December 23, 2015 by Mike Powell
For a few magical moments, the early morning sky was awash with delicate shades of pink and blue. I hurriedly tried to capture that ephemeral beauty. Then suddenly the color was gone.
Yet somehow the magic remained. There is something really special about taking photos just after dawn—the colors are rich and saturated and the water is often incredibly still.
I captured this tranquil moment with a male Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) early on Monday at Huntley Meadows Park. at about 7:30, not long after the color had faded away.
I love the stillness of the early morning.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Anas clypeata, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Shoveler, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 2 Comments »
December 22, 2015 by Mike Powell
The sky was overcast yesterday morning, the day of the Winter Solstice, but my spirits soared when I caught sight of a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) high in the air over Huntley Meadows Park.
I was thrilled to be able to capture a sequence of shots that shows the eagle initially coming right at me and then gradually circling to a position that gave me a side view.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter | Tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron, winter solstice | 9 Comments »
December 21, 2015 by Mike Powell
Do you enter photo contests? I like to say that I shoot for myself, but I suspect that is not the whole truth. I know that I also derive pleasure from sharing my thoughts and my images with others. There is something really gratifying and uplifting about feedback that suggests that I have touched someone else in some small way, that I have caused them to stop for a moment to consider the beauty that surrounds us.
Several months ago I saw a notice that the Friends of Huntley Meadows Park organization was sponsoring a photo competition. Regular readers of this blog know that Huntley Meadows Park, a Fairfax County-run marshland area, has become my favorite place to photograph a wide variety of wildlife subjects and I post my photos regularly to a Facebook page for the park. The only stipulation for this contest was that the photos had to have been taken at the park.
Sure, I have taken a lot of photos in the park, but were they good enough? I had never before entered a photo competition, and I guess I sometimes feel a little insecure about my photography. The competition required me to submit matted prints and I hadn’t for the most part seen my work in printed form.
I decided that if there were ever a competition ideally suited for me, this was the one. My mentor, friend, and fellow photographer Cindy Dyer helped me to prepare my prints. I submitted four prints, the maximum number that I was permitted to enter. (I’ll probably do a post soon with the four entries, so that you can decide which one you like best.)
A reception was held last week to open the photo exhibition and announce the winners. I was in Vienna at the time, so I learned from a friend that I took second place in the competition with a macro shot of a Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum ambiguum) that I titled “Baby’s Got Blue Eyes.”
One of the coolest parts of the competition is that the judge shared his/her comments about the winning entries, including the following assessment of my image (check out the Facebook page of the Friends of Huntley Meadows Park for more details on the competition):
“The contrast of colors is stunning, with the iridescent blues, greens, and reds of the dragonfly beautifully contrasted with the earth-tone browns and grays of the leaves behind. The use of narrow focus of this macro photo is done perfectly, bringing the eye and wing of the dragonfly into sharp focus that stands out from the pleasantly soft focus background. It gives the photo a great three dimensional effect. The composition is also compelling.”
Wow! I was worried when I heard that we probably had only a single judge for the contest, but if that was indeed the case, the judge really “got” what I was trying to achieve with the image. In some ways, I was surprised at the result. Insects have a kind of niche audience—some people just don’t like insects—and macro subjects sometimes have trouble competing head-to-head with stop-action wildlife shots.
My biggest takeaway from this competition, though, has nothing to do with the competition itself. I’ve learned that there is something really special about seeing my photos printed. The images look good on the computer screen, but it is much more exciting to be able to show someone a print, knowing that I have created that image.
As I think about this coming year, I see myself having a whole lot more of my images printed and maybe even having to courage to enter additional contests.
