Wild birds from nearby

Local birds from St. Mary's County from 2018

 Bald Eagle

Great Blue Heron

Lovely St. Mary's County Sunset

We've had some really pretty ones lately.

Same sunset with different angles, a few minutes apart.

      Wide angle lens

     

Autumn in St. Mary's County

More autumn photos, from St. Mary's County , MD this time.

And fun with morning light...

Raiders and Invaders "Attacking" Soon in Leonardtown

Come enjoy The Raiders and Invaders Festival on Saturday, June 7th from 12-6 pm at Leonardtown Square and Leonardtown Wharf in St. Mary's County.  The event focuses on the War of 1812 in Southern Maryland and also includes many of the historical attractions in the area.  This is a one time special event.  There will be lots of opportunities for fun, music, artisans, old time crafts, theater, storytelling, wine, rum and cider tasting, cars, kids events and more.  The full event takes place Friday through Sunday.  For more information visit http://www.raidersandinvaders.com

We will be a vendor in Leonardtown Square, so please stop by and say hello.  We will be featuring our photos and photo crafts of St. Mary's County.

The Private Osprey War 2014

I captured some somewhat unusual video footage of a male osprey attacking the pair on our nearby osprey nest.  Six short videos totaling about 3 minutes of footage have been pieced together.

The attacking bird was extremely aggressive.  He actually picked up a bird by the claws (not shown) and tossed it into the water, stomped on the birds,  and tried to knock them out of the sky.  One bird was cut on the leg.  Meanwhile, the nesting pair tried to build up their nest, even carrying a large stick that had fallen into the water to add to the nest.

The private war was quite exciting to watch, but I kept hoping that none of the birds would be critically injured. (and I don't think they were)  I am wondering if the birds were fighting over the nest or the female.  The nest is quite popular and there might be a shortage of good nests nearby. 

The female is the larger bird with a sort of brown necklace of feathers.

Please comment if you like or if you notice anything interesting about the behaviors of the birds.

Bald Eagles in St. Mary's County

I've been seeing a lot of bald eagles lately.  They are bolder in the winter when the ospreys aren't around.  I suspect that there is a family of three eagles.  There is an immature brown and white eagle and two adult bald eagles.  I rarely see all three of them at once.  This week I mostly photographed one adult eagle sitting on the osprey nest, having breakfast.  The other eagles were flying around, and the one on the nest was squawking at them.  They never seem to visit when the light is good and early in the morning, but I dutifully photograph them anyway.  The sky and the water were somewhat gray on this particular day. 

Lancaster Dog Park photos added to Dog Services Website

I visited the John G. Lancaster Dog Park again after discovering a website that needed photos of the local dog park.  It is an excellent source of information for people traveling with their dogs and I thought I could help tell the local community that the dog park is available. 

The website www.bringfido.com includes pet friendly accommodations, places to visit with your dog (beaches, hiking trails, tours), shelters, kennels, airlines, and even pet friendly restaurants!  You can see my photos of the John G. Lancaster Dog Park in Lexington Park, MD and maybe even learn some useful dog information if you are traveling with your pet.

The park is very nice, with lots of open space for dogs to run, a little tunnel, safe separate double gate entry for large and small dogs, shade trees and running water.

I've met some very nice pet owners there and some of them have kindly given me permission to share some photos of their dogs on my websites.

 Gia playing in the tunnel

 

 Gia playing with another dog

 

Dog park regulations

St. Mary's County Camera Club Photographer of the Year & End of Year Competition for 2012

I have been crazy busy in the last two weeks.  During the week before Christmas, I suddenly found myself in a full week computer security course called Security +.  I passed with a lot of hard work and no free time before spending the week with my family for the holiday.

This is a little late, but I wanted to congratulate the winners of the St. Mary's County Camera Club end of year competition, especially my friend Theresa Ford, who won the Advanced Digital Photo of the Year.  Way to go Theresa!!  Bravo everybody!

I still put my 2 cents in and won the prize for the most number of competition points for the year in their respective classes, called Photographer of the year, as well as first prize for the Theme photographs for the St. Mary's County theme with my Orange Pier Sunset photo.

