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Raised by a sparrow?

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Downy Woodpecker, Huntley Meadows Park, Picoides pubescens, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 12, 2015| 6 Comments »

I was a little surprised to see this Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) down on the ground amid the sparrows, pecking away at the dried vegetation and the crazy thought came to mind that it might have been raised by those sparrows. I assumed that Downy Woodpeckers ate only insects, but learned on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website that “About a quarter of their diet consists of plant material, particularly berries, acorns, and grains.”

Eventually the woodpecker emerged from the undergrowth and climbed up a slender stalk, permitting me to get an unobstructed view of its beauty.

Downy Woodpecker

Down in the weeds

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Confused heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 11, 2015| 12 Comments »

This Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) seemed a little confused when the ponds froze over at my local marshland park and appeared to be trying to stalk fish that he may or may not have been able to see through the ice.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Red-tailed Hawk overhead

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Buteo jamaicensis, Canon 50D, hawk, Huntley Meadows Park, Red-tailed Hawk, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 10, 2015| 23 Comments »

It was finally above the freezing mark yesterday, which made my trek around Huntley Meadows Park a bit easier to tolerate. Among the highlights was this Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) flying overhead with a very determined (or maybe hungry) look on its face. Although Red-tailed Hawks are common in many places, most of the hawks that I see at my local marsh are Red-shouldered Hawks, so it was a nice treat to capture a Red-tailed in flight.

The blue sky provided a clean background for these shots, though I must confess that I am still having some difficulties finding and keeping moving subjects in the frame and in focus when at full zoom. I’m hoping that I have lots of opportunities to practice this winter.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Sparrow in January

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Melospiza georgiana, sparrow, swamp sparrow, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 9, 2015| 15 Comments »

Some winter days, it’s really hard for me to find birds to photograph, but I can usually count on seeing some sparrows busily at work, pecking away in the underbrush for what look to be the tiniest of seeds.

This past Monday, before the arrival of the Arctic weather, I observed this beautiful little sparrow, which I think is a Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana). Sparrows are tough for me to identify, so I apologize in advance if this turns out to be another kind of sparrow.

The bird kept its head down most of the time and remained stayed primarily in the shadows. For just a moment, though, it lifted its head and turned toward the light and I was able to take this modest little portrait of one of my faithful winter companions at the marsh.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Baby, it’s cold outside

Posted in Landscape, Photography, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, ice, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, winter on January 8, 2015| 11 Comments »

According to the internet weather for my area, it is 8 degrees F outside right now and windy (minus 13 degrees C). Baby, it’s cold outside. We are forecast to get up to about 20 degrees F today (minus 7 C).

This is unusually cold weather for the Washington D.C. area, where winters are relatively mild. Earlier in the week we had a couple of inches of snow right at the morning rush hour and the roads were gridlocked for hours as commuters unfamiliar with the snow struggled to stay on the pavement.

The roads are treated now and mostly passable, but the cold makes even short outdoor trips barely tolerable. Earlier this month I took some shots of ice that had accumulated in the shady area of a stream at my local marshland park and one of those ice shots seem appropriate for today. I really like the way that the shapes and shades of the ice came out in this image, along with some of the bubbles in the water.

I have lots to do at work today—I sure hope my car starts in another hour or so.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Big bills after Christmas

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Anas clypeata, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Shoveler, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 7, 2015| 7 Comments »

No, this is not a commentary on overindulgence during the holidays. Instead it is a response to one viewer’s comments on a recent posting that showed a pair of foraging Northern Shovelers with their heads almost buried in the weeds. The viewer preferred one photo over the other simply because it showed this bird’s unusual bill.

On Monday, a day that was sunny, cold, and windy, I observed another pair of Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata) and took some shots that show their bills in all of their oversized glory.

I can still remember my surprise at the length of the bills when I saw these birds for the first time. Initially I thought it was an optical illusion, but it became clear pretty quickly that the bill was unusually long. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Northern Shoveler’s bill has has about 110 fine projections (called lamellae) along the edges that help in straining food from water.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Full wing extension

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron on January 6, 2015| 2 Comments »

Can you identify the bird in the first photo? There is an almost abstract quality to the image that I really like that focuses on the bird’s wide wingspan more than on the identity of the bird. The unusual viewing angle, looking forward from his extended feet, enhances that effect.

