Category Archives: wildlife

Raccoons On Patrol

My recent visits to Juanita Bay have provided a variety of different wildlife encounters. On a recent trip down there later on a weekend evening, I got something I wasn’t expecting. I saw something moving on the shore. It turned out to be a raccoon. It was working its way along the shore and I headed around the boardwalk hoping to be in position as it continued on its way. Moving as quickly as I could without making too much noise, I got to a spot ahead of it. It turned out there were two of them!

Once they saw me, they paused for a while. Clearly, they were considering a change of plans. However, I wasn’t moving much or making any noise so they decided I wasn’t a threat and continued on their way. They came under the boardwalk and up the other side and then off into the brush. With so much growth around them, getting a clear shot was tricky but I managed to get a few as they traversed the area, keeping a wary eye on me just in case.

Territorial Goose With Attitude

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As the days get longer, love is in the air and this includes the world of geese. Suddenly the geese get very territorial both about potential mates and potential nesting locations. Fights can break out with very little warning. One of the geese in Juanita Bay was definitely in no mood for any competition. It was taking on anyone that happened to be in the way, whether they were a threat or not. Not just one at a time, either. A few other geese were in the area and they each got a dose of its attitude.

The flurry of activity when geese start sparring can often be intense but brief. In this case, the aggravation continued for quite a while. One goose would lunge at the others and they would settle again before he came at them once more. Much splashing of water, flapping of wings, honking and waving of tongues ensued. The goose that was chasing the others would be mouth open and tongue out as it charged at them. The tongue is a nasty looking thing on a goose. Lots of barbs on its surface.

After a few charges back and forth across the inlet, the others started to get the message. They took off and headed across the bay. The main goose was not satisfied yet, though. He took off after them and chased them well across the bay before deciding that the message had been received upon which he returned to the inlet to be ready for the next round of intruders.

How Many Turtles Is Too Many Turtles?

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Turtles are a common sight in Juanita Bay. There are some logs in the shallows that attract the turtles when the sun is out. They come up from the depths and bask on the logs to warm themselves up. On a given day, there will usually be a bunch of them. What I had not seen before was quite so many of them. The logs were full of turtles and those that couldn’t find a spot had climbed on top of those that could. One of the kids was counting them and came up with over 60 of them in this one little area. It was quite the turtle fest.

Wilson’s Snipes Got The Twitchers Excited

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I am not a bird expert so, while I can recognize a variety of different birds, there are plenty that I have absolutely no clue about. However, Juanita Bay is a popular spot with the ornithologists and I can learn a bit from them. A couple was chatting with me on one of the boardwalks about Wilson’s Snipes. They thought they could see them on one of the shoreline areas but couldn’t be sure. I bumped in to the same people on the other side of the shore and they confirmed that the snipes were there.

At first they were pointing out a couple of them. As we spent a bit more time watching, it turned out that there were loads of them. They weren’t easy to see given how well their camouflage worked but, once you had got the hang of it, finding the others got a lot easier. I don’t think this is a rare bird so this wasn’t an amazing discovery that we were making but they were still pretty excited about it so I was too.

Waterfront Birds

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Walking along the shore at Edmonds, a few birds were flying around near me. I did get a cormorant which is good and, while I don’t know many birds, I think some of these might be mergansers. Anyone into their birds that can confirm or deny?

Heron On The Hunt

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Herons are not known for being too happy about people nearby but the ones in Juanita Bay are very used to the people on the boardwalks and they don’t seem to be bothered about how close they are. I had spent a fair bit of time on one boardwalk chatting to some photographers and we had discussed the heron that was over by the next boardwalk. As we headed our separate ways, I figured I would go across to see if I could get any shots of the bird.

The light was fading fast so I was shooting at higher ISOs than I would have liked but I was pleasantly surprised that the R3 seemed to have a cleaner result than I would have expected with the 1DXII. Technology does move on of course, but I think thinks have plateaued a bit in that area so this was a nice result. The heron was quite close in and, since I only had the 500 with me, I had to chose my location carefully. The eye tracking did a pretty impressive job with the bird as long as it was not looking directly at me (or away of course).

I did got with high frame rates to try and catch strikes with the food. Unfortunately, the bird was not having a great time. I got one strike but it was not a fish but a piece of bark. Another “catch” provided to be a stick. Maybe this heron is the sharpest bird in the bay. Overall, I was pleased with the results and I was more happy about the ability to let the autofocus work across the image so I could compose how I wanted rather than based on the location of autofocus points.

Sparrow Visitors

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Imperial Hill gets loads of visitors and plenty of them eat lunch while up there. Consequently, the sparrows are keen on the place too and they get pretty confident with the people around. While I was up there, I figured I should try and get a few sparrow shots as well as other flying things. If I wanted to focus on them, they are so close and fearless that it should be easy to do.

Coyote Comes To The Lake

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I went to Juanita Bay in Kirkland on a sunny Saturday afternoon to have an experiment with the R3. I wanted to try shooting something different and the bay is always a good spot for some wildlife activity. I was standing on one of the boardwalks, chatting to a couple of photographers that had a similar idea. We had just been discussing a bobcat one of them had seen in the area near us when I looked across and saw some movement in exactly that area.

It wasn’t a bobcat which was a shame. However, it was a coyote. It walked over in our direction, heading for a carcass of a fish that had apparently been there for a few days. It stopped briefly and then turned around and headed back into the bushes. I managed to get a few shots of it before it was out of a clear line of sight.

Kestrel Patrolling The Taxiway

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One sunny day, I was hanging out at Arlington watching the flying activity. However, planes weren’t the only thing flying. I looked across at a taxiway light and saw something on top of it. A look through the long lens and a kestrel came into focus, if only briefly. Before I knew it the bird had launched into flight and headed away, not to return while I was there. I was rather pleased to have got something close to a reasonable shot of it in that short moment.

Wolf Feeding Time

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Trying to see the wolves at a zoo is not always an easy task. They tend to like to find a place to relax that is out of sight so, unless they are active, you might struggle to even see them. We got lucky on our last visit to Woodland Park Zoo as we came past the wolf enclosure (the second time as it happened) just at the time they were being fed.

I’m not certain what they were being fed but it looked like rodents of some sort. They would toss the food to the wolves and they would grab something and then head off somewhere away from the others to eat in peace. That included one that came our way. It was making quick work of its snack. The sound of the food being bitten through was slightly unnerving but, thankfully, the pictures don’t convey that so you only have to look at the outline of whatever it was they were eating!