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Posts Tagged ‘Huntley Meadows Park’

Last rays of the sun

Posted in Art, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on February 9, 2014| 4 Comments »

I waited for the sunset yesterday at my local marshland park and was treated to some cool effects as the last rays of the sun made their way through the trees onto the icy pond, creating some beautiful reflections.

My eye is really attuned to this effect because of a recent series of images by Stephen Pitt in his blog “Le temps d’un Soupir…” that show early morning rays of sun illuminating the forest floor. Check out his most recent posting by clicking on the name of his blog.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Sparrow and shadow

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on February 9, 2014| 6 Comments »

Have sparrows become my favorite bird? This winter, I’ve spent more time with them than with any other birds and I’ve featured them repeatedly in my blog postings. I tend to be more at ease with the familiar and the comfortable, rather than the exotic and extreme. and sparrows fit well into my world, like this Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) in the snow.

Photographing these small birds is a challenge, though, because it is unusually tough to isolate them from their often cluttered background and they are in constant motion. I like the way that I was able to capture this sparrow, with the small patch of exposed grass amidst the snow. The light was pretty strong and blew out a few details in the chest feathers, but if cast an interesting shadow.

Perhaps sparrows are not my favorite birds, but we are good friends who spend a lot of time together.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Un-favorite food

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on February 8, 2014| 4 Comments »

If berries/fruits are still around on a bush in February, I have to believe that they are not a bird’s favorite food. If you are hungry, enough, I guess you make do with what is there, as this female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) was doing yesterday when I took this photo.

I am not certain, but I think that the red berries may be rose hips and the cardinal was trying to get to the seeds in the center, as the evidence on her bill suggests.  Although I have heard that rose hips are a great source of Vitamin C, I doubt that they provide much nourishment to the birds.

I really like the way that this female cardinal almost disappears into the background in this image—the colors of her body and her bill are almost a perfect match for her surroundings.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Muskrat at dusk—more shots

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , on February 7, 2014| 6 Comments »

As promised, here are some additional images of the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) that I was able to observe one day last weekend at dusk, as it was foraging for food. I posted one photo in an initial blog entry entitle Muskrat at dusk—preview, but I knew that there were other shots that I wanted to share.

The muskrat would dig around a bit in the cattails and marsh grass and then would drag its food into the water to gnaw on it. I was struck by the muskrat’s dexterity and the way that it used its front paws, which looked remarkably like little hands. In some shots, the muskrat might be mistaken for a beaver, but in other shots you can clearly see the tail, which lets you know immediately that it is not a beaver.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Eye of the Vulture

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2014| 19 Comments »

A Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) will never look as fierce as a hawk or an eagle and I am pretty sure that “Eye of the Vulture” won’t ever be a featured song in a Rocky movie, but there is still something disconcerting when a vulture circles close overhead, staring down in your direction.

In most of my previous shots of a Turkey Vulture, the eyes have not been visible, but on a recent sunny day, the light was good enough and the vulture came close enough for me to see the eyes, which look a little creepy. Click on the photo to see a higher resolution view of this big bird, with an impressive wingspan.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Winter landscape

Posted in Art, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on February 4, 2014| 10 Comments »

Winter landscapes often have a stark, black-and-white look that I really enjoy, like this shot I took last week of part of the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland park where I take a lot of my wildlife images.

It was late afternoon when I took this shot, and the sun cast a golden light on part of the surface of the boardwalk (which is made of a synthetic material) and created beautiful shadows beneath it. I really like the contrast between the straight lines and geometric shape of the boardwalk and the wild, irregular shapes of the natural environment.

I often forget to look for the “big picture” in my zeal to get in closer and closer to my subject, but in this case I am happy that I took the effort to pull back and take in my surroundings.

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Muskrat at dusk—preview

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on February 1, 2014| 6 Comments »

At dusk yesterday as I was preparing to leave Huntley Meadows Park, my local marshland park, I stumbled upon this muskrat enjoying its dinner. The sun was setting, but it provided just enough warm light for me to capture some images of this elusive little animal.

Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) generally are skittish and the most common view that I get of them is when they are swimming away from me. I was fortunate that this muskrat was concentrating on feeding, so its guard might have been down a little, and I was able to approach it without startling it.

