Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, Bald Eagle couple, Canon 50D, eagle duet, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Woodbridge VA on April 21, 2021| 16 Comments »
Perhaps these Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) were singing or maybe they were trying to scare off incoming osprey, but most importantly they were doing it together as a couple on a shared perch when I spotted them on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge at a moment when the skies were completely overcast.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Woodbridge VA on March 27, 2019| 9 Comments »
This past week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I observed two large birds consuming large fish using very different techniques. The first, a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), carefully positioned the fish and then swallowed it in a single big gulp.
An Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), pictured below, used a much slower and methodical approach, tearing small chunks off of the fish. It takes a lot of bites to finish off a fish in this way. In between bites, the osprey would often look around to make sure no other bird was approaching and attempting to steal its catch.
When it needed to tug extra hard on the fish, the osprey would sometimes extend its wings in what I assume was an effort to stay balanced and keep from falling out of the tree. I believe that is what was going on at the moment when I captured this image.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Bald Eagle, bald eagle nest, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Woodbridge VA on March 16, 2018| 4 Comments »
On a recent early morning trip to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I spotted a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) perched on a broken-off branch below what appears to be an active eagle nest. Perhaps this was the male keeping watch or possibly the female taking a break. The nest is so high up and deep that it is difficult to determine if another eagle was sitting on the nest.
Despite my best efforts at stealth, the eagle detected my presence as I tried to move further down the trail to get a better angle, but I was able to get these shots as the eagle was preparing to take off. In the middle shot, I did a less severe crop than on the other two in order to give you an idea of how closely the eagle was perched to the nest—the sticks in the upper portion of the image are the bottom of the nest.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Black Vulture, Black Vultures, Canon 50D, Coragyps atratus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Woodbridge VA on September 22, 2017| 2 Comments »
Peering through the vegetation at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Monday, I spotted several large birds at the edge of the water. I thought they might be eagles or ospreys, but they turned out to be Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) that appeared to be foraging as the tide was going out.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Mocha Emerald, Mocha Emerald dragonfly, Somatochlora linearis, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 2, 2017| 7 Comments »
Do you relax by hanging from a bar in the pull-up position? No, I don’t either, but this Mocha Emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora linearis) chose to do so on Monday when I spotted it at Huntley Meadows Park.
A couple of things really stand out whenever I am lucky enough to spot one of these beautiful dragonflies. Unlike many dragonflies, Mocha Emeralds don’t appear to like direct sunlight—they seem to hang out at small shaded streams, where the shadows and shade make photography difficult. Secondly, they often seem to hang vertically, which emphasizes their extraordinarily long slender bodies. Somehow they remind me of the super skinny young male models that many designers seem to favor, clothing them in garments that those of us with more normal physiques would never ever fit into—unlike those models, we have waists and hips.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in animals, Humor, Music, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Captain and Tennille, Huntley Meadows Park, muskrat, Muskrat Love, Ondatra zibethicus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on May 26, 2017| 1 Comment »
I am not completely certain what these two muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) were doing on Monday at Huntley Meadows Park. It may have been only grooming, but to me it looks like muskrat love.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, Canon 50D, Didymops transversa, Fort Belvoir VA, Stream Cruiser, Stream Cruiser dragonfly, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Tamron 180mm on April 13, 2017| 5 Comments »
On the same day that I saw the Common Whitetail dragonfly that I featured yesterday in my blog posting, I was thrilled to have the chance to photograph an uncommon dragonfly, a male Stream Cruiser (Didymops transversa). I had never before seen a Stream Cruiser, but local dragonfly expert and fellow photographer Walter Sanford had observed them in the past at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge and offered to guide me.
It’s somewhat of an understatement to say that Stream Cruisers are hard to spot. The are not very big (about 2.2 inches (56-60mm) in length), they are skittish, and they often perch on the stems of low vegetation. During the hours that we searched for them, I observed a couple of probable Stream Cruisers in the air, but lost them in the blur of the vegetation and never saw a single one land. Walter saw the first one of the day, a female, and posted an awesome photograph of the beautiful dragonfly in a blog posting yesterday. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to make it to the dragonfly’s location before she flew away. Walter spotted a few more Stream Cruisers during the day, but each time I couldn’t get there quickly enough to see one.
