OBNWR Menagerie

I've made several trips to OBNWR in this string of amazingly beautiful Spring days. Here are some highlights.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Meeting in the Nest

Head Cocked to the Side

Osprey on the Nest

Fetching Material for the Nest

Leaving the Nest

I heard this turkey before I saw it. When I saw it, it had its rear to me with the feathers all spread out. I waited for it to turn, and it put its feathers down and walked into the woods, not giving me a chance for a better look at its head. It was in dark shade, and I only just had time to adjust the camera before it disappeared.

Very Colorful Wild Turkey

 This woodpecker is banded.

Woodpecker

OBNWR

It was a tough week (I resigned from my job of 16 years) and I needed to unwind after work on Friday. I grabbed my camera and went to the refuge for a walk in the late afternoon sunlight.

There wasn't much action. The eagles were no longer hanging out in the grove by the shore. Only the eagles at the nests were visible, and the occasional osprey flew by.

I did observe two eagles harassing each other, but they were too high for anything usable. However, one of them did drift lower for a minute, and I was in a good position for clear, if small, shots. The shots aren't really usable, and I knew that at the time and didn't take many. I've been observing eagles for a few years now, and I've noticed that they usually keep their talons tucked under their tail feathers. The talons come out when harassing another bird in the air, landing, or snatching a fish. I was surprised to notice that the eagle that drifted lower had its talons out, with no other bird nearby. Then I was glad that I wasn't all that close after all.

Look Out Below

I had a few fly-by events, along with a (barely) keeper on a nest. And here they are.

Hovering and Fishing

Looking for Fish

Fly-By

Profile

Happy Homemakers

OBNWR

With the warming weather, I've made a few trips to the refuge. Dozens of eagles seem to camp out in one grove near the water. And the ospreys are back. While I've seen some spectacular fishing and fighting, most of it has been obstructed by trees or out of range of my camera. So I don't have much to post, but here are a few of my favorites from several trips.

OK, Who Called This Meeting?

The Mottled Underside of a Young Bald Eagle

Osprey Looking for Fish

Diving for Dinner

Bald Eagle Convention at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge

I've visited the refuge a few times this year without much luck finding anything to photograph. The forecast was for a nice warm, clear morning, so I tried again today. It was simultaneously the most rewarding and frustrating visit I've had in a long time. Rewarding because there were eagles everywhere. Frustrating because they were difficult to photograph.

As soon as I got to the waterfront, I started a pattern of seeing eagles in trees about the moment they decided to fly away. I missed shot after shot because of branches or they were flying away from me. I approached a shoreline eagle nest and was surprised to see a juvenile sitting near an adult. The adult was clearly a member of the nesting pair and the juvenile was clearly in the adult's territory. After about five minutes of me maneuvering for a clear shot through the trees, the adult started vocalizing and the juvenile flew away. The adult was joined by its mate for a few minutes, then it returned to the nest. So there's some behavior I've never seen until today. Farther along the waterfront I walked, with more eagles spooked, and repeat.

Then I saw one sitting in a tree, with many branches obscuring it. I thought, maybe I have a chance. I crept along, slowly approaching, hoping for a clear shot through the branches. Suddenly at least six eagles took flight from a tree beyond the one I was concentrating on, and they flew away from me. I have no idea whether I spooked them, but I don't think so. I kept trying to photograph the eagle I had stalked. It flew away.

I did get some keepers, but they aren't great work. I'll start with the eagle convention on the island in the bay. One of these is a pair, one behind the other, so this is a total of nine, the most I've ever seen in one of my shots.

Nine Eagles

Here's another shot with the birds in the left group; the middle one is actually the pair.

Six Eagles

And here are more shots from this morning.

Mating Pair Defending Territory by Screaming at an Intruder

Juvenile Eagle at Sunrise

Blizzard of January 2016

Like millions of other people, I was affected by the blizzard last weekend. I watched the snow come down for a solid day, accumulating in my yard to a level I've only seen once before in more than 20 years of living in the same house. The snow started Friday evening, and ended Sunday morning. As soon as I could, I went out and started shoveling my driveway and sidewalk. My neighbors joined me, and soon we were able to walk around the neighborhood. We had at least 2 feet of snow, which is a lot for Northern Virginia, rare, but not unique. I noticed that the streets at either end of mine was plowed enough to be passable. Not clear, one lane only, but passable.

