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Posts Tagged ‘Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge’

I’m a bluebird

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Band on the Run, bluebird, Canon 50D, Eastern Bluebird, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Paul McCartney, Sialia sialis, wings, Woodbridge VA on March 2, 2019| 11 Comments »

Last year several of my most popular postings featured Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis). In response to one of those postings, one of my youngest followers, Benjamin, asked his grandmother why they were not called Orange Bluebirds, because the birds’ bodies seemed to have as much orange as blue. I appreciate all of the comments that viewers make, but that one comment has particularly stuck with me and it comes to mind whenever I see a bluebird.

On the last day of February, I spotted several bluebirds at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, my first sighting of the species in 2019. I was pleased to capture this image that shows some of the subtle coloration of one of those bluebird, with wonderfully varying shades of blue and orange.

As I was poking about on the internet looking for information on bluebirds, I came across a sweet little song by Paul McCartney and Wings called Bluebird. The song was on the album Band on the Run—I remember the album, but don’t recall having heard the song. If you want to hear the song, check out this link to the song on YouTube. As a sneak preview to the song, here are the lyrics to the first couple of stanzas, as found on the website of The Paul McCartney Project.

“Late at night when the wind is still
I’ll come flying through your door
And you’ll know what love is for,
I’m a bluebird
I’m a bluebird
I’m a bluebird

Touch your lips with a magic kiss,
And you’ll be a bluebird too,
And you’ll know what love can do,
I’m a bluebird
I’m a bluebird
I’m a bluebird…”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Vulture wingspan

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Cathartes aura, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, turkey vulture, vulture, Woodbridge VA on March 2, 2019| 5 Comments »

I wouldn’t exactly say that this Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) was handsome, but you have to admit that it has an impressive wingspan display. I spotted this vulture earlier this week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Its spread wing position reminded me of a cormorant, which pens its wings like that to dry them out. I have no idea why the vulture felt the need to do so, but it held its wings open for an extended period of time.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Brown Thrasher Song

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged brown thrasher, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, thrasher, Toxostoma rufum, Woodbridge VA on March 1, 2019| 1 Comment »

“Brown Thrasher” sounds like it could be the name of a heavy metal band. I was therefore startled by the melodious sounds of the Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) that I encountered this past Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I was entranced by its beautiful song as well as by its stunning yellow eyes. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “Brown Thrashers, like catbirds and mockingbirds, are mimics with extremely varied repertoires consisting of more than 1,100 song types.” If you click on the link for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, you will find some samples of the thrasher’s sounds.

In case you are curious, the bird’s name comes from its foraging behavior. Brown Thrashers typically feed on the ground, often in heavy undergrowth, and sweep their bills through the leaf litter and soil with quick, sideways motions.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Butterfly in February

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Eastern Comma, Eastern Comma butterfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Polygonia comma, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 28, 2019| 5 Comments »

Today I saw my first butterfly of the year, an Eastern Comma butterfly (Polygonia comma) that was flying about at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Members of this species overwinter as adults and may emerge form their hibernation for brief periods during winter warm spells.

It is not yet spring, but more and more signs point to the fact that it is just around the corner.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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My best Bald Eagle shots so far?

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 28, 2019| 22 Comments »

As many of you know, I love to photograph Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). There is something about the majesty and strength of these birds that never fails to impress and inspire me.

On Tuesday, a beautiful sunny day. there were several eagles flying about in the skies over Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I am not sure if they were motivated by love or by competition, but it was definitely fun to watch them in action. I had lost sight of a pair that I had been tracking when suddenly I heard the sound of an eagle’s cry that seemed to be really close. I glanced upwards and saw an eagle on an exposed branch in a nearby tree.

My heart was pumping and I probably was holding my breath, but I managed to capture a few shots that may well be the my best shots ever of a Bald Eagle. I was very fortunate to have been presented a situation and I was thrilled to be able to take advantage of it so well. (If you click on the images, you can see more amazing details, like the pink color of the inside of the eagle’s mouth.)

