Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, Great Spangled Fritillary, Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Papilio glaucus, Speyeria cybele, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 25, 2015| 14 Comments »
There were lots of other available thistle plants yesterday at Huntley Meadows Park, but an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) and a Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) kept jockeying for position on this single flower, each seemingly determined to gain the upper hand.
Who knew that butterflies were so competitive?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 23, 2015| 8 Comments »
Walking down one of the informal trails at Huntley Meadows Park this past Friday, I spotted a dark shape in a distant tree. The moment that I got my camera focused on what turned out to be a bald eagle, it took off.
My camera settings were not optimal, but I somehow managed to capture some images of the eagle in flight as it flew away. The final shot in this posting shows my initial view of the eagle, just seconds before he took to the air.
As I have noted before, it’s a wonderful day for me whenever I see a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and especially so when I am able to photograph this majestic bird.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Butorides virescens, Canon 50D, green heron, Huntley Meadows Park, laughing heron, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 22, 2015| 5 Comments »
Do herons laugh? Herons remind me of many people in the Washington D.C. area—they are serious, focused, and driven. How do herons relieve their stress?
Yesterday morning I was observing a Green Heron (Butorides virescens) at my local marshland park. Suddenly he opened his mouth wide in a huge smile and appeared to be laughing.
I am not sure what prompted his actions, but I couldn’t help but smile. Laughter, after all, is contagious.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Libellula luctuosa, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Widow Skimmer, Widow Skimmer dragonfly on August 21, 2015| 7 Comments »
I love the dramatic lighting, the graphic quality, and the simple composition of this shot of a male Widow Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula luctuosa) that I took earlier this month at Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands at Fort Belvoir, a nearby military installation here in Virginia.
There is a real beauty in simplicity.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Arachnids, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Argiope aurantia, Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spider, Canon 50D, Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, yellow garden spider on August 20, 2015| 8 Comments »
It had been quite a while since I had last seen a Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia), so I was pretty excited to see one during a visit this past weekend to Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, a tidal wetlands park along the Potomac River in Virginia.
The spider must have sensed my presence too, because she began to oscillate the entire web vigorously. I had to wait for her to settle down before attempting to get some shots. I was on an elevated boardwalk and the spider was considerably below the level of my feet. As a result, I had somewhat limited options for framing my shots, though I was able to photograph the spider from a couple of different angles, and was not able to get really close to the spider.
I was happy that I managed to capture the really cool zigzag portion of the spider’s web, a distinctive characteristic of this particular species.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, fawn, Lake Cook, Odocoileus virginianus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, white-tailed deer on August 19, 2015| 22 Comments »
To post or not to post? For over a week, I have gone back and forth in my mind, trying to decide if I should post this image. Most of my deliberation has centered around the indisputable fact that significant parts of the main subject, a young White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), are obscured by the leaves and branches. Does the foliage add to the image or detract from it?
Ultimately, I decided that the emotional impact of the fawn’s gentle eyes, staring out at me from behind the curtain of leaves, trumped all other consideration. The leaves actually help to draw attention to those eyes, with their unbelievably long lashes.
What makes a good photo? I think a lot about that question as I go over my images. How heavily do I weigh technical and creative considerations? Most of the time, as was the case here, I’ll decide with my heart.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Calidris minutilla, Canon 50D, Holmes Run, Least Sandpiper, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 18, 2015| 16 Comments »
A group of small birds was foraging in the shallow waters of a stream and I approached them quietly, hoping to get close enough to isolate one of them with my camera. They seemed to be in constant motion and I followed them, waiting and hoping. Finally they stopped for a moment and I crouched low and took this shot of what I believe to be a Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla).
I thought about cropping the image a little so that the bird would not be quite as centered, but I decided that I like the ripples in the left corner too much to cut them off. What you see in this posting, therefore, is the framing as the image came out of the camera.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged Argia tibialis, Big Bluet, Blue-tipped Dancer, Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly, Canon 50D, Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, Enallagma durum, Potomac River, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 17, 2015| 9 Comments »
When photographing a subject, how important are the surroundings to you? Most of you know that I like close-up shots and often I zoom in or crop to the point where you don’t have a good sense of the environment.
