November 21, 2023 by Mike Powell
We have reached the point of the season when the only dragonflies remaining are the hardy Autumn Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum). I try to photograph every one that I see, knowing that it could be the last one that I spot for the year. In past years I have sometime seen Autumn Meadowhawks in December, but their continued presence is dependent on a number of factors, including the weather.
I photographed this Autumn Meadowhawk last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Northern Virginia—it was one of a half-dozen or so that I spotted that day. The little dragonfly appeared to be staring right at me with a mixture of curiosity and defiance. The dragonfly was perched on a log and I was happy to capture some of the texture of the wood along with a bit of autumn color in the background.
I will continue to keep an eye out for these little red dragonflies, knowing full well that their time is rapidly coming to an end.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 1 Comment »
November 20, 2023 by Mike Powell
The days are growing cooler, but when the sun is shining brightly, turtles will still come up from the bottom of the ponds to bask, like this Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) that I spotted last Friday on a log at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. One of its comrades was lounging nearby with just its head stuck out of the mucky surface of the water.
Neither of these two images is incredible, but I really like the small details that I was able to capture, like the claws on the turtle’s feet in first photo and the bubbles on the water in the second shot. I think that life is often like that—there is amazing beauty in the most mundane, everyday moments if we can manage to look closely enough.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, turtle, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Chrysemys picta, Eastern Painted Turtle, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, painted turtle, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 1 Comment »
November 19, 2023 by Mike Powell
White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) are one of my favorite winter birds. During autumn they migrate into my area in great numbers and spend the winter with us.
Sometimes I complain that I have trouble identifying sparrows, but this is a species that I can reliably identify, thanks to the bright yellow lores (i.e. the area between the eyes and bills) and the white throat patch that always makes me think of Santa Claus.
Like many other sparrows, White-throated Sparrows like to forage deep in the bushes and the underbrush, so it is tough to get an unobstructed shot of one. As you can see in both of these photos, my view of the sparrow was partially blocked, but I was able to find a visual tunnel that let me get a good shot the head and most of the body of this beautiful little bird.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, sparrow, Tamron 150-600mm, white-throated sparrow, Woodbridge VA, Zonotrichia albicollis | 3 Comments »
November 18, 2023 by Mike Powell
It has been quite a while since I have seen any dragonflies other than Autumn Meadowhawks, so I was thrilled yesterday (17 November) when I spotted this Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) patrolling over a field at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I watched and waited for a long time and the dragonfly finally landed for a moment.
I captured the image below with my Tamron 150-600mm telephoto zoom lens extended all the way to 600mm on my Canon 7D DSLR. The dragonfly was perched only a few inches above the ground, so I had to crouch down quite low to get this shot. Although I had my camera on a monopod, it was tough to get into a steady shooting position and I had to focus manually, because my camera’s autofocus kept locking onto the vegetation. I took lots of photos and happily a few of them were in focus and were relatively sharp.
Wandering Gliders are a migratory species and are considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the planet, with good population on every continent except Antarctica. According to Wikipedia, Wandering Gliders, also known as Globe Skimmers, “make an annual multigenerational journey of some 18,000 km (about 11,200 miles); to complete the migration, individual globe skimmers fly more than 6,000 km (3,730 miles)—one of the farthest known migrations of all insect species.” Wow!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Wandering Glider, Wandering Glider dragonfly, Woodbridge VA | 1 Comment »
November 17, 2023 by Mike Powell
When I was growing up in New England, American Robins (Turdus migratorius) were always viewed as a harbinger of spring. I don’t know if American Robins migrated out of our area and returned in the spring, but I do recall that seeing one of them foraging on a lawn meant that spring was on the way.
Here in Northern Virginia where I have lived for thirty years now, I have grown accustomed to seeing American Robins throughout almost the entire year. It gets cold enough here that the ground freezes most years, so I suspect that the robins have to adapt their diets to other food sources—I have a mental picture of robins pulling worms out of the ground and that would not be possible during the winter.
