April 7, 2020 by Mike Powell
What do you call a group of butterflies? I have always been fascinated by the collective nouns that we use in English for groups of creatures. I was delighted to learn that one of the collective nouns used for butterflies is a kaleidoscope.
“A kaleidoscope of butterflies” seems to be the perfect descriptor for this group of beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies (Papilio glaucus) that I spotted yesterday. They appeared to be engaged in a behavior known as “puddling,” during which the butterflies, most often the males, gather minerals and other nutrients from the soil or other organic material.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Canon 50D, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, kaleidoscope of butterflies, Papilio glaucus, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm | 18 Comments »
April 7, 2020 by Mike Powell
Did you look up at the moon last night? I think that technically the full moon is tonight, but the moon was bright and spectacular around 8:30 in the evening when I took two steps out of my house and captured this image from my front landing.
I have been particularly pensive this week, a Holy Week that is unlike any other that I have experienced. It is a time when we commemorate suffering and sacrifice done on our behalf out of love. There is a lot of that same suffering and sacrifice taking place all around us right now as collectively we try to deal with this virus. The challenges seem immense, but I felt reassurance when I looked up at that almost full moon last night and thought of some verses from the Psalms (Psalm 8: 3-4 (NIV)).
“When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?”
Stay safe and healthy, all of you.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, moon, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, full moon, Runnymeade, Tamron 150-600mm | 18 Comments »
April 6, 2020 by Mike Powell
What are your feelings about the future? For me, they are like this tulip bud, full of the promise of new life and beauty that is yet to come. The challenge for us all is to be patient and wait with joyful expectation.
As with all of my other recent tulip shots, I photographed this bud in the garden of my neighbor and friend Cindy Dyer. Thanks, Cindy.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm, tulip, tulip bud | 18 Comments »
April 6, 2020 by Mike Powell
Last Friday I photographed my first dragonflies of the spring, a male Common Green Darner (Anax junius) and a female Ashy Clubtail (Phanogomphus lividus). The Common Green Darner is probably a migratory dragonfly that is just passing through as it heads north—we do have local-born members of this species, but it is too early for them to have emerged.
The Ashy Clubtail, which was actually the first dragonfly that I photographed, almost certainly emerged locally. When a dragonfly emerges, its wings are really shiny and the wings of this Ashy Clubtail were definitely sparkling in the sunlight. According to the local flight calendar, the Ashy Clubtail is one of the earliest dragonflies in our area to emerge, but I have never seen one this early before.
As you can see, I captured the images of both of these dragonflies when they were perched flat on the ground. There were dry leaves all around, which made a stealthy approach almost impossible and focusing on the dragonfly was a bit of a challenge.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged Anax junius, Ashy Clubtail, Ashy Clubtail dragonfly, Canon 50D, Common Green Darner, Common Green Darner dragonfly, Phanogomphus lividus, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm | 18 Comments »
April 5, 2020 by Mike Powell
Did you know that some bees have green speckled eyes? I was really startled by the brightness of this bee’s eyes as I was taking its photo last Monday while exploring in Prince William County, Virginia. Some research on-line revealed that this is a male Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica).
I was pretty sure that I had never before seen a bee like this, but I was wrong. As I was preparing this posting, I discovered that I had seen a similar bee in October 2012 and published a posting entitled “Green-eyed Eastern Carpenter bee.” Wow. It’s been a long time between sightings, so maybe I can be forgiven for having forgotten about the previous time, though at my age I can simply claim that I had a “senior moment.” Ages has its privileges.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bees, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged bee with green eyes, Canon 50D, Eastern Carpenter Bee, male Eastern Carpenter Bee, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm, Xylocopa virginica | 22 Comments »
April 5, 2020 by Mike Powell
Beauty is everywhere, including in the abstract patterns of nature. Last week my eyes were drawn to the interplay of light and shadows in the leaves of some iris plants that have not yet bloomed in the garden of my neighbor Cindy Dyer. I love the series of triangles and straight lines in the resulting image and there is something soothing and peaceful about the various shades of green.
When I posted this image in Facebook, my pastor noted that these leaves reminded her of the palms that we would normally be waving in a procession to begin the celebration of Palm Sunday. In a few hours we will be celebrating in a different way, via Zoom teleconferencing software, but we have been asked to gather some branches or colorful pieces of cloth to wave in front of our cameras as we say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” This pandemic has changed some of the outward aspects of our worship, but we continue on.
