Huntley Meadows Park Hummingbirds

This post is about specifically the Ruby-throated Hummingbird which occurs in this region of the country and is the only confirmed regular Hummingbird species that occurs in the Eastern U.S.. I have been pursuing the Ruby-throated Hummingbird all my life and until last year it was the first time I captured decent photos of the beautiful bird in 2011. This is the second time Ive gotten decent photos of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird now here in August, 18, 2012. Huntley Meadows Park has been a great place to see the Hummingbirds and is a great place to photograph many other bird species. I came late in the morning saturday and was shocked to see how dry the conditions were in the central wetlands of the park. I have never seen the park empty of water, so there weren't many subjects to capture with my camera and I wandered around the park looking for some to photograph. I finally decided to search for Hummingbirds and I posted in one place near the Observation Tower where the Trumpett vine plants were most abundant. I only had to wait about 10 minutes for the Hummingbirds to show up and I was set for the next several hours. It was a great day and these are only a few of the photos of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird that Ive edited so far. I will probably post a few more in the future. 

Update on the Patuxent River Park Jug Bay Bald Eagles Nest.

I have been trying to get over here to the Patuxent River Park and finally I got a ride over here since I don't have transportation any more. I finally saw that this Bald Eagle nest was also successful. It has been a very successful Bald Eagle nesting season for 2012. I hope next year will be even better.

Update to the Roosevelt Island Bald Eagles nest season.

I have been watching along the river near this Bald Eagle nest site for the past several months and finally got a photo of the new juveniles from this nest site. It has been a long wait but worth the wait. 

Update to Fort Hunt Bald Eagles Nest season

The young Juvenile Bald Eagles have not yet started there Branching stage yet as of June 9th 2012. I took these shots of the Adult Bald Eagle along the bike path next to the Potomac River. I was taking photos of the juveniles in the nest when I heard the Kackals of the Adult close by. I ran toward the sound and It was up on a perch next to the bike trail. I started taking photos immediatly and tried to get a little closer and the Adult flew off. I didnt have my camera shutter speed set for fast action photography, so the shots turned out badly. The perch shots turned out very nice. I hope you enjoy them.

Prothonotary Warbler adventure June 9th 2012 Mt. Vernon Trail

June 9th 2012 after photographing Bald Eagles in the morning I was headed back on the Mt. Vernon Trail and stopped a my favorite spot for seeing Prothonotary Warblers. This time I got even better shots then the previous time out here. Here are some of the photos.

Prothonotary Warbler adventure june3, 2012

Prothonotary Warbler is one of the hardest bird species I have ever pursued over the four decades of bird watching and photography. I had to use ibird app on my ipad 2 inorder to get the bird to stay in the area long enough for me to focus my camera enough to get these photos. They are not my best but so far the only photos I have been lucky enough to take. I hope in the near future I can put up more spectacular images of this amazing Warbler.

Branching Juveniles at the Morningside Bald Eagles Nest

Update to the Morningside Bald Eagles Nest Juveniles. The juvenile eagles are now in the branching stage and seem to be ready to fledge. The other two of the juveniles were obscured by leaves in the way of getting photos of them. These were my best photos of one of the juveniles for the day. June 2, 2012.

This was May 21st 2012 at the Fort Hunt Bald Eagles Nest site and the one photo that I have here has all three  juveniles together and the second photo has only two of the Juvenile eagles together with the Adult. I will have more photos up soon. They have not started the branching  process yet so there will be more to come in the next few weeks to come.

Fort Hunt Bald Eagles Nest

This is the Fort Hunt Bald Eagles nest four miles south of the Morningside Bald Eagles Nest site. So far I only see two Juvenile Bald Eagles but the lady who showed me this nest her name is Marina said that since they had three last year that they may have three in the nest this time. This nest is quite large and like before It is not always possible to see into an eagles nest from certain perspectives.

This is an update on the status of the Bald Eagle Juveniles at the Morningside Nest. I last identified two juvenile eagles in the nest but on Saturday May 19th with the help of a friend who showed me a better viewing location of the nest on a more elevated position we both counted three Juveniles sitting in the nest instead of two. I did take a picture but its not the best due to not having a tripod and having to hand hold my camera. If you count from right to left you will see identify the three juvenile eagles. I will also have other photos of the juveniles which may only show the two which seemed to be more aggressive in there personality. These photos are from May 19th and 20th 2012 at the Morningside Bald Eagles nest. I also took photos from the trail view which is not the best look at the eagles.

May 12th near the Bald Eagles Nest along the Mt. Vernon Trail

These photos are the few that I took waiting for action at and around the nest site. Although there was a lot of activity in the nest by the two juveniles practicing there wing flapping excercises throughout the day.  The adults were not around the nest very often so I had to seek out other opportunities along the trail like the raccoon photo I caught later in the evening. Hopefully soon within the next upcoming weeks the Juvenile eagles will go into the Branching stage so that I will have photos of the new eagles to show you.

Morningside lane Bald Eagles juveniles in the nest May, 5th 2012

Morningside lane Bald Eagles Nest May,5, 2012

The weather was cloudy but very warm. I walked to the nest site and waited for some activity, after an hour of waiting I decided to sit down and rest after along day of bird watching and photography. After leaning back for a minute and looking up at the nest all of a sudden an adult Bald Eagle flew by the nest but did not land at the nest. I decided that would get up and look carefully at the nest and see if there was some activity but nothing was visible at the moment. A half hour later something moved in the nest I looked a little more carefully with my binoculars and suddenly saw a large body and head movement and then another movement on the other side of the nest and realized these were two juveniles that are ready for flight training. The Adults have success for 2012 with two young new eaglets that are now old enough to transition to the wing excercise and then the branching stage. This made my day to see these new edditions to the eagle world. My photos weren't that good but once the juveniles have moved away from the nest out in the open Im sure I will get some great photo's. The most enjoyable part about seeing the young juveniles was seeing them test their wings and lift above the floor of the nest. What a wonderful experience it is to see them so healthy and strong. I can now say it was another successful nesting season at this nest site and give me hope for the future.

Morningside Bald Eagles Nesting Season April 15th,2012

Huntley Meadows Park VA, March, 10, 2012

The same day I took photos of the Eagle Pair at Morningside lane. Earlier in the morning I took these photos at Huntley Meadows Park,VA of a Red-shouldered Hawk sitting in a tree near the boardwalk. The Hawk sat there for awhile and allowed me to get a couple of perch shots then flew away as I captured these flight shots. It was a great day.

The Nest site and the visiting juvenile from last years

Here are a few more photos from March 10th, 2012 visit to the Morningside Eagles nest and a visit from last years juvenile.

Morningside nest Pair part 2 March 10, 2012

All of these photos from March 12th were shot on March 10th at the Morningside lane Bald Eagles Nest site along the Mt. Vernon trail along the Potomac River. I will continue to watch this nest. The pair does have either egg,eggs, or a chick in the nest. I watched as one of the pair sat in the nest and then the other mate showed up to take over the sitting duties. Also the same day the juvenile from last year showed up and the parents greeted the juvenile for a while and then gently guided the juvenile out away from the nest area.