As you can see in the second photos (and as you probably easily guessed), this was a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). Yesterday, a blustery but sunny day, I came across this heron at my local marshland park as he tried in vain to catch some lunch. Without much warning, he took off just after I snapped the second photo, perhaps to find a better fishing spot, and I was able to capture the more unusual view that I have shown as the first image.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Adjusting its sleeping position

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 5, 2015| 4 Comments »

Standing one-legged on the frozen pond, this Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) briefly stirred to adjust its position as I passed by. A few seconds later, the goose slipped one leg and its head back under its wings and gradually drifted back to sleep on a cold winter morning.

In case you are curious about the physiological explanation of the one-legged pose and why the goose’s feet don’t freeze to the ice, check out this blog posting from last November by Sue of Back Yard Biology.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Early bird—Scene II

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dawn, Hooded Merganser, Huntley Meadows Park, Lophodytes cucullatus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 3, 2015| 9 Comments »

Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light? Peering through a break in the bushes, I could just barely make out the unmistakeable shape of a male Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) as he slowly paddled away from the shore of a small pond at my local marshland park.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Early bird

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, dawn, duck, early bird, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 3, 2015| 8 Comments »

There is something really special about the moment when the darkness of the night finally gives way to the early light of the dawn and the sky is tinged with delicate shades of pink and orange. The silence is broken by the sounds of awakening birds as their day begins.

It’s not an optimal time for wildlife photography—there is simply not enough light to reveal all of the colors and the details of the subjects. Recently, though, I managed to capture a sense of the dawn in this image of a duck ascending into the air, heading for an unknown destination.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Side-by-side Shovelers

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Anas clypeata, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Shoveler, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 2, 2015| 9 Comments »

Last week, when the weather was a bit warmer and the ponds had not yet frozen over at my local marshland park, I managed to get some shots of a pair of Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata) in action.

I quickly realized that trying to photograph two birds, rather than a single one as I usually do, significantly magnified the difficulty in getting a good shot. The two North Shovelers rarely would stay together and would wander in and out of the frame. Even worse, one of them would move closer or farther away, challenging my ability to keep them both in focus.

Northern Shovelers forage by swimming along with their bills in the water, straining out food, and never seem to completely submerge their heads. I was happy that I was able to capture some shots in which the eyes are visible, even though the bills are in the water.

I really like the first image, because the positions of the male and the female are synchronized, yet I also really like the second image, because the positions are completely out of synch. I may be confused, or perhaps a lot of different things appeal to me, depending on how I consider them.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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The heron said, “Walk this way.”

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Winter, tagged Aerosmith, Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Walk This Way on December 27, 2014| 5 Comments »

Yesterday at my local marshland park, this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) seemed to be dancing—I think he was rocking to the sounds of “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hooded Merganser takeoff on Christmas Day

Posted in Birds, Christmas, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Hooded Merganser, Hooded Merganser ducks, Huntley Meadows Park, Lophodytes cucullatus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 26, 2014| 10 Comments »

On Christmas Day I managed to fit in a short walk at Huntley Meadows Park, my local marshland park, and captured these images of a pair of Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus) as they took off from the water and started to gain altitude.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Merry Christmas 2014

Posted in Birds, Christmas, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, Huntley Meadows Park, male Northern Cardinal, Northern cardinal, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 25, 2014| 14 Comments »

I posted this image once already, but its bright Christmas colors cry out to be used again this morning.

Merry Christmas to friends and family and best wishes for a blessed New Year.

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement this past year as I have continued my journey through photography.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flying mallard

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Anas platyrhynchos, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, mallard, mallard duck, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 24, 2014| 10 Comments »

I’ve generally had a lot more difficulty capturing photos of ducks in flight than geese. Ducks are smaller, fly faster, and take off and land without the kind of advance warning that geese provide.

