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Posts Tagged ‘Woodbridge VA’

Calico Pennant dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 15, 2025| 4 Comments »

Later in the season I can rely on coloration to distinguish between male and female Calico Pennant  dragonflies (Celithemis elisa)—the bodies of males are red and those of females are yellow. When they first emerge, however, immature males are yellow, so you have to look really closely at a given individual to determine its gender.

The terminal appendages of the dragonfly in the second photo indicate to me that it is a male, despite the fact that its body is yellow. The one in the first photo is also an immature male Calico Pennant dragonfly that is just beginning to change from yellow to red. I love the way that he is perched on the very tip of the flimsy vegetation stalk, holding tightly to it with all of his little legs.

I spotted these two dragonflies on 12 May at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, my first sightings of this colorful dragonfly species of the year. There is something really special about the patterned wings of both genders of Calico Pennants and when viewed from the right angle, as in the second photo, the pattern on their bodies look like a series of hearts.

Calico Pennant

Calico Pennant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Big Bluet damselfly (female)

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

During a visit on Monday to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I noted that many of the summer dragonfly and damselflies are starting to appear. I was particularly delighted to spot several Big Bluet damselflies (Enallagma durum). As their name suggests, Big Bluets are relatively large damselflies, with an overall length of about 1.7 inches (43 mm).

Big Bluets tend to active and a bit skittish, so it’s a bit tough to get a decent shot of one, especially when I am shooting with a zoom lens. The auto-focus of my Tamron 18-400mm zoom often has trouble focusing on a damselfly, because their bodies are so thin and they clasp their wings together over their bodies. Consequently, I frequently end up focusing manually and it is an advantage with this lens that the minimum focusing distance is 17.7 inches (45 cm), so I can get pretty close to my subject.

I was delighted to be able to capture this beautiful image of a female Big Bluet. My focusing was spot on and the background blurred out nicely. If you look closely, you may notice that the depth of field, i.e. what was in focus, was so shallow that much of the stalk of vegetation on which the damselfly was perched was out of focus. In case you are curious, I tried to position myself so that I was on a parallel plane with the damselfly’s body to get as much of it in sharp focus as possible.

One interesting factual tidbits about Female Big Bluets is that, like several other damselfly species, they come in two different color variants. This one is the blue form and there is also an olive form. What that means is that I cannot rely exclusively on the color of the damselfly to determine its species and must also look at other features like the shapes of the eyespots and markings on the terminal appendages.

Big Bluet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant in a small pond

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 13, 2025| 1 Comment »

The feathers of Double-crested Cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) are not completely waterproof, so periodically they have to dry out their wings. I often see cormorants completely out of the water, perched on rocks or logs with extended wings. This cormorant last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge apparently decided, however, that a perch was not necessary—it simply spread its wings in the air and held them in that position.

A bit earlier I captured the second image below. Usually I see cormorants in the deep waters of the bay, but this cormorant was in a small pond at the wildlife refuge. The pond is mostly surrounded by trees that are now in bloom and I was happy to capture some of the colors of the trees in their reflections on the surface of the water.

Double-crested Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Turkey at the edge of the woods

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The trees are now covered with leaves, providing hiding places for the tiny songbirds that I can hear but cannot see. Fortunately, some birds are so big that it is hard to miss them, like this Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) that I spotted this past Wednesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

This turkey was slowly walking away from me and I captured this shot when he was in motion. I don’t think that a Wild Turkeys can balance themselves on a single leg when stationary, though perhaps there is a special kind of turkey yoga that enhances their balancing abilities.

Wild Turkey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Black Swallowtail in May

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 9, 2025| 2 Comments »

Although it is relatively early in the butterfly season, this beautiful Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) that I spotted on Wednesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge was already beginning to show signs of the wear and tear of everyday life, with damage to its wings and body and one missing “tail.” I don’t know what caused the damage to the butterfly’s wings, but suspect that it might have been attacks by predators or collisions with thorns or other sharp vegetation.

Black Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Happy Easter 2025

Posted in Butterflies, Easter, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2025| 13 Comments »

Happy Easter to friends and family who are celebrating today. This past week has been a whirlwind of activity and services for me at my church as we have commemorated Christ’s last days, beginning with his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through his last supper, and finally his crucifixion and burial. Today we celebrate Jesus’s triumph over death with a joyous Easter service.