This past weekend, I went for a walk along the Potomac River (on the Virginia side) and observed a lot of damselflies. I had my Tamron 150-600mm lens on my camera and soon realized that I had a problem—even at the minimum focusing distance (approximately 9 feet/2.7 meters), there was no way that I could fill the frame with a damselfly.
Still, I was drawn to the beauty of the damselflies, which I believe are Blue-tipped Dancers (Argia tibialis), and I took quite a few shots of them.
As I reviewed the images on my computer, I realized how much I liked the organic feel of the natural surroundings. In the first shot, there are lots of vines on the surface of the rock on which the damselfly is perched that add texture and visual interest. In the second shot, I love the twist in the vine and the single leaf hanging down.
All in all, the surroundings on these two shots were so interesting that I didn’t feel any desire to crop the images more severely, and the environment has become just as much the subject as the damselfly. It’s probably worth remembering this the next time when I am tempted to move in really close to a subject—I should at least attempt to get some environmental shots too.
UPDATE: It looks like my initial identification was off—there are lots of blue damselflies and this one more probably is a Big Bluet (Enallagma durum). Thanks to my local odonata expert, Walter Sanford, for the assist.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged abstract, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Libellula pulchella, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly on August 16, 2015| 8 Comments »
I tend to focus on the realism of close-up details in most of my dragonfly shots, but sometimes the dragonfly seems almost abstract, a mix of colors, shapes, and patterns, like this male Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) that I encountered the past Friday.
For those readers who may not be familiar with this boldly-patterned dragonfly species, I am also including a more “traditional” shot of the same Twelve-spotted Skimmer.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Holmes Run, Odocoileus virginianus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, white-tailed deer on August 14, 2015| 18 Comments »
Last weekend I encountered an adorable family of White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) while walking along a sandy area of Holmes Run, a stream not far from where I live that eventually flows into the Potomac River.
I had unobstructed views of the deer and was able to get some shots with my telephoto zoom without scaring them away. Unfortunately, the loud sounds of a passing freight train caused them to turn and run into the brush as I was trying to get shots from additional angles.
Still, I am happy with my results and think the sand adds a different look to my normal shots of deer in vegetation.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Dragonflies, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Whitetail dragonfly, female Red-winged Blackbird, Huntley Meadows Park, Plathemis lydia, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 12, 2015| 6 Comments »
I can understand how an adept female Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) can catch one dragonfly, but how in the world did this one manage to catch two at once?
I can’t tell for certain, but the dragonflies in the bird’s mouth look to be female Common Whitetails (Plathemis lydia) or possibly immature males, which look like the females. The wings seem to be very transparent, so it’s possible too that these may be newly emerged dragonflies—when they first transition from the water nymph stage into dragonflies, they are very vulnerable.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Archilochus colubris, Canon 50D, cardinal flower, Huntley Meadows Park, Lobelia cardinalis, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 11, 2015| 9 Comments »
Yesterday as I was watching some Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) buzzing around some distant trumpet flowers at Huntley Meadows Park, one of them suddenly flew closer to a small patch of cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis). The shutter speed was too slow to stop the action completely, but you can see how perfectly the hummingbird’s bill fits into the long tubular flower that is too narrow for most bees to reach.
Hummingbirds fly really fast, so I wasn’t too surprised that there was a lot of motion blur in my shots. I was a bit shocked, however, to see that my shutter speed had fallen to 1/100 of a second for these shots, which is, of course, way too slow for the subject, particularly because I was shooting with my zoom lens at 600mm handheld. When I was focusing on the sitting hummingbird that I included as the final shot here, there was considerably more light and the subject was stationary and I did not make any adjustments when the hummingbird flew to a darker area with the cardinal flowers.
If you look closely at the shot of the perched hummingbird, you may notice that it has tiny feet. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, “The extremely short legs of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird prevent it from walking or hopping. The best it can do is shuffle along a perch. Nevertheless, it scratches its head and neck by raising its foot up and over its wing.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Lake Cook, Libellula luctuosa, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Widow Skimmer, Widow Skimmer dragonfly on August 10, 2015| 5 Comments »
It violates one of the basic rules of photography to have your subject in the center of an image, but for both of these shots of a male Widow Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula luctuosa), that’s precisely what I did.