Whether you are Christian or not, my prayer is that this Sunday finds you feeling thankfulness in the midst of this crisis for what you still have and not merely lamenting that which you have lost. I also pray that you are filled with the joyful hope that we will eventually make it through this difficult time. If there is one thing we have certainly learned, it is that we are truly all in this together.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in abstract, Art, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged abstract, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, leaves, light and shadow, natural triangles, Palm Sunday, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm | 8 Comments »
April 4, 2020 by Mike Powell
This week I did a pair of postings in a single day that I called “beauty and the beast” that was so well received that I thought I would do it again. Earlier this morning I did the “beauty” part with a shot of some crabapple blossoms in my front yard. For the “beast” part, I decided to feature this shot of a little orchard spider (Leucauge venusta) in the garden of my neighbor, fellow photographer and blogger Cindy Dyer. The spider was hanging in the midst of a group of irises that have not yet bloomed and I was happy to be able to be able to frame the shot so you have a sense of the spider’s environment.
As always, I offer my apologies to those who are creeped out by spiders, and recommend that you check out the crabapple posting if you have not seen it yet. As for me, I find spiders to be always fascinating and often beautiful.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spiders, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Leucauge venusta, orchard spider, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm | 8 Comments »
April 4, 2020 by Mike Powell
Beauty is everywhere. Thursday afternoon as I walked out of my suburban townhouse, I glanced at the crabapple tree in my front yard, now covered with blossoms. Realizing how beautiful it is, I captured this simple image.
You don’t always have to go to distant locations to find beauty—you can often find it in your back yard or, in my case, in your front yard.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, crabapple, crabapple tree, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro | 27 Comments »
April 3, 2020 by Mike Powell
The two-colored tulips in the garden of my neighbor and friend Cindy Dyer were open yesterday and they are awesome. The first macro shot makes the tulip look almost like a little pinwheel. The second shot gives you a greater sense of the colors and patterns in these beautiful tulips—the delicate feathering of the red on the yellow petals is simply breathtaking.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, open tulips, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm, tulips | 13 Comments »
April 3, 2020 by Mike Powell
Nature is full of wonderful shapes, like the spiral of this curled-up fern—at this stage it is know as a fiddlehead—that I spotted on Monday while exploring in Prince William County. A few days afterwards, Gary Bolstad published a photo of a fiddlehead in New Zealand in his blog krikitarts.wordpress.com. Gary is an amazing photographer and you should really check out his wonderful blog.
In replying to a comment I made about his posting, Gary explained that “The Māori name for a fiddlehead is Koru, and the spiral shape is an essential part of their culture and probably the most common shape used in the design of their carved greenstone (jade) jewelry. It can represent creation, perpetual movement, return to a point of origin, equilibrium/harmony in life, and new life.”
I think we could all use more equilibrium and harmony in our lives during these unsettling times.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in abstract, Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography | Tagged Canon 50D, ferns, fiddlehead, Gary Bolstad, Māori, new zealand, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm | 14 Comments »
April 2, 2020 by Mike Powell
Beauty is everywhere. A few minutes ago I walked over to the garden of my friend and neighbor Cindy Dyer and captured this modest image of a little grape hyacinth (g. Muscari). I just love that vibrant violet color.
So often, taking photos is a multi-hour endeavor for me. Normally I pack my gear and head off to remote locations and walk and walk, watching and waiting for opportunities to arise. It definitely is not normal now, so I am relearning the joy of taking photos in small doses, a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Perhaps I won’t capture stunning action shots, but I am convinced that the words with which I began this posting are true—beauty is everywhere.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Grape hyacinth, Muscari, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm | 28 Comments »
April 2, 2020 by Mike Powell
The sun had just risen when I arrived last Thursday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. How, I wondered could I possibly capture my impressions of those wonderful moments as the new day was dawning?
I hastened to capture an image while the sun was still low on the horizon and grabbed the first photo below while standing at the edge of the parking lot. There was a soft mist lingering over the fields and in my second shot, I worked to capture the stillness and serenity that I was feeling.