I photographed this beautiful little Pearl Crescent butterfly (Phyciodes tharos) during a recent visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Butterflies have always been special for me as symbols of the amazing transformations that can take place in this world, even when the situation seems hopeless and sad.

I offer my prayers for all of you, believers and non-believers alike, that your lives will be full of joy, hope, and peace.

Christ is risen!

Pearl Crescent

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Falcate Orangetip butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 19, 2025| 5 Comments »

I was delighted to spot this Falcate Orangetip butterfly (Anthocharis midea) on 15 April at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The butterfly is somewhat nondescript when its wings are closed, but spectacular when they open, revealing the orange tips for which the species is named.

I encourage you to click on the second image to get a closer look at the beautiful details of this tiny butterfly, including its speckled gray eyes and wonderfully marbled wings.

Falcate Orangetip butterfly

Falcate Orangetip butterfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue Corporal—first dragonfly of 2025

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2025| 5 Comments »

I am a little late in finding my first dragonflies of 2025, but on Wednesday (15 April) I finally spotted some Blue Corporals (Ladona deplanata) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. As an added bonus, the first image also shows a metallic-green Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) that was crawling past the dragonfly.

Blue Corporals, one of the first dragonflies to emerge in the spring, are relatively easy to identify because they have two stripes of their shoulders—two stripes is the traditional marking for the rank of corporal in the armed forces. When they first emerge, males and females have similar colorations, but the males turn blue as they mature. Judging from the shape of their terminal appendages, I believe that the dragonflies in the first two images are females and the one in the final photo is an immature male.

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Ospreys seize the eagle nest

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 17, 2025| 5 Comments »

Earlier this season, it looked like a pair of Bald Eagles had occupied a large nest at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Each time that I visited the refuge, I would check the nesting site to look for indications that an eagle was sitting on eggs. Unfortunately, the nest is so deep and so high up that it is almost impossible to tell if an eagle is inside of the nest.

Last week, I watched a pair of Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) fly into the nest and seize it and captured this shot of them doing so. Generally ospreys use much smaller, thrown-together nests, but I guess that this pair decided to advantage of what I assume is a currently unoccupied eagle nest.

As I watched the two ospreys approach the nest with dangled legs, I couldn’t help but think of the scenes from the Wizard of Oz movie in which the flying monkeys seized Dorothy. The mind works in strange ways.

osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Bee Fly in April

Posted in Bees, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 15, 2025| 1 Comment »

Is it a bee? Is it a fly? Well, it has a fuzzy body like a bumblebee and has a long, rigid proboscis that looks like a stinger, but its patterned wings and long legs look more like those of a fly. In actuality, it is a Greater Bee Fly (Bombylius major), a parasitic bee mimic that is one of the earliest spring pollinators of wildflowers. I photographed this bee fly last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

I was quite happy to be able to capture so many of the details of this curious creature, including its long proboscis, spindly legs, patterned wings, and fuzzy body. In case you are curious, the body of one of these bee flies is about six-tenths of an inch (15mm) in length and its wing span is about one inch (25mm). I recommend that you double-click on the image to get a better look at the little details of this bee fly.

If you would like to learn more about these fascinating little bee flies, including their parasitic behavior, check out this article on the US Forest Service website by Beatriz Moisset entitled “A Pollinator with a Bad Reputation.”

Bee Fly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Zebra Swallowtail in April

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 14, 2025| 4 Comments »

I was absolutely thrilled last week to spot this Zebra Swallowtail butterfly (Eurytides marcellus) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Zebra Swallowtails overwinter winter in the chrysalis (cocoon) stage before emerging as adult butterflies in the spring. A second brood is born later in the year and they are the ones that lay the eggs that develop into the caterpillars that will enter into cocoons and hibernate throughout the winter.

I love the beautiful colors of this butterfly, with its zebra-like stripes and pops of red and blue—I often think of the Zebra Swallowtail as a “patriotic” butterfly, because of its red, white, and blur coloration..

