seen pictures on-line of a snapping turtle pulling down a Great Blue Heron, so I waited with fear and anticipation to see what would happen. The heron left the water this time without any bodily injury. (I have some photos of this initial confrontation that I might post later, but their quality is not as good as those of the second round of confrontations.)

The heron eventually went back into the water and it wasn’t long before the snapping turtle came at him again. (I could almost hear the music of the movie “Jaws” in my head as the turtle made a run at the heron.) Like a matador side-stepping a charging bull, the heron awkwardly avoided the turtle who was approaching him faster than I’ve ever seen a turtle move. The heron then turned his back on the turtle and started walking away, perhaps feeling the hot breath of the turtle who continued to pursue him. Finally, the heron took to the air, deciding that he had had enough of the persistent turtle.

I managed to capture the highlights of the confrontation with my camera. I continue to marvel at the wonders of nature as I observe new creatures and see familiar ones act and interact in new ways.

Snapping turtle approaches Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron steps to the side as snapping turtle gets aggressive

Great Blue Heron walks away with snapping turtle in pursuit

Great Blue Heron decides to leave his problems behind

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Neon-colored grasshopper

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 31, 2012| 33 Comments »

I just got back from shooting and couldn’t wait to post a photo of one of the coolest looking insects that I have ever seen. It appears to be be part of the grasshopper family, but its bright colors and blue eyes really made it stand out as I was walking through the marsh at Huntley Meadows Park this morning. I’m sure I’ll be able to identify him eventually, but want to share him now. Sometimes folks need a little extra pick-me-up on Fridays.

UPDATE: I am pretty sure he is a Handsome Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum pulchellum). I found a photo in BugGuide that looks quite a bit like this one.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Pole-vaulting dragonfly

Posted in Bugs, Humor, Insects, Nature, Photography, Sports, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on August 31, 2012| 5 Comments »

I was going through my recent dragonfly photos and this one really caught my eye. Somehow the combination of the dragonfly’s position and the long branch with the slight curve together made me think of a pole vaulter just before he clears the bar. It’s a little unusual that I photograph a dragonfly from below with the sky as a backdrop, but that’s what happened that day.

Maybe he’s preparing for the Dragonfly Olympics! What other events do you think they would have? I’m pretty sure they’d have gymnastics, given the frequency with which I see dragonflies do handstands.

Pole-vaulting dragonfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Green and Blue Herons in the rain

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on August 30, 2012| 3 Comments »

I love to shoot in the rain. This past weekend the weather was threatening, but I went to Huntley Meadows Park anyway and was happy to see both a Great Blue heron and a green heron. It was already sprinkling a little when I started to take some photos of this little green heron and I had my umbrella out. I like the effect of the raindrops on the surface of the water. The light was interesting too and the heron cast a reddish, blurry reflection in the water.

Green heron in the rain

The weather started to worsen as I headed toward the location where I previously had seen a Great Blue heron. That area has a two-tiered observation area and I knew the lower level is partially sheltered from the rain. I arrived just in time as the rain started to come down really hard. The first photo of the Great Blue heron shows him standing in the water as the rain pours down. It didn’t seem to bother him at all. The quality of the photo is not that great (the light was bad and I upped the ISO), but I like the effect. The second photo shows the same area as the downpour is ending and the water appears as a very vivid green and looks almost tropical.

Great Blue heron in the driving rain

Great Blue heron as the rain tapers off

The rain may not be the time to take perfect photos, but I personally like the look that it gives to some of the photos that I shoot.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Yellow Garden Orbweaver with a Grasshopper

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 29, 2012| 11 Comments »

A few days ago I posted a photo of a Yellow Garden Orbweaver (Argiope aurantia) that I photographed at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, VA. I was strangely attracted to those spiders and returned the next day to see if I could get a few more shots.

Here is one of my favorite shots from that day. The spider looks to be gnawing on the leg of a grasshopper that has been wrapped up and seems to be a little dried out. The grasshopper actually looks like he has been battered and deep-fried, but that seems to be a bit over the top, even for a Southern spider. You can also see a little of the zigzag pattern of the web at the bottom of the photo that is typical of the webs of this kind of orbweaver.

Yellow Garden Orbweaver Spider and Grasshopper (click on the photo to see more details)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Ladybug summer love

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on August 29, 2012| 4 Comments »

Last week when I was at a local garden I came across several pairs of ladybugs mating and several things really stood out to me.