It is moments like this that help to keep me motivated as a wildlife photographer. These may be my best shots of an eagle so far, but who knows, there may be more and better images in the future.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Woolly Bear in February

Posted in Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Banded Woolly Bear caterpillar, Canon 50D, Isabella Tiger Moth, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Pyrrharctia isabella, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA, Woolly Bear on February 27, 2019| 4 Comments »

On Monday I was really surprised at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge to photograph my first insect of 2019, a Woolly Bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella). This species overwinters in its caterpillar form and survives being frozen by producing a cryoprotectant in its tissues that protects its cells from damage. It can even be found in Arctic regions.

This caterpillar was unfrozen and moving about, but it is probably too early for it to become a moth. Most of us are used to seeing this caterpillar, which is also known as the Banded Woolly Bear, in the autumn. There is quite a bit of American folklore associated with predicting the severity of the upcoming winter on the basis of the colors and sizes of the stripes on the caterpillar.

Eventually this caterpillar will become an Isabella Tiger Moth, though I suspect few people know its name or could identify it—I think folks are more attracted to the fuzzy caterpillar stage of the insect and its cool name of “Woolly Bear.”

If you want to learn more about how the overwintering Woolly Bear caterpillar and how it survives the winter weather, check out this fascinating article at infinitespider.com entitled The Woolly Bear Caterpillar in Winter.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Snake in February

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Eastern Ratsnake, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Pantherophis alleghaniensis, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 26, 2019| 6 Comments »

Yesterday was sunny, but not particularly warm—about 48 degrees F (9 degrees C)—so I was shocked when I encountered a snake. My eyes were pointed upwards as I scanned the trees for birds, but a slight movement just in front of my feet caught my attention and when I looked downward, I saw the sinuous curves of a snake (as shown in the second image below).

The snake, which I think may be an Eastern Ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis), moved to the side of the path and into the brush. It stopped moving long enough, however, for me to capture the close-up image image below. I know that some folks will find the image to be creepy or even frightening, but I like the way that it shows some of the wonderful details of the snake’s markings and its body.

Although it may look like I was really close to the snake, I was actually a good distance away and was shooting with a long telephoto lens.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Eagle on a limb

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 25, 2019| 10 Comments »

Do you wait for optimal light conditions when you are taking photographs? This past weekend I watched a number of videos of landscape photographers in action. “Action” might be a slight exaggeration, because it seemed like they spent a lot of time waiting for the perfect lighting conditions before they took their shots. The landscape photographers had pre-scouted their locations and watched the weather forecasts and knew the kind of images they hoped to capture.

Yesterday I did a posting that talked about the importance of shooting with whatever gear you have. My approach to weather and lighting is similar. I go out whenever I can and try to make the best of whatever conditions I find myself in. As I have mentioned before, I also tend to be an opportunistic shooter, so I never know what I will see and therefore can’t pre-plan my shots.

That was the situation early one morning last week as I wandered the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The skies were heavily overcast and the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that I spotted in a tree was far away.

So what did I do? I tried to capture some of the different poses of the eagle from as many different angles as I could. I worked the scene, knowing full well that none of my photos would be great.

Some say that if you want to be a professional photographer, you only display your best work. That may be true, but that is one of the reasons why I don’t particularly aspire to be a professional. As the subheading of my blog suggests, I’m on a creative journey with photography—I am content to share with others the images that I am able to capture.

As a child, I remember begin told repeatedly to do the best that I can and I continue to follow that advice to this day.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Heron stepping carefully

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600, Woodbridge VA on February 21, 2019| 4 Comments »

I love the delicate and deliberate way that Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) place their large feet when walking in shallow water, like this heron that I spotted on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Pre-flight Checklist

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, eagle takeoff, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 20, 2019| 2 Comments »

It looks like Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) follow a pre-flight checklist before takeoff. They stretch their wings, crouch down and lean forward, and then they fully extend their wings and push off with their legs.

I spotted this eagle on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I had been observing it for quite a while when suddenly it looked like it was going to take off. I am not sure exactly what the signs were, but I correctly anticipated its actions and was able to capture this sequence of shots.