This past Monday, though, I managed to get some decent shots of a male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) as he flew past me. The background is uncluttered, a blue sky, which is ok, if not particularly interesting. As I reviewed my shots, I couldn’t help but notice how difficult it is to catch the wings in a good position, so I am happy that I took lots of shots in short bursts.

The last few days we’ve had almost constant rain, which is probably good for ducks like this one, though I would prefer to have some sunshine.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before (Part 2)

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum ambiguum on December 22, 2014| 2 Comments »

Fellow photographer and blogger Walter Sanford and I both photographed this female Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly on 17 October and decided to do companion postings again, showing our different approaches to photographing the same subject.

walter sanford's photoblog

This is the second installment in a three-part series featuring some of my favorite photos of female dragonflies spotted while photowalking Huntley Meadows Park during Fall 2014.

The following photos show a Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum ambiguum) spotted on 17 October 2014 near a vernal pool in a relatively remote location in the forest. This individual is a heteromorph female, as indicated by its coloration and terminal appendages.

Female Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonflies are polymorphic: heteromorphs are duller in color than males; andromorphs are male-like in color.

Both female morphs feature the same distinctive blue eye coloration as males.

Mike Powell, fellow wildlife photographer and blogger, spotted this dragonfly while I was shooting photos of a male Great Spreadwing damselfly (Archilestes grandis) perching on thigh-high grasses a few yards away. I joined Mike after my subject flew away.

I don’t recall seeing Mike’s photos of this dragonfly. Perhaps it’s…

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Flashback to fall

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, female Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 180mm macro lens on December 22, 2014| 7 Comments »

This past Saturday, I searched and searched for a straggler dragonfly which might have survived our recent cold spell, but I found none—dragonfly hunting season is officially over for me. That same day, however, fellow photographer and blogger (and local dragonfly expert) Walter Sanford did a blog posting with photos of a female Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum ambiguum) that both of us photographed on 17 October and suggested that I also post some shots.

Previously this year, Walter and I did companion postings, in which we each posted photos that showed our different photographic approaches to the same subject, which in that case was a pair of mating dragonflies. (If you are interested, check out Walter’s posting Two sides to every story and my posting My view of the mating dragonflies.)

I am fascinated by the way that two photographers shooting together consciously or unconsciously make a series of creative choices that can result in very different images. Some of the differences, of course, are attributable to the choice of photographic equipment, but many of the differences are caused by the “style” in which the photographer prefers to work.

I took these shots with a 180mm macro lens at fairly close range, which meant that I had to be thinking all of the time about depth of field. The three images I selected show how the amount of the dragonfly’s body in focus changed as I circled around the dragonfly and photographed it in various positions as it flew off and returned to the same general area.

I remember going once to an exhibition showing paintings side by side of a scene that had been rendered by two impressionist artists painting together—I think it was Monet and Renoir—and since that time I have periodically considered the question of whether or not there is an objective reality when it comes to taking (or painting) pictures. What is reality?

Be sure to visit Walter’s blog and his images of this dragonfly in his posting To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before (Part 2).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Heron dragon

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Heron dragon, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 21, 2014| 11 Comments »

The mind can sometimes make strange associations. From the moment that I saw the pose of the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in this image, I couldn’t help but think that it looked like the kind of dragon that you see in movies and in children’s cartoons.

I took this shot in mid-December, while I was walking along the boardwalk in the familiar confines of my local marshland park. The heron had been fishing in the shallow waters of a former beaver pond to the left and decided to move to the water on the other side of the boardwalk. Rather than fly directly to the new location, the heron decided to hop up onto the surface of the boardwalk.

I posted a somewhat similar photo on 9 December, but I like this one better—the pose is more interesting, the focus is a little sharper, and the colors of the heron are more vibrant. Herons are a relatively commonplace bird in the locations I visit, but I never tire of trying to capture images of these fascinating creatures.

Does the heron remind you of a dragon? As children, we had no trouble believing in magical creatures, but, alas, most of us lost that capacity as we grew into adults.