First, the male ladybug is a lot smaller than the female. An article at ladybuglady.com (a great name for a website) points out that females are “usually” larger than males, but essentially it’s almost impossible for the average person to tell them apart until they are mating. If you really want to know how to tell male ladybugs from females the referenced article has photos from an electron microscope with detailed explanations.

The other thing that was obvious was the difference in color and spots between the two. The male is a medium orange with a few small light black spots and the female is a deeper shade of red with larger, darker spots. Wikipedia notes that there are more than 5,000 species of ladybugs (which technically are beetles and not bugs), with more than 450 native to North America. According to that article, the number, shape, and size of the spots is dependent on the species of ladybug. Does that mean these two ladybugs are different species?

Bugguide has some interesting factoids about names used elsewhere in the world for the ladybug. For example, “Ladybird” was first used in medieval England, perhaps because these beneficial predators of agricultural pests were believed to be a gift from the Virgin Mary—the “Lady.” Other European names have similar associations, such as the German Marienkäfer, “Marybeetle.” (Thanks to Gary for pointing out the correct spelling in German—I inserted the Umlaut to make it correct.)

So I am left wondering, will the little ladybugs that result from this coupling look more like mom or like dad?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Eastern Amberwing dragonfly

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 28, 2012| 3 Comments »

I took this photo on an Eastern Amberwing dragonfly (Perithemis tenera)) about a week ago when I was shooting at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA with my good friend and photographic mentor, Cindy Dyer.

Cindy is always encouraging me to upgrade my photograph equipment. For comparison purposes, she put the Nikon D300 that she was using into my hands and had me shoot with  it for a few minutes. It was equipped with a Tamron 180mm macro lens that gave it a pretty impressive reach for the dragonflies that we were shooting. It’s interesting that I was able to use my Compact Flash memory card, which was formatted in my Canon, in her Nikon and the Canon photos and the Nikon photos peacefully coexisted in separate folders on the memory card.

I was especially happy that I got a decent shot of the Eastern Amberwing dragonfly. This type of dragonfly is very beautiful, but it’s very small and elusive. BugGuide notes that this dragonfly is normally about 21-24mm long (in case you’ve forgotten, 25.4mm is equal to an inch).

I’m probably going to remain a Canon guy, but I can definitely hear the Siren call of that 180mm macro lens, which comes in a Canon version too.

Eastern Amberwing dragonfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Yellow Garden Orbweaver Wraps Up Cicada

Posted in Bugs, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 27, 2012| 6 Comments »

This weekend a fellow photographer (Christy T.) pointed out some really interesting looking spiders while we were at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, VA. They were very colorful and big (at least they seemed really big, especially when looking through a telephoto lens). I had walked by the area where they were located (and there were probably at least ten of them), but had not noticed them until she prompted me to look more closely.

The spider (Argiope aurantia) goes by many different names including Black and Yellow Argiope, Yellow Garden Orbweaver, Writing Spider, and Yellow Garden Spider, according to BugGuide. These spiders had large webs with a very distinctive zigzag pattern in the center, which I learned from Wikipedia is called a stabilimentum. (I’m still going through my shots from yesterday when I returned to visit the spiders and may post a shot showing the zigzag pattern in a later post). Nobody seems to know for sure why they make that zigzag pattern, perhaps for camouflage or to attract prey.

One of the other really cool things about this spider is that it oscillates the web really vigorously when it feels threatened. My fellow photographer demonstrated this when she touched a web with a tripod’s leg (she did not want to get any closer). It was amazing to see the elasticity of the web as the spider moved—it reminded me of a slingshot being pulled back.

These spiders seem to catch some pretty big prey. There were grasshoppers in some of the webs and in the photo below the spider has captured a cicada. The Wikipedia article notes that the spider kills the prey by injecting its venom and then wraps it in a cocoon of silk for later consumption (typically 1–4 hours later). I think the spider in the photo may be in the process of wrapping up the cicada.

I continue to be amazed by the fascinating things that are in front of me that I have never seen before. It’s clear to me that my photographic journey is causing me to see the world differently, more attentively. That’s a good thing.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spotless Ladybug

Posted in Bugs, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on August 27, 2012| 6 Comments »

Who knew that the spots on a ladybug’s shell were water-soluble? That seems to be the case with this ladybug, who has only one remaining spot and a few drops of water, perhaps where other spots used to be.

