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. 

January!  After being inside a little too much lately, I decided to use the  ”Birding in Southern Maryland” brochure by the Southern Maryland Audubon Society to get out of the house and check out some local birds.  I got a copy of the brochure from the St. Mary’s County Department of Tourism and I also included the online link.  I armed myself with my new Sigma 150-500 mm lens and my Nikon D600.  The brochure turned out to be accurate.  The information in the brochure took me to a nearby swampy farming area not far from the water.  I quickly saw a bald eagle before I could pull out my camera.  I later spotted a great blue heron in a field, lots of bluebirds sitting on a wire and three European Starlings sharing some branches.

If you want to try birding, I can recommend the brochure.

Great Blue Heron Portrait Session.

After the osprey leave our nearby nest, other birds such as bald eagles and great blue herons often visit to look around and “play” in a borrowed nest.  I wanted to share a sequence of photos of this great blue heron. It was feeling lively on the particular day I photographed and I was thrilled with the various poses that resulted.  It was almost like having a family portrait session. Now let me see your right profile, your left profile and please lift your right leg, thank you!   I was glad I had the patience to wait for all of the ways it moved.   Now if only I could do it again with a longer lens.  These are all heavily cropped from the originals.

This last photo was taken on another day when it was windy, but I think it is the same heron posing.

Camera Club 15th Anniversary Celebration

The St.Mary's County Camera Club celebrated their 15th Anniversary last week at their annual holiday party.  Founded on November 2, 1998 at the Trinity Church Parish Hall in St. Mary's City, there were 40 attendees when the new club began.  A few of the original members,  a number of alumni and many current camera club members enjoyed a pizza party and viewed "Islands" slide show, created by Joanna Macaulay and presented at the first meeting.  "Islands" included favorite photos of locations around the world including islands as large as Manhattan and Hong Kong and as small as Spirit Island in Moraine Lake Alberta Canada.  Many lovely photos from the Caribbean Islands and Hawaii were included in the short presentation as well.  Here are a few of my favorite slides from "Islands".

Spirit Island Alberta, Canada

South shore Bermuda

Three cats Avalon, New Jersey

Pelican, Caribbean

Four Captive Owls

I had a chance to photograph some captive injured owls up close.  It was sort of difficult taking photos in midday light without over exposing the white feathers, but I tried my best.  They had four owls to share with the group of photographers.

The Bard Owl was the largest bird I photographed and very sleepy.  This is the best shot I could get.  In most of my photos, he/she had his eyes half closed.  I did get a chance to see it's additional protective eye lids.

 



I really liked the Barn Owl (without the barn!) What a face!  Barn owls are one of the most common type of owls and are found all over the world. 

 

 

 

 

 
This little owl is an Eastern Screech owl.  They are very small and fairly common in the eastern United States.  I've photographed several of them before including one in my September 6, 2013 and April 23, 2012 blogs if you want to see more.

 



The long eared owl has asymmetrical ear tufts.  The ears don't line up perfectly, which helps them locate their prey.  The left ear is higher than the right.

A good online source of information about owls is All About Birds.

Hollywood craft show

I am one of the vendors at the craft show at the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Dept this Sunday November 17th from 10am-3pm. The firehouse is on route 235 in Hollywood, MD. Admission is free and lunch is available. Come see my new photo coasters or buy some Holiday gifts. I also have St. Mary's County photo mugs, unique cards, prints and more.
For more information, go to http://www.hvfd7.com/index.cfm?fs=events.eventView&Event_ID=386

My friend, Theresa Ford will be there too with her fractals, her books and more.

Shenandoah in autumn

We managed to find a hotel room at the last minute in Luray, VA for a weekend, before all the colored leaves disappeared. The peak colors are about 2 weeks earlier than in Southern MD. I searched google maps for a spot just off a back road along the Shenadoah River with mountains in view. We drove there for the sunrise and found swirling mist on the water. Lovely.

The next morning we drove to the lower entrance of Whiteoak Canyon trail. Along the way we passed an old red barn in nice warm light.

We met some photography friends and hiked to the lower falls. After hiking 1.5 miles, we learned that you need to hop over rocks to get to the falls. I managed to get over the rocks with assistance. It was worth it.