Zebra Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Yellow-throated Warbler in April

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, warbler, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica) was pretty far away when I spotted its little patch of bright yellow feathers this past Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I doubted that I would be able to get a recognizable shot of it, but decided to take a chance, given that it was the first warbler that I had seen this spring. The resulting shot won’t win any contest, but I am happy that I was able to document my sighting.

Warblers pass through my area each spring at about the same time as the leaves begin to appear on the trees. It can be a bit frustrating for me to be able to hear some of these little birds without being able to see them when they are hidden in the foliage. It is a little game of hide-and-see that I play every year and this time I was able to capture a shot of one of my colorful fellow players.

Yellow-throated Warbler

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cabbage White and dandelion

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 11, 2025| 8 Comments »

I was surprised and delighted to spot this Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) as it was feeding on a newly sprouted dandelion on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I love chasing these elusive little butterflies that I used to think were moths.

Gardeners consider Cabbage Whites to be pests, because their caterpillars can do significant damage to plants, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and collard greens, but I find them to be beautiful. In that respect I guess I am a kind of dreamer who prefers to focus more on form than on function.

Cabbage White

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Swimming towards me

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, spring, turtle, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 10, 2025| 6 Comments »

Long telephoto lenses tend to distort your depth perception. On Tuesday I watched this North American Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) swimming about in a pond at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I was a bit creepy as the turtle got bigger and bigger in my viewfinder when it began to swim directly towards me. One part of my brain objectively knew that the turtle was still a long way off, but it was nonetheless a bit disconcerting when the snapping turtle’s dinosaur-like eyes appeared to be staring right at me.

Spring is here, though the weather has been cool recently and there were some local frost warnings last night, and all kinds of creatures are waking up. I’m still looking for my first dragonfly of the year and will probably continue my quest later today.

snapping turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Springtime Red-winged Blackbird

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 7, 2025| 1 Comment »

I have been hearing a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) during recent visits to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and was delighted to finally capture a shot of one last week that shows the distinctive yellow and red shoulder patch of the males of his species.

I was hoping that the blackbird would fly to some lower branches, but he seemed content to perch high above me in a tree. I was pleased, though, to be able to capture this fun little portrait—it is tough to convince birds to pose for me.

Red-winged Blackbird

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Eastern Phoebe in March

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 27, 2025| 1 Comment »

In some locations the reappearance of Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) is one of the first indications that spring is returning. I am not sure if Eastern Phoebes are with us year round in Northern Virginia, but I know that it as been quite a few months since I last saw one.

On Tuesday I spotted this phoebe in a tree at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Branches were partially blocking my view of the bird, but I managed to find get a clear view of its face (and most importantly of its eye) by making small adjustments to my shooting position.

Eastern Phoebe

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Brown Thrasher in March

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I was delighted to spot this Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I had to move around a lot to get a clear view of its head, though I was pretty sure it was a thrasher when I caught a glimpse of its bright yellow eye and long tail. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology did a great job in describing the challenges of spotting this species, “It can be tricky to glimpse a Brown Thrasher in a tangled mass of shrubbery, and once you do you may wonder how such a boldly patterned, gangly bird could stay so hidden.”

Brown Thrashers are present year round in the southern portions of Virginia, but I think they move north into my area of Northern Virginia during the breeding season. Before long we should have lot of other birds, including warblers, migrating through our area and, of course, dragonflies and other insects will soon reappear. Yesterday  i noted a posting in Facebook with photos of dragonflies that were recently taken in central Virginia. I will probably venture out later today to see if I can spot any dragonflies myself.

Brown Thrasher

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Osprey nest on a duck blind

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 24, 2025| 2 Comments »

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) are very opportunistic birds—they will make a nest almost anywhere there is a bit of space. Last week I spotted an osprey perched on the roof of a duck blind in the water and captured this cool little image.

These little shack-like structures on stilts have been built in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and are used a few weeks a year during duck hunting season. It is a little disconcerting during that time to hear shotguns being fired only a short distance away, but the money collected for hunting licenses is used for waterfowl habitat improvement and restoration in Virginia.

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Nibbling on a bud

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on March 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Buds are beginning to grow on many of the trees in my area as we welcome the beginning of spring.  However, it looks like this little Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) that I spotted on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge was impatient and chose to nibble on a tender young bud that had barely started to develop.

