Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Tamron 150-600mm’

Woodland Box Turtle

Posted in Autumn, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, turtle, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 3, 2023| 10 Comments »

I encountered this Woodland Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) last Friday on a paved road at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The brown color of the eyes suggests that this is a female—males generally have red eyes. However, according to the Virginia Herpetological Society, “The color of the iris is sometimes considered indicative of a turtle’s sex, but it is not always reliable.”

The turtle was quite small, about the size of the palm of my hand. I normally try not to disturb wildlife, but I worried that this turtle might be hit by a car, so I picked it up and moved it off of the surface of the road. I was concerned that its claws might scratch me, but the turtle drew in all of its legs and its head as soon as I lifted it.

Hopefully this turtle will live to a ripe old age, but it definitely needs to stay out of traffic, according to the Virginia Herpetological Society, “Box turtles are notorious for living as long, or longer, than humans. An adult male with the date 1874 carved in its plastron was found in Rockingham County in August 1985 (Daily News Record, Harrisonburg), indicating an age of >111 years. It is difficult to confirm such sightings, however.” Yikes!

Woodland Box Turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Dramatic lighting

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 2, 2023| 4 Comments »

The sunlight coming from the back and side of this Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) produced a really dramatic effect in this image that I captured last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It looks almost like I had the butterfly posing for me in a photography studio, where I would have had full control over the power and direction of the light.

In situations like this, the settings on the camera are really important, because there is so much light that it threatens to blow out the highlights of the light-colored subjects. As a result, I deliberately underexposed the photo, which is why the background appears to be so dark, but I did retain a lot of the details in the butterfly and the asters.

For those of you who enjoy the geeky, technical aspects of photography, I was shooting with a Canon 7D DSLR and a Tamron 150mm-600mm telephoto zoom lens at 600m—I was using a monopod for additional stability. My camera was set to f/8.0, 1/1600 sec, and ISO 400 with negative 1.33 stops of exposure compensation.

Clouded Sulphur

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Scratching an itch?

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 1, 2023| 2 Comments »

Sometimes when you have an itch, you just have to stop what you are doing and scratch it. I have certainly had that experience and that seemed to be the case with this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) that I spotted last week at the edge of the water at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

If you zoom in on the photo, you can see that the heron has quite long claws on its toes that it was using along the length of its neck. I love the way that the feathers were all awry as the heron focused on scratching its itch.

Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

Read Full Post »

Spooky bird

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Halloween, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 31, 2023| 5 Comments »

They are not as creepy as spiders or a black cats, but there is something eerie and unsettling about the pale yellow eyes of Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus), like this one that I spotted last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The bird was in a really distant tree, so the image is not super sharp, but I really like the way I was able to create a mood in the shot and the subdued colors throughout the shot really help that eye to pop.

Happy Halloween!

Rusty Blackbird

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Foraging Starlings

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on October 31, 2023| 13 Comments »

A large flock of European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) was foraging in the trees at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge last Friday. Initially I thought that this might be a flock of crows or red-winged blackbirds, but when I zoomed in on the birds and saw their mottled iridescent feathers, I immediately identified them as starlings.

I captured these images as the birds feasted on some unidentified berries, plucking and ingesting them one at a time. I was hoping to get more shots of these birds, but without any visible warning, they all took off at the same time and flew away.

European Starling

European Starling

European Starling

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Autumn kinglet

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 27, 2023| 10 Comments »

This tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula) glared down at me as I photographed it on Wednesday in a tree overhanging a stormwater retention pond in Kingstowne, a suburban community only a mile or so from where I live. The autumn foliage surrounding the pond had several patches of  impressively colorful leaves and I was delighted to be able capture some of the beautiful autumn color in the background of these two images.

In the first photo, you can see a portion of the kinglet’s “ruby crown,” a feature of the males that is often hidden from sight. The second image gives you a better overall view of the little kinglet, which only about four inches (10 cm) in length and weighs about .3 ounces (9 grams).

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are generally hyperactive, so it was unusual when this one paused for a moment in its foraging efforts and “posed” for me in the open.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

Read Full Post »

More Autumn Meadowhawks

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Now that Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) have become the only dragonflies that I see regularly, I have been paying a great deal of attention to their perches when I am photographing them—when there are a limited number of subjects available, I try to make each encounter count. During a recent trip to Huntley Meadows Park, a county-run marshland park only a few miles from where I live, I managed to capture images of these colorful little dragonflies perching on a variety of different types of vegetation.