In the first image, the blade of grass that bisects the image helps to emphasize the symmetric patterns on the wings of the Widow Skimmer.
In the second image, I was so fascinated by the geometric lines of the grass and their varying degrees of sharpness that I did not want to crop them at all, so I left the Widow Skimmer more or less in the center.
When it comes to my photography, I tend to look at “rules” as general guidelines that apply in many—but not all—situations. That approach helps me to remain centered and flexible.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ben Brennan Park, Butorides virescens, Canon 50D, green heron, juvenile Green Heron, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 9, 2015| 11 Comments »
Yesterday as I was exploring Ben Brennan Park, a suburban park in Alexandria, Virginia with a pond, I spotted a young Green Heron (Butorides virescens) in a tree. I took some initial shots and then was able to creep up to the tree and shoot almost directly up.
I have taken numerous photos of Green Herons, but this is the first time that I’ve ever taken a shot showing the underside of the bill. I love to shoot familiar subjects hoping to see them from new perspectives or engaging in interesting behavior.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Archilochus colubris, Campsis radicans, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, trumpet vine on August 8, 2015| 13 Comments »
Tracking a moving bird as it weaves its way in and of vegetation is a real challenge for a photographer and it seems almost miraculous when you manage to get any shots in focus. My skills were definitely tested last weekend when I spotted a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) in a patch of trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) at my local marshland park.
I did manage to get a few clear shots in which there were no branches between me and the hummingbird, but mostly I tried to find little windows among the branches through which I could get a view of a part of the bird. I was standing on a boardwalk when I took these shots, so there was not much room for to maneuver to get better angles of view. Additionally, the trumpet vines were a pretty good distance away, so I had to crank out my telephoto zoom and even then had to crop the images.
I don’t often see hummingbirds, so I was happy to capture some shots of this beautiful bird as it flitted from flower to flower.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Egretta caerulea, Huntley Meadows Park, Little Blue Heron, red-eared slider, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Trachemys scripta elegans), turtle on August 7, 2015| 25 Comments »
As I watched through my telephoto lens last Friday, one of the juvenile Little Blue Herons (Egretta caerulea) at Huntley Meadows Park became increasingly curious about the turtle with whom it was sharing a log. The heron moved closer and closer and finally jumped on top of the turtle. I was shocked to see the heron then put its face mere inches from that of the turtle.
This past month, a group of four or more juvenile Little Blue Herons has taken up residence at my local marshland park. When I first saw them, I assumed they were Great Egrets, because of the bright white coloration. However, the bills are a different color than those of the egrets. I am hoping that the Little Blue Herons hang around long enough for us to see them change into the blue color for which they are named.
I managed to take a series of shots of the encounter between the heron and the turtle. I initially thought it was a snapping turtle, but one of the folks who saw a photo I posted on Facebook thinks it might be a slider of some sort, a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), I would guess after taking a closer look at the second image.
Initially the heron eyed the turtle from a distance.
Then he decided to get a closer look.
Feeling bold, he placed one foot on the turtle…
…and jumped on top of the turtle.
His curiosity still not yet satisfied, the heron leaned in for a face-to-face encounter. (Note that the turtle has retracted one of its front legs.)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Papilio glaucus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, thistle on August 6, 2015| 16 Comments »
Chasing after beautiful butterflies on a sunny summer day—it doesn’t get much better than that. I don’t know plants very well, but this appears to be some kind of thistle. I photographed this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) last Saturday at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Hibiscus moscheutos, Huntley Meadows Park, Swamp Rose Mallow, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 5, 2015| 5 Comments »
The blooming Swamp Rose Mallows (Hibiscus moscheutos) at Huntley Meadows Park helped provide a beautiful backdrop for this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) that I spotted there last Saturday.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Banded Pennant, Banded Pennant dragonfly, Canon 50D, Celithemis fasciata, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 4, 2015| 8 Comments »
Yesterday I made a trip to Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge at Fort Belvoir, a local military base, and was thrilled to see a Banded Pennant dragonfly (Celethemis fasciata), a cool-looking species that fellow photographer Walter Sanford spotted at that location on 24 July. (Check out his posting of that encounter to see some more shots of a Banded Pennant.)
