Category Archives: wildlife

Moose Munching

I’ve not had a huge amount of luck looking for moose on previous trips. We saw two in our previous Yellowstone trip. When we went on our wildlife excursion in Jackson Hole, I was hoping to see some more. We didn’t have to wait long. We had barely left town when we saw a male munching away off the side of the road. A short way further up the trail and we found a mother and calf in the bushes feeding happily. They weren’t too bothered by us so we watched them for a while. A couple of people we met had actually seen one walking through a gas station forecourt in Jackson itself so I guess they are not that hard to find!

Otters Snacking on the Bank

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A sunny Sunday afternoon seems like a good time to go for a stroll. It was not supposed to be a wildlife photo trip. I did have the little M6 with me in my pocket, though, and, since the 55-200 is pretty small, I took that along too. I was rather glad I did too as, while walking along the river, we saw a family that were peering in to the river. There were ripples on the surface so we stopped to see what they had seen, Soon we could see the outline of a pair of otters swimming about. We watched for a short while and were about to move on when they swam down towards us and climbed out on to the bank.

One of them had caught a fish – a pretty big one in comparison to the otter itself. It started crunching noisily in to the meal while the other otter seemingly stood guard. They were on the bank for ages so we watched them for a while and then left them to enjoy their lunch. A short distance further along we came across a couple watching another otter so I guess this stretch of the Sammammish is pretty popular with otters!

Sunbathing Cormorant

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I had finished up a shoot and was driving back towards home but decided to divert to Kenmore. The evening light was looking good and I thought some floatplanes might be returning to base. By the time I got to Kenmore, it must have too late as I didn’t see any planes. However, there was a cormorant sitting on one of the posts near the end of the jetty. As the sun set, he was stretching out his wings to gather maximum warmth. How could I resist yet another cormorant shot?

Bunnies Evade the Kids

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I had stopped off by Lake Washington to get some late afternoon photos and, as I walked back up to the parking lot, a couple of rabbits were snacking along the path. Since the camera was still out, I figured I would get some quick shots. Unfortunately, a family was following me up the trail and the kids spotted the rabbits. Being young kids, their instinct was to run to the rabbits – it won’t surprise you to know that the rabbits did not hang around to see if their intentions were good. I did get a couple of shots before they had vanished.

Eagles Over the Marshes

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We stopped off for a spot of lunch during our trip to Fir Island. We had a recommendation in Edison that we took. As we headed back out after lunch, we were driving across some marshland when we saw some bald eagles. Pulling off the road, we watch them swooping across the marsh land. At one point they came right over where we were standing. An immature eagle was the one that came closest to us but we got a good look at several of them as they went looking for their lunch. Obviously they didn’t try the place we had been too!

Bison in the Snow

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As a celebration of a milestone birthday for m, we took a weekend in Jackson Hole. Part of the visit was a trip into Yellowstone on a snowcoach. There isn’t much in the way of wildlife in Yellowstone during the winter. The bears are hibernating and the moose and elk have all headed down to lower levels. Some bison have also headed down but other stay, attracted by the thawed areas around the hot springs. We saw a few of them working their way through snow covered grounds using their powerful necks to move snow away from the plants underneath.

Cormorant Take Off

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It’s been a while since I had a cormorant post on this blog so time to have another one. This one is to showcase something I love about watching cormorants but that I hadn’t got good images of. When cormorants take off from the water they start flapping and running across the surface. They take quite a while to get up to a speed at which they can sustain flight. This trip across the surface usually is too far away to get a good shot of, even if you do spot them in time to get the camera on target.

However, if you are in a boat and the boat approaches the cormorant, you might spook it into taking off. They are pretty resilient creatures so may just float on by and ignore you but sometimes they will take off. Then, if you notice in time and the camera is to hand, you might get the takeoff sequence. They hop from wave crest to wave crest as they flap and accelerate and then they are flying. You can also lose a little weight before take off to improve performance!

Heron Hunting

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On our day trip to Fir Island, one of the first birds we came across was a heron that was standing in the water near the parking lot catching lunch. I am guessing that the fish in these waters were pretty small because he seemed to catch a lot but always was after another. Must have been bite sized portions! With the water so calm, his reflection was very clear giving a nice emphasis to the shape of the body.

Otter Crew

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While walking along the harbor in Victoria, I happened to be looking over the edge when three otters came out from under where we were and dropped into the water. I was quite surprised by this and we watched them swim out a way into the water before the dived. It wasn’t long before they popped back up with their catches in their mouths. They then climbed up onto the jetty for one of the ferries to enjoy their crab lunch and to play around as otters are prone to do!

Trumpeter Swans

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The snow geese I mentioned in this post were not the only visitors we saw while up on Fir Island. Trumpeter Swans were also to be seen. They weren’t there in such numbers when we visited but I understand they are showing up at the moment. We saw a bunch of them on a muddy field which was not helping their white plumage out too much. Then a second group flew overhead and eventually landed in the same field. I was able to get a few shots as they flew across. The long necks make them easy to distinguish from the geese we saw before.