I was snapping away in an effort to take advantage of the disappearing light and my moment of solitude with the muskrat, when my camera alerted me that my memory card was full. I backed away slowly and surprisingly was able to change memory cards and resume shooting.

Suddenly I started to feel vibrations in the boardwalk on which I was kneeling and I realized that I was not alone. I tried to concentrate as much as I could, knowing that my time was limited as I felt and heard the approach of a young family with both a stroller and a toddler. The noise and movement was too much for the muskrat and after a bit of hesitation, it scrambled under the ice and swam away.

I haven’t yet downloaded and looked through all of my shots, but wanted to share an initial image. I really like that the last rays of sunlight were able illuminate the muskrat’s fur and add a little catch light in the eyes. (As you can probably tell, the light was coming from camera right and shining right on the muskrat.)  Stay tuned, as I am sure that I will post at least a few more photos of my encounter with this little muskrat.

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Tracks in the snow

Posted in animals, Language, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 30, 2014| 5 Comments »

Although I rarely see them, the animals in the woods at my local marsh were out and about after our recent snowstorm and their tracks made fascinating patterns in the fresh snow. What animals made the tracks and what were they doing?

I took these photos in a remote area of my local marshland park, near what I believe to be an active beaver lodge, the location at which I have previously spotted a fox, an otter, and a raccoon.

I suspect that there are resources on the internet that would help me identify these tracks, but for the moment I am content with the reminder that I am a visitor in the home of these unseen woodland creatures.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Not an egg

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 28, 2014| 6 Comments »

When you see a white, rounded object in a bird’s nest, your minds tends to assume that it is an egg. Of course, when it is the middle of the winter and the temperature is well below the freezing point, you know that it can’t be an egg (unless it’s from a snowbird, but I think they have already migrated south to the beaches of Florida).

I came across this little nest as I was making my way through the thorny vines at the edge of one of the ponds at my local marshland park. I still have trouble identifying many birds and I haven’t the slightest clue about what kind of bird would use a nest like this.

Still, this nest caught my eye as a kind of visual reminder that spring will arrive in just a few months, full of the promise of new life.

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Hopping sparrow

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , on January 27, 2014| 7 Comments »

I finally made it out to my local marsh this past weekend to check out the wildlife activity following our recent snowstorm and protracted period of cold weather. The boardwalks are still mostly slippery and covered with packed snow and almost all of the water in the ponds is frozen solid, which means that most of the geese and ducks have relocated. The cold spell is forecast to continue this week, so I don’t expect to see the water fowl returning any time soon.

The sparrows seemed even more active than normal, though, in constant motion as they moved from one set of vegetation to another. Often it seemed that they chose to hop from place to place, rather than fly, and I caught this Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) in mid-hop. (It looked like they would extend their wings a bit when they would hop down from a higher point on a plant to a lower spot).

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Rainy day cardinal

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 22, 2014| 4 Comments »

Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are one of my favorite birds, in part because they stay with us throughout the winter. The bright red color of the male cardinal never fails to lift my spirits, even on a dreary, rainy day in mid-December, when I took this photo. The feathers on the bird’s body seem to be more subdued than usual, but the spiky red feathers on the cardinal’s head give it plenty of color as well as attitude.

We are covered in snow, thanks to yesterday’s daylong snowstorm, and I would love to get some shots of a cardinal in the snow. The bitterly cold temperatures (it’s 9 degrees F (minus 13 C) and windy right now), gusty winds, and treacherous road conditions, however, may limit my photo opportunities for the next few days.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Waking up in midwinter

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 21, 2014| 7 Comments »

Yesterday when the sun was shining and the temperature soared to the high 50’s (15 degrees C), I was blissfully ignorant that snow was headed our way. Like this Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta) that I observed at my local marsh, I wanted only to bask in the warmth of the sun.

Today in the Washington D.C. area, the federal government and most of the schools are closed and we are all hunkered down as we await the arrival of what is forecast to be the biggest snowstorm we’ve had in a few years, as much as eight inches (20cm).

