2010 has been a great year, providing me many opportunities to continue learning about nature photography. I’ve been fortunate this year to photograph in fantastic places like Arches, Canyonlands, Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains and Zion National Parks, along with many other state and local parks. I wanted to put in one more day of photography during 2010 so I took an early drive to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge, MD. I was hoping to find some Bald Eagles and my very first photograph happened to catch an eagle sitting at the top of a tree as the morning sky turned pink.

I saw several Bald Eagles in the Refuge but I was surprised to encounter a huge number of Snow Geese that had stopped to rest on the ice covered waters of Little Blackwater River. I waited for their eventual “take-off” as the entire flock leaps into the air at once with every bird in a frenzy of flight.  It is quite a spectacle of sight and sound.

Blackwater NWR maintains an ‘eagle-cam’ which allows anyone on the Internet to watch the progress of nest building, egg hatching and fledging of young eagles.  Already, a pair of Bald Eagles has begun building their nest (that’s one of the eagles on the eagle-cam platform below).  You can watch for yourself at this link: Blackwater NWR Eagle-Cam

I’m looking forward to 2011 with trips planned to the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington and Glacier National Park in Montana.  I have a lot more ‘learin’ to do…

Happy New Year Everyone !!

Winter began this week and we have seen some light snow here in northern Virginia and are expecting a little more in the next day or two.  I have been taking it easy lately, battling the ‘cold that will not die’ but I ventured out briefly today to take some images of the leaves of Fall, now in various states of deterioration, being covered by the Winter season.

While I’ve been stuck indoors, I finished putting together my second annual book of my favorite images from the year.  To see a sample on the Blurb website, just click the link below.

MWP2010

My alarm clock rang early this morning because I wanted to visit a couple of wildlife refugees in Delaware.  My first stop was at Prime Hook NWR to see the hundreds of Snow Geese that have arrived from the Canadian Arctic to winter here in the Mid-Atlantic.  They took flight from the water soon after sunrise and flew inland.  As I drove to my next destination, I encountered the Snow Geese circling over open farmland, it was fascinating to watch them as they filled the sky.

My next stop was Bombay Hook NWR, about 41 miles north of Prime Hook. Bombay Hook is also a stop for thousands of migratory birds on the east coast.  An 8.5 mile loop allows you to drive through the refuge presenting many opportunities to see a variety of ducks, geese, hawks and bald eagles. The tidal salt marsh here is vital habitat for wildlife.  The backlighting on these marsh plants below made a nice composition.

Driving your car around the refuge provides a great blind to photograph from.  I was able to get very close to a number of birds just by staying inside my car and shooting out the side window.  The hawk below was sitting in a tree almost directly above my car.

This Snow Goose (a common dark morph, known as a ‘Blue Goose’) was feeding on some grass near the road and paid no attention to my car.

I was able to sit and watch this Great Blue Heron hunt for food for a fairly long time.  The car was a perfect ‘vehicle’ for observing the wildlife throughout the day at the refuge.