Often I have to choose between zooming in close to show the details of my subjects or pulling way back to show the environment in which I found them. In the case of these Autumn Meadowhawks, though, the images balance those competing priorities quite well, in part, I believe, because the dragonflies were so immersed in their environment, i.e. they do not choose high perches that produce “dragonfly on a stick” photos that isolate the subject too much from its surroundings.

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Autumn Camouflage

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 25, 2023| 2 Comments »

The red bodies of male Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) make them relatively easy to spot.  However, when they choose to perch on foliage that matches their coloration, they can sometimes be well camouflaged.

The first photo shows an Autumn Meadowhawk perched on some kind of red vegetation (Virginia Creeper ?) at Huntley Meadows Park last Thursday. The red leaves really help to give the image a feel of autumn.

In the second image, the dragonfly stands out a bit more, but the dying leaves provide an artistically pleasing backdrop for the beautiful little dragonfly—I love this composition a lot.

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Clouded Sulphur and asters

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 24, 2023| 9 Comments »

Lots of wildflowers still in bloom as we move deeper into autumn here in Northern Virginia. Last night we had our first frost warning of the season, but I don’t think there was any frost this morning in my neighborhood—a hard frost may speed the demise of many of the remaining butterflies and dragonflies. I was therefore delighted last Thursday to spot this Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) feeding on the flowers of what I believe is a White Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) plant at Huntley Meadows Park.

Although part of the butterfly is obscured by the stem and the leaves in the foreground of this image, I like the way that I was able to capture the details of the butterfly’s green eyes and its extended proboscis.

Clouded Sulphur

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Kingfisher in autumn

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 23, 2023| 6 Comments »

I will often strive to photograph my wildlife subjects from as many different angles as I can in order to take advantage of the lighting or to highlight the details of their bodies. When I spot a subject, though, I initially try to capture whatever shot I can before I work to get a better shot—any of my subjects are skittish and there is always the chance that my initial shot will be my only one.

I spotted this perched male Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) last Thursday at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia and one of my initial shots was the third one below. The perch was sticking out of a pond that was surrounded by a marshy wetland, so there was really no chance for me to get closer to the kingfisher—there was no way to work the angles in my usual way.

So what did I do? In the background I noticed there were some patches of colorful fall foliage, so I decided to see if I could include some of those colors in my images to give them an autumn vibe. By bending, twisting, crouching, and kneeling I was able to vary my shooting angle, while remaining more or less in the same spot, and eventually managed to get some photos that included portions of that autumn foliage. The kingfisher remained in place, but cooperated by changing his head position from time to time.

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Blue-faced Meadowhawks

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 22, 2023| 3 Comments »

I was thrilled yesterday on Thursday at Huntley Meadows Park, a local marshland park, when I finally spotted some Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum ambiguum), a stunning species that is one of my favorites, after searching in vain for them at other locations for over a month. The Blue-faced Meadowhawk is a late-season dragonfly that is somewhat similar in appearance to the more common Autumn Meadowhawk—males of both species have bright red bodies, but the Autumn Meadowhawks have brown eyes.

The females of both species are more muted in their coloration than their male counterparts, as is often the case with many dragonflies and birds, so they have more natural camouflage and are frequently more difficult to find. The second image shows a female Blue-faced Meadowhawk that I managed to spot in the same general area as the male in the first photo. I love the way that the female dragonfly appeared to be singing a song as she basked in the sunlight on some dried-out vegetation.

Blue-faced Meadowhawk

Blue-faced Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Web Design

Posted in Arachnids, Art, Autumn, Nature, Photography, spiders, tagged , , , , , , on October 21, 2023| 9 Comments »

I have always admired the beauty and artistry of spider webs. It is so amazing to me that they can create such intricate patterns out of bodily secretions. I stumbled upon this beautiful little web on Thursday at Huntley Meadows Park and was thrilled that I was able to capture an image of it. I encourage you to click on the image for a closer view of the web design.

In order to make sure that the web did not disappear into the background completely, I deliberately underexposed the image, and focused manually on the web—there was no way that my camera’s autofocus would focus on the web.

spider web

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Variegated Fritillary Butterfly in October

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This late in the season, most of the large butterflies seem to be gone, but I continue to see some of the smaller ones, like this beautiful Variegated Fritillary butterfly (Euptoieta claudia) that I spotted on Thursday during a visit to Huntley Meadows Park, a county-run marshland park not far from where I live. Earlier in the year I encountered some Great Spangled Fritillaries, but I think this may well be my first sighting of a Variegated Fritillary in 2023.