Most of the time birds take off so quickly that we don’t know exactly how they did it—one second they are in a tree and the next second they are in the air. It was nice to be able to get a sense of the process that a bird goes through as it takes off. As I have seen with ducks, however, the process varies by species and is probably affected by factors such as the weight of the bird and the length of their wings.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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American Tree Sparrow in February

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged American Tree Sparrow, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Spizella arborea, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 19, 2019| 9 Comments »

Do all sparrows look the same to you? I am definitely no bird expert, but I could immediately see that the sparrow that I spotted yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge was different from the ones that I am used to seeing. The first thing that I noticed was that it was lighter in color than the usual sparrows and that the cap on its head was red, rather than the typical brown.

When I returned home and looked at the images on my computer, I also noted the two-toned bill and the black spot in the middle of its chest. All of these characteristics made it relatively easy to identify it as an American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea). I could not remember if I had seen this species before, so I checked my blog postings and found that it has been more than five years since I last photographed one.

It is easy to dismiss commonplace subjects, like sparrows, as not worthy of your time and attention. If you do so, though, you will miss the chance to discover their beauty. Like people, birds are not merely members of their species—they are unique individuals. I recommend spending time with them and getting to know them better.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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A possum in a tree

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Didelphis virginiana, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, opossum, possum, Tamron 150-600mm, Virginia Opossum, Woodbridge VA on February 9, 2019| 6 Comments »

I have been to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge dozens and dozens of times, but had never seen an opossum there until yesterday. I am pretty sure that I would not have seen this one almost hidden in the trees if fellow photographer Ricky Kresslein had not pointed it out to me. Initially I was incredulous, suspecting that he had misidentified a raccoon, but as soon as I looked closely at the animal, I realized he was right.

The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana), the animal that I photographed, is the only marsupial found in North America north of Mexico. I had to double-check, but was able to confirm my remembrance that a marsupial is an animal with a pouch, like a kangaroo or a koala.

The connection to Australia and New Zealand is occasionally a source of some confusion, because the “possums” in those locations are entirely different species. Here in North American, “opossum” and “possum” are used interchangeably.

One of the most common references to this animal is the expression “playing possum.” In the literal sense, it refers to the Virginia Opossum’s reaction sometimes when threatened—it may roll over, become stiff, drool, breathe slowly and shallowly, and appear to be dead. In a more general sense, the expression has come to mean pretending to be dead or asleep to avoid having to deal with a problem.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Another colorful dawn

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Canon SX50, dawn, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, sunrise, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 7, 2019| 7 Comments »

Normally I plan my photo expeditions so that I arrive after the sun has already risen. After all, if I want to photograph wildlife subjects, I need to have enough light to be able to see them. Recently, however, I have been trying to get there before sunrise in order to capture images of the color in the sky. This is becoming a problem for me, because the gates of the wildlife refuge where I like to explore do not open until 7:00 in the morning and we have almost reached the point in the year where the sun rises even earlier than that.

On Tuesday, I arrived at Occoquan Bay Wildlife Refuge at about 7:05 and the color in the sky was amazing, a beautiful red color tinged the clouds. My view of the most colorful parts of the sky was blocked by trees, so I did my best to frame the sky with those trees. My the time I reached the water, the most saturated colors had disappeared, but in some directions I could still see some glorious pastel colors and I captured the second image. I love the abstract quality of that image, a depiction of nature at its simplest, a series of wonderful shapes and colors.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bald Eagle in February

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 6, 2019| 6 Comments »

I watched and waited for an extended period of time yesterday as this Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) groomed itself in a tree overlooking one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I was pretty much in the open at the edge of the trail and did not dare to move forward for fear of spooking the eagle. Fortunately I had my camera and long telephoto zoom lens on a monopod, because I know from experience that I would not have been able to hold it pointed upwards for that long a period of time.