Here are all the winners:
Advanced Photographer of the Year: Joanna Macaulay (177)
Intermediate Photographer of the Year: Stefie Bartley (169)
Novice Photographer of the Year (2-way tie):  Dennis Preus & Emily
Baldwin (129)
Runners up: 
Advanced: Sandy Robbins (123), BJ Ramsey (116), Al Scheungrab (114)
Intermediate: Matt Rhinehart (107), Jon Tom (103)
Novice:  Jim D'Intino (124)
 
ADVANCED DIGITAL:
1^st Place – Theresa Ford – “Plants 3474”
2^nd Place – Al Scheungrab – “Clingmans Dome Sunrise 1”
3^rd Place – Sandy Robbins – “Reflection”
HM – Al Scheungrab – “Clingman Sunrise”
HM – Jim Macaulay – “Turn Over a New Leaf”
HM – Joanna Macaulay – “EScreechOwl”
HM – Joanna Macaulay – “Old Boat”
INTERMEDIATE DIGITAL:
1^st Place – Matt Rhinehart – “Holy Reflection”
2^nd Place – Jon Tom – “Spiral”
3^rd Place – Stefie Bartley – “Auditorio de Tenerife”
HM – Jon Tom – “Overlook”
HM – Jon Tom – “Sunset”
HM – Stefie Bartley – “Teno Point Sunset”
NOVICE DIGITAL:
1^st Place – Scott Cote – “White Lily”
2^nd Place – Emily Baldwin – “KL Monkey”
3^rd Place – Jim D’Intino – “U S Grant Memorial”
Honorable Mention (HM) – Dennis Preus – “Ducks”
HM – Dennis Preus – “Spring Colors”
HM – Emily Baldwin – “Lord Murugan”
THEME DIGITAL:
1^stPlace – Joanna Macaulay – “OJ Pier Sunset”
2^nd Place – Stefie Bartley – “Sunset Photographer”
3^rd Place – Theresa Ford – “Alisa 2015”
HM – Dennis Preus – “Light”
HM – Emily Baldwin – “Hollywood”
HM– Joanna Macaulay – “Tree at Sunrise”
HM – Jon Tom – “Brunelleschis Dome”
NOVICE/INTERMEDIATE PRINTS:
1^st Place – George Taylor – “Egret”
ADVANCED PRINTS:
1^st Place – Al Scheungrab – “Glass Water Bottle”
THEME PRINTS:
1^st Place – Leslie Steinback – “Aimless Wandering”

 

The SMAWL Animal Fair in St. Mary's County

I attended the 8th annual  SMAWL Animal Fair on May 12^th with my husband to see all the cute critters.  There were many visitors with every breed of dog imaginable. I saw a cocker spaniel that looked just like my 2nd dog (awww) a beautiful white samoyed, a beagle and russian wolfhounds just to mention a few.  Dog service groups abounded including Greyt Expectations Greyhounds, All Shepherd Rescue, Doberman Assistance, Northern Chesapeake Sheltie Rescue, SMAWL Cats, Golden Retriever Rescue, Snowflake Society (horses), the Tri County Animal Shelter, and even the Hedgehog Welfare Society.  Fair visitors could buy doggie clothes from Custom Dog Jackets, adopt a pet or buy candles.  Also in attendance were many of the local veterinarians like VCA St. Mary’s Animal Hospital, All Kinds Veterinary Hospital, and the Well Pet Clinic. Kennels galore were in evidence too like Chesapeake Pet Resort & Day Spa, Farmstead Kennels an Indian Bridge Kennels & Suites.

 We had a lovely conversation with a woman from Pets on Wheels.  They bring therapy pets to nursing homes, assisted living facilities and Veteran’s homes to help improve their health and cheer the local residents.  We watched Dakota’s Legacy Horse demo with several horses walking backwards and a young cart horse driver.  We chatted with the pet photographer, Gary Garcia from ImageZ Galore Photography, Inc., watched a dog fitted with doggles (dog goggles) and met a piglet.  Fun activities included a musical dog sit, an animal pet parade and woof it down pie contest and a silent auction. It was altogether a fun time for pets and their people.

Flowers from the local Garden Center in St. Mary's County

I enjoyed photographing more flowers at The Greenery in Hollywood MD and Meadow Farms in Leonardtown when I was looking for an anniversary gift for my husband.  They both have quite a variety of lovely flowers this time of year to enhance your garden.  There were many flowers to pick from both perennials and annuals.  I especially liked the white gardenias bushes (that smell heavenly) and the red zinnias at the Greenery.  I think the last flower may be a red dahlia, but I'm not sure.  If you know,  please comment.