Like other pennant dragonflies, such as the Halloween Pennant that I photographed earlier this summer, the Banded Pennant likes to perch at the very tip of tall grass and other vegetation. A pennant dragonfly is sometimes easier to spot than those species that perch lower, but the slightest breeze sets the dragonfly in motion and makes it more difficult to photograph.
I spotted only a single Banded Pennant yesterday, but managed to get a number of shots before it flew away, though most of them were from pretty much the same angle. As I looked over the images, I couldn’t decide which was the most effective way to present the dragonfly. Was it better to maximize the size of the dragonfly by cropping it a square or to emphasize the height of the vegetation by using a vertical format?
In the end, I didn’t choose, but instead presented a shot in each of the two formats? Do you have a preference for one over the other?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea alba, birds in flight, Canon 50D, egret, Great Egret, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 3, 2015| 24 Comments »
How do you capture the details of a pure white bird as it flies in an out of the light? That was my challenge this past weekend when I tried to photograph Great Egrets (Ardea alba) at my local marshland park.
Many of my past shots of egrets have been unsuccessful, usually because they are overexposed and the highlights and details are blown out. I’ve tried using exposure compensation with only minimum success.
This time, I remembered to switch to spot metering and had greater success. Sure, the backgrounds are a bit underexposed, but I think that the darkness helps the highlight the beauty of the egret.
Great Egrets seem a little awkward when in the water, but when they take to the air, it’s like watching a ballet.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Butorides virescens, Canon 50D, full moon, green heron, Huntley Meadows Park, moon, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on August 2, 2015| 10 Comments »
The full moon was bright and beautiful early yesterday morning, when I arrived at Huntley Meadows Park as the sun was just beginning to rise.
I struggled a little, trying to figure out the best way to capture the moon. Should I show the moon against the black night sky? Should I show merely its reflection? Should I show it as an element of a larger composition?
Here are some of my attempts to show the full moon in the predawn light at my local marsh.
Green Heron in the moonlight
Full moon in the night sky
Reflections of a full moon
Moon over the marsh
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Butorides virescens, Canon 50D, green heron, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Wickford Park on August 1, 2015| 14 Comments »
The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) was mostly in the shadows yesterday as I observed him at the edge of a small stream. When he bent down, his face was briefly illuminated and I managed to capture this action portrait with a fascinating interplay of light and darkness.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Butorides virescens, Canon 50D, green heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on July 25, 2015| 4 Comments »
Recently Green Herons (Butorides virescens) have been more numerous than in the past at my local marshland park. Most of the time these little herons are obscured by the vegetation at the water’s edge or by the branches of the trees in which they like to roost.
Early one morning last week, however, I watched one of them stalking potential prey from a log in an open area. The little heron seemed focused, but relaxed. From time to time the Green Heron would become more alert and rigid and he would stare more intently at the water.
On this occasion, they were all false alarms and I didn’t see him catch anything for breakfast. Eventually he seemed to give up and flew off, presumably to a better location for catching something to eat.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, blue heron, Canon 50D, Great Blue Heron, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on July 24, 2015| 7 Comments »
I never tire of watching Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) and catching them in fun and unusual poses.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Summer, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Clymene moth, Crusader moth, Crusades, Haploa clymene, Huntley Meadows Park, National Moth Week, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on July 23, 2015| 11 Comments »
On Monday I came across this really cool-looking moth while walking through the woods at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia. The moth’s distinctive pattern reminds me of the shields used in the Middle Ages by the knights during the Crusades, which is why I want to call it the Crusader moth.
Officially, this is a Clymene Moth (Haploa clymene), a moth of the Tiger Moth family that is found in the eastern part of North America.
As I was doing research, I learned that 18-26 July is National Moth Week.
Go wild!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea alba, Bangles, Canon 50D, egret, Great Egret, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Walk Like an Egyptian on July 22, 2015| 7 Comments »
It’s fun to watch the Great Egrets (Ardea alba) at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marsh where I take most of my wildlife photos. Unlike the Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias), who will remain motionless for a long time, the egrets like to move.
This egret’s moves in the initial two images somehow brought to mind the song “Walk Like an Egyptian” by the Bangles. In case you don’t recall that catchy tune or are too young to have heard it, here’s a link to a YouTube video of the song.
