Category Archives: wildlife

Swans On The Move

As we headed down one of the roads in Skagit County on the lookout for the owls, we came to a field that was full of swans. I’m not sure what was interesting them but there seemed to be a steady stream of them taking off and heading south of where we were. A few of them took off directly towards us. The head on view of them getting airborne was really cool. Of course, as soon as I had the camera ready, they were taking off from other locations and not coming towards me.

I was still getting some shots of them as they gained speed if not much altitude. The great thing was that they were keeping it low and building speed before they gradually climbed away. As they crossed the road, they could still be pretty low. I figured a little patience would work in my favor and, sure enough, it wasn’t too long before some of them were taking off towards me. They clearly weren’t coming directly over me as I guess we were enough of a distraction. However, they were coming head on for a while. I missed quite a few shots unfortunately but you only get to see the ones that worked out!

Waiting for the Eagle to Come My Way

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I was waiting on one of the boardwalks at Juanita Bay when an eagle caught something and took it to eat on the post out in the water. After it finished its food, it headed to one of the logs in the water to clean itself up in the lake water. Having watched this routine a number of times, I figured that it would finish cleaning and then fly towards the trees near where I was standing. I figured that, rather than try to get closer, I should wait where I was and have the eagle come to me.

Sure enough, the behavior was as predicted. The eagle went to log and spent a bit of time cleaning itself up after devouring the catch. The only tricky thing with this position was that there is a very cluttered background. If I was shooting with my older DSLR, I would have been using a single autofocus point which would be very effective as long as I kept it on the subject. The mirrorless cameras are much cleverer but also like to look for subjects and, if something is against a busy background, the camera might not recognize the target. This had been an issue in a similar situation before.

This time, the contrast was sufficient to allow me to track the eagle effectively. It came straight towards me as it headed to the trees to relax and digest its dinner. I managed to get a few good shots of it as it got airborne and came my way. Sadly, the conditions were rather dull and, while I got some shots, they weren’t quite as dramatic as I would have liked. Still, head on with an eagle is always good.

Another Owl Encounter (By Accident)

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Nancy and I had made a trip up to La Conner for lunch one weekend. Having previously had a chance to see some owls up on the Skagit Flats previously, I decided to go back there again on our way home. I went to the same spot and saw a ton of people but not a lot of wildlife. I wasn’t going to make Nancy hang around waiting to see if anything showed up so we headed on our way. The route to the road home is along a couple of narrow roads and, as we went down one of them, we saw a shape at the side of the road.

I stopped and backed up the road because a short-eared owl was sitting on a post right next to the road. All of the people were waiting about half a mile away and this owl was just sitting here. I didn’t want to spook it so I pulled up near it and then snuck around the back of the car to get the camera from the trunk to see if I could get a shot before it took off.

This I managed but the owl didn’t seem terribly bothered by me being there. I got more confident stepping out to get shots and it just stayed where it was looking for something to eat. I was behind it and it was looking left and right but, if I moved, it would turn its head to look directly at me. I got a few stills and then switched to shooting some video. The same thing with its motion. I had to make some more dramatic moves to get it to look directly at me before it lost interest and went back to checking for prey.

Eventually, we decided to leave it alone and drove along the road again. We had barely gone a quarter of a mile when we found another owl on the power lines. This one was a bit more twitchy about my presence. I managed to get a few shots of it but it flew off quickly. There was a harrier nearby at the same time so things got a little busy but, much as we were trying to go home, the wildlife was intent on providing a reason for us to stay around.

You Are Not Fitting Under There

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Plenty of people walk their dogs in Juanita Bay Park. They do not always like the areas because the decking is pierced steel and is a bit harsh on their paws. This dog wasn’t bothered, though. Instead, it seemed more intent on finding a way to get into the shore area which was out of bounds. Watching it starting out under the fencing, I felt a little sorry for it!

Duck Arses

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(British spelling for this title!). Really no deep insight from today’s post. I was photographing the wildlife at Juanita Bay and a bunch of the ducks were busy feeding. They would take it in turns as they dipped their heads underwater and stuck their tails up in the air. Then, at one point, they all went under together. Is it a good use of my time to be watching ducks sticking their arses in the air?

Fishes In The Test

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The River Test runs through the grounds of Mottisfont and there is a diverted section of it that runs through a very unnaturally straight section of river near the house. As we walked along the path by this section, we saw a couple of fish in the water. As we moved on, we realized that there were loads of them. To my untrained eye, they looked like they might be trout but I am not an angler or any sort of sim expert. I got some photos of them but video seemed like the best bet so I had a good at that too. Can you identify them?

Leucistic Sparrow

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Until I started spending some time in Juanita Bay with other photographers and bird watchers, I had never heard the word leucistic. There is a leucistic sparrow that hangs out in the bay and is popular with the locals. Apparently, this is a creature with light pigmentation. It is not an albino but it has a lot of white in it. This sparrow was hanging around in some of the trees near the trail as I walked by. I figured it would rapidly disappear when I stopped but it wasn’t terribly bothered by me and was far more interested in whatever it was eating. It is a rather interesting looking bird.

Gull’s Crab Lunch Under Threat

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As we walked along the shore trail in Stanley Park, we came up on a gull that had just caught a crab. The gull was intent on eating the crab, as well you might imagine. However, its lunch had also caught the attention of a bunch of crows (could hardly call them a murder). Consequently, the gull was trying to find a way to avoid the crows and eat its food. It was not going to escape them, of course. Instead, it had to do the best it could and accept that they were going to get a few scraps.

Owls Hunting in Skagit County

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I made a trip up to Anacortes to help someone out with a project. I was surprised when I got up there that it was a really lovely day when it was cold and rainy back at home. I think there is a line just south of Mount Vernon where the weather changes dramatically. I had heard a few of the other photographers at Juanita Bay discussing the owls that were up in the Skagit Flats and, since I was coming near that area on my way back, I figured I would stop by to see if I could see any owls.

I had an idea of the location and put it in to the GPS but I didn’t know how obvious the spot would be. As it turned out, when I got there, the large number of parked vehicles on the side of the road gave it away. I pulled off the road, got out the 500mm and waited. Nothing obvious happened for a while. I had to get back for work so didn’t have a ton of time but I was hoping that I would see something. Then I saw someone nearby perk up and looked across to see if there was anything going on.

Sure enough, an owl was scooting across the open land north of me. The light was great and looking at this little creature was so much fun. Even with a long lens, it was not a big target and it kept dropping down low where the cluttered background made the camera struggle to keep focus on such a small object. Even so, it was possible to get a few shots.

The owl was flying towards me so I kept thinking it would get closer and bigger. What I hadn’t counted open was that there was a strong southerly breeze and so it was effectively staying in the same place. Crap! Never mind. I was still tracking it when something flicked across the viewfinder. Turns out there was a second owl crossing in front and definitely closer. I quickly picked it up and it allowed me to get a few shots before it went off to another area further away.

This whole process continued for a while before I figured I really needed to get going again. I would have been quite happy to sit up there for a long time watching the owls and waiting for them to get closer but I did need to get back. As it turned out, when I got back, there was some urgent stuff to fix so I wasn’t wrong to leave but it was disappointing to pass up the opportunity. I wonder whether the conditions will be so good again when I am able to go up.

Hummingbird Guarding The Icicle

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We try to keep the feeders stocked up for the hummingbirds. However, while there is never a shortage, they still get very competitive about access with dominant birds trying to keep the others away. If only they understood! As the temperature dropped and I imagine their food sources got sparser, one of the hummers decided to take up residence on the arm that the feeder hangs from. If I went outside, it would fly away but would immediately return as soon as I was gone. It meant it was easier photographing it through the window. The icicle hanging beneath it is a measure of the chilly conditions.