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Posts Tagged ‘Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge’

Near impossible task

Posted in dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Anax junius, Canon 50D, Common Green Darner, Common Green Darner dragonfly, dragonfly in flight, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 18, 2018| 11 Comments »

Are you patient and persistent? If so, you have the right temperament to try to photograph dragonflies in flight. Every dragonfly season I spent endless hours in mostly fruitless attempts to capture in-flight images of dragonflies. One of my friends on Facebook described this as “a near impossible task” and, of course, she is right.

My first somewhat successful effort this year was a shot of a Common Green Darner (Anax junius) patrolling above one of the paths at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge last Friday. As you might suspect, getting the moving dragonfly in focus is one of the biggest challenges, because the subject is too small for the camera’s autofocus to engage. Sometimes I will focus manually as I track the dragonfly and sometimes I will use a zone focusing technique in which I preset the focusing distance and wait (and hope) for the dragonfly to fly into the zone.

A near impossible task? It certainly is, but I enjoy the challenge the way that its pursuit confounds observers—one such observer watched me closely for several minutes on Friday and couldn’t figure out what I was trying to photograph.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flying away with a catch

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 17, 2018| 18 Comments »

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the relationship between seeing and taking pictures as I find myself growing more and more acutely aware of the details in my surroundings. The more I shoot, the more I see and the more I see, the more I shoot. I am continually amazed at the things that I see and even more amazed that I am able to capture some of those experiences with my camera.

I have fallen in love with a quotation attributed to photographer Dorothea Lange, “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” Even when I don’t have a camera in my hand, I seem to be viewing the world differently than I did in the past. My sensitivity has undoubtedly been heightened by greater knowledge of my subjects and my skills honed by lots of practice and familiarity with my gear.

This past Friday, I spotted a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) soaring in the air over the waters adjacent to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. That was not very unusual and I was able to capture some shots like the second one below. As the eagle flew out of range, I noticed that it seemed to be decreasing in altitude and circling back, so I continues tracking the bird. Somehow I suspected that the eagle was tracking a fish. Unlike an osprey that drops straight down into the water to catch a fish, an eagle seems to pluck a fish out of the water as it flies by.

I watched in awe and wonder as the eagle caught a fish. My timing was off a bit and my shots of the moment of the moment of the catch were not in focus, but I captured this image of the eagle flying away with its catch, an image that I really liked. As I think back about the experience, I feel absolutely no disappointment that I did not photograph it better. Instead, I feel a kind of joy and exhilaration that I was able to experience a really cool moment in nature.

Photography has opened my senses to those kinds of moments and motivates me to spend hours on end trekking about with my camera in hand. Capturing those experience in images is a real bonus whenever I am able to do so.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Gray Catbird

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, catbird, Dumetella carolinensis, gray catbird, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 16, 2018| 8 Comments »

My bird books say that Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis), like this one that I spotted on Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, make catlike mewing sounds, which accounts for the name. When I initially heard this bird, it was making a variety of different sounds, none of which sounded like a cat, and I thought it was a Northern Mockingbird. It was only when I zoomed in and saw that the bird had less distinctive markings than those of a mockingbird that I realized that it was a different species. Catbirds do, however, belong to the same family Mimidae (also known as mimic thrushes) as Northern Mockingbirds and Brown Thrashers, like the one that I featured in a recent posting.

When I was growing up, I remember hearing the expression “sitting in the catbird seat” and I learned that it meant being in an enviable or advantageous position. I never really wondered, though, what this had to do with a catbird and only today did I search for the origins of the expression. According to the website phrases.org.uk, “Catbirds seek out the highest perches in trees to sing and display. The allusion to that is most likely to be the derivation of the term. It may also be the source of an earlier term with much the same meaning – ‘sitting pretty‘.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Baby bald eagles

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged baby eagle, Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, eaglet, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 15, 2018| 9 Comments »

Babies are always exciting and it looks like there are at least two eaglets in one of the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nests that I have been watching for quite a few weeks. When I arrived at the barrier that blocks one of the trails on Friday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I noticed that the adult eagle was no longer sitting in the center of the nest—she was sitting in a much more upright position than previously and was sitting to one side of the nest. I began watching the nest through my telephoto zoom lens and periodically I was see the top of a little head pop briefly into view. I kept watching and eventually was able to get a shot that shows two babies.