When I finally arrived at the shore, the sky and the water seemed to be almost the same color with a narrow, darker strip of land separating the too. I immediately thought of the moody, minimalist landscape shots that Michael Scandling regularly features in AMAGA Photography Blog. Michael likes to coax each pixel into submission and I confess that I did not work on my final image as much as he would have, but it is a kind of homage to his wonderful work.
So there you have it, three distinctive images that together give you a sense of what I was seeing and feeling in the early morning hours, a time of day that is perfect for introspection and reflection.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Landscape, Nature, Photography, spring, sunrise | Tagged Canon 50D, impressions, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, sunrise, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 31 Comments »
April 1, 2020 by Mike Powell
From a distance, I noticed yesterday that some yellow tulips were getting ready to bloom in the garden of my neighbor and photography mentor Cindy Dyer. Cindy deliberately chooses colorful, photogenic flowers for her garden, so I love visiting it frequently. As I got close, I noted the spectacular two-color patterns of these tulips. When I sent a photo to Cindy, she informed me that they are known as “broken tulips.”
Perhaps she told me some time in the past what “broken tulips” are, but I rushed to Google to find out why they are considered to be “broken.” This term refers to the dramatic color-breaking of these flowers, an effect highly sought after during the 17th-century Dutch “tulip mania,” according to Wikipedia. Historically, these changes are caused by a virus infects the tulip bulb and causes the cultivar to “break” its lock on a single color, resulting in intricate bars, stripes, streaks, featherings or flame-like effects of different colors on the petals.
Unfortunately, the virus weakens the bulbs and as a result some famous color-broken varieties no long exist. Today’s “broken tulips” are no longer caused by a viral infection, but are stable variants produced through breeding. Cindy noted to me that her tulips have been going strong for at least five years.
I was feeling creative yesterday when I took these photos and tried a lot of different angles and settings to get some unusual looks. I decided mainly to feature the areas with the different colors and deliberately shot with a shallow depth of field that causes the edges that are away from the center to be soft and out of focus. I think it worked out pretty well.
I decided to post these images today as a counterbalance to the photograph of a wolf spider that I posted earlier, a kind of “beauty and the beast” set of postings. I am guessing that almost everyone will like at least one of the two postings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in abstract, Art, Flowers, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, broken tulip, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm, tulip, two-color tulip | 27 Comments »
April 1, 2020 by Mike Powell
Whenever I have my macro lens on my camera, I tend to scan small areas very carefully, looking for variations of color and patterns or signs of movement. The colorful markings permitted me to spot the tiny cricket frog that I featured in yesterday’s posting. Not far from the frog’s habitat, it was movement that allowed me to spot this cool-looking wolf spider (Tigrosa georgicola) on Monday. The spider was slowly crawling through some leaf litter and I was able to grab this shot when it paused for a second in an open area.
I believe that this is the first wolf spider that I have ever photographed. Fortunately I was able to get help in identifying it in a Facebook group devoted to spider identification. I know that some people are totally creeped out by spiders, while others are fascinated by them. I apologize to those in the former group, but hope that exposure to these spiders through my photos will help you appreciate their beauty—they truly are amazing creatures.
If you are at all interested in or curious about wolf spiders (and there are a lot of different species), you should check out Pete Hillman’s blog that just yesterday featured a photo of a wolf spider basking in the sun. Those who really like spiders will love a posting that Pete did earlier in the month entitled Not One For The Squeamish that shows a female wolf spider with a group of little spiderlings on her back—be sure to double-click on that image.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spiders, spring, wildlife | Tagged Canon 50D, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm, Tigrosa georgicola, wolf spider | 19 Comments »
March 31, 2020 by Mike Powell
Yesterday I captured this shot of an Eastern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans) while exploring a seepy area in Prince William County, Virginia. The frog was tiny, only an inch or so (25 mm) in length. I was thankful for the green markings or I might otherwise have missed seeing the frog. The markings look very much like an arrow point towards the frog’s head. They also gave me something on which to focus since the rest of the frog’s body was pretty well camouflaged.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Amphibians, frog, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged Acris crepitans, Canon 50D, Eastern Cricket Frog, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm | 21 Comments »
March 31, 2020 by Mike Powell
It is easy for me to be delighted and entranced by simple things in nature, like this dandelion seed head that I spotted last week in my neighborhood. I remember the joy of blowing on these balls of fluff when I was a child and watching the little seeds sail through the air.