It brings to mind a quote from one of my favorite books, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, “Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c’est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours et toujours leur donner des explications.” (Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiring for children to be always having to explain things to them).

A dragon? Why not?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Not a mallard

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Anas strepera, Canon 50D, Gadwall, Huntley Meadows Park, Not a mallard, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 19, 2014| 10 Comments »

It certainly pays to look closely at a group of birds, because they may not all be from the same species. Last week I spotted this cool-looking duck in the midst of a group of mallards at my local marshland park.

I couldn’t identify the duck when I took the photos, but it was clearly not a mallard. After a bit of research on the internet, I have concluded that it is probably a Gadwall (Anas strepera), a species of ducks that I had never seen before.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Still chasing hawks

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Buteo lineatus, Canon 50D, hawk, Huntley Meadows Park, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 14, 2014| 6 Comments »

Now that the leaves have fallen from the trees, I have a much greater chance of reaching one of my goals for this winter of capturing some better shots of hawks.

One of the biggest challenges at my local marshland park is that most of the trees on which hawks seem to like to perch are inaccessible—the trees are surrounded by flooded swamps on one side and dense vegetation on the other.

This past week I took my best hawk shots in quite some time when a fellow photographer pointed out this Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) on the limb of a distant tree. We were able to move a little closer to the hawk, because it was facing away from us, but when the water started to get ankle-deep, I had to make do with the conditions I had.

I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears open for the sights and sounds of these magnificent birds and hope to get a bit closer to one in the coming months.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Squabbling ducks

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Anas clypeata, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Shoveler, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 14, 2014| 4 Comments »

Canada Geese are often loud and aggressive in their interactions with each other, but ducks seem much calm and restrained. I was therefore quite surprised when I saw these two male Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata) get into a minor dispute.

I am not sure why these two ducks were squabbling, but I got one possible indication when I looked at the edge of the frame. A female Northern Shoveler was nearby and appeared to be watching the action out of the corner of her eye. Were the two males vying for her affection and attention?

After a short period of wrestling, the two males separated and swam off in opposite directions, having settled, at least for a short time, whatever issue prompted the initial dispute.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hair Club for Herons

Posted in Art, Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, heron, heron portrait, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 13, 2014| 13 Comments »

One of the Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) that has been hanging around the boardwalk at my local marshland park was amazingly cooperative yesterday morning and posed for this portrait. I think the white background was caused by the very cloudy sky—it makes the shot look almost like it was taken in a studio setting.

I really like the way that you can see the wispy feathers on the top of the heron’s head. I can’t help but notice, though, that this heron has the same kind of growth pattern on the top of his head as I do.

I wonder if he would consider shaving his head (and I really hope that he does not opt for a comb-over hairstyle a bit later in life).

Is there a Hair Club for herons?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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On the fence—part II

Posted in Art, Birds, Christmas, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, Huntley Meadows Park, male Northern Cardinal, Northern cardinal, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 12, 2014| 14 Comments »

Do you prefer the bold color of the iconic male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) to the more subtle coloration of the female cardinal or are you on the fence?

Yes, I am beginning today’s posting with the same question that I used in yesterday’s posting that featured a fierce-looking female cardinal, but today am featuring a male cardinal. Not far from where yesterday’s female was perched on the fence wire, her male partner was calmly sitting on a green fencepost, seemingly surveying his surroundings.

Some of yesterday’s responses suggested that many viewers prefer the bright red color of the male cardinal, a visible and welcome sight at this time of the year, when the landscape seems to be dominated by shades of gray.

The combination of the red cardinal and the green fencepost give this image a definite feeling of Christmas. Somehow I feel like it would be good to emulate this cardinal during this pre-holiday season and stop all our frantic activity for a moment, take a deep breath, and look and listen, remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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On the fence

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cardinalis cardinalis, female cardinal, female Northern Cardinal, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern cardinal, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 11, 2014| 12 Comments »

Do you prefer the bold color of the iconic male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) to the more subtle coloration of the female cardinal or are you on the fence?