The butterfly appeared to be basking in the sun as it perched with its wings wide open on some dried-out vegetation. I was using my Tamron 150-600mm telephoto zoom lens, which has a minimum focusing distance of almost nine feet (270 cm), so I was pretty far from the butterfly when I captured this image. I have read reviews that state that this lens is soft when fully extended to 600mm, but I have found that I can get acceptably sharp images if I pay a lot of attention to my focusing and shooting techniques, including remaining steady—in this case I was using a monopod.

Variegated Fritillary

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Meadowhawk on the rocks

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 20, 2023| 7 Comments »

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

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

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

Autumn Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Juvenile Ospreys

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 10, 2023| 1 Comment »

Two juvenile Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) appear to almost grown up, but I believe they are still dependent on their parents to feed them. They made protracted cries of what appeared to be “Feed me” when they spotted an adult osprey flying in the distance last Saturday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Sometimes their movements seemed synchronized, as in the first photo, but at other times they expressed themselves in individual ways. In the second photo, you may notice that the two ospreys have speckled feathers and orange eyes, two signs that they are not yet adults, which have dark feathers and yellow eyes.

Osprey

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Male Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Last Saturday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I was delighted to spot this male Needham’s Skimmer (Libellula needhami), one of the most brightly colored dragonflies in our area. In addition to its beautiful reddish-orange color, this dragonfly has stunning gold accents on the front edges of each of its wings.

Needham's Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Skipper and Milkweed

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 7, 2023| 1 Comment »

The milkweed flowers were just beginning to open, but this Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) was already attracted to it. I spotted this butterfly, one of the only skipper butterflies that I can reliably identify, on Saturday during a short visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Usually I avoid visiting locations like this on the weekend, because they tend to be too crowded for my taste—I am a little selfish when it comes to sharing my wildlife experience with others and generally prefer a solitary pursuit.

Some other local photographers have already spotted some warblers, so I had my long 150-600mm lens on my camera when I encountered this butterfly. I am pretty happy with the amount of detail that I was able to capture with the lens fully extended—this lens has a reputation of being quite soft at the long end, but that has not generally been my experience.

Silver-spotted Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 5, 2023| 3 Comments »

Most of the time I hesitate to take photos of birds head-on, because the bills and other facial features can look distorted. However, I really like this image I captured of a jaunty little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) during in visit in July to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are tiny songbirds, about four inches (10 cm) in length, and are only slightly larger than Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Their tails are really long and dark with white outer tail feathers. In this image, the tail is angled to the side—at first glance it almost looks like the green leaf behind the gnatcatcher’s head is the tail.

It is always hard to interpret the facial expressions of birds. At first I thought the expression in this photo was one of confrontation, but increasingly I have come to the conclusion that it more likely was one of curiosity.

In case you are curious, the gnatcatcher was in a shaded area, so I had to increase the exposure to try to pull the bird out of the shadows. The increased exposure caused the sky in the background to turn white.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Bald Eagle in mid-July

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on July 23, 2023| 12 Comments »

I have gotten so caught up in posting photos of insects and flowers, that I nearly forgot that I had managed to capture this shot of a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) a week or so ago during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I have a really problem spotting small birds because of the abundance of leaves on the trees, but this eagle cooperated by perching in the open on a branch where he was quite visible.

At certain times of the year I worry about oversaturating my blog with photos of eagles, but numerous readers have told me that they never get tired of seeing eagles. My oft-stated view is that any day that I spot a bald eagle is a good day.

Personally, I hold the same view about I dragonflies, which is why they appear in this blog more often than any other creatures during the warm months of the year.

Bald Eagle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Another Monarch butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on July 15, 2023| 2 Comments »

Recently I featured some shots of a Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) feeding on some milkweed. I feared that it might be the only Monarch that I would see this year, because there have been some years in the recent past when I have not spotted a single Monarch butterfly.

I was absolutely delighted this past Wednesday when I spotted another Monarch. I was walking along one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge when my eyes were attracted by a flash of bright orange. I assumed incorrectly that it was “only” a Viceroy, but when I zoomed in, I could see that it was a Monarch.

I was using my long 150-600mm lens with a monopod, so I had to scramble a bit to get a good shooting angle. I was thrilled with the shot that I captured of the Monarch in action with its proboscis extended. I am not sure what kind of flower this is, but I really like the way that it was drooping a little as the butterfly perched lightly on it, helping to create a nice triangular composition.

Monarch butterfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Osprey babies

Posted in Baby photography, Birds, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on July 14, 2023| 4 Comments »

For the first time in a month or so, on Wednesday I put my 150-600mm zoom lens on my camera in place of my trusty 180mm macro lens and visited Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Rather than focusing on insects, as I have been doing since early spring, I decided to try to get some shots of birds. Several local photographers have recently posted photos of the juvenile bald eagles at the wildlife refuge that are now much larger that when I saw them last and I was hoping that I might have a chance of seeing them myself.