Bluhaven Piers in St. Mary's County

Bluhaven Piers, a 50 slip marina in South County is 6 miles from the Chesapeake Bay at 48409 Smith Drive in Ridge MD.  It’s an excellent location for fishing, sailing or just meandering in the creeks.  I took this lovely photo with its’ peaceful reflections last autumn on a calm clear day. (Bluhaven photo and photo merchandise available here) Bluhaven offers covered slips, a ship’s store, Hobie kayak sales and rentals and the usual marina services like bath and shower facilities, electric power, mechanic service, internet and a boat ramp.  It is located on Jutland and Smith creeks, home to bald eagles, great blue herons, deer and osprey.  Nearby attractions include Point Lookout State Park and Historic St. Mary’s City.  Several good restaurants like Sheible’s, Spinnaker’s, Courtney’s and the Brome Howard Inn are in easy reach.  The staff I have met from Bluhaven have always been friendly and courteous.  For more information about Bluhaven, visit their website at http://www.bluhavenpiers.com or call them at 301-872-5838.

St. Mary's County saved ospreys

I recently took a boat ride in the creek to view all of the osprey nests. Many osprey live along the creeks and waterways in St. Mary's County. When the osprey started disappearing years ago, the residents put up platforms for the osprey to build nests on. The osprey usually appear in mid March and leave by mid September. They primarily eat fish, hence their other name, the fish hawk. I captured this osprey when he/she was landing and liked how dynamic the photo looked. Photographing birds takes a lot of patience and lots of photos. This photograph won second place in the August Advanced Digital Photo Competition at the St. Mary's County Camera Club.

2010 River Concerts

We attended the second River Concert of the 2010 season, called “Trills and Thrills”, on Friday June 25th at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, featuring the Chesapeake Orchestra. From front row seats we could hear the music well and see all of the musicians close-up. Tourists and local music lovers should be sure to take advantage of the summer concerts. You could easily spend a lot of money to hear musicians of this quality. The surroundings on the large grassy green are pleasant and divided into sections from the “Serious Listening” up front, to the ”Serious Socializing” in back. There are even food and craft vendors. Each concert has a different theme, and either presents a well known singer or instrumentalist and/or some excellent local talent. And you can’t beat the price: free! But you’ll probably want to give a small donation. Just be sure to bring a chair or blanket. To learn more about this particular concert and see my review visit the Bay Net here.

Buzz's Marina in Ridge, MD

I am adding a photo of Buzz’s Marina to my collection of St. Mary’s County photographs, taken on a lovely autumn day last fall. Owned by Mike and Christy, their Marina is located on St. Jerome’s Creek, just off route 5 in Ridge, MD. They offer quite a few services to local customers including boat storage, boat slips, a boat ramp, gas, a camp store and camper storage. We have visited a number of times and can state that they are very friendly, can help you with boating and fishing information and are convenient for visitors to Point Lookout and Southern St. Mary’s County. For more information, visit their website at http://www.buzzsmarina.com/ . Merchandise and photos of Buzz's Marina can be purchased from Calm Reflections at http://calmreflections.dotphoto.com/

Buy Local in St. Mary's County

Today I attended a St. Mary’s County Small Independent Business Round table at Lenny’s Restaurant for the first time. It was fun to meet some of the other local business owners. We learned about a new local business concept called Buy Local. Because of the recession, the county is having a campaign to encourage local residents to buy local products to help strengthen the local community. After all, isn’t it nice to know you are helping your neighbors when you buy something? It seems more personal too. When I was in college, I loved visiting the local family grocery store because he knew my name!

The next Round Table meeting is scheduled for April 12 at 8:30AM at Lenny's Restaurant and will be about networking and marketing.

The Ospreys will be in St. Mary's County soon!

We’ve had so much snow this year in St. Mary’s County. It is nice to remember that spring will eventually come. We have an osprey nest in the water just off our property. Usually the female osprey shows up between March 10 and 15th, followed by her male companion. They live in the County until mid September, before flying south to Central and South America for the winter. The female weighs almost twice as much as the male. They are such a joy to see, even if they “yell” at us when we get too close. If you want to learn more about osprey, I recommend two books, "The Fish Hawk: Osprey" (Northword Wildlife Series) by Stephen Carpenteri and a children's book "Ospreys" by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent both currently available from Amazon and elsewhere. Please share with me any good locations in St. Mary’s County to see osprey. I’d love to photograph more of them!

Welcome to Calm Reflections Photography

Welcome to my new blog. I'm writing to you from beautiful St. Mary's County, Maryland. I plan to share my photographs, tourist information for St. Mary's County, photography suggestions, places to travel and local businesses in the South County. I love to visit America's National Parks, view nature (especially birds and wildlife) and lovely landscapes. I have been a serious amateur photographer for nearly 30 years and began a photography business in 2009.

My main goal this year is to share photographs on useful products, like mouse pads, mugs, note cards, and canvas. I am constantly learning new things about photography.