“Fierce” is the word that came to mind when I first saw the image I had shot of this female cardinal with the spiky red Mohawk hairstyle and don’t-mess-with-me glare. Although I took this photo at my local marshland park, the simple wire fence gives it a kind of urban feel that seems appropriate for this subject.

I wonder if she has body piercings or a tattoo—it wouldn’t surprise me if she does.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Preparing for winter

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Melanerpes carolinus, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, woodpecker on December 10, 2014| 22 Comments »

Normally I see woodpeckers high in the trees, but some of my fellow photographers spotted this Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) pecking about on the ground below a tree and pointed it out to me. The woodpecker appeared to be collecting acorns and then hopped upward onto the tree carrying an acorn in its bill.

Initially I was perplexed, because I tend to think of woodpeckers driving their bills into trees in search of insects, not transporting acorns. Then I remembered back to last winter, when I observed some Red-headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) at my local marshland park stockpiling acorns in the hollow of a tree. Is it possible that Red-bellied Woodpeckers do the same thing?

I checked out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, my favorite website for information about birds, and it confirmed that Red-bellied Woodpeckers “also use cracks in trees and fence posts to store food for later in the year, a habit it shares with other woodpeckers in its genus.”

It might be my imagination, but if you look closely at the final shot below, you can see what the outlines of what appear to be several acorns just a bit below the woodpecker’s bill. It’s a mystery to me how the woodpecker remembers where it has stockpiled food and how it keeps other birds from stealing it, but I have to assume that the woodpecker knows what it is doing.

The recent cold weather reminds me that winter is almost here and this bird seems to be preparing for those tougher times to come.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Chairman of the Board(walk)

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, blue heron, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 9, 2014| 9 Comments »

It was cold and gray yesterday afternoon at Huntley Meadows Park and there weren’t a lot of people around. The Chairman of the Board(walk) decided that it was a good time to survey his marsh from a different vantage point.

I just love watching Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) and you never know what they will choose to do next. It was unusual, however, taking photos of one using the 150mm end of my 150-600mm Tamron lens and I actually had to back up in order to fit the heron’s entire body in the frame. Shortly after I took these shots, the heron flew off a short distance, back into the water.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Black squirrel

Posted in animals, Autumn, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, black squirrel, Canon 50D, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Huntley Meadows Park, Sciurus carolinensis, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 8, 2014| 18 Comments »

Some of the Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) at my local marshland park are not gray—they are black. Some of them are pure black, while others, like this one that I photographed yesterday, seem to be a mixture of gray and black. What’s going on here?

According to Wikipedia, black squirrels are a “melanistic subgroup” of the Eastern Gray Squirrel caused by the presence of mutant pigment genes. If there are two mutant genes present, the squirrels will be jet black, but they will be brownish-black if only one such gene is present.

In a fascinating bit of historical trivia, the black subgroup seems to have been predominant throughout North America prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, as its dark color helped them hide in old growth forests which tended to be very dense and shaded. As time passed, hunting and deforestation led to biological advantages for gray-colored individuals.

Squirrels seems to be very active right recently, preparing for the colder days to come. They always seem to be in a big hurry and I was happy to be able to photograph this one as it took a short break from its frenetic activity.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dragonfly in December

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 7, 2014| 6 Comments »

As we have moved deeper and deeper into autumn, the number of dragonflies at Huntley Meadows Park has continued to drop and the sole survivor now appears to be the Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum).

During my most recent visit to the park on the 1st of December, I observed quite a few Autumn Meadowhawks, primarily perched on the synthetic boards of the boardwalk that runs through several portions of the marshland.

Some of them, however, seemed to really like one of the signs adjacent to the boardwalk that provides tips on wildlife watching at the park. The Autumn Meadowhawk in the first image seems to be fascinated by the photo of the crayfish at which it is intently staring. (This photo is an homage to fellow photographer Walter Sanford, who did a similar posting recently with the same sign and the same species of dragonflies.)

