While waiting for the arrival of some jets, we were treated to a little bit of wildlife spotting. A hawk had been hunting over the fields in our vicinity, but it started to head our way and I grabbed a bunch of shots as it came by out of habit. One of the group checked his pictures out while we continued to wait and noticed that the hawk was carrying its next meal. It appears a rabbit had been caught out in the open and was now no more. The nature of life in the wild, I guess.
Mum and I took a trip down to Juanita Bay to see what sort of wildlife was out and about. There was plenty of activity with both eagles and ospreys flying over the water looking for their next meal. At one stage, an eagle had caught a small fish and took it to a log in the water to enjoy. It seems that one of the ospreys decided that this could not stand and that the eagle should give up its catch. The osprey swooped down repeatedly at the eagle trying to get it spooked and to maybe leave the fish behind. The eagle was definitely annoyed by the osprey but was not inclined to move. This went on for a while but eventually the osprey realized it was futile and moved on.
My El Centro wildlife encounters continued after the owls had been photographed. A hawk showed up on a utility pole close to us at one point and, since no jets were landing, I was happy to take its photo. Then I realized that the moon was rising not far away, and a short movement allowed me to bring the two into closer alignment. With the long lens, the focus depth was narrow, so I took shots of the bird and shots of the moon. When I got home, a little focus stacking allowed me to make both sharp to show how it looked to me at the time I was there.
I have been getting photos of owls a bit recently with the shorties making their winter stay up in Skagit County. However, when Mark and I headed to El Centro, it was planes rather than owls that we were after. I knew that they were around there because other friends have posted shots of them in the past, but they weren’t something I was thinking about. However, as Mark was driving us along a dirt road near the base, I saw one sitting ride by the road.
Trying not to spook it, Mark was able to grab my camera from the back seat and pass it to me so I could shoot out of the window. The owl seemed unimpressed and stayed exactly where it was. After a few shots we moved on but there was another a short distance away. Same result as it wasn’t too bothered by the car. A bit further still and another one. This one was either standing on one leg with the other tucked up or just only had the one leg. I can’t tell. Again, it obliged as I took some shots. Three owls in a short distance seemed like a pretty lucky run of things.
Kestrels are so small, getting a good shot of them is going to be tricky at the best of times and, unless they come nice and close, you are always working to see what you can get. This little fella landed on a post near the road and was clearly having a snack. Looking very closely at the images, I still can’t work out what it is eating. I then waited for it to fly away and, of course, once I put the camera down for a bit, off it went. I did get another shot of it as it flew to a post but nothing special.
I was not intending to get photos of owls when we passed through Skagit, but I ended up getting some of the closest shots yet. There were some owls on the ground pretty close to the road. I am not sure whether they were guarding food or just contemplating their next moves. However, one of them took off and flew around very close to where I was and, for a brief moment, it flew straight towards me. I grabbed a few shots and then it was gone and shortly afterwards, so were we. A lucky break for sure.
While parked up at East 90 and watching the birds hunt, I glanced behind me – always a wise plan – and saw a northern harrier coming in my general direction. It flew low across the field and over the road before finding a perch. As I looked through the images afterwards, I found it funny to see the bird crossing what seemed to be not far behind a vehicle. I hope it had been taught how to cross the road.
A little while later, the same process was followed by a bald eagle. The shot makes it look like it was actually coming along the road but I think that is just compression of perspective. It was probably this side of the road. It also safely made its way across without having any conflict with passing vehicles. Maybe the local birds have copies of the Green Cross Code (for those of you of a certain age that grew up in the UK).
My Skagit trip was primarily looking for geese, but I was also going to see whether the short-eared owls were back out and about. I ended up in East 90 again which has a solid reputation for the owls. As I pulled up, various other raptors were flying very close by, so I knew the chances of seeing stuff were going to be good. Unfortunately, the owls were not playing ball. There were loads of them flying but they seemed to have staked out their interests further across the fields and away from the road. The northern harriers were the ones close by. The owls seemed to be wheeling about each other off in the distance so I had to make do with longer range images of them and get some of the other residents instead.
My visit to Cattle Point in search of foxes had me trekking along the cliff tops hoping to spot some creatures on the prowl. I met a local couple that suggested they normally saw foxes further along the coast and so I headed that way. As I kept moving, I did get some wildlife encounters but it was with bald eagles rather than foxes. They were soaring along the cliff tops using the updrafts. At one point, one popped up over the edge close to me and stared at me briefly before gliding on. I was too slow to pick up the camera and instead watched it fly by. I did catch some of its compatriots later in my walk, though. If I’m not getting foxes, eagles are okay but I can get them at home!
I spent the Friday of Seafair down at the shore of Lake Washington watching the flying demonstrations (and taking the occasional work call). The planes weren’t the only aviators over the lake though. Despite a TFR being in place, a local osprey decided to ignore it and cruise along the shore line. I never saw it actually dive after any prey for the whole time I was there. Instead it would just start towards the south end and gradually drift northwards. After it had completed the leg, it would return to the start and repeat the process.
Fortunately, it was very close to the shore and nowhere near the display box so there was no risk being posed to the performers in the show. However, it was quite a distraction to everyone around where I was and we would turn to watch it rather than the display aircraft each time it came through. Initially it was a little offshore and a bit of a reach with the long lens but it came progressively closer in and was right overhead on a number of occasions.
