Tag Archives: bird

Ospreys on the Hunt

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Sitting out by Lake Washington watching the boat and floatplane traffic also provided a view of the local residents fishing.  These residents aren’t the humans on the pier with fishing poles.  These are the ospreys.  There are lots of ospreys that are around the north end of the lake at this time of year.  They are circling overhead looking for targets and then swooping down to catch them.

It is not usual to get them making their catch close in but sometimes you can see them diving in the grab a fish.  However, when they catch something, they do head back passed the shore as they make their way to their nests.  A fish tucked under their body and held in a forward alignment to make it easier to fly with is not a rare sight.  You also can get them circling overhead as they look for some food but I guess nothing too tasty was near me.

Puffins

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In the UK, the puffin is a well recognized bird.  The small body and large bill are easily identified and the coloring is pretty bright.  I am struggling to think whether I have ever seen one in the wild as they live in some pretty remote places.  I might have but I don’t recall it.  The aquarium in Newport OR had a bunch of them though.  While the coloring was a lot more subdued, there was no doubt that they were puffins given their shape.

Whether birds really have personality or not, you can imagine it with puffins.  They seem to be very fussy in the way they move which is probably just a function of being quite a small bird.  As they paddled around the pool and flapped their wings, we got a good look at their mannerisms.  The enclosure was pretty compact so you were very close to them which allowed some good opportunities to get some shots.  Seeing them out in the wild would be cooler but I don’t tend to hang around on cliff faces too often.

Juanita’s Resident Eagles

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The presence of the eagles on Juanita Bay was something I have seen before but I had not been out with the camera before to catch them.  I saw one eagle hunting out on the water as I moved towards the bay and this startled the wildfowl as I mentioned in a previous post.  The eagle involved then flew back to one of the trees on the shore and perched there for quite a while.  I got to one of the boardwalks in the park where I could sit it waiting, a little far away and almost directly in the sun.  Time to wait.

I hung around for quite a while hoping this eagle would make a move.  It seemed to have more patience than me.  Meanwhile, I was looking around to see whether anything else was on the move – the swans perhaps.  Then my eye caught some movement coming across the bay towards me out of the background of the hills opposite.  I suddenly realized that it was another eagle.  It was already climbing as I realized and I tried hard to get the camera up towards it despite having the monopod attached.  I got a focus on it just as it reached the tree branch it was aiming for.  A great flare of wings and then it was perched, almost directly above me.

I got a bunch more shots of it as it found a comfortable position on the perch and there is remained.  I was getting pretty cold and the light was fading so I decided to head back around the park.  The last I saw it was still up there.

Ducks Take a Bath After a Busy Day

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Walking back in to Log Boom Park from the pier, you get to the shoreline which is a popular spot for the ducks.  They clearly like the shallow water and the multiple spots where they can come out of the water to rest.  As I was approaching, they seemed to be in agreement that it was bath time.  Every duck was taking a turn at washing their plumage.

I figured I would take a chance on the shots.  Slow shutter speeds were worth a go.  The problem with this is that the ducks are moving a lot so the chances of getting a sharp head/eye are a bit limited.  However, if that does work out, the flapping of the wings should look more interesting than trying to freeze the action.  Making use of the high shutter rate on the camera is a good way of improving the likelihood of some success and, I was okay with getting a few that worked out.

It’s a Cluster of Cormorants!

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This was an evening that I was out hunting planes.  I did have some success, but I got a lot more shots of birds than planes.  The cormorants were out in numbers and they obviously know I like them.  Log Boom Park in Kenmore has a concrete pier that goes well out into the lake.  At the end of the pier are pilings from a previous version of the pier.  They provide a nice spot for birds to rest and the cormorants had taken over the place.

The light was not in a good place for getting a photo but it was still worthy of a shot or two.  Some of the cormorants were stretching their wings to dry out.  They have a prehistoric look about them at the best of times but when they stretch the wings out, they really do look like a pterodactyl.  The concentrated group of cormorants were in a bad spot for the light but, fortunately, one of them was feeling antisocial and was on a different post.  The light was a lot better for this guy!

Cormorant at Low Shutter Speed

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An impromptu shot of a cormorant is a good thing as far as I am concerned.  Normally when I photograph birds, I am shooting wide open at as high a shutter speed as possible.  However, this time I was set up for shooting at a lower shutter speed when the cormorant came by.  Consequently, the success rate was down a bit.  I did still get some shots though and the motion blur gives more of a feel of speed, even if it is just the water blurring out.

Flamingos Fighting and Sleeping

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Wildlife is an attractive subject for photography, particularly when the creature in question is colorful.  A flamingo certainly fits the bill with the vibrant pink coloring.  In addition, given that they have such long necks and shapely heads, they can curl themselves up in ways that make for an interesting image.  The Woodland Park Zoo had a bunch of flamingos (a prize for the person that tells me the collective noun for flamingos without having to Google it).

Most of the birds were just hanging around, wandering about the enclosure and eating/drinking.  A few of them were asleep and a couple seemed to be pretty aggravated with each other.  These guys were chasing around the place and generally getting worked up which seemed to be nothing more than an inconvenience to the other birds.  The ones trying to sleep seemed particularly unimpressed by the disturbance.

The way in which a flamingo will sleep makes for a cool shot.  Aside from the single leg pose (apparently easy even while unconscious), they curl their necks around and rest their heads on the back of their bodies, apparently facing backwards.  The curve of the neck and the way in which the head sits in their back feathers is a great shape and zooming right in to get a tight shot of this seemed to make a lot of sense.  (Besides, when you are carrying a long lens all day, shooting with it must be the right thing to do huh?)

Macaws of Different Colors

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The Macaw is a bird that really looks like it has been created for our amusement.  The bright colors and personality of the birds combined with their intelligence makes them instantly attractive.  We can forget for a while that they are the way they are because they are adapted for the environment in which they live (by which I don’t mean a zoo).

We saw a few of them at Cougar Mountain Zoo.  Some of them were out on perches in the zoo grounds.  A few were brought up to a stage to demonstrate their intelligence and dexterity.  They really are a quite amazing bird.  While it is easy to be impressed by their capabilities, you don’t ever forget how amazing they look.  The vivid colors and the fascinating shape make it easy to just spend time watching them.  What a fantastic creature.

Goslings En Masse

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Spring is the season for new life.  The geese had obviously been taking the task to heart because, as we walked around Bloedel Reserve, there was a large gathering of goslings.  It appeared to be that several families were mingling together.  I guess strength comes in numbers.  The adults were all grazing around the periphery of the group while the multitude of goslings were munching away in the middle.

When we were in Seattle a week later, we came across more goslings.  A smaller group this time but the same thing with the adults keeping an eye on them.  A couple were getting a bit more adventurous and heading off on their own but they were soon brought back into line.  I wonder how many predators geese have.  I guess hawks will be happy to take them out but the numbers might explain why there are so many geese wherever you go these days.