During the summer, I often see a whole row of turtles on this particular log, but yesterday this was the only turtle that had bee roused from its slumbering state by the surprisingly warm, sunny weather. The mud on its shell suggests that this turtle did not swim around a lot, but made a beeline for this log after rose to the surface.

I suspect that this turtle is already back in the mud at the bottom of the pond today, comfortably dreaming of spring, when it will reemerge into the sun.

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Click on the photo to see a higher resolution view of the turtle.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Rapid-fire sequence of goose in flight

Posted in Art, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 20, 2014| 9 Comments »

So many factors have to work together perfectly to get good shots of a bird in flight—the lighting has to be right, the exposure needs to be correct, the shutter speed needs to be fast enough to stop the motion, and, most critically perhaps, the camera has to focus properly on the moving subject. Of course, it helps also to be able to capture the wings in an interesting position and to have a background that is not distracting.

I have been working on taking photos of birds in flight, especially Canada Geese, but it has been rare for me to get all (or even most) of the variables to fall into place at the same time. However, in late December I took a series of shots of a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) that turned out really well. The background was the sky, which some folks don’t find to be very interesting, but at least the goose was not obscured by branches. Click on the photos to see them in higher resolution—I was thrilled that I even managed to get a catchlight in the visible eye.

The challenge for me will be to repeat this success with smaller birds that fly faster and less predictably.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Still chasing a Pileated Woodpecker

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 19, 2014| 6 Comments »

It’s nice to be back home from my recent overseas trip and to have the chance to go out in the wild for some photos. Urban shooting is ok, but somehow I feel more comfortable chasing after wildlife.

Yesterday I spotted this Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) high in the trees at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marsh that is my favorite spot for wildlife shooting. I’ve been trying for quite a while to get some good shots of this spectacular woodpecker and they are getting better, though they are not quite there yet.

These two shots are part of a series that I took as the woodpecker moved its head from side to side as well as up and down, chiseling out a hole in the tree. I was amazed to see how far back the woodpecker pulled its head before each stroke and the powerful force with which it struck—it was enough to give me a headache.

I’m still hoping that I will find a Pileated Woodpecker a bit lower in a tree (or working on a fallen log) in a location that will permit me to get some better shots, but I am content that I was able to get these shots when I caught sight of this woodpecker yesterday.

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Rainy day blackbird

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 18, 2014| 7 Comments »

Most birds seem to seek shelter when it is raining (and most people too), but this male Red-winged Blackbird (and this photographer) were an exception to that rule in late December.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Hunkering down

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 12, 2014| 8 Comments »

It concerns me that this young Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) at my local marsh may be too tolerant of people and desensitized to the reality of genuine predators that could do it harm. I worry too about its ability to catch enough food to survive, especially if this is the same young heron that I observed during the fall striking in vain at leaves in the water.

On a cold, wet day this past week, the heron was hunkered down on a log not far from the boardwalk. Other than a few movements of its head as it watched me, the heron didn’t budge a bit as I snapped away and even stayed in place when a noisy group of people walked by us.

When I see this little heron, I try to get a few pictures and then move on, thankful for the photo opportunity, but not wanting to reinforce its comfort level with the presence of people.

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Icescapes

Posted in Art, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 11, 2014| 9 Comments »

Yesterday’s cloudy, rainy, foggy day made it a little tough to take photos, but I like the effect it had on the landscape, creating almost monochromatic scenes of different shades of gray. This is an unfamiliar style of shooting for me, so I played around a bit, trying to capture both a wide view of the marsh, and some close-views of isolated areas.

The snow here is gone now, but the ice is still hanging on.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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My little chickadee

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 10, 2014| 7 Comments »

Winter is the time of the year when I am finally able to photograph some of the small birds that are with us all year, but are hidden in the leafy branches and undergrowth during the other seasons, like this Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis). Generally I see these little birds at the feeders at the Visitor Center at my local marshland park, so I was really happy when this chickadee posed for me in a more natural setting.

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Skull of a beaver

Posted in animals, Art, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 8, 2014| 11 Comments »

On New Year’s Day, as I was hiking with a fellow photographer to one of my favorite spots at the local marsh, she spotted this skull, flipped upside down on a mossy log. Had it been placed on the log by a fellow hiker or had it been abandoned there by another animal?