So I settled in to wait for plows on my street. Sunday, nothing. Monday, nothing. I called VDOT. I gave up after 50 minutes on hold and the recording never changing from occasionally telling me that I had at least 45 minutes to wait. I sent email to VDOT. No response. I saw plows clearing other streets. I saw plows widening the cleared lanes on streets that had already been visited repeatedly. But my street, unplowed. I contacted my delegate's office. Quickly I received a response that they were asking VDOT to get to my street. I watched the real-time map. Plows came and went.

Finally I saw that they were clearing a street that intersected with mine. I bundled up and went to that intersection and flagged a plow down. I pointed to the 6-foot wall of snow that blocked my street entrance and asked if they were going to get to that street soon. The driver told me that the wall was to high (never mind he and his buddies made that wall). He said his truck (a large pickup) would get stuck. He said every time they seriously got to work on a neighborhood, they would get an emergency call to help emergency vehicles get someplace.

I asked him to get to it when he could and wished him a good night. He said maybe Wednesday morning. A few hours later, we heard the trucks on the street. The same guy, with a second truck helping, finally started clearing our street.

OK, I have no problem with VDOT prioritizing major roads. My road is and should be down the priority list. However, I have a big problem with them clearing, and then improving, other streets when they kept ignoring mine. Shame on you VDOT!

For reference, here's the view from my house TWO DAYS after the last flake fell.

Unplowed after Two Days

Return Trip to Antelope Canyon

Last year I made a trip to Antelope Canyon, and I wrote about it here. This year, I was back in the area. My family was unanimous that they all enjoyed the walk through Antelope Canyon, so we visited again.

I have a better camera this time and I was looking forward to better pictures. I used the same 24mm f2.8 lens as last time. My old camera is cropped. My new one is full-frame. The net effect is that the old one could only effectively shoot at 36mm. My new one can shoot at 24mm. So the new one can shoot a wider effective focal length and its sensor is much better in low light. So in we went with my ISO set to 1600, sometimes adjusting to 2000.

This time was earlier in the day, so it was darker in the canyon. And it was cold. We weren't the first ones in, but pretty close, so I was able to get a few shots with no people in the frame. I found myself shooting less than last time, but happier with the shots that I got. Here are my favorites.

Upper Antelope Canyon Entrance

Looking Straight Up

A Rare Forward View with no People

Near the Downstream Entrance

California Condors and Golden Eagles

During a recent trip to Arizona and Utah, I was driving on Highway 89 in Mt. Carmel Junction when I noticed a large bird landing on a mound of dirt near the road. I immediately guessed that it was a Golden Eagle and, much to my family's dismay, I turned the car around to go back get a look. I was in luck. There were two eagles perched on two mounds.

Golden Eagles and a Buzzard

I enlisted my daughter's help to hustle to the trunk to get the camera and swap lenses and I grabbed a couple of shots right away to be sure that I at least got something. After the first few grab shots, I took my time, not approaching them, moving along the road to try to get more favorable light angles. I noticed that the eagles had most of their attention on two buzzards who were feeding on something I never identified.

Another passerby saw me shooting and pulled over to take photos. Several people got out. I commented that I'd never seen such large buzzards before. I got a few flight shots as one eagle departed, and then got back into the car to leave.

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle in Flight

One of the people from the group tapped on the window before I drove away and said that the buzzards were tagged California Condors. Well how dense could I be? No wonder they were so large. I simply wasn't expecting to see any condors so far from the Grand Canyon or Navajo Bridge. I got back out, took a few shots of the condors, and hoped for one with both heads up. In the end, I got one condor keeper.

California Condors Number 37 and 9

What ugly birds! With only a few hundred of these birds left alive, I knew I was fortunate to actually get a shot of them in the wild. And it all happened because I was really interested in the eagles to begin with. I had never seen any Golden Eagles, so I was fortunate that these were checking out the condors' meal. So I wound up getting two new birds photographed, at least new to me. And I didn't even make my family wait all that long.