Baby’s Got Blue Eyes
At the exhibition. (Photo by Cindy Dyer)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 32 Comments »
December 20, 2015 by Mike Powell
As I was trekking about at Huntley Meadows Park on Saturday, I was thrilled to spot this Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), a species that don’t see very often at the park. Normally when I do see one, it is buried in the branches or is far away, but this bird posed for a moment on a branch and I was able to get an unobstructed shot of it. The Cedar Waxwing was in the shade, but its silhouette is unmistakable and I could identify it immediately.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Bombycilla cedrorum, Canon 50D, Cedar Waxwing, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 12 Comments »
December 19, 2015 by Mike Powell
After a week and a half overseas in an urban environment, it was nice Friday to get back to the wildlife of Huntley Meadows Park, where I saw this Northern Shoveler couple preparing to make a landing.
I accidentally spooked the Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata) when I was approaching the area in which they were foraging for food. I first caught sight of them when they took to the air. Although they flew only a short distance away, I was able to react quickly enough to track them and get a few in-flight shots that show their beautiful coloration.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Anas clypeata, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Shoveler, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 9 Comments »
December 18, 2015 by Mike Powell
As I was walking along the Danube Canal in Vienna, a small yellow boat caught my eye. Bright colors, of course, almost always attract our attention, but there is something that I really like about the way that this boat fits into its surroundings.
You can see some of the graffiti that I have featured in recent postings, as well as some undecorated areas of the walls that separate the higher street level from the much lower canal. I am not sure what that yellow structure is used for, but it is an almost perfect color match for the boat. Initially I was disappointed when I saw that there was a cyclist entering into the frame in the upper left, but I changed my mind and now think it adds some additional interest to the shot.
This is not an image that would be easily associated with Vienna, but I like the “artsy” feel of the urban landscape that I was able to capture.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban | Tagged boat, Canon A620, Danube Canal, Vienna, Vienna Austria, yellow boat | 4 Comments »
December 17, 2015 by Mike Powell
Vienna, Austria is a traditional old world city in many ways, but it has its quirky elements too. Here are a few of them that I spotted during my most recent trip.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Photography, Travel, Urban | Tagged Canon A620, Vienna, Vienna Austria | 10 Comments »
December 16, 2015 by Mike Powell
The lights at the Christmas Market at the Rathaus (City Hall) in Vienna, Austria really put me in the mood for Christmas. I’m finishing up my work in Vienna and will be back in Northern Virginia in a couple of days.
Merry Christmas (in German)
Vienna Christmas Market
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Christmas, Photography, Travel | Tagged Canon A620, Christmas, Christmas 2015, Christmas market, Rathaus, Vienna, Vienna Austria | 3 Comments »
December 14, 2015 by Mike Powell
At this time of the year there are Christmas markets all over Vienna. One of the largest and busiest is located in the square in front of the Rathhaus (City Hall), an elaborate building in the center of the city.
Most of the times that I have visited this market in the past have been at night. Each time I had to fight my way through jostling crowds of people as I was overwhelmed by the sights and smells of the market.
Last week, I had the chance to walk through the market early in the day before it had opened. I noticed there there were statues overlooking the market booths. The statues, which I suspect are historical figures, are probably permanently in place. I’m sure that it was my imagination, but the statues seemed to be making an assessment of activity that was taking place below their feet.
I love the look of the Rathaus and am also including a few views of this wonderful piece of architecture.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Architecture, Christmas, Photography, Travel | Tagged Canon A620, Christmas, Christmas 2015, Christmas market, Rathaus, Vienna, Vienna Austria | 4 Comments »
December 14, 2015 by Mike Powell
Where do you find wildlife when you are in an urban area like Vienna, Austria, which I am visiting for work this week? I had some free time this past weekend and I took a long walk along the Donaukanal (Danube Canal). The natural landscape along the canal was not very inspiring, but I couldn’t help but notice the colorful graffiti everywhere. Much of this “art” was poorly done and consisted on tags that had been crudely executed by some individual or group, sometimes defacing a much more beautiful piece.
I came across several wildlife-themed pieces that were really well done that I wanted to share. Some of the wildlife depicted is realistic, while other creatures are more fanciful.