The lighting conditions were not optimal, but I like the way that I was able to capture the way that the chickadee used its tiny bill to poke into the underdeveloped bud. It may not seem like much, but I suspect that the chickadee welcomed the taste of the tender spring bud after a long winter of gnawing on hard, wizened seeds.


Carolina Chickadee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Inquisitive osprey

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 21, 2025| 2 Comments »

Something attracted the attention of this Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and it kept looking down at the ground. At first I thought that the osprey had caught a fish that it was trying to protect from competitors, but when I zoomed in, I did not see any fish.

Perhaps the osprey was looking for its mate or was merely curious to observe all the things that were going on. I don’t think that the osprey had spotted me when I took these shots, but that is also a possibility.

Osprey

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Heron Lift-off

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 18, 2025| 9 Comments »

When Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) take off from the water, they really stretch out and usually I cut off part of their bodies when trying to photograph them in action. Last week, though, my timing was good and I captured this little sequence of images as a heron took to the air, flew for a short distance, and “stuck” its landing in the water.

I was really happy with the way that I was able to capture so many details, from the arc of the water droplets as the heron rose out of the water to the bird’s different-colored feathers. In the final photo, the spread wings, wind-blown “hair,” and the wonderful reflection combine to create a really cool mood in the image.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Put your hand on my shoulder…

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, turtle, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 17, 2025| 11 Comments »

I don’t know if thegroup of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)) was a family unit or merely good friends, but they seemed to be cooperating to maximize their exposure to the warmth of the sun last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. At some of the other wildlife parks in my area there are large logs on which the turtles will space themselves out as they bask in the sun, but flat dry land is limited at this refuge, so the turtles are willing to share the space with others.

As I was taking the first photo, several more turtles emerged from the pond, as you can see in the second photo below. Their wet shells are much darker than those of the first three turtles that have had a chance to dry out a bit.

Painted Turtles

Painted Turtles

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Uncommonly beautiful

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2025| 5 Comments »

When in the shadows, Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) appear to be all black, but in the bright sunlight their iridescent feathers shine in an array of colors. I photographed this uncommonly beautiful Grackle as it perched in a dead tree on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Beauty is everywhere.Common Grackle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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First osprey of the season

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 13, 2025| 7 Comments »

When does spring begin? If you use the meteorological calendar, spring begins on the first of March in the Northern Hemisphere. Most folks here in the United States, though, consider that spring begins with the vernal equinox that falls on 20 March this year.

I look for other signs that mark the beginning of the new season. Yesterday, for example, I saw a few blooming daffodils and crocuses, some of the first spring flowers to appear, and I also spotted some buds starting to open on trees.

On Tuesday, I spotted my first Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) of the season at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, a sure sign that spring will soon be here.The osprey in the photo was vigorously tearing into the flesh of the fish, stopping periodically to call out to another osprey. I wasn’t sure whether the other unseen osprey was a competitor or a mate, but suspect that it was the latter. A short time later, the osprey flew away to an elevated nesting platform, where I spotted three ospreys that appeared to be sharing the freshly-caught fish, as you can see in the second image below.

Osprey

Osprey

 

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Over a half million views

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 11, 2025| 20 Comments »

I do not pay too much attention to the statistics that WordPress provides about my blog, but I could not help but notice this morning that, according to the “official” statistics, I have now had over a half million views since July 2012 of 5,33p posts. Wow! It’s a bit of a mystery to me how exactly WordPress counts those views, so I am not sure if the stats are fully accurate, but those numbers indicate a lot of effort on my time.

More than that, though, those statistics reflect an incredible amount of support and encouragement from so many of you. Thanks to all of you, whether you have followed my photographic wanderings for a day for for years. The second image below is a screen shot of the overall statistics for the blog this morning.

As you may have noticed, I have slowed my pace of posting a bit over the last six months as more of my free time has been increasingly devoted to other interests and activities. I’ll be keeping up with the photography blog, though, at least a few times a week and quite possibly more frequently than that as the weather warms up.

During a recent visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I captured this shot of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in action. Most of the time these herons thrust their bills violently in the water in attempting to catch fish, but this one was doing so much more gently that normally. The water level was low because it was lot tide and the heron may have been trying to pluck a small fish out of the water. On this attempt, though, he was not successful, but the heron’s open bill made for a nice photo.