I decided to crop the shot in two ways. The first one is a pretty severe crop, but it lets folks get a good look at all three eagles. The second crop is much looser and gives a better sense of the context of the shot by showing more of the tree and of the nest.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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First dragonfly of the spring

Posted in dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Anax junius, Canon 50D, Common Green Darner, Common Green Darner dragonfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 14, 2018| 10 Comments »

Dragonflies are one of my favorite subjects to photograph and each spring I eagerly await their reappearance. Yesterday I captured my first image of one this season, a beautiful Common Green Darner (Anax junius) that I spotted at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Common Green Darners are a migratory species and the ones that we see in early spring, like the one in the photograph, probably flew here from somewhere further south. Once they arrive, they have a series of tasks to accomplish—they mate, lay eggs, and die. The next generation of Green Darners will emerge in a few months and fly south in the autumn. That generation will die in the south and the following generation will fly north in the spring.

What an amazing life cycle!

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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First spring Question Mark butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Canon SX50, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Polygonia interrogationis, question mark, Question Mark butterfly, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 12, 2018| 4 Comments »

We have had colder than normal weather this past week, so I was quite shocked to see a fairly large orange and black butterfly last Friday fluttering about at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Actually, when the butterfly opened its wings I could see its bright colors, but it kept them closed, the butterfly blended in well with the background and look simply like another fallen leaf.

In our area there are two butterflies that are very similar in appearance and I knew that this one was either and Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) or a Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) butterfly. I am often amused by the names given to species in nature and I wonder what kind of a personality some has that decides to name two butterfly species after punctuation marks—almost certainly it was a scientist and not an artist.

You can tell the two species apart by the markings on both the outer and inner wings and I concluded that this one is probably a Question Mark. If you are curious about the differences, check out a posting by TrekOhio called “Butterflies that Punctuate: The Eastern Comma and the Question Mark” that goes into some detail in explaining how to tell the species apart.

In the next few days, the weather is supposed to warm up and hopefully more colorful insects will appear (and maybe even some more birds). It’ll be fun to see what I can find and photograph.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Thrashing Thrasher

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged brown thrasher, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Toxostoma rufum, Woodbridge VA on April 11, 2018| 5 Comments »

If this Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) had not been making so much noise as it thrashed about in the dry leaves, I might not have spotted it on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge—its camouflage is almost perfect, except for those startling eyes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Gray Hairstreak

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Gray Hairstreak, Gray Hairstreak butterfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Strymon melinus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 11, 2018| 5 Comments »

I am delighted to see that butterflies are finally appearing as we move deeper into spring, like this tiny Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) that I spotted this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Since I was mostly looking for birds, I had my trusty Tamron 150-600mm lens on my camera. Although this lens is not optimal for such a small subject, it did a pretty good job in capturing the delightful details of this little butterfly, like the little “tails” at the bottom of the wings and the patches of orange on the wings themselves.

The same day I also saw a larger orange butterfly that I think was a Question Mark butterfly. If my photos are clear enough, I’ll probably post them soon. Stay tuned for coming attractions.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Warbler on the rocks

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Setophaga dominica, Tamron 150-600mm, warbler, Woodbridge VA, Yellow-throated Warbler on April 10, 2018| 8 Comments »

I was a little shocked (and really happy) to see this Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica) at the edge of the water rather than high in a tree yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, allowing me to capture some of the bird’s beautiful markings.

A couple of weeks ago I caught a glimpse of a Yellow-throated Warbler for the first time, but that bird was high in a pine tree and too far away for me to appreciate fully its beauty. When I read about the species, I learned that it likes to spend its time near the top of the pines. So when I spotted a bird hopping along the rocks at the water’s edge yesterday, I was not expecting to see a Yellow-throated Warbler.

It was a cold, cloudy day and all of the colors seemed subdued—most of nature is still clothed in its monochromatic winter gard. My heart rate jumped when I saw a flash of bright yellow as I gazed at the little bird through my telephoto lens. It didn’t completely register on my mind that this was a Yellow-throated Warbler, but I knew for sure that it was a warbler.

