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Posts Tagged ‘Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge’

Meadowhawk on the rocks

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on October 20, 2023| 7 Comments »

I walked about for a couple of hours on Wednesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and visited some of my favorite dragonfly sites, but managed to spot only three dragonflies. Of those three, the only one that I managed to photograph was this pretty little Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum).

Autumn Meadowhawks are quite small, about 1.3 inches (33 mm) in length, so they are not easy to spot, despite their bright red color. They tend to stay close to the ground, making short flights most of the time, so you have to be looking down to see them. At this time of the year, I focus a good amount attention on birds, so I end up alternating between looking up for birds and down for insects.

I really like the color and texture of the rocks on which the dragonfly chose to perch. Their cool muted tones contrast nicely with the red and brown colors of the dragonfly.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Familiar Bluet in October

Posted in Autumn, damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Enallagma civile, Familiar Bluet, Familiar Bluet damselfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 19, 2023| 3 Comments »

Like dragonflies, their larger “cousins,” damselflies have been rapidly decreasing in numbers this month. During recent visits to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I have seen only a few remaining damselflies. Therefore I was especially happy to spot this handsome male Familiar Bluet damselfly (Enallagma civile) last Tuesday.

The little damselfly seemed to be giving me a sideward glance as I carefully focused on him and I see a hint of what might be a smile. I really like the way that the background turned out in this image too—the colors and bokeh balls add additional visual interest without detracting from the primary subject.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Tattered autumn

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Many of the insects and plants that I now see show signs of the ravages of summer, like this damaged Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) that I spotted atop an equally damaged plant during a recent visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Nonetheless the beauty of the butterfly shines through and it appears to be fully functional.

Autumn is a time for harvest celebrations as we rejoice in the bounty of the growth that has taken place, but there is also a tinge of melancholy as we experience a sense of loss and the feeling that our lives our changing. Change, of course, is a constant in our lives, but most of us—and I definitely fit into this group—become creatures of habit and have trouble dealing with changes at times. Yet we eventually adapt and may even learn to appreciate the results of the change, even if the process of change is a bit uncomfortable.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Perched Wandering Glider

Posted in Autumn, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Pantala flavescens, Tamron 18-400mm, Wandering Glider, Wandering Glider dragonfly, Woodbridge VA on October 17, 2023| 3 Comments »

I endlessly tried to track several Wandering Glider dragonflies (Pantala flavescens) as they flew back and forth over a field at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge last Thursday and was thrilled when one of them finally landed some nearby vegetation, allowing me to capture this image.

Wandering Gliders, also known as Globe Skimmers or Globe Wanderers, are considered to be the most widespread dragonfly species on the earth, with a good population on every continent except Antartica, although they rare in Europe. According to Wikipedia, Wandering Gliders “make an annual multigenerational journey of some 11,200 miles (18,000 km); to complete the migration, individual Wandering Gliders fly more than 3,730 miles (6,000 km)—one of the farthest known migrations of all insect species.”

This modest image was technically quite challenging to capture. The vegetation in this field was dense and the autofocus on my camera kept getting confused by the stalks of vegetation, so I had to resort to manual focusing. I was reluctant to move about very much for fear of rippling the vegetation and disturbing the dragonfly and therefore had to crouch in an awkward position close to the ground. It is certainly not an award-worthy photo, but I am thrilled whenever I manage to get a decent shot of a dragonfly species that rarely perches.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hidden heron

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Ardea herodias, Canon 7D, Great Blue Heron, Great Blue Heron in a tree, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 16, 2023| 3 Comments »

This Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) was so well hidden that I could not tell if it was perched on a small raised portion of the ground or in a tree when I caught a glimpse of it during a recent visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. My view of the heron initially was mostly obscured by the thick vegetation, but I managed to get a somewhat clear shot of it by climbing on top of a conveniently placed park bench.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hidden eagle

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 7D, eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 15, 2023| 3 Comments »

This Bald Eagle was almost hidden in the foliage of a sweet gum tree when I spotted it on Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Normally I depend on the brightness of a bald eagle’s head to give away the presence of an eagle, but in this case the eagle’s head was in partial shade, making it stand out quite a bit less than it usually does.