Osprey
Osprey close-up
Owl
Graceful bird
Fox
Tiger
Imaginary bird
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Nature, Photography, Travel, Urban, wildlife | Tagged Canon A620, graffiti, Vienna, Vienna Austria, wildlife art, wildlife graffiti | 8 Comments »
December 13, 2015 by Mike Powell
Woodpeckers are so energetic that it is rare for me to spot one that is not in constant motion. Recently, however, I was fortunate to spot a Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) that seemed to be taking a break from its normal activities.
The woodpecker was relaxing on an exposed tree in the sunlight on a beautiful late autumn day. The red color of its head was even more spectacular than usual. Amazingly the woodpecker did not fly away immediately when I began to take some photos and actually changed its position a few times, almost like it was posing for me.
I hope that I have not oversaturated my readers with woodpecker shots, but I just love the attitude and look of these beautiful birds, especially the spectacular Red-headed Woodpecker.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red-headed Woodpecker, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 3 Comments »
December 12, 2015 by Mike Powell
Several years ago when I first started taking photos of birds, I remember how excited I was when I photographed a woodpecker that looked like this one. It had red on its head, so surely, I thought, it was a Red-headed Woodpecker. Oh, how naive I was back then about the complexities of identifying birds.
Sometimes with age comes a bit of wisdom. I am now pretty confident in identifying this bird as a Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus), though I must confess that I have never seen a single spot of red on the belly of a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
Like the Red-headed Woodpecker that I featured yesterday, the Red-bellied Woodpecker gathers and stores acorns for later use. As one of my readers pointed out in a comment on a previous posting, it is a mystery how the woodpecker remembers where it has stored the acorns and how it keeps other creatures from stealing its ‘treasures.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Melanerpes carolinus, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 6 Comments »
December 11, 2015 by Mike Powell
As winter approaches, squirrels are not the only creatures gathering and storing acorns. Red-headed woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) also cache acorns in crevices of trees for consumption at a later point in time. Recently these beautiful birds seemed really busy and I was happy to capture some photos of one of them in action.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, gathering acorns, Huntley Meadows Park, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red-headed Woodpecker, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 8 Comments »
December 10, 2015 by Mike Powell
When you don’t have a bird in the hand, sometimes you just have to make do with a bird in the bush.
Despite their bright color, male Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are surprisingly hard to photograph. They like to dive into the deepest part of the bushes and forage there most of the time. Sometimes it sounds like they are taunting me.
This cardinal showed his face in the for a moment and I was able to get a mostly unobstructed shot of this beautiful bird, whose bright red color always reminds me of Christmas.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cardinalis cardinalis, Huntley Meadows Park, male Northern Cardinal, Northern cardinal, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 4 Comments »
December 9, 2015 by Mike Powell
“You don’t look at all like your profile photo,” said one flamboyant duck to the other during the awkward first moments of a meet-up arranged through the internet dating site quack.com. Duck dating has moved into the 21st century.
For the record, the duck on the left is a male Green-winged Teal (Anas carolinensis) and the one on the right a male Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata).
I welcome other suggestions for a caption for this photo as well as general wise quacks.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Anas carolinensis, Anas clypeata, Canon 50D, Green-winged teal, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Shoveler, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 9 Comments »
December 8, 2015 by Mike Powell
As I was wandering about yesterday in a remote area of my favorite park, the sharp eyes of a younger fellow photographer permitted him to spot a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in a distant tree. The eagle’s even keener vision meant that it spotted us too and shortly thereafter departed.
In a shot of the eagle flying away, I noticed that the eagle seems to be carrying something. However, when I zoomed in on the next shot I took, in which I managed to cut off the eagle’s wings, it looks like the eagle’s left foot is dark and withered and is very different from the yellow right foot.
