This morning I drove up to the Conowingo Dam site located on the Susquehanna River in northeastern Maryland. It was my first visit to this site which is known for its large population of Bald Eagles. The dam is part of an electricity generation plant and when the turbines are in operation, fish are sucked in the intakes through the dam and the influx of large numbers of fish near the dam attracts the eagles. My understanding is that this time of year sees the largest number of eagles in the area. Even though one of the ‘regular’ photographers remarked that today’s activity level was ‘pretty dead’, I found it a great experience, often seeing 15-20 eagles in the area at once.

Above is an immature eagle showing patches of white on its wings.  Bald Eagles lose the white on their wings with their head and tail feathers turning white around the age of 5.

After making a catch, the eagles head towards the trees along the banks of the river to eat.  They also utilize perches in the trees to scan the river for their next meal. They have become accustomed to the crowd of photographers that are at the dam site every day, making this a great place to get close-up portraits of eagles.

A number of Rails continue to prowl the wetlands at Huntley Meadows park. I saw several two weeks ago here and the one above was in the same area today.  It looks like a King Rail but I thought the one I photographed during my last visit was a Virginia Rail.  Take a look at the 11/8/09 posting and see if you can determine if these are different birds or the same bird? I’m thinking the bird from two weeks ago was also a King Rail…

The park was full of birds today. I saw Bluebirds, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Kingfishers, Mallards, Shovelers, Canada Geese, Great Blue Heron, Titmouse, and several varieties of sparrows including the White-throated Sparrow above.

I’m still surprised to continue seeing some nice fall color.  As long as it hangs around, I’m going to continue to photograph it!

I can’t remember the last time when the fall leaves have been as colorful or as long lasting as this year, at least here in northern Virginia.  Even though most trees have dropped their leaves, there still remains a few trees that are holding on to their color and the leaves on the ground are still putting on a great show.  I started photographing autumn color on Oct. 1 up in Vermont and today on Nov. 14, I am still able to shoot fall color. It’s been a great fall season.

A bright, cloudless morning today provided a good opportunity to photograph birds, so I drove over to Huntley Meadows park.  I found  the usual inhabitants, like the male Red-winged blackbird above and the male Cardinal below.

Also seen today was  a less frequent visitor, in the image below.  It appears to be an immature Virginia Rail but that’s a best guess.  (If anyone has a better identification, please send me a note.)

While most of the trees in this area have dropped their leaves, there are a few trees still showing their fall color.  One of those remaining trees this morning gave me the opportunity to experiment with some zooming exposures.

I wanted to photograph as much of the fall color as possible this year. It’s been such a great color year in the east, but today’s misty, overcast and breezy day made me take a closer look at the ground and the leaves that have already fallen. I noticed many were covered with water droplets so I got my macro lens to get an up-close look.

I found a lot of interesting patterns to shoot (right in my backyard).  The fall leaves covered in rain droplets and the tip of a lambs ear plant with a background of red maple leaves, I think, are nice representations of the fall season.

A nice weather day prompted a drive to Prince William Forest, which is adjacent to the Marine Corp. base in Quantico, VA. The fall color is just hitting near peak there.  The scene above is on a trail called Quantico Cascades. The sun had not yet reached down to the stream so I had good conditions for water shots.

The sun started to hit the tops of the nearby trees and the shot above is the reflection of color on the stream.   I like the pattern the water gives the color.  The photo below is a pan of nearby trees reflecting strong sunlight. The exposure was 1.3 secs.

Storm clouds threatened all day and finally the rains came in the afternoon.  Just before sunset the rain stopped and the clouds started to break up.  I drove down to the local marina to check out the scene and took a few photos before darkness set in.  The trees in this area are having a very colorful fall this year.