As it turned out, I did not see the juvenile eagles that day, but I did catch a glimpse of at least two Osprey babies (Pandion haliaetus) that were in the nest with one of their parents. I don’t know how old the little ospreys are, but they seemed curious and energetic. One of them stretched out his wings a bit while I was watching, but the babies don’t appear to ready to fly on their own quite yet.

The rather loosely constructed nest has branches sticking out in all directions that often blocked my view of the trio of ospreys and this is one of the few photos that I took in which I had a clear view of all three of their faces. I did not have very much luck getting photos of other birds that day, many of which I could hear but could not see amidst the abundant foliage.

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

More Lady’s Slipper orchids

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on May 25, 2023| 8 Comments »

I was happy this past weekend to see that Pink Lady’s Slipper orchids (Cypripedium acaule) were still in bloom in Orkney Springs, Virginia during my recent church retreat at Shrine Mont. Last year at about the same time of the year I spotted a few of them and was successful in finding some when I searched that same general location. The retreat center is located in a mountainous and cooler area of the state, which means that the growing season for flowers is a little behind my area, where the lady’s slippers faded a few weeks ago.

At first I spotted only a few of these fragile little flowers, but eventually I came upon a large patch of almost a dozen of them, as you can see in the final photo. It was a bit of a challenge for me to compose photos of flowers, because I am so used to taking pictures of wildlife. I have to admit, though, that I enjoyed having the luxury of taking my time to compose my shots—with wildlife I often have to react quickly to capture a fleeting moment, so composition is not usually my top priority.

Pink Lady's Slipper

Pink Lady's Slipper

Pink Lady's Slipper

Pink Lady's Slipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Looking at you looking at me

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

As I was observing a large nest last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I couldn’t help but notice that the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the nest was keeping an eye on me. The eagle seemed to be observing me through a gap in the branches at the top of the nest, as you can see in the first two photos.

After getting a few shots, I continued walking down the trail. When I looked back towards the nest, I could see the eagle’s head poking out of the top of the nest and it still seemed to be watching me.

As you can tell from the final photo, this is a really large nest and it is hard to monitor what is going on inside of it. Are there any eaglets yet? In two other nests at the refuge, I have already seen eaglets, but those nests were much smaller, so it was not hard to spot the babies. I’ll continue to monitor this nest and with a little luck I will see an eaglet or two in this large nest.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Acrobatic Warbler

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 9, 2023| 7 Comments »

It was fascinating to watch this acrobatic little Prothontary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) last Friday as it twisted and turned, poked and probed while searching for tasty treats among the leaves of a tree at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. We have reached a time of the year when most of the small birds are hidden by the leaves on the trees, so I was really fortunate to be able to spot this warbler and to track it as it moved about in this tree.

Prothonotary Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Turkey and bunny

Posted in animals, Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2023| 4 Comments »

Although it is fun to try to photograph migratory species passing through our area, I am equally content to photograph the local species that are present throughout the year, like Wild Turkeys and Eastern Cottontail Rabbits. This rather rotund Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) seemed to be dancing the hokey-pokey when I spotted it last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. “You put your right leg in, you put your right leg out. You put your right leg in and you shake it all about…” For the record, I did not join in the dance.

Later that same day I encountered this cute little Eastern Cottontail Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus). The rabbit was quite tolerant on my presence and calmly chewed on the grass while I took its picture. For several years I cared for a pet rabbit, so rabbits have a special place in my heart.

Turkeys and rabbits are quite common at this refuge and at certain times of the day I am likely to encounter them. Generally they slowly move into the undergrowth as I approach. I don’t think they necessarily view me as a threat, but they probably do not want to take chances.

Wild Turkey

Eastern Cottontail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Eaglet tests its wings

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 7, 2023| 2 Comments »

This juvenile Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) may not be quite ready to fly, but it was testing out its wings by flapping them vigorously while I was observing the nest on Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The eaglet is so large that there is no longer any room in the small nest for its parents—one of its parents was perched on a higher branch in the same sycamore tree.

A few weeks ago, I observed two eaglets in this nest and I have not had a good look at both eaglets since that time. Has something happened to the other eaglet? When I looked closely at all of my photos, I noticed that I could see the silhouettes of both eaglets sitting side by side in some of the images, as you can see in the final photo. The eagle on the left seems much smaller than the one on the right, which was the one that was flapping its wings in the first two photos.

