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.
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!
This winter, the area around Shilshole Bay in Seattle has had some new residents. It is not unusual for sea lions to be in the area at this time of year but this year they have taken to hanging out on the floating docks around the bay. One favorite spot for them is the barrier alongside Ray’s Boathouse. This barrier has a flat top to it but is based on cylindrical tanks. Consequently, while a bunch of sea lions might be on top of it, another one climbing on or one jumping off can cause the whole thing to rotate and, if they are not careful, they can get dumped in the water.
A lot of people have been coming down to watch them hanging out. A bunch will be on the floats, some asleep and others barking at each other or the sea lions trying to get on. More can be seen swimming around in the surrounding area. It was fun to watch them for a while but it was pretty chilly the day we were there so we didn’t hang around for too long!
We were walking through Cannon Beach back towards our hotel when we saw a couple of black rabbits eating grass by the road. They didn’t seem easily spooked by our presence and we walked on our way. A little internet searching when we were back in the hotel explained that there is a population of black rabbits in Cannon Beach that are descended from rabbits that people have released. They are big rabbits compared to those we see around here.
I decided to grab the camera late one afternoon to see if I could get any photos of them. I didn’t have long to look but figured it was worth a try. I had walked about ten meters when I saw my first rabbits. There were a bunch of them within a block of the hotel. I saw some on an open area of grass and one that was closer to me did run away towards a bush. It them leapt up on top of the bush and stayed there chewing on the leaves. Never seen anything like that before!
Our hotel room in Victoria was near to the top of the building. The window was set into the roof line. We had a flat space outside the window and it was popular with the local bird life. On several occasions, we had a gull land on the space and stand there for a while. It actually seemed interested in us rather than deterred by our presence. No guarantee that it is the same bird but we started to feel like it was visiting us on a regular basis.
Photographing animals underwater through glass walls on their enclosures is a bit hit or miss. The otters in one of the enclosures at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo were playing near the glass a lot so I figured I would give it a go. You aren’t going to get razor sharp shots since that glass is very thick but sometimes it can work out okay. This otter was more than happy to perform for the camera.
Time to put out the trash. I wheeled two of our bins out to the curb one evening. As I walked back in, a saw what looked like something colorful on the ground under where one of the bins had been. I looked closer and realized it was a little creature. I am not a specialist but I think it is a salamander. It stayed where it was long enough for me to grab the camera and the macro lens and get a few shots. There was very little light so I had the ISO cranked up high. I took a bunch of shots to focus stack and a benefit of doing this was that it seems to have taken the noise levels down a notch. Now I pay more attention when rolling the trash out to avoid squashing anyone living in the damp space underneath!
Woodland Park Zoo has a pair of Stellar Sea Eagles in an enclosure. The Sea Eagle is a big bird. This pair were pretty active as well. They were making a lot of noise and flapping around the enclosure not stopping at any one spot for long. It made for a fun time trying to get some shots of them. Shooting through the enclosure is a bit tricky but, being close enough to it allowed everything to blur out and the shots worked out pretty well. They are an intense looking creature.
Woodland Park Zoo used to have a pair of grizzly bears. They made an appearance on this blog when we went to a fundraiser there which had a food stand cooking fish next to their enclosure which certainly got their attention. Sadly, since that visit, one of the bears has died. The remaining bear is still in the enclosure on its own. With the sun out during our visit, it was wandering around a lot of its space. We had a really good view of it as it came towards us.
At one point, the bear climbed up on a rocky outcrop. It was backlit where we were. I didn’t realize that just around the corner from us was a spot that looked up at this outcrop. Anyone standing that at the time would have had a really impressive view up at the bear. Would have been a good shot but never mind.
Since we were there on a Friday, it wasn’t terribly busy. It was strange to see how quickly people wandered away. A few minutes patience rewarded us with some really nice time watching the bear exploring the enclosure for snacks hidden by the staff.
As we walked through the grounds of Chateau Ste. Michelle after the Avants car event, we came across this tree. As we looked at it we concluded that it was a single tree that was coming out of the ground in various places. However, we are not arborists so could be completely wrong. It just looks like it springs from a single source under ground and breaks the surface in various places. If you know about trees and more specifically this tree, let me know.
