Monthly Archives: September 2009

Morning in SNP

_MSW8718The alarm went off at 5AM this morning so that I could make the drive to Shenandoah National Park to catch the sunrise.  The first east-facing overlook was 10-12 miles from the entrance and I made it there with about 2 minutes to spare before the sun appeared above the horizon. It was a great morning in the park, the last summer flowers are in bloom mixed in with the fall color which is just now coming out.

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There were plenty of deer, I counted a total of 42 on or alongside the road as I drove through the park. Also saw some wild turkeys and a lot of courageous squirrels standing in the roadway.

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    Sunny morning

    _MSW4533This young Wood Duck is settling in for a rest in the morning sun after a thorough feather cleaning.  The side lightning shows off the texture of its feathers along with the iridescent blue coloring and their red eyes. The small Bull Frog below is also catching some sunshine.  Bull Frogs can grow up to 6 inches but this one was less than 3 inches long.

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      The king makes an appearance

      _MSW4305This morning was heavily overcast and almost chilly at Huntley Meadows park. When I was here six days ago, the park was sunny and bustling with life.  Today, there seemed to be more humans than wildlife until someone at the park spotted a King Rail foraging for food.  The rail didn’t seem to mind the gathering crowd of people who were eager to see something and went about its business. On the way out of the park I spotted the Yellow Garden Spider below on it’s web. The web has the characteristic zig-zag pattern down the middle which is believed to created by a nearby male.

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        Cardinal Sunday

        _MSW3899Cardinals are one of my favorite birds. You most often see the image of the male cardinal which has the familiar bright red coloring.  The female cardinal above, and the immature cardinal below, don’t have the flashy color but are still handsome birds. The immature has yet to develop the red-orange beak of the adult.  These two were visitors to my backyard this morning.

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          D.C. evening

          _MSW8673This evening was one of those rare summer occasions when the humidity is low and the temperature mild.  A perfect evening for walking along the National Mall, and many people were taking advantage to visit the monuments.  I knew there would a good opportunity to catch a full moon rising in the east and behind the U.S. Capitol.  I wanted to try and silhouette the Statue of Freedom on the top of the dome and I think it came out nicely.  The photograph below was taken with a 70-200m lens. I used a 14-24mm lens for the photo of the Washington monument above with the flag catching a summer breeze and the shadows of other visitors at the base of the monument.

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