The foliage in the tree and the barrier across the trail keep me from seeing any better what is happening in this eagle nest, but it looks like the eaglets are growing bigger and stronger, especially the one on the right. It should not be too long before it is time for the eaglet to be making its first tentative attempts at flight.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Ospreys

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 5, 2023| 2 Comments »

There are now plenty of Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) to see at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, though it is still a challenge to get a decent shot of one. I spotted the osprey in the first photo last week and it seemed to be in a pensive mood or perhaps was simply alert to the possibility of an attack from above. One of my Facebook readers suggested that this was an osprey father-to-be who was contemplating the weight of his new responsibilities and the end of his happy-go-lucky bachelor days.

The osprey in the second shot was keeping watch over one of the larger osprey nests at the wildlife refuge. Unlike bald eagles, which put a lot of care and attention into the construction of their nests, ospreys often seem content to throw a few sticks together in a rather haphazard way. As a result, quite a few osprey nests are damaged by winter storms and have to be reconstructed when the ospreys return in the spring.

The osprey in the final shot is working on a different nest. Ospreys lay their eggs later than the eagles, which are already caring for their young eaglets. It is probably about time now for the ospreys to begin sitting on their nests and incubating their own eggs.

 

Osprey

Osprey

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Tiny butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 4, 2023| 8 Comments »

I was happy that I managed to get a shot of this tiny butterfly perched low in the vegetation at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday. I think it may be a Falcate Orangetip (Anthocharis midea), although the butterfly never opened its wings, so I was not able to confirm that the wings were tipped with orange.

I was a bit shocked that I was able to capture so much detail of this tiny creature, given that I was shooting with my Tamron 150-600mm zoom lens fully extended to 600mm. When I bought this lens in November 2014, I remember reading reviews about the lens that stated that it was soft at 600m. That has not really been my experience. If I pay attention to my techniques and use a monopod for additional stability (as I was doing for this shot), I can shots that are acceptably sharp to my eye.

For those of you who are especially geeky, for this shot I was shooting with a Canon 7D at f/8, 1/400 sec, and ISO 800 with an exposure compensation value of minus 1.33 stops. More important than the settings, though, is the fact that I like the image that I managed to capture—that is always my number one priority.

Falcate Orangetip

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Varying backgrounds

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 3, 2023| 2 Comments »

As I was reviewing my photos of the past couple of weeks, I was a little surprised at the number of shots that I have taken of Blue Corporal (Ladona deplanata) dragonflies in wildly varying environments. Blue Corporals are an early-season species and won’t be around for too much longer, so I am happy to have had the opportunity to observe so many of them. Most of the time, Blue Corporals like to perch flat and, judging from the photos, it doesn’t seem to matter if there are rocks, vegetation, or even lily pads.

From the perspective of a naturalist, I like the way that the different photos give you a feel for the environments in which I found these dragonflies. As a photographer, I was also struck by the way that the colors and textures of the background interact with the subjects. Most of the backgrounds in these shots are somewhat cluttered, but I did my best to use framing and focusing techniques to keep the background from being too distracting.

If I had to make a choice, I would say that the first photo is my favorite of the Blue Corporal images. I love the juxtaposition of the dragonfly with the varied textures, shapes, and colors of the rocks. I also really like the way the background grows progressively more blurry towards the top of the image. Do you have a favorite?

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

King of the hill

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 2, 2023| 3 Comments »

As I was focusing in on a Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) that was happily singing from a perch sticking out of a small pond, another swallow came screeching in in an attempt to take over the perch. The attack was successful and the first bird was forced to leave.

Happy with his effort to become “king of the hill,” the new swallow began to sing with all of his might as he surveyed his new kingdom. How long will his reign last? Undoubtedly the swallow knows that others may soon seek his place, but seems determined to enjoy his moment in the spotlight.

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Common Baskettail dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 1, 2023| 8 Comments »

I tracked this Common Baskettail dragonfly (Epitheca cynosura) in the air for quite some time as it patrolled back and forth along one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, hoping that it would land. Fortunately I acted quickly when finally it did perch and was able to capture these shots.

The Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website provides the following description of the Common Baskettail, “Small, dark, constantly hovering. Fast, acrobatic flight. Often high above clearings and sunny paths/old roads. Also along pond, stream and river edges.” As you can tell from this description, it is pretty challenging to get a shot of a Common Baskettail dragonfly.

Occasionally I will try to capture an image of a Common Baskettail while it is flying, but that works better when the dragonfly is flying above a pond than when it is flying with a background of vegetation. If you are interested in seeing some shots of Common Baskettails in flight, check out my blog posting from May 2022 entitled “Flying Common Baskettail dragonflies.”

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »