Wildlife - Close to home

All images (c) Jeffrey Snyder 2009
Nikon D3, Nikon 200-400 VR, Lexar UDMA Memory

Last year, Margi & I discovered a Wildlife Management Area, about 25 minutes from our house. In the past few weeks, I've found myself there a few times, walking & shooting images. It's like an oasis in Montgomery County, quiet, serene, and quite breathtaking, just off the C&O Canal, near the Potomac River. The Swamp area is very cool, with geese everywhere, so many birds that I lost count, and of course snakes. The Downy Woodpecker shown above was working away at a tree, and kept staring back at me, and didn't seem to mind me firing off images. Last week on a sunny warm day, we saw no less than a dozen snakes basking in the sun on branches, just smiling at us. The one shown here is an American Water Snake, female, according to the DNR guy that happened to have been there.
When I got there yesterday, I saw this Blue Heron take off in front of me, and I could barely get my 200-400 VR lens up in time, so its a little blurred, but still cool. Enjoy.