I spotted this American Robin last Thursday almost hidden in the vegetation at Huntley Meadows Park. I suspect that it is either a female or an immature male, given the rather pale coloration and the white patches of feathers on the belly.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, American robin, Canon 7D, Huntley Meadows Park, robin, Tamron 150-600mm, Turdus migratorius | 4 Comments »
November 16, 2023 by Mike Powell
Some days it seems like most of the birds are hiding from me, but I can usually count on seeing at least a few sparrows. Last Thursday I spotted this little sparrow, which I am pretty sure is a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), perched in the reeds at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
I still have a bit of trouble with identifying some sparrow species, but I am getting better at looking closely at the facial markings and other identifying features that help me to distinguish one species from another. Some experienced birders can identify birds by their calls, but with a few notable exceptions I am not at that level.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Melospiza melodia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, song sparrow, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 7 Comments »
November 15, 2023 by Mike Powell
There were few insects flying last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, so I was a bit surprised to encounter several Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) butterflies. The body color of this butterfly is pretty drab, but its markings are stunning in their beauty—I especially love its multi-colored eyespots. Wow!
I do not think that Common Buckeye butterflies overwinter in my area as adults, so I wonder if the butterflies that I observed are in the process of migrating southward. If not, then they are appearing on the scene quite late in the season, when we have already had several frosty nights. Perhaps they will hang around for a little while longer—I will keep an eye out for them on my next trips to my favorite local wildlife refuge.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 3 Comments »
November 14, 2023 by Mike Powell
I can’t totally exclude the possibility that I may see a hardy survivor of another species, but it is beginning to look like Autumn Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum) are the sole remaining dragonfly species. Last week I spotted quite a few of them during a visit to Huntley Meadows Park, a county-owned marshland not far from where I live.
I tried to capture images of these bright red beauties in as many different environments as I could. Autumn Meadowhawks often perch on the ground, which does not provide a very interesting background, as you can see in the final photo. It is much more interesting if they perch on fallen leaves, or even better if they choose a more elevated perch.
The photos below give you an idea of how I try to “work” a subject. I try to shooting from different angles and distances. When possible, I try to selectively include or exclude background elements by choosing the appropriate camera settings, as you can see in the fourth photo, where I caused the background to be totally out of focus. Paying attention to the direction of the light really helps too, as you can see particularly in the second image in which the light is so directional that it almost looks like a studio portrait.
Autumn Meadowhawks will probably be around for another few weeks or maybe a month or so, depending in part on the severity of the local weather. At that point, I will rekuctantly turn my focus to birds, landscapes, and other non-insect subjects. I also hope to devote a bit more attention to learning more about creating videos—I have a modest YouTube channel that I have allowed to languish this past year.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, autumn colors, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 150-600mm | 2 Comments »
November 13, 2023 by Mike Powell
Most of the insects are gone by now, so I was a bit shocked to spot this Sleepy Orange butterfly (Eurema nicippe) last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. When I first saw it, I assumed that it was a Clouded Sulphur butterfly, a species that I photographed a few weeks ago. Upon examining my shot on my computer screen, I realized that it was an unfamiliar species, and a friend of mine who is more of an expert on butterflies helped to identify the butterfly for me.
I really like the way that the bright color of the inside of the butterfly contrasts with the brown tones of the dried leaves on which the butterfly was perched.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Eurema nicippe, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sleepy Orange, Sleepy Orange butterfly, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 3 Comments »
November 12, 2023 by Mike Powell
How do you photograph a flock of birds? This past Thursday I visited Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and observed (and heard) that a sizable flock of European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) was moving about in a large expanse of trees. I attempted to photograph clusters of starlings, but as you can see in the final photograph, many of the birds were hidden or shaded by the foliage or were looking away from me.