Yesterday the Governor of Virginia, the state in which I live, issued an executive order directing us all to stay at home except for a limited number of excepted essential tasks, including things like getting groceries and seeking medical care. One of the exceptions is “Engaging in outdoor activity, including exercise, provided individuals comply with social distancing requirements.” I am not yet sure if my forays into the wild with my camera would still be permitted as “engaging in outdoor.” If not, the content of my blog postings might change a little, but I plan to continue to post.
Whatever the case, I think this is a good time for us to be mindful of and thankful for the simple delights that can be found all around us.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dandelion, dandelion seed head, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm | 20 Comments »
March 30, 2020 by Mike Powell
Sometimes Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) will renovate preexisting nests, but often they have to build one from scratch. This osprey couple that I spotted recently at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge was trying to build one in what seemed to be a rather precarious location.
I learned about the location of the nest only when I spotted an osprey flying by me with a stick in its talons. In my zeal to track the osprey, I neglected to pull back on my zoom lens, so I ended up cutting off its wing tips in the first image in which the osprey is delivering the stick. In the second image, you can see the nest-to-be as the osprey attempts to arrange the sticks. The final shot shows the osprey arriving at the nesting site with another stick. I like the way that the osprey almost hovered in order to land softly with its delivery.
I don’t know it the osprey couple will manage to jam enough sticks in the crook of the tree to be able to form a stable nest, but I will be sure to check their progress in future visits, as long as the wildlife refuge continues to stay open.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Osprey, osprey nest, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 19 Comments »
March 29, 2020 by Mike Powell
The Lady Jane tulips (Tulipa clusiana “Lady Jane”) in the garden of my neighbor and photography mentor Cindy Dyer are now fully in bloom. In a recent post called Two tulips, I featured a side view of a mostly closed flower, highlighting the tulip’s unusual shape and reddish-pink color. This time, I shot almost straight down from above and was struck by the geometric shapes in the petals, the stamen, and even the stigma (the little three-lobed part in the very center of the flower). For the middle shot, I shot from a slight angle to give a somewhat more natural perspective.
I hope that all of you are staying safe and healthy. I am remaining close to home most of the time and it has been a blessing for me to be able to find such beautiful subjects to photograph almost literally across the street—Cindy and I live at opposite sides of a suburban semi-circle.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Lady Jane tulip, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm, tulip "Lady Jane", tulip geometry, Tulipa clusiana var. 'Lady Jane' | 25 Comments »
March 28, 2020 by Mike Powell
“Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I’ve got a beautiful feeling everything’s going my way.” I started my Thursday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge with this handsome Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) who seemed to be serenading me.
If you have ever heard the squawk of a Great Blue Heron, you know why it is best that there is no soundtrack. Instead, I recommend that you click on this link to a YouTube video of the song that I cited in my opening sentence from the classic 1955 movie “Oklahoma”—it is guaranteed to brighten your day.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, happy heron, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, singing heron, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 26 Comments »
March 27, 2020 by Mike Powell
Need a blast of bright color? Here you go, a shot I took of the inside of a gorgeous red tulip blooming this morning in the garden of my neighbor and photography mentor Cindy Dyer. This view straight down into the tulip reminds me of the kaleidoscopes that fascinated me endlessly when I was a youth. I managed to frame this shot almost exactly as I had envisioned, so I decided not to crop it at all, which is pretty unusual for me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in abstract, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, neighbor's garden, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm, tulip, tulip kaleidoscope | 17 Comments »
March 27, 2020 by Mike Powell
Land prices are so high here in Northern Virginia that you have to be creative. Yesterday I spotted this Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) couple building their tiny house on one of the boundary channel markers off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
The osprey perched in the back, which I believe is the female, remained in place while the other osprey flew off to forage for building materials. Sometimes they were only small twigs, but occasional the male osprey would return with a fairly long branch, as in the second photo. In the third shot, the male osprey has successfully landed with the long branch, but has not yet let go of it.
Multiple osprey couples are busily constructing nests all of “my” wildlife refuge and I hope to be able to share some images of their constructions sites.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged buoy, Canon 50D, channel marker, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Osprey, osprey nest, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 8 Comments »
March 26, 2020 by Mike Powell
Although the temperatures were cool on Tuesday afternoon, this little bee was busy in the garden of my neighbor and friend Cindy Dyer. The plant on which the bee was feeding technically bight be considered to be a weed, and not a flower, but the bee surely did not mind.