I was beginning to think that I was going to end up empty-handed for the day when Walter called out that he had spotted a male perched in the underbrush. This Stream Cruiser was cooperative enough to stay perched as I rushed to try to get a shot. I had my Tamron 180mm macro lens on my camera at that moment. The dragonfly and the stem on which it was perched were so small in the viewfinder that my camera’s autofocus would not lock on my subject, so I had to resort to focusing manually. Dragonflies have so many fine details that it is really hard to tell when they are in focus. This image was the best I could get after cropping the initial shot quite a bit.
I decided to push my luck and see if I could get a better shot with my Tamron 150-600mm lens that I use primarily to photograph birds. Amazingly the dragonfly stayed put while I changed lenses. Once again I had to focus manually, which is an even bigger problem with this lens, because the focus ring is located really close to the lens mount. It’s hard to hold the camera steady and focus manually at the same time.
Here’s an image that I shot at 600mm. I managed to get the eye pretty sharp and to capture some of the details of the dragonfly’s incredibly long legs, but the depth of field was so shallow that the abdomen is out of focus. Normally I will try to move around the subject to be as parallel as I can be, but in this case I stayed fixed at one spot and remained as immobile as I could.
It is really nice to start off this dragonfly season with a new species. If you want to learn more about the Stream Cruiser dragonfly, check out this page from the Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website (and stay tuned for Walter’s shots of this dragonfly that should appear tomorrow morning in his blog).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Cameron Run, Canon 50D, Mimus polyglottos, mockingbird, Northern Mockingbird, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on March 12, 2017| 2 Comments »
It was below freezing and windy yesterday morning when I headed out with my camera. I didn’t expect to see many birds and was a little surprised when I kept running across Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos). They are pretty common where I live, but I just have not seen very many of them this winter.
The first one that I spotted was huddled inside a bush with its feathers all puffed up, probably in an effort to keep warm.
Another one seemed to be trying to warm up by facing the sun.
A final mockingbird seemed undeterred by the wind that was ruffling its feathers and boldly sang out a happy song, greeting the arrival of the new day.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Lake Cook, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on March 3, 2017| 2 Comments »
A new alcoholic beverage? No, in this case, the title of my blog posting is literal.
When I first spotted this Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) on Monday, I thought it was wading in the water. Looking more closely, I realized it was standing on the rocks, giving us a really good view of its dark, webbed feet.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Grebe, Kingstowne, Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 12, 2017| 3 Comments »
Recently I posted an image of a Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) that prompted one reader to comment that the grebe looked like a “poorly drawn duck.” Now I’ll admit that the shape and proportions of a grebe are a bit unusual, but I was sure that with the right angle and lighting I could manage to take a beauty portrait of this little bird. I’m not sure that I succeeded fully, but I don’t feel at all uncomfortable characterizing the bird in this image as a “pretty grebe.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Falco columbarius, Huntley Meadows Park, Merlin, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 31, 2016| 17 Comments »
When I first caught sight of this bird in the distance, I thought it might be a Red-shouldered Hawk, but I may have gotten lucky and captured some shots of a Merlin (Falco columbarius) this morning at Huntley Meadows Park. The past few months there have been repeated sightings of a pair of these falcons, but I personally have seen one of them on only two occasions. After so many recent days of cloud-filled skies, it was nice to have some sunshine and blue skies today, though the temperature was right around the freezing mark when I set out in the pre-dawn darkness.
UPDATE: One of my Facebook viewers has suggested that this looks to him to be an immature Red-tailed Hawk. As you can see, bird identification is not one of my strengths.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, autumn hawk, Buteo lineatus, Canon 50D, hawk, Huntley Meadows Park, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on November 7, 2016| 3 Comments »
I have been hearing the cries of Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) frequently at my local marshland park, but I have had a lot of trouble spotting them. At this time in the autumn there are still lots of leaves on the trees that obscure my view. Gradually some of the leaves are starting to change colors and fall from the trees, but that process takes place a bit later here in Northern Virginia than in more northern areas of the United States.