Judging from the length of the one remaining tooth, it looks like this is a skull of a North American Beaver (Castor canadensis). There is no way for me to tell how this animal died, but the tooth marks around the eye socket suggest that something has been gnawing on the skull.

We both took some photographs of the skull and then hurried along, hoping to see a live beaver at its lodge. We  saw the lodge, but, alas, did not see a living beaver that day.

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Downy details

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 7, 2014| 8 Comments »

Like most Downy Woodpeckers, this little male woodpecker started spiraling his way up the tree as soon as he landed on it. Then to my surprise, he worked his way back down the tree and stopped at eye level, where he stayed long enough for me to take a number of shots and even make a few adjustments in between the shots.

I really like Downy Woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens). Their high energy and acrobatic activities are a constant source of interest for me as I watch them at work in the trees and in the cattails. I’ve usually had a tough time, though,  getting an uncluttered shot of a Downy Woodpecker.

I took this shot in an area where there were mostly young trees, which made it easier for me to isolate the woodpecker as he moved about and to slowly move closer and fill the frame with the little bird. The area was shaded, so I ended up using my pop-up flash to add a little fill light. I opened up the aperture as wide as I could, which had the effect of blurring out the background.

I ended up with a portrait-like shot of the Downy Woodpecker that I really like. Click on the image to see it in higher resolution.

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Fox trot

Posted in animals, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 6, 2014| 31 Comments »

This past weekend I caught a glimpse of a fox in motion at Huntley Meadows Park—I’m pretty sure it was doing the foxtrot. I was staring across a mostly frozen beaver pond, when suddenly this red fox (Vulpes vulpes) burst into my field of view. It was running slowly around one edge of the pond, heading in the direction of a wooded area.

I didn’t have much time to react, so I had to make do with the existing camera settings. The exposure was dialed in about right and the shutter speed was fast enough. What I didn’t realize at that moment, though, was that I was in servo mode, because I had been shooting some geese in flight, so I was happy that I somehow managed to lock the focus on the moving fox pretty well. I was a little chagrined after the fact to realize that my zoom lens had not been fully extended—the images were shot at about 200mm on a 70-300mm lens.

I did get some action shots of the fox, but the first image is my favorite. The fox had paused for a split second and was looking back in the direction from which it had come and there is a lot of facial detail.

It’s especially fascinating for me to see the position of the bushy tail when the fox was moving. Often it seems like the tail is parallel to the ground. It’s cool too that I was able to catch the fox in mid-jump, with its feet almost entirely in the air. The snow is mostly gone from the ground today, so I am particularly thankful that I was able to capture some images of this brief encounter with the fox in a wintery scene.

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Portrait of a sparrow in the snow

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2014| 11 Comments »

Although I already posted a photo earlier today of a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) in the snow, I came across one I liked even more as I was going through yesterday’s images. This sparrow (and I am never certain of my sparrow identifications) seemed to be posing for me. Somehow I was able to capture details in its eyes that I have never seen before.

After our brief portrait session, the sparrow hurried back to work.

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Sparrow in the snow

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 5, 2014| 5 Comments »

We don’t get much snow here is Northern Virginia, so I was really excited to visit my marshland park yesterday to see what birds and animals were active. There were lots of crows and Canada Geese, but I was mostly attracted by the frenetic activity of the sparrows.

The sparrows moved around quickly in the snow and on the ice, foraging for food in the dried out vegetation in the cattail field. This little sparrow, which I think is a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), paused for a split second and lifted its head, which made it possible for me to get this shot. (Most of my other shots have the sparrow’s head in the shadows or buried in the vegetation).

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I am a shoveler too

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 3, 2014| 8 Comments »

The weathermen thought the snowstorm that is now dumping a lot of snow on the Northeast would skirt around us, but they were wrong—I ended up shoveling a couple of inches of the white stuff yesterday evening and this morning. So, I decided to post this photo of a male Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) that I took on New Year’s Day, in honor of all of the shovelers in the north that will be busy today.