I decided that a better approach was to concentrate my efforts on getting shots of individual starlings. The first image is one of my favorites from my session with the starlings. The texture of the photogenic snag adds to the visual interest of the image and the starling cooperated by giving me a nice view of its profile. The colorful foliage gives you a sense of the season and of the environment and the two blurry starlings in the background help to balance the image.
The composition of the second image is much simpler—it’s just the bird and its perch. What makes this image interesting for me is the intensity of the starling as it calls out with its mouth wide open, which adds a touch of dynamism to what would otherwise be a static portrait.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, European Starling, flock of starlings, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, starling, Sturnus vulgaris, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | Leave a Comment »
November 11, 2023 by Mike Powell
As I looked up a trail on Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I noted the shape of a bird perched on a shaded gate. When I zoomed in, I realized it was a hawk, which flew to a distant tree as I was capturing the first shot. I shared the images with a Facebook birding group, and the general consensus is that the bird is a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii).
Most of the hawks that I regularly see are Red-shouldered Hawks and occasionally I spot Red-tailed Hawks. At first I thought that this one might be a Red-shouldered Hawk, but when I looked at my photos on my computer, I was really struck by the length of the hawk’s tail and by the elongated shape of the hawk’s body that are not characteristic of a Red-shouldered Hawk.
One of the folks on Facebook who responded to my posting noted, “Juvenile Cooper’s hawk. Beautiful youngster. You caught the neat teardrop shaped breast streaking, and the short wings against the long and widely banded tail.”
As many of you know, I am an opportunistic wildlife photographer—I enjoy walking around a lot and try to capture photos of my wonderful encounters with nature, like this one.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Accipiter cooperii, Canon 7D, Cooper's Hawk, hawk, juvenile Cooper's Hawk, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 8 Comments »
November 10, 2023 by Mike Powell
Woodpeckers are amazingly industrious. They repeatedly hammer their heads against trees, with seemingly a low success rate. Yesterday, though, this male Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) was successful in capturing an insect at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and paused for a moment to show it to me.
Downy Woodpeckers are the smallest woodpeckers in my area and are the species that I see most often. In addition to pecking away at trees, I have also seen them search for insects in cattails and in other vegetation. It is easy to distinguish a male Downy Woodpecker from a female, because males have a bright red patch on the back of their heads, a feature that you can just see in this photo.
Downy Woodpeckers are usually very energetic. I spotted this woodpecker as he was spiraling his way up the tree. I prepared myself when he disappeared behind the trunk and was able to anticipate where he would reappear. I really like the angle of view of this shot that allows us to see the bird’s sharp claws and intense eyes. Downy Woodpeckers always seem to be intensely focused on what they are doing and it was wonderful to see this one’s efforts rewarded with a nice little treat.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Downy Woodpecker, male Downy Woodpecker, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Picoides pubescens, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 9 Comments »
November 9, 2023 by Mike Powell
While I was composing a shot of this turtle at a small pond in Kingstowne, a suburban area only a mile or so from where I live, another turtle popped its head out of the water to photobomb its friend. I am pretty sure that the basking turtle is a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), though I must admit that turtles are definitely not my speciality when it comes to identifying species.
We are in a transitional time of the year—we have already had some days with frost, but some other days have been warm and sunny. Today, for example, we may be flirting with record high temperatures up to 76 degrees (24 degrees C). Tomorrow, on the other hand, the high temperature is forecasted to reach only 52 degrees (11 degrees C).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, turtle, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, basking, Canon 7D, Kingstowne, Kingstowne Lake, photobomb, red-eared slider, Tamron 18-400mm, Trachemys scripta elegans), turtle | Leave a Comment »
November 8, 2023 by Mike Powell
It is fun to watch the acrobatics of tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Corthylio calendula) as they forage for food, like this one that I photographed last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I love the twisting, spiral shape of the little branchlet on which the kinglet is perched so much that I might well have photographed it even if the kinglet were not there. The yellow colors in the background are a huge plus in creating an autumnal feeling in this image.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Winter | Tagged Canon 7D, Corthylio calendula, kinglet, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, ruby-crowned kinglet, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 2 Comments »
November 7, 2023 by Mike Powell
I wouldn’t recommend adding poison ivy berries to your diet, but this Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) seemed to be really enjoying them last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Amazingly, poison ivy is a great source of nutrition to a variety of wildlife species. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, a wide variety of “birds are especially fond of poison ivy berries. The plant’s waxy, white berries are loaded with vitamins and other nutrients. If that isn’t enough, they are available to south-bound migrants in mid-summer as well in winter when food is at a premium.”
