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Shoot with what you have

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Urban, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, Mimus polyglottos, mockingbird, Northern Mockingbird, Washington D.C., Washington DC on February 24, 2019| 6 Comments »

How long a lens do you need to photograph birds? Conventional wisdom dictates that you need a lens with a focal length of at least 300mm and ideally much longer than that. I generally use my Tamron 150-600mm lens when I anticipate shooting birds, especially small ones. If I want to get even closer, the zoom lens of my Canon SX50 has a field of view equivalent to 1200mm.

On Friday, I traveled into Washington D.C. to visit some friends using the Metro subway. I planned to walk a lot and I didn’t want to weigh myself down with all kinds of gear, so I put a 24-105mm lens on my DSLR. For those of you who are not technically oriented, this lens goes from mildly wide angle to mildly telephoto.

The camera and lens combination is less than ideal for photographing birds. I couldn’t help myself, however, when I spotted some birds in an urban park and decided to attempt to get some shots. My first attempt was with a Carolina Wren and it was a disaster—it was small and fast and so skittish that I could not get a decent shot.

Then I spied a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) perched on a bush in the distance. I took some initial shots and then slowly began to move forward. Eventually I was able to get to within about three feet (one meter) of the mockingbird and captured this image.

This incident served as a reminder not to limit myself to following conventional wisdom. It is definitely possible to take a good bird photo without a long telephoto lens. Why not take landscape photos with a long telephoto lens instead of a wide angle lens?

No matter what lens I have on my camera (or what camera I am using), I try to keep my eyes open for possible subjects. I will then try to capture those subjects as well as I can within whatever equipment I happen to have with me. It turns out that gear is often not the most critical element in making good images—simply being there is half the battle.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flowers in February

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, Winter, tagged Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, crocus, Dumbarton Oaks, forsythia, snowdrops, Washington D.C. on February 23, 2019| 5 Comments »

As I look out my window today, piles of snow from the snowstorm earlier this week remind me that winter is not yet over. I discovered, however, that some plants are already in bloom (or almost in bloom) yesterday during a visit to Dumbarton Oaks, a historic museum, research center, and garden in Washington DC.

I am definitely not an expert when it comes to flowers, but if I had to guess, I’d say that the flower in the first image is a crocus, those in the second image are snowdrops, and those in the final image are forsythias. Even in I am incorrect in my identification, it was a real joy to see some colors and signs of life after so many long gray days this winter.

I can’t wait for spring to arrive.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Mountain views in Germany

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged Bavaria, Canon SX50, Germany, mountains, Oberammergau, panorama on February 22, 2019| 17 Comments »

How do you capture the beauty of a landscape in a single shot? I shoot landscape shots so infrequently that I feel somewhat helpless when trying to do so. Normally they are kind of an afterthought, a second option when there is no wildlife around.

Last week in Germany, however, I was surrounded by mountains. I knew I had to get some shots of the mountains and I took a lot of them. As I reviewed them, though, not very many stood out. I decided to play around a bit and eventually came up with a couple of images that I really like. Both of them were taken from the destination point of the little cable car that I featured in an early posting.

The first image is one that I converted to black and white using an old version of Nik Silver Efex Pro software. The second shot is a panorama image that was stitched together from three separate handheld images using PhotoMerge in Photoshop Elements. The third image is the color version of the first image prior to using the conversion software.

It was a challenge for me to step out of my comfort zone and try a different kind of photography. In my experience, feeling uncomfortable is part of the learning process. This year I am going to consciously look for more opportunities to take landscape photos and see where that takes me.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Heron stepping carefully

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600, Woodbridge VA on February 21, 2019| 4 Comments »

I love the delicate and deliberate way that Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) place their large feet when walking in shallow water, like this heron that I spotted on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Pre-flight Checklist

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, eagle takeoff, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 20, 2019| 2 Comments »

It looks like Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) follow a pre-flight checklist before takeoff. They stretch their wings, crouch down and lean forward, and then they fully extend their wings and push off with their legs.

I spotted this eagle on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I had been observing it for quite a while when suddenly it looked like it was going to take off. I am not sure exactly what the signs were, but I correctly anticipated its actions and was able to capture this sequence of shots.