When it comes to small, hyperactive birds, seeing them is one thing—getting a photo is an entirely different matter. One of the biggest challenges about using a long telephoto lens is locating the subject quickly when looking through the lens. It is a skill that improves with practice, but there were numerous times yesterday when I would locate the bird and it would move away as I was trying to acquire focus.

I followed after the bird, trying to keep it in sight as it moved down the shoreline. I was on a trail that paralleled the water, but there was often a strip of vegetation that separated me from the water and the warbler. Eventually I was able to get a few photos of the beautiful little bird before it disappeared from sight.

Whenever I see a new species, I am excited to get any shot of it, but then I seek to improve on those initial images. That was certainly the case with the Yellow-throated Warbler and I am hoping that I will be able to repeat this cycle with a few more warbler species this season.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spread eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, majesty, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 9, 2018| 11 Comments »

Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) are really cool and I have been photographing them quite a lot recently. However, they can’t quite match the majesty of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), like this one that soared almost directly over me on Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

I never cease to be thrilled by the mere glimpse of a Bald Eagle and it is always a joy to capture an image of one in flight.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fragility of spring

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged blossoming trees, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Regulus calendula, ruby-crowned kinglet, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 8, 2018| 3 Comments »

Sometimes in my photos I try to capture a feeling and this recent image of an elusive Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge speaks to me of the beauty and fragility of spring.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Horned Grebe in the spring

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Grebe, Horned Grebe, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Podiceps auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 8, 2018| 7 Comments »

This Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus) that I spotted on Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge has incredible red eyes with a golden ring around the pupil. The beautiful details in the natural world never cease to amaze me, which is why I tend to do most of my shooting with either a telephoto zoom lens or with a macro lens.

When I first spotted this bird, it was swimming in the same direction that I was walking as I followed a path parallel to the water. The grebe would swim a little and then look in my direction for a split second and dive. I would hurry along the path to try to find another opening in the vegetation to reacquire the grebe when it resurfaced. I kept thinking that the bird would swim out into the deeper water away from me, but instead it stayed a consistent distance from the shore and we played our little game for quite a while until the trail turned inland and I lost sight of the little grebe.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Heron gathering sticks

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, heron, nesting, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 7, 2018| 10 Comments »

The skies over Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge were busy yesterday with ospreys carrying sticks for their nests. A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) joined in on the action and carefully checked out a lot of sticks before choosing a perfect one.

A few seconds after this photo the heron flew off to an as yet unknown nesting site.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bird in the hand

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged bird banding, bird banding station, Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, Golden-crowned Kinglet, kinglet, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Regulus satrapa, Woodbridge VA on April 6, 2018| 6 Comments »

Last weekend I again visited the bird banding station at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and was thrilled to see the friendly folks there process a pair of Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa), which are among the smallest birds in our area. Bands come in all different sizes and kinglets require the absolutely smallest-sized bands.

Here are some shots of the encounter including the initial processing of the bird; the actual banding of the bird (note its tiny legs); examination of the feathers of the bird; and the moment before the release of one of the little birds by a young visitor.

I love the fact that I was able to get so much closer to the bird and see so many wonderful details about its feathers and coloration than I would ever be able to do in the wild. As the old saying goes, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Eye-level osprey nest

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Osprey, osprey nest, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 5, 2018| 8 Comments »

Most Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge are busily building nests high in the trees, but at least one chose a location that is almost at eye level. The nesting site is on top of a duck blind not far from the shore. The blind is essentially a small wooden shack that sticks out of the water on stilts or pilings.

The nice thing about seeing a subject at eye level is that it gives a very natural perspective that helps you, I believe, to engage more directly with that subject, literally seeing eye-to-eye. That is why it is usually recommended that you bend down to photograph children and pets.