I tried to stay as alert and ready as I could, which can be quite a challenge after a while. Sometimes a bird will signal its intent to take off, but this eagle took off without a warning. Acting on instinct mostly, I managed to capture the first image when the eagle was just clearing the edge of the branches. In the second shot, I clipped off the edge of the wings, but decided to include it to give you an idea of the challenge of trying to track the speed a bird when it first takes off. The final image shows you what the eagle looked like when it was perched in the tree before the takeoff.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Puffy hawk

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Buteo lineatus, Canon 50D, hawk, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 5, 2019| 4 Comments »

This Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) was so puffed up early last Saturday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge trying to stay warm that I couldn’t even see its feet—it was about 18 degrees (minus 8 degrees C) when I captured the image. The hawk seemed to be hunched over a bit and it looks like some of its lower feathers were draped over its feet.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Reflected sunrise colors

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Canon SX50, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, reflected sunrise, sunrise, Tamron 150-600mm, winter sunrise, Woodbridge VA on February 4, 2019| 9 Comments »

The sun had risen before I reached the water at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Saturday morning, but there still was some color in the sky that was reflected by the ice along the shoreline, imparting blue and orange tinges to the ice.

In the second shot, I used the wide-angle capabilities of my Canon SX50 superzoom camera to give you an overall feel for the moment. As you can see, the sun was not yet very high in the sky and the clouds helped to direct the sun’s rays directly down onto the distant water, giving it a kind of shimmer. I am now accustomed to carrying both my DSLR and the SX50 to give me greater flexibility in capturing different situations.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Winter sunrise

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, sunrise, Tamron 150-600mm, winter sunrise, Woodbridge VA on February 3, 2019| 12 Comments »

The sun was rising as I pulled into Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge early yesterday morning. My view to the east was obstructed, but I did manage to capture this image of the fiery sun through the trees.

It was a fun challenge trying to choose settings for the camera that let me capture both the sun and the shapes of some of the individual trees. In some of my images, the trees became one dark indistinct mass, so I kept making adjustments as quickly as I could, because the sun seemed to be moving amazingly fast.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Trying to stay warm

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, trying to stay warm, Woodbridge VA on February 1, 2019| 6 Comments »

It was not as bitterly cold on Monday as it is today, but this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) nonetheless seemed to be hunkered down at the edge of a pond as it sought to stay warm at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It almost looks like the heron is wrapped in a cloak of fluffed-up feathers with only a minimum amount of its body exposed to the elements.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Nesting time for bald eagles

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, Bald Eagle couple, bald eagle nest, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 31, 2019| 3 Comments »

It’s nesting time for eagles at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. On Monday I spotted this Bald Eagle couple in a nest that I know has been used the for at least the last two years. The tree is adjacent to one of the main trails at the refuge and is pretty prominent. Shortly after my sighting, I encountered one of the law enforcement officers who was putting up barriers to block access on the roads near the nesting site to protect them from human interference.

Each year they put up the barriers in slightly different locations. I am hoping that this year’s barriers are about the same distance from the nest as last year’s. At that distance, I was able to photograph the eagles from a distance that let me get photos about the same as the first image below and also monitor the eagles. I was fortunately last year to be able to even get some distant shots of the two eaglets after they were born. Perhaps I will be equally lucky this year.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Little Brown Creeper

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged brown creeper, Canon 50D, Certhia americana, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 30, 2019| 2 Comments »

Brown Creepers (Certhia americana) are tough to photograph as they spiral their way up tree trunks, so I was thrilled when I managed to get a mostly unobscured shot of one of these little birds on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

How small are Brown Creepers? According to information on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, Brown Creepers are 4.7 to 5.5 inches in length (12 to 14 cm) and weigh 0.2 to 0.3 ounces (5 to 10 grams). For the sake of comparison, the birds that I featured yesterday, Bald Eagles, are 27.9 to 37.8 inches in length (71 to 96 cm) and weigh 105.8 to 222.2 ounces (3000 to 6300 grams).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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How much did I crop?

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 29, 2019| 11 Comments »

How willing are you to show others your unedited images? When I first started getting more serious about taking photos six and a half years ago, I used to go out shooting with my mentor Cindy Dyer. When we were finished, we would immediately download my images and she would go through them with me.

It is a very humbling experience to let someone see all of your shots, but in doing so Cindy was able to see what I was attempting to do and how well I was succeeding in things like composition and camera settings. Her view was that I should try to get it as correct as I could in camera and not rely on software to fix my problems.

Earlier today I posted an image of a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in a blog posting that I titled Unexpected eagle. In response to the posting, Liz of Exploring Colour asked me how much I had cropped the image. I answered her verbally, but then realized it would be more effective to show her the uncropped image and then the cropped one that I used in this morning’s post.