Most of the time birds take off so quickly that we don’t know exactly how they did it—one second they are in a tree and the next second they are in the air. It was nice to be able to get a sense of the process that a bird goes through as it takes off. As I have seen with ducks, however, the process varies by species and is probably affected by factors such as the weight of the bird and the length of their wings.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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American Tree Sparrow in February

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged American Tree Sparrow, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Spizella arborea, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 19, 2019| 9 Comments »

Do all sparrows look the same to you? I am definitely no bird expert, but I could immediately see that the sparrow that I spotted yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge was different from the ones that I am used to seeing. The first thing that I noticed was that it was lighter in color than the usual sparrows and that the cap on its head was red, rather than the typical brown.

When I returned home and looked at the images on my computer, I also noted the two-toned bill and the black spot in the middle of its chest. All of these characteristics made it relatively easy to identify it as an American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea). I could not remember if I had seen this species before, so I checked my blog postings and found that it has been more than five years since I last photographed one.

It is easy to dismiss commonplace subjects, like sparrows, as not worthy of your time and attention. If you do so, though, you will miss the chance to discover their beauty. Like people, birds are not merely members of their species—they are unique individuals. I recommend spending time with them and getting to know them better.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Acrophobic? Claustrophobic?

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged acrophobia, Bavaria, cable car, Canon SX50, claustrophobia, Germany, Laben Bergbahn, Oberammergau on February 18, 2019| 6 Comments »

I am glad that I have neither a fear of heights (acrophobia) nor of closed-in spaces (claustrophobia) or I might not have enjoyed my ride last week on the Laben Bergbahn, a small cable car in Oberammergau, Germany. The little gondola cars (I think that is what they are called) took us up a steep slope that rose from 900m to 1684 meters (2952 feet to 5525 ft). A plaque in the car says it holds 11 people, but they would have to be really little people for that to be true.

Halfway up the mountain, there was a stop, leaving the car swinging a little in the breeze. The sign in the second image below was of only minor comfort as we waited and waited to start moving again—it seemed like we were hanging there for a really long time.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Little birds in Germany

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Travel, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon SX50, Cyanistes caeruleus, Eurasian Blue Tit, Germany, Great Tit, Munich, Parus major on February 17, 2019| 3 Comments »

There were several groves of trees near the Munich airport hotel that I stayed in prior to my return flight to the United States. I figured there might be some birds to photograph and was happy when I spotted birds flitting about. They reminded me of chickadees, but were much more colorful.

I did a little research on-line and think that the bird in the first photo is a Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) and the one in the second image looks to be a Great Tit (Parus major). Apparently they are both pretty common, but they seem rare and exotic to me because they are not to be found in the area in which I live.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Eurasian Kestrel near Munich

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon SX50, Eurasian Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus, Germany, kestrel, Munich on February 16, 2019| 3 Comments »

I spotted this bird on Friday as I explored the area around my hotel near the airport in Munich, Germany. I am not sure of the exact name of the town, but it is one of many airport hotels that are in a relatively rural area adjacent to the airport.

I spotted the bird, which I was sure was some kind of a raptor, from a distance and was able to move a little closer to the mound on which it was perched. My initial thought was that it was some kind of hawk or falcon, but it was different from any of the ones that I have seen in my home area of Northern Virginia.

Thanks to the experts on a Facebook birding forum, I learned that this is a Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). It is somewhat similar to the American Kestrel, the smallest falcon that we have in North America, a species that I have seen a few times.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Jumping off of a mountain

Posted in Landscape, Nature, people, Photography, Sports, Travel, Winter, tagged Bavaria, Canon SX50, Germany, Laben Bergbahn, Oberammergau, paragliding on February 15, 2019| 14 Comments »

Yesterday I bought a round trip ticket on the Laben Bergbahn, a small mountain cable car in Oberammergau, Germany that took us quickly from 900m to 1684 meters. Some folks, however, bought a one-way ticket up the mountain and used an alternative mode of transportation to come down.

I am not sure if I am courageous or crazy enough to jump off a mountain like that and paraglide to the bottom.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Female Eurasian Blackbird

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bavaria, Canon SX50, Common Blackbird, Eurasian Blackbird, Germany, Oberammergau, Turdus merula on February 15, 2019| 1 Comment »

Blackbirds in Germany are more closely related to American Robins (Turdus migratorius)—both belong to the thrush family—than to Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), which belong to an entirely different bird family.