Most of the pollen that I am used to seeing is bright yellow, but in this case it appeared to red in color. As you can see in the second photo, the bee was using a headfirst approach—for extended periods of time it would bury its head among the small petals of this plant.
I went searching around on internet trying to identify the plant and I think it might be Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule). I would welcome a confirmation or correction of this identification by someone more familiar with flowers than I am.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bees, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, garden, henbit, henbit dead-nettle, Lamium amplexicaule, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm | 25 Comments »
March 25, 2020 by Mike Powell
You don’t have to go far to find beauty—it is all around us. I spotted this beautiful Lady Jane tulip yesterday afternoon in the garden of my neighbor and fellow photographer Cindy Dyer. Cindy loves to photograph flowers and has planted a wide assortment of photogenic flowers in her front and side gardens. I was delighted to see that about a dozen of these little tulips were starting to bloom.
Many of Cindy’s “normal” tulips are starting to form buds, but only one is blooming right now, the beautiful red one that is shown in the final photo. I have always been impressed by the photos that tourists take of broad swaths of colorful tulips in the Netherlands, but for me, I tend to find beauty in the individual flowers.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Lady Jane tulip, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm, tulip "Lady Jane", tulips | 15 Comments »
March 24, 2020 by Mike Powell
Are you an extrovert? If so, the current situation is almost certainly tough for you. This morning I came across a delightful posting by fellow photographer, Scott St. Amand. Here is an excerpt, but I encourage you to click through to his original posting. “I have a lot of extroverted friends. It’s not my fault. I am like a magnet for social people. I have tried valiantly to wear my scorn and antipathy on my sleeve, but they all brush it off as bluster and introverted bravado and then want to talk about how funny it is that I pretend that I am a hermit. An hour later, when they are done talking at me, I have already crawled into my mental hole, and they tell me what a good listener I am…a vicious cycle, indeed.”
ST. AMAND PHOTOGRAPHY
I saw a funny Facebook post the other day about how self-quarantining and social distancing was, for introverts, the culmination of their life’s work. I saw one today that said, “Check on your extrovert friends; we are not OK.”
For a self-described hermit, who has been practicing social distancing since at least the age of twelve, I have a lot of extroverted friends. It’s not my fault. I am like a magnet for social people. I have tried valiantly to wear my scorn and antipathy on my sleeve, but they all brush it of as bluster and introverted bravado and then want to talk about how funny it is that I pretend that I am a hermit. An hour later, when they are done talking at me, I have already crawled into my mental hole, and they tell me what a good listener I am…a vicious cycle, indeed.
I even…
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Posted in Humor, Inspiration, Photography | 13 Comments »
March 24, 2020 by Mike Powell
Even though we were at more than an acceptable social distance, this Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) seemed to be communicating a message to me with its direct eye contact on Saturday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge—something like, “Please leave so I can continue working on my nest.”
Most of the time I will try to avoid photographing a bird head-on, because it has the potential to distort its features a lot. With this osprey, though, I think it worked out pretty well, perhaps because of the size and shape of its head.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Osprey, osprey nest, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 15 Comments »
March 23, 2020 by Mike Powell
Each spring I try to get shots of birds perching in blossoming trees, but the birds rarely cooperate with me—they all seem more interested in foraging for food than in posing for me. On Saturday, though, a White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge paused for a moment and I was able to capture this image.
I chose not to crop this image any closer in order to give you a better view of the delicate white blossoms of a tree that I am not able to immediately identify.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged blossoming trees, blossoms, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, white-throated sparrow, Woodbridge VA, Zonotrichia albicollis | 13 Comments »
March 22, 2020 by Mike Powell
I am more of a liberal arts guy than a scientist, so the details of bird identification often escape me. Sue of the Back Yard Biology blog, on the other hand, is a self-avowed “geeky science nerd.” She decided to do some work to find out how to tell the age of a wild turkey. I suspect that many of you will find her posting as fascinating as I did, so be sure to click on the View Original Post in order to see her entire posting.