Spotless ladybug–well almost spotless

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Patterned caterpillar

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on August 26, 2012| 8 Comments »

I love the graphic black-and-white pattern on this caterpillar that I photographed yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, VA. The monochromatic pattern is wonderfully accented by the orange tufts with long white bristles. In this case, I am not too concerned about identifying this caterpillar—I am simply enjoying its colors, textures, and patterns.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Great Blue Heron Catches a Great Big Fish

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 26, 2012| 7 Comments »

Rain was gently falling as I observed a Great Blue Heron at Huntley Meadows Park, a marshland in Alexandria, VA. I was surprised to see how the open water area had shrunk to just a small pool over the past couple of months, presumably because of the lack of rain.

Nonetheless, there was a heron in the middle of that pool, seemingly intent on catching a fish. I was not at all convinced that there were any fish in such a small body of water, but the heron soon proved me wrong. He extended his neck and made a strike into the water and came up with a fish. As he brought the fish out of the water, he opened his wings widely (as the second photo shows), perhaps to counterbalance the weight of the fish. The heron’s wingspan was definitely impressive. He kept his wings partially extended as he moved the fish around in his mouth (as you can see in the first photo) and then swallowed the fish whole.

My photos are not technically great, but they did capture the moment pretty well.  I am thankful that I once again had the privilege to watch such a beautiful creature in action.

Great Blue Heron positions fish prior to swallowing it

Great Blue Heron opens his wings as he pulls a fish out of the water

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Clouded Sulphur butterfly

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on August 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Here’s a shot from this past Monday of a Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA.

Clouded Sulphur butterfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Wading green heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 23, 2012| 1 Comment »

This past weekend I managed to get this shot of a green heron wading in a shallow stream. At that moment I don’t think he was yet aware of my presence.  I had an unobstructed view and the light was cooperative enough to make a nice reflection in the water. If you click on the image you can see some additional details of the green heron.

Wading green heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Comma or Question Mark?

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Humor, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 22, 2012| 8 Comments »

Back and forth I went as I tried to answer a simple question, “Comma or question mark?” You’re probably imagining that I was caught in some kind of punctuation dilemma, but that was not the case. No, I was not stuck in some special hell reserved for grammarians and editors, nor was I sweating out a standardized English test. Instead, I was trying to make a decision on the identity of this unusual looking butterfly that I encountered this past weekend.

Comma or Question Mark?

The colors of this butterfly almost perfectly matched the tree on which he was perched, facing downward in a way that almost perfectly camouflaged him. I rotated the image for the ease of viewers, hoping they will avoid the sore neck that I got as I turned my head trying to make out the details of the butterfly. In addition to the unusual color, the shape of this butterfly was pretty distinctive. What kind was he? As I was pondering that question, the butterfly—who had flown away and returned—opened his wings a little and I got a glimpse of the brilliant orange concealed inside his drab exterior.

A glimpse of orange

As he slowly opened his wings, more of more of the inside of his wings was revealed. The light shining through his wings made the colors glow like those of a back-lit stained glass window.

Back-lit wings

The butterfly flew away again, but amazingly returned once more and treated me to a full view of his open wings—his breathtaking beauty was revealed in full.

Beauty revealed

He sure was beautiful, but I wanted to know his name. Previously I had read about a butterfly called the Eastern Comma butterfly (Polygonia comma) and I had a vague recollection that he looked like this one. Wikipedia’s article on the Eastern Comma also helped explain why he was on a tree rather than some beautiful flower, like most of the butterflies that I have encountered. “This butterfly seldom visits flowers, but rather feeds on sap, rotting fruit, salts and minerals from puddling, and dung.”

I was still not sure of his identity, so I continued to search for clues. It turns out that there are two butterflies with similar shapes and colors. One is the Eastern Comma and the other is the Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis), really. I feel like I am in some kind of Abbott and Costello style routine akin to their famous “Who’s on first?” routine. (Here’s a You Tube link to the classic routine if you are not familiar with it. It is definitely worth watching.)

The key to distinguishing the two is the shape of the little white markings on the wings and whether the markings are in two parts or one. If you think back to punctuation, you can probably guess that the one in two parts is the question mark and the unitary one is the comma. The website Gardens With Wings has an article with side by side photos of the two butterflies in case I have confused you.

So, which one did I photograph? I think I saw at least two different butterflies, but the one in the initial two photos and the one below all seem to have the white marking in two parts, which make them Question Mark butterflies (Polygonia interrogationis).

Question Mark butterfly

To be honest, though, the marking looks more like a semicolon than a question mark. Why isn’t there a Semicolon Butterfly?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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