Gravelly Point

My son had rowing practice on the Potomac and I had to drive him there. I spent the time waiting for him at Gravelly Point. I haven't tried my 500mm lens on aircraft, so I went to the airport even though it was an awful, muddy, cloudy day. And it was windy, which made for some interesting crosswind takeoffs, but man was it colder than the temperature would lead you to believe. I was glad for the extra coat and gloves in the car.

The aircraft were taking off to the north. I don't like this departure very much. I can't shoot the approaching aircraft because they are too far away. And many of the aircraft are so high by the time they pass over me that all I get to see is their bellies. So I made do with shooting them head on as they lifted off, and I stumbled upon a theme as the arriving aircraft were visible in the background.

There was lots of heat haze to be seen.

Heat Haze Blurs an Aircraft that's Lining Up for Departure

Heat Haze Magnifies the Aircraft Lined Up

Crosswind Takeoff

A Rare Takeoff from an Intersecting Runway

Going and Coming

Heat Haze Obscures the Landing Aircraft

Gear Retraction

757s are the Largest Aircraft There

With Trailing Aircraft Stacked Up

One Leaving, Three Arriving

I ended up with quite a few examples of the jet exhaust of departing aircraft obscuring or blurring the view of the landing aircraft that were well behind the departure. I think I'll try for this look again when there's better sky to work with.

Eagle Convention

I paid a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this morning. There were large numbers of Lesser Scaup and Bufflehead ducks on the water, and small numbers of Canada Geese flying around. And I sighted the usual, cardinals, a red-bellied woodpecker, a belted kingfisher, chickadees, etc. And it was a nice day for eagle sightings, albeit from a distance. I saw two pairs of eagles simultaneously harassing each other in mid-air, too far away for usable photographs. And I saw several eagles perched in trees on an island in the bay.

Eight Bald Eagles

There are eight bald eagles in this picture. Two are hard to see, obscured by branches, but they are there. They are a mixture of white-headed adults and brown-headed juveniles. The two nesting pairs of eagles were near their nests, not cooperating, too far away for usable photos.

There was one juvenile bald eagle that I inadvertently stalked all morning. I would approach it along the shoreline. Sometimes I would see it perched in a tree and it would fly away before I could get close enough for an unobstructed shot. Sometimes my first view of it was of its butt as it flew away before I noticed it. Always it flew away from me along the shoreline. I did eventually have a good close encounter with another juvenile.

Juvenile Bald Eagle Flyover

The wind picked up, it got colder, and I had enough. I headed to the parking lot. Just as I was about to get into my car, a pair of juvenile red-shouldered hawks flew by, circling each other. They hung out near the sun and I had to work to get a shot that wasn't badly back-lit. Sadly I didn't get a usable shot with both of them in the frame.

Look at the Red Tailfeathers

 In the shot above, the sunlight shining through made the red tail feathers stand out. Below is the same bird, with different light, lacking the visible red.

Red-Tailed Hawk

OBNWR

Days off and good weather can only mean one thing...

I went to OBNWR on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

On Friday, these geese flew over right as I got out of the car. They were unusually absent from the rest of the refuge and they were also absent from the bay.

Canada Geese

There were hundreds of ducks in the bay. Maybe that's why the geese were absent.

Lesser Scaups

The hunters were also active in their blinds. They had to work pretty hard to get their boats up to the blinds because the ice near the shore was pretty solid. In one area near shore, the ice was gone, probably because there's a sand bar and water discharge from the swamp. There were several of these ring-billed gulls hanging around.

Ring Billed Gull

I turned my back to the bay to look inland over the swamp to look for the beavers and other birds there. A kingfisher hangs around this spot and I've been trying since Summer to get a decent shot of it. Then I heard the gulls behind me suddenly scatter. I looked around, wondering what spooked them and there was a bald eagle on the sand bar. My view of it was obstructed by bushes and by the time I got to a spot for a clear shot, it took off. So I turned around again and then there were gulls flying over the swamp. I like this shot because of the light showing through the feathers. I can even see the shadow of the bird's right wing on the left wing.

Ring-Billed Gull

And that was the end of that visit. Next morning I found these two near their nest, bathed in the first sunlight of the day.

Having a Conversation

I walked farther along the shore and saw this woodpecker doing contortions with his neck. It's a rare visit when I don't hear lots of woodpeckers pounding away.

Downy Woodpecker

I headed to the other nest. The USFWS has blocked the road to allow the eagles to nest without people getting too close. One of the parents-to-be flew by.

Bald Eagle Flyby

It landed on top of a nearby osprey pole. I have so many photos of eagles on that pole that I usually ignore the eagles when they're on that pole. I spotted its mate nearby and walked toward it. I managed to get pretty close, but before I could get an unobstructed shot it flew away and landed alongside its mate.

Face-to-Face

They showed no sign of budging anytime soon, so I moved on. Back along the shore, this juvenile landed in a tree as I watched. Before I could get much closer, it took off again.

Bald Eagle

Remember that kingfisher I mentioned above? It was in a tree in the swamp.

Belted Kingfisher

The ice has receded from the middle of the bay. I heard boats out there crunching through it, but there was an open water channel. On Friday, as I was leaving, I was treated to the sound and sights of it crunching apart as the tide came in and pushed it toward shore.

Frigid

During a particularly cold stretch of days here in Northern Virginia, I checked the weather forecast and it predicted a (relatively) balmy morning temperature of about 20F and clear skies for the next day. So I planned to go to OBNWR. I got up, got ready to go, looked outside and saw stars, and then checked the temperature. 8F. Could that be right?