I was shooting with a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm for this shot and that was what allowed me to fill so much of the frame with the eagle. It is very unusual for me to be able to get that close to an eagle without spooking it. When I am uncertain of the amount of time that I will have with a subject, I will usually use the center focus point of my camera and I think that is what I did here.

My DSLR is getting a bit long in the tooth and doesn’t have as many megapixels as some of the really new ones, which means I can’t crop as severely as some other photographers can without degrading the quality of my images. I have no objections to cropping, though I usually try to keep it as minimal as possible.

Bald Eagle

Uncropped image

bald eagle

Cropped image

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Unexpected eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 29, 2019| 10 Comments »

As I rounded a curve on a trail yesterday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I looked up and realized there was a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) right in front of me. I reacted pretty quickly and managed to capture this image before the eagle spotted me and flew away.

Most of the time when I have been in similar situations, the eagle has spotted me before I spotted him and reacted before I did. In this case, I suspect that the eagle was either distracted or was looking in another direction when I first came into view.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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“My” wildlife refuge

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon SX50, full moon, icescape, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Potomac River, Woodbridge VA on January 23, 2019| 12 Comments »

One of my faithful viewers, Jet Eliot, commented on a recent posting that she was glad to get some views of the wildlife refuge where I take so many of my photos. (Jet has a wonderful blog that focuses on travel and wildlife adventures that is definitely worth checking out.) The problem is not that I don’t take shots of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, it is simply that I get so excited about posting photos of the wildlife that I forget about the more static shots of the land and water.

Here are a few shot of the refuge from this past Monday that help give you a better idea of the environment in which I am operating. The first image shows you what part of the shoreline at the refuge looks like during low tide. The refuge is located where Occoquan Bay meets the Potomac River and during tidal surges, some of the shoreline paths are underwater. Those surges tend to bring lots of debris onto the shore, including trash, like the beer bottle that you can see in the photo.

The second shot gives you an idea of how close some of the trees are to the shore. After big storms, downed trees often block some of the paths. As you probably noticed, there was a full moon visible that morning as the sun was rising and adding a little color in the sky.

The final image shows one of the streams that runs through the refuge. It is not unusual to see herons or ducks in these streams and at certain times, when I am really lucky, I have managed to spot muskrats, beavers, and otters.

So that is a brief introduction to “my” wildlife refuge. I used to most of my shooting at another nearby location, Huntley Meadows Park, but it became really popular and crowded. I prefer the solitude of this location—I am overjoyed sometimes when I arrive at the refuge and find that my car is the only one in parking lot.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Snowscape

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, snowscape, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 22, 2019| 9 Comments »

I focus my attention so much on photographing living creatures that I feel somewhat helpless when it comes to taking landscape shots. How do you figure out what the main subjects is, assuming that there is a main subject? As a result, I tend to take simplified landscape shots, ones in which lines and shapes take on an almost abstract value.

The absence of color in a cloud-covered sky last Friday rendered the world even more simplified and monochromatic when I took this photograph at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Despite the tire tracks in the snow, I was definitely alone that morning, taking the road less traveled. It was that feeling that I tried to capture with this image.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Frigid dawn

Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, frigid dawn, frigid landscape, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 21, 2019| 11 Comments »

It was frigid this morning—11 degrees F (minus 12 C) when I first got into my car—and windy, but I was out at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and captured these images as the sun was rising. It was wonderfully tranquil, with the silence broken periodically by the sounds of cracking ice and the creaking trees.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Song Sparrow in the snow

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged birds in the snow, Canon 50D, Melospiza melodia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, song sparrow, sparrow, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 20, 2019| 2 Comments »

Even when the weather is bad and other birds are hunkered down, sparrows are invariably active. Most of the time they are at ground level, but occasionally one will perch a bit higher off of the ground and give me a chance to get a decent shot.

That was the case this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, when a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) took a break and posed for me briefly on the end of a log. I liked the composition when I took the shot and decided to post it without any cropping. I also couldn’t help noticing as I was working on the image that the sparrow’s colors are almost a perfect match for those in the background.