The second shot shows a view of the eagle from a different angle. Even though this shot does not show as much detail as the first shot, which was actually taken after the second one, I like the way that it shows how the eagle was nestled on its perch amidst all of the branches.

In the upcoming months, many of the leaves will fall from the trees and it will become marginally easier for me to spot an eagle from a longer distance away. Of course, that will also make it easier for the eagles to spot me and my vision and reflexes are rarely a match for those of the eagles. Often my first indication of an eagle’s presence is when it takes to the air and flies away from me.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Arrowhead Spider

Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spiders, wildlife, tagged Arrowhead Spider, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Triangle Orbweaver, Verrucosa arenata, Woodbridge VA on October 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

On Thursday I spotted this cool-looking Arrowhead Spider (Verrucosa arenata) , also known as a Triangle Orbweaver, at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This spider is one of the few known orbweavers that sits facing upwards in its web—all other species face downward.

Its distinctive triangle-shaped abdomen makes this species pretty easy to identify. If you look closely at the image, I think that you can see a couple of the spider’s large round eyes shining brightly in between several of the legs in the upper left portion of the spider’s body.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Perfect autumn damselfly

Posted in Autumn, damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Enallagma signatum, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Orange Bluet, Orange Bluet damselfly, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 14, 2023| 1 Comment »

Although the name of this Orange Bluet damselfly (Enallagma signatum) sounds like an oxymoron, its colors are a perfect match for this autumn season. As the name suggest, most damselflies in the bluet family are blue, but they do come in other colors.

I photographed this handsome male Orange Bluet on 10 October at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and was thrilled to be able to capture a little autumn color in the background of the image.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Green Darner in October

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Anax junius, Canon 7D, Common Green Darner, Common Green Darner dragonfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 13, 2023| 3 Comments »

There were several Common Green Darner dragonflies (Anax junius) flying overhead on 10 October at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. One of them landed and perched momentarily low in the vegetation and I was able to capture this image.

I have been seeing fewer and fewer dragonflies on the ground as we move deeper and deeper into October, but in the air I have been seeing quite a few Common Green Darners, Black Saddlebags, and Wandering Gliders, the dragonfly species that migrate through our area. Many of the members of the surviving summer species appear to be faded and tattered, but the migrants appear to be bright and pristine.

The tangled grasses and vegetation where the dragonfly was perched were dried out and mostly void of color, which helps the green of the dragonfly’s thorax to really stand out in the photo. I also like the way that I was able to capture the transparency and details of the dragonfly’s wings.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Autumn Eagle Takeoff

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, bald eagle takeoff, Canon 7D, eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 12, 2023| 7 Comments »

I spotted this Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in a distant tree on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge at about the same time that it spotted me. I reacted quickly and managed to capture this first image as it prepared to take off. As you can see, there is already a bit of color in our autumn foliage, but the colors are relatively muted here in Northern Virginia, compared to what I would see when I was growing up in New England.

The second photo shows the eagle a few seconds after its takeoff as it rose above the trees. At that moment its feet were still dangling, but it raised its “landing gear” shortly after I captured the image.

It has been a while since I last posted eagle photos and it was wonderful to have a couple of sightings of these majestic birds on a beautiful fall day.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Feasting on goldenrold

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Clouded Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur butterfly, Colias philodice, Danaus plexippus, Monarch, monarch butterfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 11, 2023| 2 Comments »

I love bright colors and instinctively smile when I see the large patches of goldenrod that are still in bloom at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The insects seem to love these flowers too and last Tuesday I spotted a large Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and smaller Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) feeding on goldenrod.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Orchard Orbweaver web