A month ago, I probably would have photographed the dragonfly with my macro lens, but now I have a telephoto zoom lens on my camera most of the time. I decided to use the dragonfly as a test for my new Tamron 150-600mm lens and took some shots at 600mm to see if I could capture any of the details of this small dragonfly, which is at most about 1.4 inches (35mm) long. If you click on the image below, which is a slightly cropped and lightly edited version of the original, you can see that the lens did a pretty good job with the details and you can even see the dragonfly’s tiny feet.

Autumn Meadowhawks frequently seem to be quite tolerant of the presence of people and sometimes will even seek it out and land on you. I will often try to coax one to perch on my finger and one of my fellow photographers, Lova Brown Freeman, took these wonderful shots of a successful attempt. Thanks, Lova. I like the fact that her final shot gives you an idea of context in which you this activity took place. I am usually so anxious to zoom in close on the action, with macro or with telephoto, that I frequently forget to provide viewers with a view of the overall setting.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Patience rewarded

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, blue heron, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, catching fish, Great Blue Heron, Huntley Meadows Park on December 5, 2014| 24 Comments »

On an unusually warm date late in November I came upon a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) fishing at my local marshland park. In similar situations I will often stop and wait for a little while to see if I can capture a shot of the heron catching a fish, but generally the heron is more patient that I am and I leave empty-handed.

This time, however, I felt unusually patient and I set up my tripod and waited. The sun was bright and was coming from the left, the direction in which the heron was initially facing. It is tough for me to remain continuously alert when waiting for an extended period of time and I did not react quickly enough to get a shot of the heron pulling the fish out of the water. I recovered rapidly and got some interesting shots of the heron with the fish that it had just caught.

Great Blue Heron

Not seeing eye-to-eye

Great Blue Heron

Expelling a drop of water

One of the biggest challenges for the heron is manipulating the fish so that it can be swallowed in a single gulp. Each time that the heron shakes and jiggles the fish, it runs the risk of dropping it. In this case, the heron turned away from the sun and began its maneuvers. It took some time to get the fish into position. In the last two shots, you can see the final steps of the process as the heron dips the fish in the water, presumably to make it slide down the throat more easily, and them flips the fish into the air a final time.

Great Blue Heron

Initial adjustments

Great Blue Heron

Moving into position

Great Blue Heron

Dipping the fish

Great Blue Heron

Final flip

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Swimming into December

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Hooded Merganser, Hooded Merganser duck, Huntley Meadows Park, Lophodytes cucullatus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 2, 2014| 11 Comments »

I don’t know if they are going to stay for the winter or are just passing through, but yesterday, the first day of December, there were a dozen or so Hooded Merganser ducks (Lophodytes cucullatus) cavorting in the water at Huntley Meadows Park, my local marshland park.

I was first alerted to their presence when I heard the unmistakable frog-like croak of one of the males. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology states that these ducks are usually silent except during courtship, when the courting male “makes a deep, rolling sound like the call of a pickerel frog, earning it the nickname of “frog-duck” in Georgia.” Check out this link to hear the call of the courting male Hooded Merganser. It seems a bit early for courting to be taking place, but the males were bouncing around as I have seen them do in the spring.

The Hooded Mergansers stayed pretty far out in the water and this is the best shot I could get of one of the males paddling by. The comic-like appearance of these ducks always makes me smile and I love their shiny golden eyes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Simple Sunday—Tufted Titmouse

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Baeolophus bicolor, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, titmouse, Tufted Titmouse on November 30, 2014| 13 Comments »

Although I frequently catch a glimpse of them, it’s proven tough to get a shot of a Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor). These little birds are in almost constant motion and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes them as “acrobatic foragers.”

The coloration of the Tufted Titmice is subdued and quiet, but the spiky crest and huge eyes help them to stand out from the crowd. As I was stalking one of these birds, it flew over to a support piece for a bird feeder and perched for a moment, giving me the opportunity to snap off this photograph. Normally I try to have a more natural setting for my bird images, but the bird’s pose was so perfect that I decided to post the image.

A simple shot of a common subject can often reveal its beauty—photography doesn’t always have to be complicated.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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