Sparrows are really special to me too because both on my parents loved His Eye Is On The Sparrow, a hymn that reminds us that God cares for each one of us. That is a message I think we all can use right now, at a time when so many of us are stressed out over the situation in our respective countries and in the world in general.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Female Common Merganser

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, common merganser, common merganser duck, Mergus merganser, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 19, 2019| 5 Comments »

Yesterday I finally made my way out into the wilds of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge for the first time following our recent snowfall. The wildlife refuge is open despite the partial federal government shutdown, but I was pretty sure that the access road had not been plowed, so I waited a few day for road conditions to improve.

It was heavily overcast for much of the day and the wildlife seemed to have hunkered down. Sightings were pretty scarce, so I was really happy when I spotted this duck. It was already a good distance away from me and I think it sensed my presence about the same time as I saw it and started swimming away immediately. I had a pretty good idea that this was a female Common Merganser duck (Mergus merganser) and some friendly folks on a Facebook forum confirmed the identification.

As far as I know, this is the first time that I have spotted this species—I am more used to seeing the Hooded Merganser, whose female sports a similar hairstyle to that of the Common Merganser.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Tugboat at dawn

Posted in Landscape, Photography, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, D. Gray Kimel, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Potomac River, Tamron 150-600mm, tugboat, Woodbridge VA on January 15, 2019| 3 Comments »

Although I focus mostly on my attention on wildlife in this blog, many of you know that I am likely to take photos of almost anything that catches my eye. Early in the morning this past Saturday as I was scanning the waters off of Occoquan Bay Wildlife Refuge, I caught sight of some lights in the distance. As they grew larger and larger, I realized that it was some sort of ship and I was happy to get a shot of it as it passed by.

A close examination of the image and a quick search on the internet revealed that this is a twin-screw tugboat named the D. Gray Kimel. It was built in 1982 and has had several different names. When I saw it the tugboat did not appear to be assisting another boat, but I did learn that it is rated at 1350 horsepower, so it seems to be pretty powerful.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bouncing bufflehead duck

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged black-and-white photography, Bucephala albeola, bufflehead, bufflehead duck, Canon 50D, male bufflehead, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 14, 2019| 15 Comments »

I love the way that Bufflehead ducks (Bucephala albeola) run across the surface of the water to gain speed before taking off, like this male bufflehead that I spotted last Saturday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The images were already pretty much monochromatic because of the limited light, so I decided to do a black-and-white conversion of them.

If you look closely at the first image, you will see that my camera’s shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the motion of the water, but slow enough that the wings are blurred, which I think enhances the sense of speed. The wing tips are blurred in the second image as well and we also have a really cool reflection of the bufflehead after it has successfully taken to the air.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Retriever

Posted in Birds, Dog, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, duck hunting, Labrador Retriever, mallard, mallard duck, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 14, 2019| 6 Comments »

Passing by one of the duck blinds in the waters of Occoquan Bay this past Saturday, I saw a larger number of decoys set out and realized it was occupied. Consequently I braced myself when I heard the sound of approaching ducks and sure enough shots rang out. A few seconds later, I saw a duck hit the water not far from where I was standing.

I was focusing on the flailing duck with my telephoto lens when suddenly a dog swam into the frame. The dog, which appears to be a Labrador Retriever, approached the duck, circled around it so it would be heading in the right direction, and then swam back to the blind with the duck in its mouth.

I am not a hunter and prefer to do my shooting with a camera. However, I can appreciate the skill of both the hunter and the retriever in securing the duck that will probably make a tasty meal.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cardinal in January

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, male Northern Cardinal, Northern cardinal, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 13, 2019| 14 Comments »

I love male Northern Cardinals in the winter. They add such a wonderful pop of bright color on a cloudy day, like yesterday when I took this shot, or on a snowy day like today (when I hope to see one in my neighborhood).

I spotted this Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) while exploring Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, my current favorite spot for walking about with my camera. We have already had about 6 inches (10 cm) of snow and more is falling, so I probably will not make it out of the neighborhood today. The streets are not yet clear and people in this area tend to drive even more crazily than normal when there is snow.

I took a number of shots of the cardinal while he was perched in a distant tree. Although he remained relatively stationary, he kept changing his tail position, so I decided to include shots with different “poses.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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