Merrimac Farm Wildlife Management Area

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Stephen L Tabone

On August 13, I conducted my last check of the 15 Bluebird boxes at the Merrimac Farm Wildlife Management Area, which was something I volunteered to do this spring and summer. There was not any nesting activity in the nest boxes, which was not surprising since it was late in the nesting season. It was a very worthwhile volunteer activity, since I was able to witness many active Bluebird nests, hatchlings and fledglings.

I took advantage of being at Merrimac Farm WMA on the 13th and photographed some of the natural beauty located on the 300 acres, while checking the nesting boxes. However, I was not able to review and process the images until this evening. I was pleased to see that I had successfully captured some of the late summer beauty on the farm.  Below are some of those images.

Above:  An open field of yellow Goldenrod flowers. (Nikon D700, ISO 200, 24mm, f/11, 1/60 sec.)

Above:  Female Monarch butterfly on a thistle flower. (Nikon D700, ISO 200, 200mm, f/8, 1/125 sec.)

Above:  Fritillary butterfly on a thistle flower.  (Nikon D700, ISO 200, 200mm, f/9, 1/80 sec.)


Above:  Queen Anne’s Lace, also called “Wild Carrot,” is a common plant in dry fields, ditches, and open areas. It was introduced from Europe, and the carrots that we eat today were once cultivated from this plant.  (Nikon D700, ISO 200, 105mm, f/11, 1/60 sec.)

Above: Queen Anne’s Lace bud that did not bloom.  (Nikon D700, ISO 200, 105mm, f/20, 1/40 sec.)

Above:  As I was leaving the farm and driving down the dirt road from the stone house on the farm, there were two flocks of turkeys walking along the tree line, but as I approached they quickly moved into the underbrush. I managed to get one image of one of the turkeys just as it was about to disappear.  (Nikon D700, ISO 3200, 116mm, f/9, 1/640 sec.)

As most of you know, Hurricane Irene is heading this way this weekend. Therefore, I do not expect to get out to do any photography, but will attempt to shoot some of the action/activity on the lake from the house. If we are lucky, we will only get rain and no wind, and I will not have any interesting hurricane photographs.

Posted in Landscape Photographs, Merrimac Farm Wildlife management Area | 3 Comments

More Hummingbirds

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Stephen L Tabone

When I got home late this afternoon, the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were again buzzing around the trees behind the house. I could not resist trying to photograph them in flight. My hummingbird images from Monday were of them sitting on tree branches, which are much easier to capture. I was successful today.

Below are two of the inflight (actually hovering) images. Hummingbirds fly way too fast to capture in mid-flight. The first image is of a female and the second of a male whose throat is ruby red when the sun strikes it.  The female’s throat only has one small ruby red spot that also glows when the sun hits it just right. Unfortunately, in the below images the sun was not at the right angle to illuminate their throats.

In order to photograph the hummingbirds inflight, I cranked up the ISO on my Nikon D700 to enable a higher shutter speed. The EXIF data for the first image:  ISO 1600, 300mm, f5.6, 1/800 sec., and for image two:  ISO 2000, 135mm, f7.1, 1/800 sec.

Posted in Bird Photographs | Tagged | 2 Comments

From Venice to Rome

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Stephen L Tabone

If you have been following my blog, you know that in June I traveled to Italy, and while there, I photographed my way from Venice to Rome with stops in Cortona, Siena, Florence, Pompeii, Positano, Capri, and Ravello. I recently completed reviewing my images and selected almost 300 for a recent slideshow presentation. I uploaded those same images to my Website today, and they are organized as they were in the presentation, that is, by location and in the order that they were photographed.

If you have seen some of my previous blog articles about the trip through Italy and enjoyed seeing the images included in those articles, I encourage you to visit my website and see the slideshow presentation. To do that go to: http://stabone.com/p275192001 and when there, click on “Slideshow” in the upper right corner of the web page.

This article concludes my articles and images from Italy (until the next trip). It was a fantastic visit to a country that is a photographer’s dream. There was an beautiful image to be made just about everywhere, everyday.

My upcoming photography plans include photographing hundreds of acres of fall blooming sunflowers west of Baltimore, waterfalls in Ricketts Glenn in Pennsylvania among fall colors, sunrise and sunsets in the Shenandoah Mountains, and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

Posted in Italy | 1 Comment

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Stephen L Tabone

Our home in Montclair, Virginia, is located in a designated bird sanctuary, and the birds apparently know it. We have many species that live and thrive here to include Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. This afternoon when I returned home, there were two pairs of hummingbirds that were buzzing in and out and around the trees behind our house. I could not resist photographing them and set up my Nikon D300 on my tripod with my Nikon 80-400 lens and photographed them for about an hour. Below are are a few of the images. They are amazingly fast and were very entertaining.

If you have never seen a hummingbird “stretch,” in the above two images that is what this one is doing. In addition to the hummingbirds, there were many other birds in the trees behind our house today to include Bluejays, Cardinals, Titmouse, Chickadees, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, American Goldfinches, House Finches, and a Carolina Wren–one of my favorite birds.  Therefore, below is an image from today of the wren crouching beneath a leaf in one of the trees. I photographed many of the other birds too and will post them later this week.

Posted in Bird Photographs | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Virginia Beach

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Stephen L Tabone

We spent this weekend in Virginia Beach traveling there to attend a reunion with the people we were with when we toured Italy in June. We had a fabulous time before, during and after the reunion, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone. Consistent with my interest in photography, I did not take any photographs at the reunion, but did manage to capture some of the natural beauty of Virginia Beach.

On Saturday, Angela and I drove to the southern end of Virginia Beach to Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. On the way there, I noticed a wetland near the road that was covered in blooming lotus flowers and quickly pulled off the road. The view and setting along with the bright blue sky and puffy white clouds turned out better than expected. Below is one of the images of the wetland followed by a closeup of a beautiful and nearly perfect yellow lotus flower.

(Nikon D700, Nikon 28-300mm, and Hoya CP filter)

We did not have much time to explore Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge that connects Virginia Beach with North Carolina’s Outer Banks, but while there, we walked a winding path through pristine sand dunes to the ocean. Below is one of the images that I took while heading toward the beach.

Back Bay NWR contains over 9,250 acres, and during the winter, it is the migratory home to over 10,000 snow geese. I hope to return late this fall or early winter to thoroughly explore and photograph some of its natural, unspoiled beauty. When I return, I also hope to see some of our new wonderful friends who live in Virginia Beach.

Posted in Landscape Photographs, National and State Parks | Tagged , | 3 Comments