Am I seeing things? Is this an injury or merely an optical illusion?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, injured Bald Eagle, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 12 Comments »
December 7, 2015 by Mike Powell
As we move toward winter, the natural landscape seems increasingly drab. Flashes of bright colors are particularly welcome now, like this American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) that I spotted this past weekend foraging in one of the fields at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, American Goldfinch, Canon 50D, Carduelis tristis, goldfinch, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 11 Comments »
December 6, 2015 by Mike Powell
Its body was in the shadows, so I couldn’t see its belly, but I am pretty confident that this beautiful bird that I saw on Friday at Huntley Meadows Park is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), a species of woodpecker that I rarely see.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Sphyrapicus varius, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 9 Comments »
December 5, 2015 by Mike Powell
Why was the juvenile hawk perched on the ground? When I first caught sight of the flapping wings in the shadows beneath the trees, I assumed that the hawk had just captured a prey. However, there was no prey to be seen and the hawk just said there for what seemed to be a few minutes, looking from side to side.
I tried to be as stealthy as I could as I moved forward a little, but the hawk apparently sensed my presence and took to the air. I was surprised that it simply flew to a nearby tree and perched there. The light was a little better and I could see the hawk more clearly than when it was on the ground. There were, however, a lot of little branches, so it was not possible to get a completely unobstructed shot.
After a little while, the hawk flew to a more distant tree and I lost sight of it. I moved slowly in the direction that it had flown, scanning the trees. I finally spotted the hawk when I was almost directly below it. I got this shot of the hawk staring down at me before it flew off one final time. I guess the hawk decided that the portrait session was over.
I think that this might be a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), but I am not at all certain about my identification. Adult hawks challenge my identification skills and juveniles frustrate me even more.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Buteo lineatus, Canon 50D, hawk, Huntley Meadows Park, juvenile hawk, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 16 Comments »
December 4, 2015 by Mike Powell
How do you capture a sense of motion in an image? One of my favorite methods, panning, involves tracking a moving subject with the camera set at a slow shutter speed. The results can be a bit unpredictable, but are usually fun, like these images of a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) coming in for a landing this past weekend.
In this case, the shutter speed ended up being 1/60 of a second. I was shooting in aperture priority, but knew that the shutter speed would be slow, because of the limited light early in the morning. With my telephoto zoom extended to about 550mm, I concentrated on trying to do a smooth pan handheld. My biggest challenge turned out to be keeping the goose centered in the frame.
None of these images are perfect, which is typical of most of my panning efforts, but there are elements of each of them that I really like. Photos like these remind me that it’s ok sometimes to have photos that are not perfectly in focus.
If you haven’t tried this technique, I highly recommend it, especially if you like “artsy” images.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, Huntley Meadows Park, panning, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 11 Comments »
December 3, 2015 by Mike Powell
I can’t help but smile every time that I see the outrageously elongated black bill of the male Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)—the duck looks like a cartoon character that could have been designed by Disney.
This is the time of year when migrating ducks are passing through our area and it is always exciting to check out the ponds at my favorite park to see what ducks have dropped in. I spotted the Northern Shoveler and its mate this past weekend and spent a pretty good amount of time trying to get a shot in which the duck’s long bill was not submerged in the water.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the bill of the Northern Shoveler is about 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) long and has about 110 fine projections (called lamellae) along the edges for straining food from water.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Anas clypeata, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Shoveler, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 3 Comments »
December 2, 2015 by Mike Powell
The sun was just coming up, illuminating the clouds with soft light and color, when a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) flew slowly across the sky, ready to start his day at another location.
It was a magical beginning to a beautiful day.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 14 Comments »
December 1, 2015 by Mike Powell
Facebook reminded me earlier today that exactly two years ago I posted a photo of a Red-headed Woodpecker and as soon as I saw it, I realized that it is an almost perfect companion to the photo that I posted yesterday. Yesterday’s image showed the flight feathers of a Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) from underneath and the earlier image shows them from above.
Here is the posting in its entirety from December 1, 2013:
I suspect that I may qualify as a stalker, because I spent over thirty minutes on Friday sitting on a fallen tree, observing every movement of a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) high in the oak trees.