In theory, it is easier to get a shot like this that to shoot upwards into a mass of foliage. In reality, though, I had to find a big enough break in the vegetation and shoot over a chain link fence topped with barbed wire, while moving stealthily so as not to disturb the skittish sitting osprey. I ended up stopping by the spot multiple times during the day before I finally got a shot that I liked. (For what it’s worth, I am not sure what the object in the foreground is—at first I thought it was a partially eaten fish, but now I don’t think that is the case. Any ideas?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Tenderness of an eagle

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, Bald Eagle couple, bald eagle nest, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Otis Redding, Tamron 150-600mm, Try a Little Tenderness, Woodbridge VA on April 4, 2018| 7 Comments »

Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) appear really fierce with their intense eyes and powerful talons and beaks, but they also have their tender moments, as you can see in this image that I captured on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Officials have blocked off an area of the wildlife refuge for the security and privacy of the nesting eagles, but I was able to get this shot by shooting over the barrier with a long telephoto zoom lens and by cropping the image.

The female eagle, which I believe is the larger one on the right, seems to be sitting much higher than she was several weeks ago, making me wonder if one or more egg might have already hatched. A few moments before I captured this image, she was repeatedly lowering her head down into the nest and then raising it. Perhaps she was just eating, but I like to imagine that she was feeding an eaglet.

From what I have read, eagles mate for life and actually are quite affectionate with each other. Additionally, they share the responsibilities for sitting on the eggs and for raising the young. I am somewhat more familiar with some duck species, where the female is left with responsibility for caring for the ducklings, and it really causes me to admire the devotion and commitment of the eagles to each other.

So what about you and the ones that you love? Do you get weary? Maybe we too should follow the words of the classic Otis Redding song and “Try a Little Tenderness.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Displaying Wild Turkey

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Meleagris gallopavo, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, turkey, Wild Turkey, Woodbridge VA on April 3, 2018| 7 Comments »

I was amazed and thrilled yesterday when I spotted an impressively large male Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) putting on a showy display at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge near the edge of an open field. I suspect the lady turkeys were impressed too.

I have seen wild turkeys multiple times at this wildlife refuge, but generally it has been groups of females and their offspring. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, “Courting males gobble to attract females and warn competing males. They display for females by strutting with their tails fanned, wings lowered, while making nonvocal hums and chump sounds. Males breed with multiple mates and form all-male flocks outside of the breeding season, leaving the chick-rearing to the females.” I was not able to get close enough to hear any gobbling, but the visual display by itself was stunning.

Spring is the season for love and I will be on the lookout as more male birds try to outdo their competitors and find mates using their brilliant colors, musical calls, or elaborate courting rituals.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Kinglet and branchlet

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged branchlet, Canon 50D, Golden-crowned Kinglet, kinglet, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Regulus satrapa, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 2, 2018| 5 Comments »

Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa) are not woodpeckers, but a tiny kinglet that I spotted this past weekend at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge seemed to be doing its best imitation of one as it pecked away at a little branchlet.

For those of you who are not familiar with Golden-crowned Kinglets, they are really, really small birds. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, these kinglets are 3.1-4.3 inches in length ( 8-11 cm) and weigh only 0.1-0.3 oz (4-8 gm). It is always exciting to spot a kinglet and always a challenge to get a unobstructed, in-focus shot of one.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Mourning Cloak

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Mourning Cloak, Mourning Cloak butterfly, Nymphalis antiopa, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 1, 2018| 4 Comments »

Yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I finally spotted my first full-sized butterfly of the spring, which was, not surprisingly, a Mourning Cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa). Unlike some other species that migrate, Mourning Cloak butterflies overwinter with us as adults in a hibernation-like state and awake to mate in the early spring. Generally, therefore, they are among the first butterflies to appear in the spring.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Yellow-throated Warbler

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Setophaga dominica, Tamron 150-600mm, warbler, Woodbridge VA, Yellow-throated Warbler on April 1, 2018| 9 Comments »

I photographed this Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica) really high in a pine tree yesterday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. A helpful birder pointed out the bird to me, but it took quite a while before the bird revealed itself enough for me to get a shot.

Birders in my area are starting to get really excited because it is warbler season. In theory, that means there will be all kinds of birds around with varying patterns of yellow. I have very little experience with spring warblers, but suspect that many of the warblers will hang out at the top of the trees and will be tough to photograph. In past years I have concentrated on ducks at this time of the year, but I think I may try to devote some attention to warblers this spring.

On a totally unrelated note, I spotted some Common Green Darner dragonflies yesterday, the first dragonflies that I have seen this season. Hopefully it won’t be too long before dragonfly photos show up in a posting.

