Blackwater Visit 8/11/2007 - Assorted sights

Great Horned Owls at Blackwater NWR, Maryland (+video)
Originally uploaded by Nikographer [Jon]

I went out to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge again, probably about my 12th or 13 visit during the past 9 months.

While the Wildlife Drive is a great area to see a good variety of birds and wildlife, I enjoy venturing out in to the neighboring area, specifically along Maple Dam Road.

During this visit I spotted Eagles, Osprey, Herons, Egrets and a few others along the Wildlife Drive.

While on Maple Dam Road I spotted numerous Bald Eagles, a few Snowy Egrets, and the highlight of the trip a pair of Great Horned Owls! The only other wild owl I've EVER seen was another Great Horned Owl along this same road a few months ago.

Here are some of the 800+ photos I took and a short video clip, hosted on youtube.com.












This is the second bird in the same tree.






and then it was gone... but I saw it again later in another tree with its mate in another tree down the road ;)











I'd say it was a great day to observe wildlife, and in addition I got some sweet photos. The owls were like icing on the cake.

-Jon

Eat with your mouth open!

Eat with your mouth open!
Originally uploaded by Nikographer [Jon]

I've been shooting a lot of the Golden Headed Lion Tamarins lately.

Here are a bunch of photos, all taken with off camera flash (Nijoin D200 with SB-800 and a Tamron 18-200mm.













-Jon