The small branches and the shadows made it almost impossible to get a clear shot of the little bird, but they did not keep me from trying. I was really fortunate to get this shot of the woodpecker as it took off from one of its perches with an acorn in its mouth and gave me a glimpse of its beautifully-patterned wings. As I understand it, when the Red-Headed Woodpecker becomes an adult, its wings will be pure black and white, so I am glad that I was able to get the shot of the black dots.
After I posted this photo, I noticed that there is a least one acorn jammed into a crack in the bark just above the top edge of the bird’s tail, mostly likely a snack that it has cached for future consumption.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red-headed Woodpecker, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, woodpecker | 5 Comments »
December 1, 2015 by Mike Powell
On a cold and intermittently rainy day yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park, most of the birds seemed content to hunker down in the trees. I had arrived in the park before sunrise, hoping that the weather would improve, but when the mist turned into a light rain and then grew heavier, I decided to call it quits early.
I had just opened the door of my car when a birdwatcher asked me if I was interested in seeing an owl. Of course I said yes. We walked together a short distance and the birder pointed through the trees at a cedar tree and told me that the owl was about six feet from the top of the tree. I could see the cedar tree, but could not spot the owl—all I could see was a tangle of branches.
Finally the birder decided that the best way to show me was to take a shot with my camera. When I saw the image, I had a better idea where to look. Then my battery died. The rain was coming down as I rummaged through my camera bag for a spare battery. I knew where to look, but still couldn’t really see the owl when I took my first shots, but the owl was in the frame, albeit in the corner, and I was able to make some adjustments.
Eventually I did get some shots of the Barred Owl (Strix varia). None of them are really sharp, but the soft focus, although not intentional, is in keeping with the feeling of the moment and seem altogether appropriate for a rainy day owl.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Barred Owl, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, owl, Strix varia, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 16 Comments »
November 30, 2015 by Mike Powell
The sky was heavily overcast on Saturday as I focused on a Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) high in a broken-off tree at Huntley Meadows Park. The woodpecker was mostly in the shadows and I was having real troubles getting a clear shot of it. Then I got lucky.
The woodpecker flew off and then immediately returned to the same spot and I managed to press the shutter at just the right moment to capture the bird in flight.
I love the way the jagged edges of the tree mirror the shapes of the wings of the woodpecker, giving this image an almost abstract quality. The almost monochromatic color palette and simple composition enhance that abstract feel for me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged abstract bird portrait, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red-headed Woodpecker, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 17 Comments »
November 29, 2015 by Mike Powell
Can you spot perched birds at a distance or do you need them to move in order for you to see them? Generally I need some movement for me to pick them out and it has been sometimes frustrating in the past not to be able to see birds that are almost right in front of me.
Yesterday morning, however, I managed to spot a Juvenile Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that was perched in a distant tree. Actually, I didn’t know initially that it was a Bald Eagle and I wasn’t even sure that it was a bird. I was scanning the trees on the other side of a small pond with my telephoto zoom lens extended to 600mm when I noticed a dark shape among the branches. I took a quick shot and zoomed in on the screen on my camera and was thrilled to see that it was some kind of raptor. This shot gives you an idea of what I was seeing.
It was early morning and there were a lot of clouds, but periodically the sun would break through and illuminate the scene. I made a few adjustments to my camera and, of course, that is when the eagle took off. The eagle initially flew in the direction it is facing and my shots became a hopeless mess of branches that were in focus and an eagle that was not in focus.
Suddenly the eagle began to change directions and gradually started to head back in my direction, flying a bit closer to me. I was finally able to get some in-flight shots that are pretty much in focus, although they did require some cropping.
As the eagle flew away, I was able to get this final shot. The eagle’s face is mostly hidden, but there is something that I really like about the wing position and details and the way that some of the clouds are visible in the sky.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Ca, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, juvenile Bald Eagle, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 8 Comments »
November 28, 2015 by Mike Powell
I heard the now familiar call of a Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) and saw a flash of white as a bird flew to a new perch high in the trees. I maneuvered about trying to get a clear visual pathway to the bird and managed to get a few shots before the bird flew away.
