April 16, 2017

I was able to make a trip down to Virginia Beach a few days ago. I visited Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge which is a very beautiful place. I walked down the beach a couple miles and enjoyed the waves and sand dunes, not as many birds as I thought would be hanging out in the surf. I did see several variety's of gulls and terns, and brown pelicans.

There is a large fresh water lake behind the line of dunes that was once a brackish backwater. It closed itself off naturally from the ocean. As a  CCC project in the 1930's the dunes were enhanced and the lake has become fresh water.

 
These are royal terns, the picture was actully taken at a boat ramp in Norfolk, Virginia.

This was the unset over the fresh water lake. The lake is loaded with ducks and geese in the winter; not much here now as they have migrated north.

April 9, 2017

Here are a few more shots taken yesterday in the late afternoon.

April 5, 2017

I have made my way into Virginia for a couple weeks, should have some good opportunities to do some shooting in some interesting places. I hope to have time to go up to Chesapeake Bay and see what I can get into up there.

I shot these last night at Dutch Gap Wildlife Area just south of Richmond. This area lies along the James River and is interestingly located directly adjacent to a power plant. Lots of marsh and flooded lowland timber. I took the pictures of the wood ducks out the window of my car; I was driving along the edge of flooded woods and was able to stop and take a couple hundred shots of them.

The mockingbird perched on a branch very close to me, I normally do not shoot back lighted subjects. While this may not be technically great I think it works pretty well.  The red-winged blackbird posed nicely for me. I have had a difficult time getting good shots on the RWBB in the past and I really like this one.