Here is a shot that I took earlier this week of a female Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) in Oberammergau, Germany. In many places this bird species is known as the Common Blackbird or simply as a blackbird. When I first spotted this bird, I was struck by two things. First, the shape of the body and bill reminded me immediately of a robin, even though the red-breast was not present. Secondly, the song that the bird was singing was melodious, unlike the sometimes grating calls of Red-winged Blackbirds.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Church in Oberammergau

Posted in Architecture, Language, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged Bavaria, Canon SX50, church, Germany, Oberammergau, Parish Church St. Peter and Paul on February 14, 2019| 3 Comments »

I couldn’t see the sun actually setting on Wednesday in Oberammergau, Germany, but there was a glow in the sky and behind the mountains that was particularly beautiful.

As I rushed around in the fading light, trying to get some shots, I decided to include the Parish Church St. Peter and Paul, one of the most prominent buildings in this small Bavarian village. A few hours later, I captured the second image with a long exposure made by leaning my camera on a parked car. I love the architectural style of the church and included a third image to give you a better sense of the entire church structure.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Not a chain hotel

Posted in Landscape, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged Alte Post Hotel, Bavaria, Canon SX50, Germany, Oberammergau on February 13, 2019| 6 Comments »

During most of my travel overseas, I stay at hotels operated by US chains, generally the Marriott. The accommodations are predictable, albeit a bit generic, no matter where I am in the world.

This week in Oberammergau, Germany, I am staying in the Alte Post Hotel, which is almost the antithesis of a hotel chain. It is old, unique, and charming.

According to information in the hotel, it was initially known as the Lion Inn and was first mentioned in chronicles in 1612. Merchants frequently stopped in as early as the 17th century. In 1851, the first postal station was opened at the inn. In 1864 the inn, minus the postal station was purchased and the new owner renamed it as the Alte Post (Old Post).

The hotel is a little quirky, but friendly, with lots of wood paneling, as seems to be the style in the region. The first photo below shows the front of the hotel. The second photo shows the view from my room that looks out onto the spectacular mountains.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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White-throated Dipper in Oberammergau

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Ammer River, Bavaria, Canon SX-50, Cinclus cinclus, dipper, European dipper, Germany, Oberammergau, White-throated Dipper on February 12, 2019| 5 Comments »

I spotted this White-throated Dipper (Cinculus cinclulus) on Sunday on the Ammer River in Oberammergau, Germany. This little bird, which is about 7 inches in length (18 cm) is also known as the European Dipper or simply a dipper.

Remarkably this bird walks on the stones on the bottom of a moving stream against the current, with its head downwards to locate prey, according to an article on oiseau-birds.com. According to this report, the current’s force against the bird’s bowed back keeps it on the river bed as it walks, propelled by wing movements. Of note, the White-throated Dipper is the national bird of Norway, according to Wikipedia.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Mountain view from Oberammergau

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Bavaria, Canon SX-50, Germany, mountains, Oberammergau on February 11, 2019| 6 Comments »

Here is a shot of some of the distant mountains that surrounded me on Sunday afternoon as I wandered about in Oberammergau, Germany. From this small Bavarian town, there are impressive mountain views in virtually all directions.

There was already a significant amount of snow on the mountains and we had almost 6 inches of additional snow on Monday. Unlike in the Washington D.C. area where I live, things functioned as normal with this snowfall, including a surprising number of people riding bicycles.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Merganser ducks in Oberammergau

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Ammer River, Bavaria, Canon SX50, common merganser, common merganser duck, Germany, Mergus merganser, Oberammergau on February 11, 2019| 7 Comments »

As I was exploring the Ammer River on Sunday afternoon, the day of my arrival in Germany, I spotted these two Common Merganser ducks (Mergus merganser). Initially they were sleeping with their heads tucked under their wings, but eventually they woke up and swam around a little and I was able to get some shots.