As I was walking along the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park on Saturday morning, I saw a brightly colored object at the top of a tree. Looking through my telephoto lens, I was thrilled to see that it was a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk that was out on a limb, giving me an almost unobstructed line of sight for a shot. In most of my shots, the hawk was looking away, but I was thrilled to be able to get a few shots in which one of the hawk’s eyes is visible. The bright blue sky and the red leaves surrounding the hawk were a nice bonus.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Charadrius semipalmatus, Huntley Meadows Park, plover, Semipalmated Plover, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on September 25, 2016| 2 Comments »
Water levels are pretty low in some areas of the wetlands at my favorite marshland park, providing a perfect habitat for some visiting shore birds. On Friday at Huntley Meadows Park I spotted a number of tiny shore birds including this one that I am pretty sure is a Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, green spring gardens, Papilio glaucus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on September 6, 2016| 2 Comments »
I’ll often try to get shots of butterflies with their wings wide open, but when they turn sideward, you can sometimes get an equally spectacular view of them slowly sipping nectar. I can’t identify the flower, but the butterfly definitely is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) that I chased about this past weekend at Green Spring Gardens.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Appalachian Brown, Appalachian brown butterfly, Canon 50D, Enodia anthedon, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Pearly-eye, Northern Pearly-eye butterfly, Satyrodes appalachia, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 19, 2016| 3 Comments »
I spotted this beautiful little butterfly while wandering through the woods at Huntley Meadows Park this morning. I think it might be an Appalachian Brown (Satyrodes appalachia), although there are a surprisingly large number of brown butterflies with eyespots, which complicates identification.
The woods were pretty dark in the area in which I first spotted the butterfly. However, luck was with me and the butterfly landed on a log that was in the sunlight. I tried to get as low as I could to get this shot, which is why you see the green moss in the foreground.
Update: One of my Facebook readers pointed out that this is probably a Northern Pearly-eye (Enodia anthedon), not an Appalachian Brown. My butterfly identification definitely need some more work.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Red Admiral, Red Admiral butterfly, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Vanessa atalanta on May 17, 2016| 2 Comments »
With the return of the sun, butterflies have started to reappear, like this handsome Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) that I spotted yesterday afternoon at Huntley Meadows Park.
It’s been gloomy and rainy for most of the past few weeks, so it was a particular joy when the sun was shining brightly yesterday. As I wandered through the woods and fields of my favorite park, butterflies flitted by a number of times, including several Red Admirals. Most of them kept moving and I was unable to capture them with my camera, but one of them perched a few times and gave me a chance to get some shots.
I’ve posted two of my favorite shots. The first is a little unconventional—the butterfly is upside down on a fallen log and I love the way it looks a bit like a heart. The second shot is a little more conventional, but it has a dynamic quality in the half-open wings and overall pose and I love the background blur.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, early morning, Huntley Meadows Park, male Red-winged Blackbird, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on May 8, 2016| 6 Comments »
I love the feeling of the early morning, when the world is awash in pale colors and the birds are just starting to wake up. It’s a magical feeling for me sometimes, and the mist in the air last Monday only enhanced that effect.
How do you capture a moment like that? I don’t shoot a lot of landscape photos, but I can understand how some photographers are driven to find the right mix of compositional elements to pass on to others the emotional impact of a particular scene.
As I was walking along the boardwalk at my favorite marshland park, I was drawn to this male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) perched on a railing leading to an observation platform. Normally I try not to include man-made elements in my wildlife shots, but in this case the railing faded out into an almost indistinct set of lines and shapes. Far in the distance, there is a suggestion of the trees and the water. With its bright shoulder patches, dark color, and sharper details, the blackbird provides an element of contrast with the rest of the scene.
Sometimes it’s fun to chase after more exotic subjects, like the owlet that I saw recently, but at other times I am content to try to capture the feeling of a moment, like this blackbird on a misty morning.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Anas platyrhynchos, Canon 50D, Hooded Merganser, Huntley Meadows Park, Lophodytes cucullatus, mallard, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on March 3, 2016| 5 Comments »
Do dabbling ducks double date? It sure looked like that was the case earlier this week when I spotted a Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) couple and a Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) couple swimming away from a larger group of mostly mallards for a few quiet moments together. I grew up in a family with eight siblings, so I can really understand their pursuit of peace and privacy.
It’s almost springtime and many of the birds are searching for mates. Usually it’s the males that put on elaborate displayes, but I think the female “Hoodie” here was the one that went all out to impress her date with an elaborate hairstyle.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Inspiration, Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, golden hour, golden light, Huntley Meadows Park, intimate landscape, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on March 2, 2016| 6 Comments »
For a few magical moments Monday morning the sun was shining through the trees at Huntley Meadows Park with a gorgeous golden light. At first I was a little disappointed that there were no birds or animals for me to photograph, but gradually I was drawn deeper and deeper into the simple abstract beauty of the trees themselves.
