Tag Archives: bird

Kingfisher Fishing Successfully

When we visited Seattle not long after moving back to the US, I got a shot of a kingfisher as it sat on a cable at the locks in Ballard.  I guess this must be a good spot for kingfishers because, when we went down to see the boats, I found another kingfisher hanging out near where we parked.  The sound that they make is pretty distinctive and I heard it before I saw it.  It was sitting on a branch for quite a while before it dived down, grabbed something out of the water and landed on one of the wooden guides along the water to enjoy its snack.  I will have to spend more time down there and see if I can get some better shots of these speedy little critters.

Trumpeter Swans Along the Road

The snow geese are famous visitors to Skagit County in the winter, but they are not the only large birds to show up in big numbers.  The trumpeter swans also appear and, while they might not be in the large flocks of the snow geese, there are still loads of them around.  They also don’t seem to mind being close to the humans.  I had seen a bunch of them as I was driving around and pulled off the road at one point as so many were in the adjacent field.

The fun thing about photographing swans is getting them taking off.  Two or more of them flying at low level as they build speed is pretty cool.  You might normally wait for ages for this to happen but, with so many of them around, it seems as if there is almost always a take off occurring.  Consequently, while some might seem distant, you know another will be closer in before too long.  (I do like the head on look but that does require getting to more inaccessible spots usually.)

After shooting at the same spot for a while, I continued south.  I was getting back to an area south of Mt Vernon when I came across even more swans sitting right by a side road.  They were ridiculously close to the road and, when I pulled up and stopped, they did start to drift away a little.  I guess even swans can be slightly circumspect when it comes to humans arriving.  However, they quickly got used to me and I got some shots of them too!

Crow Plumage is Gorgeous in the Right Light

When people think of photographing birds, the more exotic types are going to probably be of more interest to many.  While I am obviously (if you follow this blog) partial to photographing an eagle or an owl, I also find the more common birds cool.  A pigeon has some amazing flying capabilities, gulls can look elegant in flight and crows have fantastic feather coloration.  One of them was sitting on a fence very close to me as I sat in the car.  The light was glinting off the feathers making the subtle colors show up nicely.  How could I not photograph it?  You might dismiss the average crow, but they can look very cool.

Grebes Scooting Over the Bay

Earlier in the year, I was up at Juanita Bay before things got too warm to make it enjoyable.  We get plenty of ducks and coots on the bay but, on this occasion, there were a load of grebes on the water.  The types of grebes I grew up with a larger than the ones I saw here.  To be honest, I am not certain whether these were adults or juveniles because they seemed to have very small wings.  Maybe that is how they are, but it could be that they weren’t fully grown.  Maybe some of you know your birds well and can enlighten me.

Anyway, they would periodically get excited and start zipping around the bay.  They would be flapping these small wings furiously and just skimming across the water until they found somewhere that they were happier to be.  I don’t know whether this is just normal movement or that they were spooked by something but it was fascinating to watch them hurtling around.

Coots are Freaking Out

It has been a while since I was down at Juanita Bay.  During the summer, the light is harsh, the heat haze is tough, and the humidity is uncomfortable.  I also sometimes find myself getting bitten by stuff.  However, a pleasant fall afternoon after work seemed like a good time to head down and see what was going on.  Things were not too active, but it was nice to relax in the sun as the wildlife did its thing.  Sure, an eagle did fly over at one point, but it seemed more interesting in annoying the other birds than actually hunting.

There were tons of coots on the water.  They were grouped together with lots of preening and bathing going on along with the regular feeding.  At some point, something happened to spook them, though.  I don’t know whether there was really anything there or not.  I wondered if an otter was under the water, but I never saw any sign of one.  Whatever happened, the coots all seemed to get upset and they took off in bunches to go to another part of the bay.  Some of them came very close to me so I got them “running” across the surface of the water to find somewhere they felt more relaxed.

Dancing Gull Looking for Food

As we were walking through Brandon Park, we saw this gull on the grass by the path.  I don’t know for sure what it was up to, but I wondered whether its steps were designed to sound like rain falling to worms beneath the surface to encourage them to come up and then get eaten.  Maybe it is something else but, whatever it is, it was pretty funny to watch.  Needless to say, I thought it was worth getting some video.

Can Birds Read Signs?

I was walking through Juanita Bay Park when I saw this bird sitting on the sign.  It sat there for a while before flying beyond it.  I am not sure whether the sign was really directed at the local wildlife or just the humans but, if it was for the birds, it either can’t read or it was a little disobedient.

Fearless Red Wing Blackbirds

Most of the animals in the park are pretty accustomed to the humans.  Provided we remain a reasonable distance away, they are comfortable getting on with their lives.  Get too close, and they will be spooked.  The exception to this rule is red-winged blackbirds.  They really seem to be quite blasé about the humans.  Stand on the boardwalks and they might come and land on the handrail next to you and wander up alongside you.  Sudden movements might scare them, but steady movements won’t phase them at all.  While watching other wildlife, you can almost not realize that they are there.  I find my phone is the best option for getting images because they are too close for the regular set up.

Who’s Attacking Who?

There are plenty of great blue herons that hang out in Juanita Bay.  While they are quite calm most of the time, they do get a little aggravated if they intrude on each other’s turf.  If one flies close to another, a little spat will ensue.  What is hard to tell is who is the one that is the aggressor and who is the one on the receiving end.  A pair of them ended up circling and wheeling around over the water one evening.  I wasn’t entirely sure how it had started but they were coming around on each other repeatedly.  Eventually they went in different directions and it was all over.  I’m not sure if either of them ended up in the space that they were fighting over!

Ride the White Swan (Or Great Blue Heron)

In some previous posts I have discussed how aggressive the red-winged blackbirds can be towards the great blue herons.  The herons are quite happy to eat the chicks of the blackbirds, so the aggression is justified.  One of the herons was flying in my direction when a blackbird swooped down at it.  It came in from above and behind and started to attack the heron.  I got a sequence of shots as this evolved and my favorite is one where it actually looks like the blackbird is riding the heron.  If only it had some reins!