Posted in Arachnids, Art, Autumn, Halloween, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Leucauge venusta, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Orchard Orbweaver, Orchard Orbweaver spider, spider web, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I am always amazed by the skill and artistry of spiders that construct elaborate webs, like this little Orchard Orbweaver spider (Leucauge venusta) that I photographed last Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It is a bit of a challenge to capture an image of a web like this, especially in full daylight, but I managed to do so by focusing very carefully and deliberately underexposing the image so that the background appeared a bit darker than it was in real life.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer in October

Posted in Autumn, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Libellula pulchella, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly, Woodbridge VA on October 9, 2023| 5 Comments »

When the calendar turns over to October, I never know which dragonflies I will encounter. Many of them have disappeared, but some hardy survivors are still around. The weather was warm last week, with several days in the 80’s (27 degrees C), but this week, high temperatures are predicted to be in the low to mid 60’s (17 degrees C) with nighttime temperatures dipping to the upper 40’s (9 degrees C)—this cool weather is less than optimal for most dragonflies.

I was thrilled last Tuesday to spot this Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) at the edge of a small pond at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I was especially pleased to be able to capture the beautiful patterns on this dragonfly’s wings as it perched in the reeds.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Assassination attempt?

Posted in Autumn, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Labidomera clivicollis, Milkweed Leaf Beetle, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Orange Assassin Bug, Pselliopus barberi, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 8, 2023| 3 Comments »

What is going on in this photo? It is really cool to photograph the interaction between two species, but it is often difficult to interpret the nature of their exchange. Is it mere curiosity or are there more deadly and sinister intentions on the part of one of the actors? If so, which one is the predator and which one is the potential prey?

I captured this image this past Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I could not identify either of these insects, so I posted the photo and requested identification assistance on bugguide.net, a wonderful resource for insect identification. It did not take long before I received a response that the insects were an Orange Assassin Bug (Pselliopus barberi) on the left and a Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis) on the right.

I may be giving too much weight to the “assassin” part of the name of one of these insects, but, judging from their individual postures, it seems to me that the orange bug is preparing to attack the black-and-red beetle. Who know? It is such a cool and creepy photo that perhaps I should have waited until Halloween to post it.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Autumn Meadowhawks at last

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 7, 2023| 3 Comments »

What signals the arrival of autumn for you? Perhaps it is the changes in the foliage, the cooling of the temperatures, or the shortening of the daylight hours. In recent years Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) have become the harbingers of autumn, visible signs that the end of the dragonfly season is inexorably drawing near.

I spotted my first Autumn Meadowhawks this year on 2 October at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This species usually appears in late September and most years is the last dragonfly species to disappear—I have seen Autumn Meadowhawks as late as December some years and there have been some reports of them in early January.

A number of other dragonflies are still active, but by early November most of them will be gone. I will still be looking to photograph those hardy survivors in the upcoming months, but, as recent postings suggest, I will eventually be shifting a lot of my focus from insects to birds.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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White-crowned Sparrow

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, sparrow, Tamron 18-400mm, White-crowned Sparrow, Woodbridge VA, Zonotrichia leucophrys on October 6, 2023| 1 Comment »

I spotted this pretty little sparrow on Wednesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. When I looked through my bird identification guide, I thought that it looked a little bit like a Chipping Sparrow. When I posted the photo below in a birding group on Facebook, however, some experienced birders identified this bird for me as a young White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys), a new species for me.

Sparrows can often be hard for me to identify, but the distinctive bill on this one helped me to narrow down the pool of potential species. A mature male White-crowned Sparrow has a black and white head and is easy to identify, but immature males and females of different species are often similar in appearance.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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A few fall warblers

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Palm Warbler, Setophaga coronata, Setophaga palmarum, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA, Yellow-rumped Warbler on October 5, 2023| 7 Comments »

Each fall I face the same dilemma—I see the photos of other photographers indicating that migrating warblers are present in our area, but I have trouble spotting these elusive little birds. Part of the problem is that leaves are still mostly on the trees and I can often hear birds that remain invisible in the foliage. The other main problem is that many birds are now sporting their duller fall plumage, so they do not stand out as much as during the spring migration, when their breeding plumage is much brighter.