I remember well the first time I saw a Northern Shoveler last winter. At first I thought it was a Mallard, but then I got a look at the elongated bill, which still seems cartoonish to me. In this image, I really like the way that you can see the shape of the duck’s bill in the reflection in the water.

Our storm started out with rain and then turned to snow and everything is now frozen solid. With strong gusts of wind and a current temperature of 18 degrees (about minus 8 C), I may stick close to home today, but hope to get some shots of the snow.

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Getting my ducks in a row

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 2, 2014| 9 Comments »

The title for this visual pun immediately came to mind when I first saw the photo—I can’t help myself when it comes to puns.

For the record, the colorful duck in the foreground is a male Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) and the two in the background are male Green-Winged Teals (Anas carolinensis).

As the new year begins, should I be getting my ducks in a row?

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Making an entrance

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on January 2, 2014| 5 Comments »

Some birds (and some people I know) really like to make an entrance. This Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) made a big splashy arrival in the marsh that seemed to be intended to catch the attention of the spectators already there.

They did not seem to be impressed.

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Click on the photo to see a higher resolution view.

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Cattail dawn

Posted in Art, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 1, 2014| 6 Comments »

As the new year dawns, it seems appropriate to post this photo I took last weekend at my local marsh, as the early morning sun peeked through the trees and cast its first rays of light onto the cattails.

Best wishes to all for a happy, safe, and blessed 2014.

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Dressed up in the cold

Posted in Art, Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on December 31, 2013| 6 Comments »

Have you ever seen a bird that looked like it was wearing a costume? When I caught sight of  this female Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) in the cattails last week, it looked to me like she had donned a large head scarf and an additional coat of feathers as protection from the cold.

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Taking off in the rain

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 30, 2013| 15 Comments »

Do you like long walks in the rain? Although this sounds like a question for an on-line dating service, it’s really about your style of photography.

I enjoy taking wildlife photos in the rain, if the rain is not coming down too hard and if it is not too windy. Of course, I can’t control the intensity of the rain, so I have various levels of protection. Generally, I’ll try to hold an umbrella in one hand and shoot one-handed, steadying my shot by leaning against the umbrella handle, if possible. If the rain starts to fall harder I’ll cover up my camera inside my raincoat or sometimes will pull out a plastic trash bag for additional protection until the rain slows down.

Last week, I was walking in the rain at Huntley Meadows Park, my local marshland park, when I came upon a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), standing on the boardwalk. I approached the heron quietly and stopped. The heron was looking right at me and somehow I knew that it was going to take off.

I dropped to one knee, turned the camera sideways, and pulled way back on the zoom lens, hoping to fit the heron into the frame. This image was shot at 75mm on a 70-300mm lens, so you can tell that I was relatively close to the heron. The other settings were f5, 1/400 sec., and ISO 500 for those who might be interested in the technical aspects of the shot.

It’s always interesting to see which birds are active in the rain and I did get some shots of other birds that day, but I will save them for another blog posting.

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Daylight moon

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , on December 28, 2013| 18 Comments »

I don’t ever go out shooting with the express intent of taking landscape shots, but sometimes when I am looking for wildlife to photograph, the natural beauty of the setting virtually compels me to try to capture it.

That was the case last week, when I was at the location where I had photographed the otter and the fox and happened to glance up into the sky. I was surprised to see how well the colors of the moon, which was pretty prominent for mid-morning, matched the colors of the clouds. It was almost like the moon was a perfectly round cloud.

I didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver in the thick underbrush to help me frame the shot better, so I tried to capture the scene in both portrait and landscape format. I think I like the first image a little better, but decided to include both views.

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I want to fly like an eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on December 27, 2013| 7 Comments »

My heartbeat accelerates every time I see a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), a combination of patriotism and awe at the power and beauty of this majestic bird.

Normally the eagles are soaring high in the sky, making it almost impossible for me to get a decent shot. Last Saturday, though, one of them seem to be hunting and circled around me a couple of times at a somewhat lower altitude, which allowed me to get some shots of the eagle in different flight positions.

I took these shots from the same spot at my marshland park where I recently saw an otter, a fox, and a raccoon. If only the park would let me pitch a tent in there.

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