I was quite amazed at the variety of moves in the egret’s repertoire and the expressive way that it was able to use its neck, sometimes tucking it in and sometimes fully extending it. Here are a few more shots from the egret’s performance.
I think with a little more practice the egret will be ready for “Dancing With the Stars” or “So You Think You Can Dance.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, dawn, deer, fawn, Huntley Meadows Park, Odocoileus virginianus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, white-tailed deer on July 21, 2015| 8 Comments »
Sunrise yesterday was at 5:59 and I managed to get this shot of a beautiful little fawn in the cattails at 6:05, when there was just barely enough light for my camera to focus.
Summer weather in the Washington D.C. area is often miserable—hot and humid—and I decided to visit my local marshland park really early to avoid some of the oppressive heat. When I left my house in the pre-dawn darkness, however, it was already 80 degrees (27 degrees C) on a day that was forecast to reach 96 degrees (35 degrees C).
I could hear a lot of movement in the marsh as I made my way along the board walk and occasionally would catch a glimpse of some activity as it grew progressively lighter. I encountered another photographer and he was the one who spotted the fawn and pointed it out to me—I am pretty sure that I would not have seen it without his help.
We didn’t see any adult White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) with the fawn, but their presence could easily have been hidden by the thick stand of cattails. I had time to snap off only a few photos before the fawn slowly turned his back on us and slowly faded into the background.
What a wonderful way to start my day.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Calidris minutilla, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Least Sandpiper, migrating shorebirds, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on July 20, 2015| 8 Comments »
I can’t help but wonder if Least Sandpipers (Calidris minutilla) suffer from an inferiority complex, surrounded as they are by “Great” Blue Herons and “Great” Egrets.
Early Saturday morning, I spotted a small flock of these tiny birds at my local marsh in an area where the water levels were really low, revealing a muddy area with shallow pools of water that seemed perfect for these little wading birds. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, the Least Sandpiper is the smallest shorebird in the world, weighing in at about one ounce (28 grams) and measuring five to six inches long (13-15 cm).
I suspect that these Least Sandpipers are in the process of migration, probably eventually heading further south. At this time of the year we start to see all kinds of unusual birds that make brief stops at my local marshland on their way to more distant destinations.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Amphibians, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, bronze frog, Canon 50D, frog, Huntley Meadows Park, Rana clamitans clamitans, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on July 19, 2015| 7 Comments »
When a friend pointed toward a small pond and said he saw a bronze frog, I thought he was talking about a metal figurine. I had never even heard of bronze frogs and certainly had not seen one before.
Bronze Frogs (Rana clamitans clamitans) are a subspecies of the Green Frog (Rana clamitans) and I must confess that I really can’t tell them apart from the other subspecies, the Northern Green Frog (Rana clamitans melanota), because there is a significant amount of color variation.
Identification aside, I really like the way that this frog is surrounded by and partially covered with duckweed as he tries to stay cool on a hot day in July.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Agelaius phoeniceus, Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, red-winged blackbird, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on July 18, 2015| 13 Comments »
The Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) was either really brave or really foolish chasing a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) across the sky early yesterday morning at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia.
I did manage to get a few other shots (below) in which the eagle’s wings are in more photogenic positions, but the blackbird is farther away from the eagle in each of them.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Libellula cyanea, Spangled Skimmer, Spangled Skimmer dragonfly, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on July 15, 2015| 18 Comments »
Do you find yourself shooting the same subjects over and over? I often take repeated pictures of familiar subjects, knowing that the weather, the lighting conditions, the environment, and the subject’s pose will be different each time. Although I try to control the exposure, the framing, and the angle of view, I am sometimes pleasantly surprised at the results.
I don’t see Spangled Skimmer dragonflies (Libellula cyanea) very often, so I was happy to spot this beautiful male last week. The markings on the wings are so distinctive that it is pretty easy to identify a member of this species when I do come upon one. (The second shot gives a really good view of those markings.)
I like the way that the background turned out in these shots and I have captured pretty detailed images of a Spangled Skimmer. I am confident, though, that I will be snapping away again if I stumble across another one. Who knows what kind of a photo I might be able to capture the next time?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 