I put on layers, went to the car, started up, and headed to the refuge. I looked down to see the thermometer in the dash: 5F. Really? I got to the refuge and parked and checked the temperature again. -2F. Now I'm thinking it's lying. It can't be that cold! The forecast was for 20F. Could the forecast be that wrong? The thermometer must be wrong.

I got out and started walking. Yeah, it was cold, but I had dressed well for it. On the way in, I had spotted an owl in the gloom, perched in a tree near the road. I walked toward the spot where I had seen it.

Barred Owl

It was so dark that I had to set my ISO to 3200 and I probably should have gone to 6400. Setting the ISO with that long lens mounted is awkward. I need one hand on the right side of the camera body, using my thumb to move the wheel. I need my other hand on the other side, holding the ISO button down while adjusting. And I need my eye to the viewfinder so I can see the illuminated ISO number change as I set it. All while the heavy lens hangs down. And I did it with my heavy gloves on. Back to the photo: I saw the branch in the way, but it was so dark that I couldn't tell whether it was in front of or behind the owl. Well now I know. Lightroom did OK reducing noise, but this was clearly a bad shot that I'm only including because it's so rare that I see any owls.

White Throated Sparrow

The most abundant bird of the day was the white throated sparrow. They were everywhere. But not much else was around. I was just about to leave; the cold was getting to my feet, when I passed this nest and saw the eagle peeking out. It's mate was nearby, deep in the trees, partially obscured, not worth photographing.

Bald Eagle on Nest

 They showed no sign of flying, so I moved on. And I found more sparrows.

White Throated Sparrow

OK, this visit was an exercise in trying to keep my hands warm without much wildlife to photograph. The cold metal of the lens foot (which I use to carry the camera/lens combination) sucked the heat from my hands right through my gloves. At least I got to see the bay completely frozen over. There were two flocks of geese huddled together and I could see no open water. Cold and almost empty-handed of photographs, I headed to the car. I drove the wildlife loop to exit the refuge and turned a corner and saw these eagles right next to the road.

Bald Eagle Mating Pair

They were in a tree near the one that contains their nest. I was able to park the car, get out (staying behind the car), and shoot for several minutes before they finally flew away.

Staring at Me

This is the first time I've ever had an eagle take flight where the initial leap was right toward me. They seem to go out of their way to show ass when they take flight.

Flying Away

Now about the cold... I surely felt it, but I didn't think it was terrible. It seemed warmer than other days when I've been out in temperatures in the single digits. Then I heard the weather report: record cold was recorded at the airport: -1F. I guess my car thermometer told me the truth.

San Antonio Zoo

During my recent trip to San Antonio I visited the zoo on a dark, dreary, drizzly day. Some of the animals cooperated for photographs. My 70-200mm f2.8 vrii lens was an excellent tool as I spent much of the time fiddling with exposure as the light varied widely. I had to work pretty hard to stay on top of exposure settings, bouncing ISO and shutter speed up and down, mostly shooting at f2.8, sometimes opening up to f4, always on the edge of underexposure because of the darkness.

Restless Cheetah

There were lots of pelicans, and they're huge. The white feathers meant I had to drop ISO settings every time I tried to photograph these or other white birds. It's easy to blow those white feathers out and lose all detail.

Pelicans are Huge

There must have been a hundred flamingos, and it was really hard to shoot them in the dim light. They wouldn't sit still; and they crowded together.

Managed to Isolate One of the Many Flamingos

This stork posed in one of the walk-through bird enclosures. It actually flew up to a perch and sat there looking at people walking through, no skittishness in this one. The dark feathers and dim light meant I really had to bump the ISO up.

Abdim's Stork

In the bird enclosures it was sometimes possible to capture images of the birds at the feeders. They're pretty messy.

Got Food?

Cape Starling

For a small fee, visitors could hand-feed giraffes. This one was munching on a large green leaf.

Giraffe Eating

These guys are huge; second largest bird species in the world.

Southern Cassowary

In one of the several bird enclosures that we could walk into, the birds cooperated by sitting still as people fed them. Darkness meant I was shooting these colorful birds wide open, with the background and even some of the bird's body completely blurred.

Messy Eater: Rainbow Lorikeet

Among the many birds, there were some that did not belong to the zoo. This green heron was eating the free zoo food.

Green Heron

If you look closely, the streaks of rain are visible around the heron's beak. The wattled crane was another white bird that forced me to drop ISO. This is a huge, ugly bird.

Wattled Crane

Is this guy's name Pumbaa?

Warthog

Zebra

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

I'm in Texas visiting my daughter. I took a trip to Aransas NWR, primarily to see if I could find some Whooping Cranes.

This place is on the Gulf of Mexico coast. I drove the long road to the end at the large viewing platform. There must have been a hundred vultures in the trees, and the platform was coated with vulture shit.

Black Vultures

There were lots of pelicans in the water, visible from the platform. No cranes. So then I drove the wildlife loop. There was very little action. I did spot this Kestrel, a new species for me.

American Kestrel

I reached the main road and headed back to the entrance. There were quite a few deer.

White-Tailed Deer

Driving along, I found this bird along the road, another new species for me. Its size and wing feathers remind me of ospreys. My wife says it has bad hair, like Donald Trump.

Northern Crested Caracara

And there was the occasional flock of White Pelicans circling.

White Pelicans

And I left, not knowing whether I'd managed to photograph any whooping cranes. When I checked my images on the computer, it turns out I did capture a pair at extreme distance.

Whooping Cranes

So, mission accomplished, but not exactly satisfying.