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Posts Tagged ‘Tamron 150-600mm’

Autumn Meadowhawk Portraits

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 14, 2023| 2 Comments »

I can’t totally exclude the possibility that I may see a hardy survivor of another species, but it is beginning to look like Autumn Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum) are the sole remaining dragonfly species. Last week I spotted quite a few of them during a visit to Huntley Meadows Park, a county-owned marshland not far from where I live.

I tried to capture images of these bright red beauties in as many different environments as I could. Autumn Meadowhawks often perch on the ground, which does not provide a very interesting background, as you can see in the final photo. It is much more interesting if they perch on fallen leaves, or even better if they choose a more elevated perch.

The photos below give you an idea of how I try to “work” a subject. I try to shooting from different angles and distances.  When possible, I try to selectively include or exclude background elements by choosing the appropriate camera settings, as you can see in the fourth photo, where I caused the background to be totally out of focus. Paying attention to the direction of the light really helps too, as you can see particularly in the second image in which the light is so directional that it almost looks like a studio portrait.

Autumn Meadowhawks will probably be around for another few weeks or maybe a month or so, depending in part on the severity of the local weather. At that point, I will rekuctantly turn my focus to birds, landscapes, and other non-insect subjects. I also hope to devote a bit more attention to learning more about creating videos—I have a modest YouTube channel that I have allowed to languish this past year.

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Sleepy Orange butterfly

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 13, 2023| 3 Comments »

Most of the insects are gone by now, so I was a bit shocked to spot this Sleepy Orange butterfly (Eurema nicippe) last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. When I first saw it, I assumed that it was a Clouded Sulphur butterfly, a species that I photographed a few weeks ago. Upon examining my shot on my computer screen, I realized that it was an unfamiliar species, and a friend of mine who is more of an expert on butterflies helped to identify the butterfly for me.

I really like the way that the bright color of the inside of the butterfly contrasts with the brown tones of the dried leaves on which the butterfly was perched.

Sleepy Orange

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Starling portraits

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

How do you photograph a flock of birds? This past Thursday I visited Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and observed (and heard) that a sizable flock of European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) was moving about in a large expanse of trees. I attempted to photograph clusters of starlings, but as you can see in the final photograph, many of the birds were hidden or shaded by the foliage or were looking away from me.

I decided that a better approach was to concentrate my efforts on getting shots of individual starlings. The first image is one of my favorites from my session with the starlings. The texture of the photogenic snag adds to the visual interest of the image and the starling cooperated by giving me a nice view of its profile. The colorful foliage gives you a sense of the season and of the environment and the two blurry starlings in the background help to balance the image.

The composition of the second image is much simpler—it’s just the bird and its perch. What makes this image interesting for me is the intensity of the starling as it calls out with its mouth wide open, which adds a touch of dynamism to what would otherwise be a static portrait.

European Starling

European Starling

European Starling

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 11, 2023| 8 Comments »

As I looked up a trail on Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I noted the shape of a bird perched on a shaded gate. When I zoomed in, I realized it was a hawk, which flew to a distant tree as I was capturing the first shot. I shared the images with a Facebook birding group, and the general consensus is that the bird is a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii).

Most of the hawks that I regularly see are Red-shouldered Hawks and occasionally I spot Red-tailed Hawks. At first I thought that this one might be a Red-shouldered Hawk, but when I looked at my photos on my computer, I was really struck by the length of the hawk’s tail and by the elongated shape of the hawk’s body that are not characteristic of a Red-shouldered Hawk.

One of the folks on Facebook who responded to my posting noted, “Juvenile Cooper’s hawk. Beautiful youngster. You caught the neat teardrop shaped breast streaking, and the short wings against the long and widely banded tail.”

As many of you know, I am an opportunistic wildlife photographer—I enjoy walking around a lot and try to capture photos of my wonderful encounters with nature, like this one.

 

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Woodpecker treat

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 10, 2023| 9 Comments »

Woodpeckers are amazingly industrious. They repeatedly hammer their heads against trees, with seemingly a low success rate. Yesterday, though, this male Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) was successful in capturing an insect at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and paused for a moment to show it to me.

Downy Woodpeckers are the smallest woodpeckers in my area and are the species that I see most often. In addition to pecking away at trees, I have also seen them search for insects in cattails and in other vegetation. It is easy to distinguish a male Downy Woodpecker from a female, because males have a bright red patch on the back of their heads, a feature that you can just see in this photo.

Downy Woodpeckers are usually very energetic. I spotted this woodpecker as he was spiraling his way up the tree. I prepared myself when he disappeared behind the trunk and was able to anticipate where he would reappear. I really like the angle of view of this shot that allows us to see the bird’s sharp claws and intense eyes. Downy Woodpeckers always seem to be intensely focused on what they are doing and it was wonderful to see this one’s efforts rewarded with a nice little treat.