Given my normal experience, I was thrilled to spot several Palm Warblers (Setophaga palmarum) and Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) during visits to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge earlier this week. The birds in the first two photos, I believe, are Palm Warblers, a relatively common warbler species that likes to poke around a lot on the ground.

The final two photos show Yellow-rumped Warblers, which are the most common warbler species in my area. In both of the photos you can see the yellow patch of feathers on the “rump” of the bird.

In a month or so I may switch over to my longest lens, a Tamron 150-600mm zoom lens, which will allow me to zoom in a little more on these tiny birds, but for now I am sticking with my Tamron 18-400mm lens, a more versatile lens that lets me get photos of butterflies and dragonflies as well as of birds. (The problem with the longer lens is that it has a minimum focusing distance of almost 9 feet (2.7 meters) and it is sometimes hard to focus on small subjects from that far away.)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hidden snake

Posted in Autumn, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, snake, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Nerodia sipedon, Northern Water Snake, Northern Watersnake, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400, Woodbridge VA on October 3, 2023| 1 Comment »

As I prepared to take a step closer to a pond last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I suddenly saw that there was a large snake in the vegetation right where my foot was about to land. My mind quickly processed the information and came to the conclusion that it was probably “only” a Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon), a non-poisonous snake that is quite common where I live.

Not wanting to disturb the snake, I backed off a little and captured this shot of the snake that was pretty well hidden in the vegetation. My mission completed, I continued on down the trail and the snake was able to resume its basking in the warmth of the autumn sunlight.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Florida Predatory Stink Bugs

Posted in Photography, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, wildlife, Autumn, tagged Canon 7D, Euthyrynchus floridanus, Florida Predatory Stink Bug, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, stink bug, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on October 2, 2023| 8 Comments »

As I was exploring Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Friday, I spotted some colorful red and black bugs. I had no idea what they were, but I happened to be walking with a fellow dragonfly enthusiast and he told me that they were Florida Predatory Stink Bugs (Euthyrynchus floridanus).

Unlike most other stink bugs that feed on plants, Florida Predatory Stink Bugs feed on insects that attack plants and are therefore considered to be beneficial. According to the North Carolina Extension website, “Immature Euthyrhynchus have a strong tendency to aggregate, and they even attack larger prey in concert. Apparently, aggregation behavior allows them to successfully attack prey too large to be subdued by a single nymph. Sometimes adults aggregate with nymphs, although when times get hard, these bugs sometimes feed on smaller relatives! When the bugs jab their proboscis into a less fortunate insect, they inject a toxin that slowly immobilizes the prey. The predigested insides are then sucked out.”

When they are developing, these stink bugs go through five stages, known as instars. The two largest bugs in the photo below are adults, while the two in the middle are in some what earlier stages of development. I don’t know for sure what this group of bugs was doing, but wonder if there is some kind of prey beneath them that they are immobilizing together.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Foraging turkeys

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Meleagris gallopavo, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, turkey, Wild Turkey, Woodbridge VA on October 1, 2023| 3 Comments »

As I was leaving Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Friday, I spotted this small band of Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) foraging on the side of a small hill. I captured this image while I was seated in the driver’s seat of my car. I was stopped with my blinkers on and fortunately there was no other traffic. I like the way that the turkeys had spaced themselves out in a military-style patrolling formation.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Rainbow grasshopper

Posted in Autumn, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Handsome Meadow Katydid, katydid, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Orchelimum pulchellum, rainbow grasshopper, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on September 29, 2023| 12 Comments »

On Wednesday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge I was thrilled to spot this rainbow-colored Handsome Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum pulchellum), which is probably my favorite insect. In addition to its multiple colors, I love its striking blue eyes and long antennae.

My title is a little misleading, because technically there are some differences between grasshoppers and katydids. One of the most visible differences is the length of the antennae—a katydid’s antennae are longer than the length of its body, while a grasshopper’s tend to be shorter. In the first photo, I cut off one of the antennae a bit when I cropped the photo, but if you look closely you can see that the antenna runs all the way to the left edge of the photo.

Shortly after I took the first photo, the katydid became aware of my presence and tried to hide from me. She stretched out her legs, which really elongated her body, and she was almost successful in concealing herself behind the stalk of grass.

How do I know that the katydid is a female? If you look closely at the tail end of the katydid in the first photo, you can see a red scimitar-shaped appendage. That is the ovipositor that the katydid uses to make a slit in vegetation in which to deposit her eggs.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Autumn Monarchs

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Danaus plexippus, Monarch, monarch butterfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on September 28, 2023| 4 Comments »

At this time of the year, many of the butterflies that I see are showing the ravages of a long summer season. That, however, was not the case with several Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) that I spotted last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge that appeared to be in perfect condition.

Perhaps these are newly emerged Monarchs that are now preparing for a long migration flight to warmer locations.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Last Needham’s Skimmer?

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Libellula needhami, Needham's Skimmer, Needham's Skimmer dragonfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm on September 27, 2023| 2 Comments »

The weather this past week has been cool, cloudy, and rainy, with high temperatures struggling to reach 65 degrees (18 degrees C). I fear that many dragonflies will not survive and so I celebrate each sighting of a dragonfly species, conscious that it could be the last one that I see this season.

Last Thursday I spotted this Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami) while I was visiting Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Its wings are tattered and its colors have faded, but it was still active.

Autumn often makes me pensive and I become more aware of the passage of time. Our lives are just as fragile and limited as those of the beautiful little insects that I am so fond of photographing. May we all find beauty, meaning, and love as we live our lives.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Red-footed Cannibalfly in September

Posted in Autumn, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged cannibalfly, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Promachus rufipes, Red-footed Cannibalfly, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on September 26, 2023| 9 Comments »

Can you identify this insect? At first glance it looks a little bit like a dragonfly, but if you look more closely you may notice that the wings and eyes are different from those of a dragonfly and this insect’s body is a lot hairier. This is a robber fly and I am pretty sure that it is a variety known as a Red-footed Cannibalfly (Promachus rufipes). Yikes!

Red-footed Cannibalflies are one of the coolest and creepiest insects that you can encounter in the wild. As their macabre moniker suggests, Red-footed cannibalflies usually feed on other insects, but they reportedly are capable of taking down a hummingbird. Thankfully I have never seen that happen, since I really like hummingbirds, but several years ago I did photograph a Red-footed Cannibalfly with a large Hummingbird Moth that it had captured (see my 2017 posting Demise of a hummingbird moth).

A posting that I did in 2013 entitled “Red-footed Cannibalfly” amazingly has been one of my most popular postings ever, with almost 3300 views to date. Apparently more people search for information about Red-footed Cannibalflies that I would have anticipated.

I captured this image last Thursday as I was exploring some of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Northern Virginia.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Perching Black Saddlebags dragonfly

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Black Saddlebags, Black Saddlebags dragonfly, Canon 7D, dragonfly in flight, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Tramea lacerata, Woodbridge VA on September 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I was happy last Thursday when a Black Saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata) that I had been tracking overhead at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge perched for a moment, allowing me to capture this first image. While it was flying, I attempted multiple times to get a shot of it, with minimal success. The second photo is my best one.

Some dragonflies spend a lot of their time perched, but Black Saddlebags are one of the species that spends most of its time in the air, so it is rewarding to be able to see one land and to get a shot of it. Black Saddlebags are also one of the few dragonfly species that are migrate although, according to the Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website, scientists do not fully understand why they do so and have been studying their migratory patterns.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Lesser Yellowlegs

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Lesser Yellowlegs, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Tringa flavipes, Woodbridge VA, yellowlegs on September 24, 2023| 1 Comment »

I almost always have trouble identifying shore birds, especially the different kinds of sandpipers. On Thursday, I spotted a single sandpiper-like bird in the shallow water of a pond at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Initially I thought it might be a Solitary Sandpiper, but when I got a good look at its legs, I leaned towards calling it a Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)—Solitary Sandpipers have greenish legs.