Happy Easter to all those who are celebrating Easter today.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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First egret of the spring

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Ardea alba, Canon SX50, egret, Great Egret, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Woodbridge VA on March 31, 2018| 12 Comments »

Perched high in a distant tree, this first Great Egret (Ardea alba) of the spring made an appearance for me on Thursday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I love this egret’s long feathery breeding plumage.

My only regret is that I was unable to get a closer look at this beautiful bird. The egret seemed content to remain in its standing perch for a long time—perhaps it was tired from an extended migration flight. I don’t yet know if this was merely a resting spot for the egret or if it will remain in our area.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Semi-submerged Cormorant

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on March 31, 2018| 1 Comment »

Its heavy weight and non-waterproof feathers cause the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) to float really low on the water. The cormorant that I spotted yesterday in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, however, was even lower than usual, with most of its body almost completely submerged.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Visit to a banding station

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged bird banding station, brown thrasher, Canon 50D, Carolina Wren, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 180mm, Thryothorus ludovicianus, Toxostoma rufum on March 30, 2018| 5 Comments »

This week I visited the bird banding station at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This is a very small operation, run almost entirely by volunteers, that bands mostly smaller songbirds.

While I was there, they captured a Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) and a Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). Both birds were weighed, measured, and examined. The tiny Carolina Wren already had a band from a previous year and the much larger Thrasher got a band. The bands come in all sizes—it was amazing to see the range of sizes.

When it was time to release the wren, one of the volunteers handed her over to me. It was such an amazing feeling to hold the little bird in my hand and then to slowly release my grip and feel the tiny points of her little feet press down on my palm as she took to the air.

Click this link For more info on the banding station including hours of operation.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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American Pipit

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged American Pipit, Anthus rubescens, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, pipit, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on March 29, 2018| 5 Comments »

An enthusiastic birder who I encountered on a trail earlier this week excitedly informed me that she had just seen a pipit. Before I had a chance to respond, she described for me the general area where she had seen the bird. I am pretty familiar by now with Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, so I knew that I would have no trouble finding the spot. I thanked her and we continued on our separate ways.

It suddenly dawned on me that I had no idea what a pipit looked like or the kind of habitat that it preferred—all I had was a name and a general location. When I arrived at the location, the intersection of two trails, I started looking around for birds. I spotted some familiar species and then started to watch one particular bird that caught my eye. At first I thought it was a sparrow, but it seemed to act differently from other sparrows, including wagging its tail from time to time.

The unknown bird eventually flew into a small tree and I was able to capture some unobstructed images of it. Had I somehow managed to find a pipit? I posted a photo on a Facebook bird identification and folks there confirmed that my bird was in fact an American Pipit (Anthus rubescens).

It’s nice to be lucky sometimes when it comes to photographing wildlife.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Salute to the sun

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged American robin, Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, robin, Tamron 150-600mm, Turdus migratorius, Woodbridge VA on March 28, 2018| 2 Comments »

Monday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I captured this shot of an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) as it assumed a yoga-style pose and saluted the early morning sun.

In many ways, this is one of my favorite styles of wildlife photography. I find an ordinary subject, in this case the robin, and try to capture it in a way that highlights its beauty.

Of course, “ordinary” is a relative term and I have become more and more conscious of the fact that subjects that are common in one area may well be considered rare and exotic in another location. That heightened consciousness also caused me to identify this as an “American Robin,” because I have learned that Europeans have an equally beautiful, but different, bird that is also called a “robin.”

Beauty comes in many forms and one of my goals as a photographer is to capture a sense of that beauty and to share it with others. Ideally, it will cause some of those viewers to pause and wonder how it is that they did not notice that beauty themselves.Perhaps the next time they are out in nature, they will linger a little longer and look a bit closer and find that beauty revealed to them as well.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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First butterfly of the spring

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 50D, Celastrina ladon, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Spring Azure, Spring Azure butterfly, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on March 27, 2018| 6 Comments »

I was a bit shocked and absolutely thrilled this past week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge to spot my first butterfly of the year, which appears to be the appropriately named Spring Azure butterfly (Celastrina ladon). We have had some slightly warmer and sunny days recently, but the temperatures continue to be below freezing most nights.