Downy Woodpecker

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Kinglet acrobatics

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on November 8, 2023| 2 Comments »

It is fun to watch the acrobatics of tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Corthylio calendula) as they forage for food, like this one that I photographed last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I love the twisting, spiral shape of the little branchlet on which the kinglet is perched so much that I might well have photographed it even if the kinglet were not there. The yellow colors in the background are a huge plus in creating an autumnal feeling in this image.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Poison ivy berries

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 7, 2023| 1 Comment »

I wouldn’t recommend adding poison ivy berries to your diet, but this Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) seemed to be really enjoying them last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Amazingly, poison ivy is a great source of nutrition to a variety of wildlife species. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, a wide variety of “birds are especially fond of poison ivy berries. The plant’s waxy, white berries are loaded with vitamins and other nutrients. If that isn’t enough, they are available to south-bound migrants in mid-summer as well in winter when food is at a premium.”

It is incredible to me that such tiny birds can survive during the winter and finding nutrition like these little white poison ivy berries is one of the keys to their survival. Yellow-rumped Warblers eat mainly insects in the summer, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, but during the winter they switch to a diet of mostly seeds and berries. Can you imagine being a carnivore for six months of the year and a vegan for the other six months?

Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Outside my front door

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 6, 2023| 7 Comments »

As I was preparing to lock the front door of my townhouse in Northern Virginia one day last week, I glanced over at a bush about 10 feet (3 meters) away where a bird was perched. I pivoted my body, turned on the camera, and focused on the little bird, which I noted was a Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)—I going out out on a photo adventure, so my camera was slung over my shoulder.

Fearing that I might scare off the wren, I snapped off a few shots without paying too much attention to my camera settings. It felt a little strange to photograph a bird at such close range. In most cases I photograph birds with my 150-600mm lens zoomed out to 600mm, but in this instance I took the shot at 309mm and probably should have zoomed back a bit more.

When I was reviewing the images on my computer,  I checked the camera settings I had used and found out my camera was set at ISO 800, f/6.3, and 1/100. I am a little shocked that I was able to get a relatively sharp shot at such a low shutter setting, but the lens does have some built-in image stabilization and I am used to holding the lens pretty steady.

Some photographers travel great distances to capture wildlife images. This shot is definitely award worthy, but it does show that you may not have to travel far from home to see and photograph nature and wildlife. Beauty is everywhere.

Carolina Wren

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Yellow-rumped Warblers in November

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 5, 2023| 7 Comments »

Most warblers pass briefly through my area when they are migrating in the spring and in the fall, but Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) stay with us for a good part of the colder season. This past Thursday I spotted quite a large number of Yellow-rumped Warblers as I wandered the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

In the first photo, you can see a portion of the yellow patch that is responsible for the name of this species. Most of the time I see only the smaller yellow patches on their sides, because they tend to perch high above me and I am often shooting at an upwards angle.

I am amazed by the light weight of Yellow-rumped Warblers and their ability to perch on incredibly slender branches, as you can see in the second image. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, these little birds weigh only 0.4-0.5 ounces (12-13 g).

In the final photo, the warbler is poised to move on to its next perch. Yellow-rumped Warblers are not quite as hyperactive as some other species that I see at this time of the year, like Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, but they move around a lot as they forage for food.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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November dragonflies

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 4, 2023| 1 Comment »

And then there was one…

Now that the calendar has turned over to November, we have reached the point in the dragonfly season when there is essentially only one remaining species, the Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum). There is a chance that I will encounter a hardy survivor from some of the summer species or a migratory dragonfly species passing through our area, but in all likelihood, the only dragonflies that I am likely to see this month are the tiny red Autumn Meadowhawks.

This past Thursday I visited Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and spotted a total of about ten Autumn Meadowhawks at various points throughout the refuge. Unlike some species that require specific habitats, Autumn Meadowhawks seem to be pretty adaptable and I have found them in a variety of different environments.

The dragonfly in the first photo is a female Autumn Meadowhawk—you can tell it is female by looking at her terminal appendages, i.e. the tip of her “tail.” She was perching more or less in the open, so I managed to capture an obstructed shot of her.

Most of the time, though, Autumn Meadhawks perch low to the ground on fallen leaves and dried-up vegetation, as you can see in the final two shots. Both photos show male Autumn Meadowhawks. I love the lighting in the penultimate shot, although the cluttered background makes the dragonfly a little hard to see. In the final photo, I really like the way that the dragonfly appeared to be looking up at me with a sense of curiosity.

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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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.

 

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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.

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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

 

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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

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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

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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

 

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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

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

 

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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.

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

 

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