It is incredible to me that such tiny birds can survive during the winter and finding nutrition like these little white poison ivy berries is one of the keys to their survival. Yellow-rumped Warblers eat mainly insects in the summer, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, but during the winter they switch to a diet of mostly seeds and berries. Can you imagine being a carnivore for six months of the year and a vegan for the other six months?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, poison ivy berries, Setophaga coronata, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA, Yellow-rumped Warbler | 1 Comment »
November 6, 2023 by Mike Powell
As I was preparing to lock the front door of my townhouse in Northern Virginia one day last week, I glanced over at a bush about 10 feet (3 meters) away where a bird was perched. I pivoted my body, turned on the camera, and focused on the little bird, which I noted was a Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)—I going out out on a photo adventure, so my camera was slung over my shoulder.
Fearing that I might scare off the wren, I snapped off a few shots without paying too much attention to my camera settings. It felt a little strange to photograph a bird at such close range. In most cases I photograph birds with my 150-600mm lens zoomed out to 600mm, but in this instance I took the shot at 309mm and probably should have zoomed back a bit more.
When I was reviewing the images on my computer, I checked the camera settings I had used and found out my camera was set at ISO 800, f/6.3, and 1/100. I am a little shocked that I was able to get a relatively sharp shot at such a low shutter setting, but the lens does have some built-in image stabilization and I am used to holding the lens pretty steady.
Some photographers travel great distances to capture wildlife images. This shot is definitely award worthy, but it does show that you may not have to travel far from home to see and photograph nature and wildlife. Beauty is everywhere.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 7D, Carolina Wren, Runnymeade, Tamron 150-600mm, Thryothorus ludovicianus, wren | 7 Comments »
November 5, 2023 by Mike Powell
Most warblers pass briefly through my area when they are migrating in the spring and in the fall, but Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) stay with us for a good part of the colder season. This past Thursday I spotted quite a large number of Yellow-rumped Warblers as I wandered the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
In the first photo, you can see a portion of the yellow patch that is responsible for the name of this species. Most of the time I see only the smaller yellow patches on their sides, because they tend to perch high above me and I am often shooting at an upwards angle.
I am amazed by the light weight of Yellow-rumped Warblers and their ability to perch on incredibly slender branches, as you can see in the second image. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, these little birds weigh only 0.4-0.5 ounces (12-13 g).
In the final photo, the warbler is poised to move on to its next perch. Yellow-rumped Warblers are not quite as hyperactive as some other species that I see at this time of the year, like Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, but they move around a lot as they forage for food.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Setophaga coronata, Tamron 150-600mm, warbler, Woodbridge VA, Yellow-rumped Warbler | 7 Comments »
November 4, 2023 by Mike Powell
And then there was one…
Now that the calendar has turned over to November, we have reached the point in the dragonfly season when there is essentially only one remaining species, the Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum). There is a chance that I will encounter a hardy survivor from some of the summer species or a migratory dragonfly species passing through our area, but in all likelihood, the only dragonflies that I am likely to see this month are the tiny red Autumn Meadowhawks.
This past Thursday I visited Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and spotted a total of about ten Autumn Meadowhawks at various points throughout the refuge. Unlike some species that require specific habitats, Autumn Meadowhawks seem to be pretty adaptable and I have found them in a variety of different environments.
The dragonfly in the first photo is a female Autumn Meadowhawk—you can tell it is female by looking at her terminal appendages, i.e. the tip of her “tail.” She was perching more or less in the open, so I managed to capture an obstructed shot of her.
Most of the time, though, Autumn Meadhawks perch low to the ground on fallen leaves and dried-up vegetation, as you can see in the final two shots. Both photos show male Autumn Meadowhawks. I love the lighting in the penultimate shot, although the cluttered background makes the dragonfly a little hard to see. In the final photo, I really like the way that the dragonfly appeared to be looking up at me with a sense of curiosity.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 1 Comment »
November 3, 2023 by Mike Powell
I encountered this Woodland Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) last Friday on a paved road at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The brown color of the eyes suggests that this is a female—males generally have red eyes. However, according to the Virginia Herpetological Society, “The color of the iris is sometimes considered indicative of a turtle’s sex, but it is not always reliable.”
The turtle was quite small, about the size of the palm of my hand. I normally try not to disturb wildlife, but I worried that this turtle might be hit by a car, so I picked it up and moved it off of the surface of the road. I was concerned that its claws might scratch me, but the turtle drew in all of its legs and its head as soon as I lifted it.
Hopefully this turtle will live to a ripe old age, but it definitely needs to stay out of traffic, according to the Virginia Herpetological Society, “Box turtles are notorious for living as long, or longer, than humans. An adult male with the date 1874 carved in its plastron was found in Rockingham County in August 1985 (Daily News Record, Harrisonburg), indicating an age of >111 years. It is difficult to confirm such sightings, however.” Yikes!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, turtle, wildlife | Tagged box turtle, Canon 7D, Eastern Box Turtle, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Terrapene carolina, Terrapene carolina carolina, Woodbridge VA, Woodland Box Turtle | 10 Comments »
November 2, 2023 by Mike Powell
The sunlight coming from the back and side of this Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) produced a really dramatic effect in this image that I captured last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It looks almost like I had the butterfly posing for me in a photography studio, where I would have had full control over the power and direction of the light.
In situations like this, the settings on the camera are really important, because there is so much light that it threatens to blow out the highlights of the light-colored subjects. As a result, I deliberately underexposed the photo, which is why the background appears to be so dark, but I did retain a lot of the details in the butterfly and the asters.
For those of you who enjoy the geeky, technical aspects of photography, I was shooting with a Canon 7D DSLR and a Tamron 150mm-600mm telephoto zoom lens at 600m—I was using a monopod for additional stability. My camera was set to f/8.0, 1/1600 sec, and ISO 400 with negative 1.33 stops of exposure compensation.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Clouded Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur butterfly, Colias philodice, dramatic lighting, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 4 Comments »
November 1, 2023 by Mike Powell
Sometimes when you have an itch, you just have to stop what you are doing and scratch it. I have certainly had that experience and that seemed to be the case with this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) that I spotted last week at the edge of the water at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
If you zoom in on the photo, you can see that the heron has quite long claws on its toes that it was using along the length of its neck. I love the way that the feathers were all awry as the heron focused on scratching its itch.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Ardea herodias, Canon 7D, Great Blue Heron, heron, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, scratching an itch, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 2 Comments »
October 31, 2023 by Mike Powell
They are not as creepy as spiders or a black cats, but there is something eerie and unsettling about the pale yellow eyes of Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus), like this one that I spotted last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The bird was in a really distant tree, so the image is not super sharp, but I really like the way I was able to create a mood in the shot and the subdued colors throughout the shot really help that eye to pop.
Happy Halloween!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Halloween, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Euphagus carolinus, Halloween, Halloween 2023, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Rusty Blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 5 Comments »
October 31, 2023 by Mike Powell
A large flock of European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) was foraging in the trees at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge last Friday. Initially I thought that this might be a flock of crows or red-winged blackbirds, but when I zoomed in on the birds and saw their mottled iridescent feathers, I immediately identified them as starlings.