I thought about posting one of my “best” images for today’s blog entry, but decided instead to continue my habit of posting recent images that appeal to me. As many of you know, I am generally content to post photos of everyday creatures to highlight the beauty that surrounds us all of the time if we slow down and take the time to observe it. Beauty is everywhere.

Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Hidden woodpecker

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 10, 2025| 1 Comment »

During a recent visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I caught a glimpse of bright red deep in the vegetation. I was pretty sure that it was some kind of woodpecker, but I wasn’t absolutely sure. I maneuvered around a bit and managed to determine that it was a Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus).

I was happy to capture this image that shows the head of the woodpecker clearly, even though most of its body is partially hidden. This gives you an idea of the kind of view I often get when I am out with my camera. Some photographers might not even try to get a shot of the subject under these circumstances, but I will give it a shot most of the time. Often my shots are blurry, but sometimes I get a decent shot that I like, like the one in this blog post.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Turtles in the sun

Posted in Nature, Photography, Reptiles, turtle, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 7, 2025| 5 Comments »

As the weather has warmed up and the sun has started to shine a bit more brightly, Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) have emerged from the mud at the bottom of the ponds at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. These turtles used whatever objects they could find to pull themselves out of the water and bask in the sunlight. Sometimes their shells are washed clean of mud, but, as you can see in the final photo, some of the turtles were still covered in mud when I photographed them last week.

Painted Turtle

Painted Turtle

Painted Turtle

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Hungry chickadee

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It is still a bit early for trees to be budding with new growth, so birds like this little Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) have to be content to forage for seeds among the dried up vegetation from the previous growing season. Last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I spotted this chickadee that seemed to have struck the jackpot—there was an abundance of dried seeds on the tree on which the bird was perched.

The chickadee had to bend and stretch a bit to reach the seeds, but, as you can see in the second photo below, it had some success in finding food. Before long, spring will arrive and lots of fresher food should appear for the birds, including insects. Chickadees are omnivorous, but like most birds that stay with us during the winter, their diet is mostly a vegetarian one when the weather gets cold and most of the insects disappear.

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Chickadee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant reflection

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , on March 5, 2025| 1 Comment »

Most of my recent photos of Double-crested Cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) has show the birds taking off. Indeed, cormorants tend to be quite skittish and react quickly when they detect my presence. Last Wednesday, I spotted a cormorant in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge that was so focused on repeatedly diving under that the did not notice me.

I was really happy with the photo that I captured of the cormorant, especially the way that it shows the bird’s beautiful rippled reflection. You may note that the cormorant is really low in the water, with most of its body submerged. As I noted in a recent post, cormorants’ feathers are not completely waterproof and can become waterlogged. For that reason, cormorants need to periodically come out of the water and stretch out their wings to dry them.

Double-crested Cormorant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Portrait of a heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , on March 3, 2025| 9 Comments »

I see Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) quite often at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, but generally they are far away from me. Last week, however, I was lucky to get close enough to a heron to be able to capture a portrait-like image of the big bird. How did I do it?

The heron was standing in the waters off of the shore of the refuge and was mostly hidden from view by the vegetation. I was walking along a trail parallel to the water and discovered a little break in vegetation that gave me a clear view of most of the heron. I twisted and turned my body, trying to make sure that no branches were blocking my view and zoomed in with my telephoto lens. I had to wait a little while and eventually the heron lifted its head and turned to the side, giving me a perfect profile pose.

Some wildlife photographers are always searching for new species to photograph, but most of the time I am content to photograph the same species over and over, capturing the changing seasons and environments in which I find these beautiful creatures.

Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Preparing for takeoff

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on March 2, 2025| 2 Comments »

This past Monday I spotted some Double-crested Cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and once again they took off immediately, even though I was quite a distance away from them. Fortunately I anticipated that this would happen and was able to react quickly enough to capture the action. The second photo below shows the way that cormorants bounce across the water, leaving a trail of small splashes, to gain the speed needed to lift off from the water.

The first photo, my favorite of the two, depicts the cormorant on its last bounce, making final preparations for takeoff with its feet just barely in the water. I really like the position of the extended wings in this image and if you zoom in and look at the face, you will get a look at the brilliant turquoise eyes of the cormorant.

Double-crested Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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