Be sure also to check out other postings on her wonderful blog. Sue is one of my most faithful followers and was one of the first to comment on my earliest postings more than seven years ago.
Back Yard Biology
It’s that time again, when tom Turkeys begin to strut their stuff in the backyard. The other day, a FB friend/fellow wildlife photographer posted a shot of a tom turkey (https://michaelqpowell.com/2020/03/22/panic-or-calm/) that looked quite a bit different than the one I have been seeing in my backyard. I thought it looked younger, but I wondered how one can tell the age of male wild Turkey. So, I googled that thought, and it turns out it’s not a hard thing to do (assuming you can judge lengths somewhat accurately).
The key things to look for are the length of the beard (the hair-like structures — which are modified feathers) hanging down from its breast), the color of the tip of the beard, and the length of the spurs on the back of the lower-most part of its leg next to the foot (the tarsometatarsus to be exact).
It’s still early in…
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Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged Back Yard Biology, turkey, Wild Turkey | 2 Comments »
March 22, 2020 by Mike Powell
Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) reacted in different ways yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge when they detected my presence. One turkey seemed to panic, put down its head, and sprinted to the other side, while the other calmly strode across the trail. Both reached the other side safely. Was this the turkey version of social distancing?
How do you react in the face of a perceived threat? These days, this question is not merely an academic one—it is part of our daily lives. I think we all experience moments of panic, but we can choose not to let those feelings overwhelm us. Stay safe and healthy within the limits imposed on you by the current crisis and be sure to take care of yourselves.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged calm, Canon 50D, Meleagris gallopavo, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, panic, Tamron 150-600mm, turkey, Wild Turkey, Woodbridge VA | 7 Comments »
March 21, 2020 by Mike Powell
The early bird gets the worm, they say, but this mid-morning Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) was eating something different when I spotted it through the trees last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
It is always a challenge to get shots of birds as small as this one (approximately 5.5-6.3 inches (14-16 cm) in length), but I have found that my chances of success increase when a subject stops to eat. I could see the little titmouse clearly, but there was a lot of vegetation between us. As a result, I had to move from side to side, trying to find a clear visual tunnel. I am happy with what I was able to get, even if the bird’s distinctive pointed crest did end up being blocked from view by a tree.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged Baeolophus bicolor, Canon 50D, early bird, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, titmouse, Tufted Titmouse, Woodbridge VA | 8 Comments »
March 20, 2020 by Mike Powell
When I am out in the wild with my camera, I am usually looking for creatures to photograph. There are moments, however, when the beauty of the surroundings simply draws me in and for a while I can block out the stresses of the world. At this time, when our “normal” world seems to be crumbling before our eyes, I think we all need to find ways to step away from media reporting, take a deep breath, and find fresh perspectives—this is how I do it.
Here are a few photos that I took on Tuesday at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge. In the first image, I was struck by the successive layers of vegetation, some dried, some evergreen, and some showing reddish traces of new growth. The texture of the cattail captured my attention in the second image—as it moved in the gentle breeze, the it cattail would release a few fluffy seed heads that floated through the air. The final photo shows a small observation platform at the end of a trail. I was struck by the amount of vegetation that has grown up and almost engulfed the small structure and blocked the view to the water.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Inspiration, Landscape, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, Canon 50D, Fort Belvoir VA, Tamron 150-600mm | 9 Comments »
March 19, 2020 by Mike Powell
On Tuesday I could hear a pair of screaming hawks overhead at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge and eventually I saw one of them land on a broken-off tree. As I focused on that hawk, which I think is a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), the other hawk zoomed into the frame and continued the fight.
In the first image, the perched hawk appeared to sense the approach of the “enemy” and was preparing itself for battle. I didn’t realize that the other hawk was approaching I saw it through the viewfinder of my camera as you can see in the second shot. At that moment, the stationary hawk was preparing to take off. In the final shot, the flying hawk had closed the gap and the two raptors were engaged in what looked to be a fierce struggle.
Why were they fighting? My guess is that it was some kind of territorial dispute, but there is no way for me to be sure. When I first saw the two hawks chasing each other, I thought it might be love, but the final frame suggests that was not the reason.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife | Tagged Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, Buteo lineatus, Canon 50D, fighting hawks, Fort Belvoir VA, hawk, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Tamron 150-600mm | 30 Comments »
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Mike Powell 