When I encountered the tiny butterfly, I had my trusty Tamron 150-600mm lens on my camera, which is not exactly the optimal lens for this kind of subject. Life is often about making do with what you have, so I extended the lens to its full length, steadied myself as well as I could, and focused manually on the butterfly as it perched on some vegetation, a few inches above the ground.

It won’t be long before I see some bigger and more colorful butterflies, but this one is really special to me as the first butterfly of the spring.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Muskrat in early morning light

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, early morning light, muskrat, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Ondatra zibethicus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on March 26, 2018| 14 Comments »

All wild creatures seem especially beautiful in the early morning light, like this cute little muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) that I spotted last week in one of the small ponds at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Cedar Waxwing and berry

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Bombycilla cedrorum, Canon 50D, Cedar Waxwing, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on March 25, 2018| 12 Comments »

It was pretty cool yesterday morning to see a small flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) foraging at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. One of them was using gravity to help it ingest a berry that it had managed to found. If you look closely, you can see what appears to be the bird’s tongue.

It seemed to take a bit of effort, adjusting ever so slightly the head and mouth, but eventually the beautiful little bird was able to get the whole berry into its mouth. In many ways, it was similar to watching a Great Blue Heron swallow a fish, albeit on a greatly reduced scale.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cartoonish kinglet

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, kinglet, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Regulus calendula, ruby-crowned kinglet, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on March 24, 2018| 3 Comments »

I photographed this cute little Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The angle and exaggerated proportions make this kinglet look almost like a Disney cartoon to me.

If you have never seen one, Ruby-crowned Kinglets are tiny, even smaller than chickadees. They seem restless and are in perpetual motion, hopping from branch to branch and flicking their wings almost constantly, so I am happy whenever I am able to photograph one.

I can’t help but smile when I look at the photo and it almost looks to me like the tiny bird is smiling.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Two extremes

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, white-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis on March 23, 2018| 13 Comments »

Are you attracted more by something that is powerful and exciting or by something that is familiar and comfortable? When it comes to photography, it seems like I constantly face this dilemma. Should I be chasing after the large predators of the air, travelling, as some birders do, hundreds of miles in the hopes of photographing a rare species like a snowy owl? Should I be content to spend my time scanning the branches and bushes for familiar birds that some dismissively call “backyard birds?”

Fortunately, this is not an either-or proposition—it is what academics would call a “false dichotomy.” I don’t have to choose only one type of subject on which to focus my attention and my camera. The reality is that I want to photograph them all and find equal enjoyment in photographing a modest White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) and a majestic Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). I photographed both of these birds this past week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and for me they represent the two extremes that I mentioned earlier.

One image is a carefully composed portrait of a small bird at rest and the other is an action shot of a powerful predator in the air taken on the fly, relying on reactions. Is one “better” than the other? Maybe it is better to ask if you find one more appealing, one that speaks to you more.

It is a bit of a cliché to state that beauty is in the eye of the beholder—beauty is often subjective, but sometimes people talk of universal beauty. How can that be? Personally, when I think about beauty, I realize that it is inherently contradictory, that it is an elusive mystery that we can never fully understand, but that is worth pursuing.

Beauty can be found in many places and in many ways. As you prepare for the weekend, I hope that you too will find time to discover the beauty that surrounds you, in the familiar or the exotic or somewhere in between those two extremes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Osprey nest

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Osprey, osprey nest, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on March 22, 2018| 6 Comments »

Like many other places, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge has some raised platforms on which ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) build nests each year. Sometimes violent winter weather destroys much of a previous year’s nest, but quite often the nest survives pretty much intact and all that is required is some spring cleaning and minor renovation.

The latter seemed to be the case with one of the osprey nests that I spotted this past Monday. An osprey was in the nest and appeared to be moving around some of the branches. In the first shot you can see some of the man-made elements of the platform on which the nest is constructed and get a sense of the relative size of the nest. I couldn’t get a really good look at precisely was it doing, though, because the nest was high in the air on a tall post, as you can see in the second photo below.

As I was watching the osprey, a bald eagle flew by and seemed to startle the osprey. The final shot captured the osprey just after it took off from the nest and really emphasized the massive wingspan of the osprey.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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