The varied colors, shapes, and textures of this intimate landscape enveloped me and filled me with a kind of reverent awe and inner sense of peace. I would have liked to freeze that moment and experience it in slow motion, but all too quickly the golden light faded and reality returned.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Branta canadensis, Canada Goose, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on March 1, 2016| 7 Comments »
There were a lot of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) coming and going at Huntley Meadows Park early yesterday morning. This one was descending rapidly and coming in so fast that it looked like the goose was going to land right on me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Belted Kingfisher, Canon 50D, female Belted Kingfisher, Huntley Meadows Park, Megaceryle alcyon, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 29, 2016| 10 Comments »
Recently, while exploring the streams in the remote back areas of Huntley Meadows Park, I have heard the unmistakable call of a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) several times. Yesterday, on a warm spring-like day, I finally got a clear view of this beautiful female.
As I have mentioned before in some earlier postings, Belted Kingfishers are unusual in the bird world—the females are more colorful than the males. Females have a blue and a chestnut band across their white breasts and the males have only a blue band.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 24-105mm lens, Canon 50D, chelydra sepentina, Eastern Snapping Turtle, Huntley Meadows Park, skeleton, snapping turtle, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 26, 2016| 11 Comments »
As I was wandering about Huntley Meadows Park this morning, I came upon the remains of an Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) that quite obviously did not survive the winter. It looks to have been in place for quite some time not far from the water’s edge of a stream in a remote area of the park.
I don’t know if a predator consumed its flesh, but it looks like a lot of the bones were scattered around the skull of the turtle, as you can see in the first photo. I move the shell to nearby location to get shots of the the top and underside and also took a close-up shot of the skull.
Snapping Turtle remains in situ
Detailed view of the top of the shell
Detailed view of the underside of the shell
Detailed view of the skull
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, deer, Huntley Meadows Park, Odocoileus virginianus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, white-tailed deer on February 25, 2016| 8 Comments »
Last Saturday, the final day of the 5+ month deer hunting season at Huntley Meadows Park, I was startled to see the unmistakable shape of deer antlers on the ground a short distance away from where I was standing. As I moved closer, I saw that it was only some kind of decoy used by the hunters.
Looking up, I realized I was at the base of an unoccupied tree stand. I felt a little safer knowing that there were no archers in the stand at that moment.
I understand the problems caused in our area by an overpopulation of White-tailed Deer and the reason for the extended hunting season. Still, I am somewhat amused by the lengths to which the county goes to avoid using words like “hunting” or “killing.” Instead, they refer to the “archery program” and “deer management.” Deer management? I have visions of a deer CEO.
On Monday the 22nd, I returned to the park and was surprised to see that least some of the tree stands were still present. I am sure that someone will eventually come to retrieve the stands, but I am going remain alert, just in case one of the stands happens to be occupied despite the stated end of the deer hunting season.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, male Red-winged Blackbird, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 24, 2016| 10 Comments »
Some days it seems like the birds are conspiring against me. They are so skittish that they fly away long before I am within range or they hide behind a wall of branches, where I can hear them but cannot see them clearly.
In moments like that, a male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) often comes to rescue me from my despair. These birds are so bold and defiant that they refuse to hide. Instead, they find the most prominent perch and sing out as loudly as possible, showing off for rivals and potential mates.
This past Monday was one of those days when I was having trouble finding subjects to photograph. Suddenly a blackbird appeared and flew to the highest branch of a nearby small tree. Undeterred by my presence, he looked in my direction and seemed to smile. After a moment, he burst forth in singing while continuing to look at me, as though he were saying, “This one’s for you.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Odocoileus virginianus, Procyon lotor, raccoon, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, white-tailed deer on February 23, 2016| 5 Comments »
We visit our local parks and wildlife refuges for a short while and return home, forgetting sometimes that many of the creatures we observed live and die within the confines of these small (or not so small) areas. As I wander through Huntley Meadows Park, I see signs of this entire circle of life. Lives have ended and, as we move into spring, new lives are beginning.
Whenever I come across skeletal remains, a clump of feathers, or other evidence of the death of a bird or an animal, I cannot help but wonder how the creature met its demise. Was it a predator, old age, sickness, or starvation? Life can be harsh in the wild, especially in the winter.