I am on a brief trip to Germany for work and am staying in the small Bavarian town on Oberammergau, in southern Germany. It is located in the mountains and at the moment has lots of snow. I did manage to get a few shots of the town and of the mountains on Sunday that I hope to feature later this week. Our work schedule looks to be pretty busy and I am not sure I will have the chance to get out again with my camera before I depart on Saturday.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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From a different perspective

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter on February 10, 2019| 6 Comments »

Most of my readers know that I love to photograph Bald Eagles. (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). When I am lucky enough to catch one in flight, it usually is just as the eagle is leaving the tree or when it is high in the sky. About two weeks ago, I manage to capture this eagle from a different perspective as it flew by at a relatively low level. It is not the sharpest image I have ever taken, but there is something about the outstretched wings and the glimpse of the head under the wings that I really like.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Duck Double Dating

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Hooded Merganser, hooded merganser couple, Kingstowne, Lophodytes cucullatus, Tamron 150-600mm on February 8, 2019| 2 Comments »

These Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) couples appeared to be on a double date when I spotted them earlier this week at a little suburban pond near where I live. It is now getting to be that time of the year when more and more birds are pairing off.

I took a lot of shots these ducks as they swam by and this is one of the few photos in which all four heads are visible and facing in the same direction. No matter whether you are photographing animals, birds, or people, it is always a challenge to take a group photograph in which all subjects have pleasing poses..

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bald Eagle in February

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 6, 2019| 6 Comments »

I watched and waited for an extended period of time yesterday as this Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) groomed itself in a tree overlooking one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I was pretty much in the open at the edge of the trail and did not dare to move forward for fear of spooking the eagle. Fortunately I had my camera and long telephoto zoom lens on a monopod, because I know from experience that I would not have been able to hold it pointed upwards for that long a period of time.

I tried to stay as alert and ready as I could, which can be quite a challenge after a while. Sometimes a bird will signal its intent to take off, but this eagle took off without a warning. Acting on instinct mostly, I managed to capture the first image when the eagle was just clearing the edge of the branches. In the second shot, I clipped off the edge of the wings, but decided to include it to give you an idea of the challenge of trying to track the speed a bird when it first takes off. The final image shows you what the eagle looked like when it was perched in the tree before the takeoff.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Puffy hawk

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Buteo lineatus, Canon 50D, hawk, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 5, 2019| 4 Comments »

This Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) was so puffed up early last Saturday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge trying to stay warm that I couldn’t even see its feet—it was about 18 degrees (minus 8 degrees C) when I captured the image. The hawk seemed to be hunched over a bit and it looks like some of its lower feathers were draped over its feet.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Reflected sunrise colors

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Canon SX50, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, reflected sunrise, sunrise, Tamron 150-600mm, winter sunrise, Woodbridge VA on February 4, 2019| 9 Comments »

The sun had risen before I reached the water at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Saturday morning, but there still was some color in the sky that was reflected by the ice along the shoreline, imparting blue and orange tinges to the ice.

In the second shot, I used the wide-angle capabilities of my Canon SX50 superzoom camera to give you an overall feel for the moment. As you can see, the sun was not yet very high in the sky and the clouds helped to direct the sun’s rays directly down onto the distant water, giving it a kind of shimmer. I am now accustomed to carrying both my DSLR and the SX50 to give me greater flexibility in capturing different situations.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Winter sunrise

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, sunrise, Tamron 150-600mm, winter sunrise, Woodbridge VA on February 3, 2019| 12 Comments »

The sun was rising as I pulled into Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge early yesterday morning. My view to the east was obstructed, but I did manage to capture this image of the fiery sun through the trees.

It was a fun challenge trying to choose settings for the camera that let me capture both the sun and the shapes of some of the individual trees. In some of my images, the trees became one dark indistinct mass, so I kept making adjustments as quickly as I could, because the sun seemed to be moving amazingly fast.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dragonfly in February

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Gardening, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dragonfly, dragonfly sprinkler, Runnymeade, Tamron 150-600mm on February 2, 2019| 7 Comments »

It will be a few more months until dragonflies reappear in our area, so for now I have to content myself with this one in my front yard that I photographed yesterday as the snow was gently falling. This metal dragonfly is part of a raised sprinkler that stands about three feet tall (about a meter).

I really like the way that the dragonfly has weathered and acquired various colors. I suppose I could talk of rust and tarnish, but I prefer to think of it as “patina.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Trying to stay warm

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, trying to stay warm, Woodbridge VA on February 1, 2019| 6 Comments »

It was not as bitterly cold on Monday as it is today, but this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) nonetheless seemed to be hunkered down at the edge of a pond as it sought to stay warm at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It almost looks like the heron is wrapped in a cloak of fluffed-up feathers with only a minimum amount of its body exposed to the elements.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Little Brown Creeper

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged brown creeper, Canon 50D, Certhia americana, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 30, 2019| 2 Comments »

Brown Creepers (Certhia americana) are tough to photograph as they spiral their way up tree trunks, so I was thrilled when I managed to get a mostly unobscured shot of one of these little birds on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

How small are Brown Creepers? According to information on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, Brown Creepers are 4.7 to 5.5 inches in length (12 to 14 cm) and weigh 0.2 to 0.3 ounces (5 to 10 grams). For the sake of comparison, the birds that I featured yesterday, Bald Eagles, are 27.9 to 37.8 inches in length (71 to 96 cm) and weigh 105.8 to 222.2 ounces (3000 to 6300 grams).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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How much did I crop?