I captured these images as the birds feasted on some unidentified berries, plucking and ingesting them one at a time. I was hoping to get more shots of these birds, but without any visible warning, they all took off at the same time and flew away.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, European Starling, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sturnus vulgaris, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 13 Comments »
October 30, 2023 by Mike Powell
How do you capture the beauty of the fall foliage? I like to try a variety different approaches with my camera. These three images of the water retention pond in Kingstowne, only a mile or so from my townhouse, convey some of my impressions of this colorful season.
The first image is perhaps my favorite of the three. By photography the reflections in the water I was able to remove the details of the foliage and focus on the colors and the light. It reminds me a little of some impressionist paintings by Monet and others.
For the second photo, I pointed my camera at a particularly colorful patch of leaves that were being backlit and zoomed in quite a bit. In addition to the brilliant colors, I really like the interplay of the light and the shadows.
The third image is the most “traditional” in its approach to the foliage—it is the kind of photo that you might see on a calendar. It provides the “big picture” that I sometimes forget to include in my normal photography, when I tend to concentrate on capturing the details of a subject with a macro or telephoto lens.
This season of autumn color will soon be coming to an end. When I left my house yesterday morning, I couldn’t help but notice that all of the streets and yards in my neighborhood were covered with fallen leaves. Life, it seems, is all about changes and celebrating each new moment.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Autumn, Nature, Photography | Tagged autumn colors, autumn foliage, Canon 7D, impressionism, Kingstowne, Kingstowne Lake, Tamron 18-400mm | 7 Comments »
October 29, 2023 by Mike Powell
I love the way these turtles were lined up on an upward-slanting log as they basked in the autumn sunlight last Tuesday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. One smaller turtle looked like it was trying to merge into the traffic on the log, but the other turtles, like drivers in the Washington D.C. area where I live, were not letting him in.
The reflections in the water were a nice bonus and few floating leaves add little pops of autumn color.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Autumn, Nature, Reptiles, turtle, wildlife | Tagged basking turtles, Canon 7D, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, turtles, turtles on a log | 4 Comments »
October 28, 2023 by Mike Powell
Do you imagine a photo in your mind and then try to create it? Most of the time I am an opportunistic wildlife photographer—I react to the situations in which I find myself and try to make the best possible photo to capture the subject, the action, or the mood. Sometimes, though, I look at a spot and think, “Wouldn’t it be great if my subject moved into that light or onto that photogenic perch?”
On Wednesday I watched a lone Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) as it repeatedly dove into the water in a small suburban pond not far from my townhouse. Generally I encounter cormorants at larger bodies of water, but I know that this manmade pond is deep and is suited to birds that dive for food—some species of migratory diving ducks, for example, overwinter there.
The cormorant would spend quite a while underwater and I never knew where it would pop up next. I kept hoping it would surface in an area where the reflections of the fall foliage were especially colorful and eventually it did. The cormorant was quite far away, but I captured the kind of imagine that I had imagined, with colorful rippled patterns on the surface of the water as the cormorant swam into the frame. I encourage you to click on the imagine to see the details of the first image.
The second image was one of my earlier attempts. The cormorant surfaced closer to me than in the first shot, but the surface of the water was not as colorful as I wanted. However, the shot provides a really good look at the striking aquamarine eyes of this beautiful bird. Wow! Those eyes never fail to startle and delight me.
It is a fun challenge to try to incorporate the fall foliage into my photos and I have had an unusual amount of good luck in doing so this past week with a variety of subjects. I am starting to see more and more leaves on the ground, so I know that this period is transitory. Carpe diem!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged autumn colors, Canon 7D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Kingstowne Lake, Kingstowne VA, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 18-400mm | 8 Comments »
October 27, 2023 by Mike Powell
This tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula) glared down at me as I photographed it on Wednesday in a tree overhanging a stormwater retention pond in Kingstowne, a suburban community only a mile or so from where I live. The autumn foliage surrounding the pond had several patches of impressively colorful leaves and I was delighted to be able capture some of the beautiful autumn color in the background of these two images.