As far as I can tell, the animal in the first photo is a raccoon (Procyon lotor). Several months ago a fellow photographer mentioned that he had seen the dead body of a raccoon inside a hollow in the trunk of a fallen tree. I thought that predators would have dismembered the body by now, but instead it seems to be slowly decomposing in its sheltered position.
The skull is the second photo is that of a White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Other body parts of the deer were scattered about in the same area where I spotted the skull. There are concerns that the deer population is too high for the park to support, so there is a chance this deer died from starvation.
I know that these photos, especially the first one, are pretty graphic and apologize in advance to those who may have found them to be excessively disturbing.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, male Red-winged Blackbird, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 20, 2016| 14 Comments »
How do you generate volume when you sing? I remember being told to breathe from the diaphragm, but this male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) seemed to think that spreading his wings helped him to be heard yesterday morning at Huntley Meadows Park.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, angry bird, Canon 50D, Cardinalis cardinalis, Huntley Meadows Park, male Northern Cardinal, Northern cardinal, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 19, 2016| 11 Comments »
I don’t know if this male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) qualifies as an “angry bird,” but he sure did not seem happy to see me this morning at Huntley Meadows Park.
Maybe he was cold and hungry or got off on the wrong side of the bed this morning. In any case, I couldn’t coax a smile out of him.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 18, 2016| 4 Comments »
Sometimes a Great Blue Heron’s catch is big enough for a main course, but sometimes it’s only an appetizer. The good news is that appetizers are really easy for a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) to swallow.
I included the second photo, which sequentially was taken before the first one, because I like the expression on the heron’s face. The heron seems to be both amused and embarrassed at the small size of the fish.
It’s obvious, though, that the heron does not have a catch-and-release policy if the fish is not of a certain minimum size.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, landscape, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 17, 2016| 5 Comments »
I love to wander through remote areas of Huntley Meadows Park, often following meandering streams. Each time is different, as the level of the water, the varying light, and the changing vegetation alter my perceptions of the landscape.
The park is a freshwater wetland of over 1500 acres with meadows, ponds, streams, and woods that provide a habitat for the wide range of insects, birds, and animals that I often feature on this blog. I am always conscious of the beauty of my surroundings, but generally have either a telephoto zoom or a macro lens on my camera, so photographing the landscape is not something that I do very often.
I was drawn to the twists and turns of this section of one of my favorite streams after a significant rainfall earlier this month. It was relatively early in the morning and there were still shadows in some areas. I captured some images of the scene with the “short” end of my 150-600mm lens and this is my favorite of the group. I definitely need to work more on visualizing landscape shots, but am happy with this initial effort.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, American robin, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, robin, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, tightrope walker, Turdus migratorius on February 16, 2016| 10 Comments »
Like a tightrope walker, this American Robin (Turdus migratorius) inched its way along a narrow vine at Huntley Meadows Park, its eyes focused on the prize that awaited it at the other end. Periodically the robin used its wings for balance and moved forward until it reached a steady position almost within reach of the berries.
With a quick thrust forward of its head, the robin was able to snatch one of the low-hanging fruits. When I left it, the robin seemed to be enjoying its prize with a smile on its face.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Dryocopus pileatus, Huntley Meadows Park, Pileated Woodpecker, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 14, 2016| 5 Comments »
Although the temperature was 20 degrees (minus 7 degrees C) and the wind was blowing yesterday afternoon, I got fooled into thinking the bright sunshine would warm me up a bit. Most of the creatures at the marsh were absent from view, probably trying to keep warm in sheltered locations.
I was excited, therefore, when I head the unmistakable sound of a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) at work nearby as I was walking along a path. No other woodpeckers in our area can match the volume of a Pileated Woodpecker when it is burying its bill into a tree.
I managed to locate the woodpecker and was a little disappointed that it was high in a tree in a location where it was obscured by lots of branches. Eventually the woodpecker climbed higher in the tree and I was able to get a few relatively unobstructed shots, although I had to take them at a pretty sharp angle.
My favorite shot is the one in which the woodpecker looks like it is stalking a prey at the top of the tree. Its eyes are fixed on the target and it seems to be trying to sneak up on it. In reality, I have no idea what the woodpecker was doing, but it made for an unusual pose.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