It was fascinating to watch the little bird move through the water, carefully raising its feet. On land, it seemed to prance a bit. In the final photo, the bird was flexing its wings as part of its grooming routine and seemed to be keeping an eye on me.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Brown Thrasher

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged brown thrasher, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, thrasher, Toxostoma rufum, Woodbridge VA on September 23, 2023| 4 Comments »

When I stepped out of my car on Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I notice a bird pecking about in the grass at the edge of the parking lot.The lenght of its tail made me think of a Northern Mockingbird, but the coloration was more sparrow-like. As I tracked the bird in my camera’s viewfinder, the bird lifted its head and I caught a glimpse of its bright yellow eye and realized that it was a Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), a species that I have seen only a few times before.

I really like the basic description of the species on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website—”It can be tricky to glimpse a Brown Thrasher in a tangled mass of shrubbery, and once you do you may wonder how such a boldly patterned, gangly bird could stay so hidden. Brown Thrashers wear a somewhat severe expression thanks to their heavy, slightly downcurved bill and staring yellow eyes, and they are the only thrasher species east of Texas. Brown Thrashers are exuberant singers, with one of the largest repertoires of any North American songbird.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue Grosbeak

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Blue Grosbeak, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Passerina caerulea, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on September 22, 2023| 8 Comments »

I was not able to get close to this Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, but was thrilled to get a shot that was good enough for me to identify the bird. As far as I know, this is the first time that I have photographed a Blue Grosbeak.

When I first spotted this bird, I thought that it was probably an Indigo Bunting. When I got home and looked more closely at the images, however, I noticed the reddish wing bars that are not found on an Indigo Bunting, so I scoured my bird identification book until I came across the Blue Grosbeak.

These two shots illustrate well the dilemma I have in photographing small birds at this time of the year. Many of them like to perch high in the trees and the leaves often hide them from view. When I hear a bird singing, I try to locate it, but am usually unsuccessful in doing so unless the bird moves. In a month or so, many of the leaves will be gone, but so will many of the birds that are now passing through our area.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Wild turkeys in the brush

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Meleagris gallopavo, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, turkey, Wild Turkey, Woodbridge VA on September 21, 2023| 1 Comment »

On Monday I spotted these two Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge as they climbed a small hill through some tall grass. They kept disappearing from view, but occasionally their heads would pop up and I was able to capture a few shots of them.

The bodies of the turkeys are partially hidden by the vegetation, but I really like the way that I was able to capture a sense of the habitat in which I saw the turkeys. Normally I spot turkeys in the open on the trails at this wildlife refuge, so it was cool to see them traveling “off-road.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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More Monarchs in September

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Danaus plexippus, Monarch, monarch butterfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on September 20, 2023| 1 Comment »

On Monday I was thrilled to spot multiple Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The first shot is the typical kind of shot that I usually try to take, but I really like the third image that I captured of a distant Monarch butterfly in a field of flowers—so many flowers, so little time.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Damsels in distress

Posted in Arachnids, Autumn, damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spiders, wildlife, tagged Argiope aurantia, Big Bluet, Big Bluet damselfly, Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider, Canon 7D, Enallagma durum, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on September 18, 2023| 3 Comments »

As we move deeper into September I have been seeing more and more Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spiders (Argiope aurantia). These spiders are impressively large and have prominent webs with a distinctive zigzag pattern near the center.

During recent visits to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I have seen multiple Big Bluet damselflies (Enallagma durum) that have gotten caught up in the webs of the Argiope spiders. In the first photo the spider is moving in on two damselflies. After immobilizing the prey, the spider will often wrap it in web material, as you can see in the second image.

The final shot shows a hapless damselfly entangled at the edge of a web. I observed the damselfly for a few moments to see if I could detect any signs of movement, with thoughts that I might be able to free it. However, I did not see any movement and suspect that I had arrived too late to rescue this damsel in distress.

Some viewers may object to these kind of graphic images, but for me it is part of the “circle of life” in nature—all creatures have to eat to survive. As I have observed numerous times, today’s predator may well become tomorrow’s prey.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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