In the first photo, you can see a portion of the kinglet’s “ruby crown,” a feature of the males that is often hidden from sight. The second image gives you a better overall view of the little kinglet, which only about four inches (10 cm) in length and weighs about .3 ounces (9 grams).
Ruby-crowned Kinglets are generally hyperactive, so it was unusual when this one paused for a moment in its foraging efforts and “posed” for me in the open.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, autumn colors, Canon 7D, Corthylio calendula, Kingstowne, ruby-crowned kinglet, Tamron 150-600mm | 10 Comments »
October 26, 2023 by Mike Powell
Now that Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) have become the only dragonflies that I see regularly, I have been paying a great deal of attention to their perches when I am photographing them—when there are a limited number of subjects available, I try to make each encounter count. During a recent trip to Huntley Meadows Park, a county-run marshland park only a few miles from where I live, I managed to capture images of these colorful little dragonflies perching on a variety of different types of vegetation.
Often I have to choose between zooming in close to show the details of my subjects or pulling way back to show the environment in which I found them. In the case of these Autumn Meadowhawks, though, the images balance those competing priorities quite well, in part, I believe, because the dragonflies were so immersed in their environment, i.e. they do not choose high perches that produce “dragonfly on a stick” photos that isolate the subject too much from its surroundings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, Huntley Meadows Park, male Autumn Meadowhawk, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 150-600mm | Leave a Comment »
October 25, 2023 by Mike Powell
The red bodies of male Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) make them relatively easy to spot. However, when they choose to perch on foliage that matches their coloration, they can sometimes be well camouflaged.
The first photo shows an Autumn Meadowhawk perched on some kind of red vegetation (Virginia Creeper ?) at Huntley Meadows Park last Thursday. The red leaves really help to give the image a feel of autumn.
In the second image, the dragonfly stands out a bit more, but the dying leaves provide an artistically pleasing backdrop for the beautiful little dragonfly—I love this composition a lot.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 150-600mm | 2 Comments »
October 24, 2023 by Mike Powell
Lots of wildflowers still in bloom as we move deeper into autumn here in Northern Virginia. Last night we had our first frost warning of the season, but I don’t think there was any frost this morning in my neighborhood—a hard frost may speed the demise of many of the remaining butterflies and dragonflies. I was therefore delighted last Thursday to spot this Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) feeding on the flowers of what I believe is a White Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) plant at Huntley Meadows Park.
Although part of the butterfly is obscured by the stem and the leaves in the foreground of this image, I like the way that I was able to capture the details of the butterfly’s green eyes and its extended proboscis.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, aster, Canon 7D, Clouded Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur butterfly, Colias philodice, Huntley Meadows Park, Symphyotrichum ericoides, Tamron 150-600mm, White Heath Aster | 9 Comments »
October 23, 2023 by Mike Powell
I will often strive to photograph my wildlife subjects from as many different angles as I can in order to take advantage of the lighting or to highlight the details of their bodies. When I spot a subject, though, I initially try to capture whatever shot I can before I work to get a better shot—any of my subjects are skittish and there is always the chance that my initial shot will be my only one.
I spotted this perched male Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) last Thursday at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia and one of my initial shots was the third one below. The perch was sticking out of a pond that was surrounded by a marshy wetland, so there was really no chance for me to get closer to the kingfisher—there was no way to work the angles in my usual way.
So what did I do? In the background I noticed there were some patches of colorful fall foliage, so I decided to see if I could include some of those colors in my images to give them an autumn vibe. By bending, twisting, crouching, and kneeling I was able to vary my shooting angle, while remaining more or less in the same spot, and eventually managed to get some photos that included portions of that autumn foliage. The kingfisher remained in place, but cooperated by changing his head position from time to time.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, autumn foliage, Belted Kingfisher, Canon 7D, Huntley Meadows Park, kingfisher, male Belted Kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon, Tamron 150-600mm | 6 Comments »
« Newer Posts - Older Posts »
Mike Powell 