Monthly Archives: March 2011

Osprey Call

A Spring snow shower ended early this morning and the clouds gave way to bluer skies as I hiked around Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  There is good Osprey activity going on now with a lot of nest building.  The Osprey above was perched in a tree near a new nest and I was able to photograph it as it called out. Click on this link to hear an Osprey call.

I found a male Bluebird in an open field along with many Robins, Tifted Titmice, Cardinals and Black-capped Chickadees.

In the wetlands there were a number of Great Blue Herons and several Great Egrets all searching for a meal. Red-shoulder Hawks and Turkey Vultures soared above the wetlands and out over the bay I spotted an adult Bald Eagle.

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    Sunrise at Great Falls

     

    Beautiful day here in Northern Virginia. The forecast for partly cloudy skies gave me the urge to get up early and head to Great Falls park to try some sunrise photos. The clouds were quickly moving off when I arrived but for a few brief moments, this group of clouds caught some nice sunlight.  The water level of the river is still pretty high but has decreased from the near flood level earlier this week.

    Once more shot from this morning of a feeder stream that flows down into the Potomac.

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      Further evidence

      Further evidence of the approaching Spring from my visit last Saturday to Huntley Meadows park came in the form of increased bird activity. Great Blue Herons were back in numbers.  I enjoy photographing GBH’s because they offer so many different poses with their ability to extend, contract and contort their long necks.

      There was also a lot of activity up in the trees, including the constant pecking of the Pileated Woodpecker.

      While the early morning was nice and sunny, the skies eventually became completely overcast in grey clouds.  I left Huntley Meadows with a nice collection of wildlife shots.  On the drive home, I couldn’t help pulling into the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge to take a look at what might be going on there. Bald Eagles were in the air and while their nesting season is pretty much at an end, Osprey nesting is just beginning.  This Osprey below was taking advantage of a platform to build its nest.  It was interesting to watch it carry in a load of sticks and place each piece into position.

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        Wetlands activity

        New growth is starting to appear in the wetlands of Huntley Meadows park.  I was there this past Saturday to check out the bird activity but soon discovered a lot more was going on.  Wildlife was easily spotted throughout the park, such as White-tailed deer (below) and one of the subgroups of the Eastern Grey Squirrel, the Black Squirrel.  I’ve seen this particular individual here in the park before and finally had a little success in capturing an image.

         

        While walking through the park, I noticed a large number of trees felled by beavers, more than I have seen in previous years of visiting the park.  There are now several large beaver lodges in the park and so it was not surprising to see a couple of beavers today swimming around. Beavers are fascinating creatures and the BBC Earth series has a great feature on the life of beavers.  Check it out here: Beaver – BBC Earth

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        • sueMarch 16, 2011 - 10:39 pm

          The is a great shot!

        Good signs

         

        There are plenty of signs of Spring in the area.  Trees are budding and the birds of the season are starting to appear in greater numbers, although the scene above doesn’t really provide any evidence of these signs.  It is an abstract of a group of trees I found in the morning with the nice light of sunrise casting a soft glow. However, the image below does show the red buds that are now visible on the trees along with a Great Blue Heron and its reflection in the wetlands.

        I spotted a variety of  ducks in pairs such as the male and female Hooded Merganser and the male and female Wood Duck (shown below) here at Huntley Meadows park. There was plenty of other wildlife activity going an I’ll have some of those images in my next post.

         

         

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        • sueMarch 13, 2011 - 11:20 am

          I’ve been trying to get some abstract trees myself, love the colors in yours! That bottom shot of the wood ducks is really nice with the reflection.

        • SaraMarch 13, 2011 - 1:31 pm

          Beautiful images! The picture of the wood ducks is wonderful. Such beautiful birds!

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