A moment of confusion came upon me when I looked at the photos, because my Red-headed Woodpecker did not have a red head. Was I wrong in my initial identification? The wing pattern was certainly right for a Red-headed Woodpecker and I could see some small patched on red on the mostly brown head. Only then did I realize that this was almost certainly a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker that had not yet transitioned to the trademark identifying feature of this species.
I’m including a couple of shots of the juvenile along with a shot of an adult that I took of an adult Red-headed Woodpecker earlier in the week, in case some readers are not familiar with the beautiful species of woodpecker.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red-headed Woodpecker, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 6 Comments »
November 27, 2015 by Mike Powell
Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies, the sole survivors at this time of the year, are very friendly and it’s not unusual for them to perch on you. It took some contortions, but I managed to get these shots recently of an Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum) perched on my arm and my leg.
The first shot, in which the dragonfly was perched on my arm between my elbow and my wrist, was particularly challenging, because I had to shoot it one-handed. My Canon 50D and Tamron 180mm macro lens together weigh close to 4 pounds (1800 grams), so it was a little tough to hold steady. Additionally, the lens has a minimum focusing distance of 18 inches (470 mm), so I had to slowly stretch out the arm to gain the needed distance for the shot. By comparison, the second shot, in which the dragonfly was on my leg, was easier to shoot and I was able to capture the dragonfly’s entire body.
With a little luck, I’ll continue to see these pretty little dragonflies for a few more weeks, and then I’ll turn my attention to birds (and hopefully the occasional mammal).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 5 Comments »
November 26, 2015 by Mike Powell
I’ve finally made my way through all the photos that I took of my recent encounter with a Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia and found some more good ones to post. My dear friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer helped me to select these and to get them ready for printing.
There is a photo contest at the park and the entry deadline is tomorrow, so we were scrambling to get a fox image ready to submit. There is a limit of four photographs per photographer and I’m pretty sure that the first one below is the fox photo that I will enter, along with photos of a bluebird, an eagle, and a dragonfly. This is the first time I’ve ever printed any of my photos bigger than snapshot size—the submission images will be 11 inches by 14 inches (29 x 36 cm) matted to 16 inches by 20 inches (41 x 51 cm)—and the first time that I have entered a contest.
If you haven’t seen my previous posting with photos of this session with the fox, check out Fox at water’s edge and Fox at water’s edge—part two.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, fox, Huntley Meadows Park, red fox, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Vulpes vulpes | 22 Comments »
November 25, 2015 by Mike Powell
Where do birds spend their nights? I was surprised one recent early morning to see a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) perched on a fallen tree not very far above water level. Why was the kingfisher there?
I am pretty sure the kingfisher wasn’t hunting—there wasn’t enough elevation for a dive. I wonder if it had spent the night there. Maybe the kingfisher has a fear of heights, which would be a terrible occupational hazard. Perhaps the kingfisher simply wanted to check out the scenery from a different perspective.
Whatever the reason for the unusual perch, it was nice to get a clear look at a Belted Kingfisher, even if it was from a long way off.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Belted Kingfisher, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 10 Comments »
November 24, 2015 by Mike Powell
In the quiet of the early morning I often will stand at the water’s edge, watching and waiting to see if any animals will emerge from the woods to get a drink of water. Sometimes my patience is rewarded.
On this occasion, two White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) appeared. One of them kept its back to me most of the time and I was unable to get a clear shot of it. The other deer was a bit more cooperative and I manage to get some shots of it as it drank and then walked about a little bit before fading back into the woods.
Deer always seem so gentle and beautiful—a perfect match for the soft early morning light.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, deer, Huntley Meadows Park, Odocoileus virginianus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, white-tailed deer | 4 Comments »
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