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 29, 2019| 11 Comments »

How willing are you to show others your unedited images? When I first started getting more serious about taking photos six and a half years ago, I used to go out shooting with my mentor Cindy Dyer. When we were finished, we would immediately download my images and she would go through them with me.

It is a very humbling experience to let someone see all of your shots, but in doing so Cindy was able to see what I was attempting to do and how well I was succeeding in things like composition and camera settings. Her view was that I should try to get it as correct as I could in camera and not rely on software to fix my problems.

Earlier today I posted an image of a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in a blog posting that I titled Unexpected eagle. In response to the posting, Liz of Exploring Colour asked me how much I had cropped the image. I answered her verbally, but then realized it would be more effective to show her the uncropped image and then the cropped one that I used in this morning’s post.

I was shooting with a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm for this shot and that was what allowed me to fill so much of the frame with the eagle. It is very unusual for me to be able to get that close to an eagle without spooking it. When I am uncertain of the amount of time that I will have with a subject, I will usually use the center focus point of my camera and I think that is what I did here.

My DSLR is getting a bit long in the tooth and doesn’t have as many megapixels as some of the really new ones, which means I can’t crop as severely as some other photographers can without degrading the quality of my images. I have no objections to cropping, though I usually try to keep it as minimal as possible.

Bald Eagle

Uncropped image

bald eagle

Cropped image

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Unexpected eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 29, 2019| 10 Comments »

As I rounded a curve on a trail yesterday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I looked up and realized there was a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) right in front of me. I reacted pretty quickly and managed to capture this image before the eagle spotted me and flew away.

Most of the time when I have been in similar situations, the eagle has spotted me before I spotted him and reacted before I did. In this case, I suspect that the eagle was either distracted or was looking in another direction when I first came into view.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hoodie hairstyles

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, hairstyle, Hooded Merganser, Kingstowne, Lophodytes cucullatus, male Hooded Merganser, Tamron 150-600mm on January 28, 2019| 7 Comments »

With most birds the shape of their heads is a constant, but with Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus), the shape can be wildly variable. I am not really sure how of the bird’s anatomy, but the “hood” appears to be pretty floppy, creating the effect of multiple “hairstyles.” Here are a few of the styles that a male Hooded Merganser was sporting during a brief period last week at a local suburban pond.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Breaking the ice with a gull

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, breaking the ice, Canon 50D, Kingstowne, Larus delawarensis, on thin ice, Ring-billed Gull, Tamron 150-600mm on January 27, 2019| 12 Comments »

There was a sheet of ice in the center of the pond, but I had no idea how thin it was until a Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) that I was watching fell through the ice. I captured this little series of shots as the gull scrambled to regain its footing. Undeterred by its brief contact with the frigid water, the gull continued its solitary march across the ice, although it did seem to move a bit more slowly and cautiously.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Drying off

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Hooded Merganser, Kingstowne, Lophodytes cucullatus, male Hooded Merganser, Tamron 150-600mm on January 26, 2019| 7 Comments »

How would you dry off after a bath without a towel or a blow dryer? You might have to try the approach of this male Hooded Merganser duck (Lophodytes cucullatus), who rose out of the water and flapped his wings to dry off and fluff his feathers. Afterwards, the little duck spent a considerable amount of time adjusting the feathers with his bill, presumably to maximize their insulation value on a cold winter day.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Ring-necked duck in January

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Aythya collaris, Canon 50D, Kingstowne, male ring-necked duck, Ring-necked duck, Tamron 150-600mm on January 25, 2019| 4 Comments »

The blue and gray colors of this male Ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris) seemed to be a perfect match for the cool tones of the icy waters of the suburban pond where I spotted him earlier this week. All of those cool colors also really make the warm yellow of his eyes stand out.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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