Tag Archives: bird

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.

Cormorants Lined Up for Inspection

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It’s been too long since we last had a cormorant on the blog.  Time to rectify that.  These are not action shots.  Instead, as we walked along the shoreline on Bainbridge Island, there was a wooden beam out in the water.  The cormorants were lined up waiting for me.  I think they knew I didn’t have a long lens with me, otherwise they would probably have flown off.  Instead, they were hanging out in the sun drying themselves.  My choice was to shoot from along the beam or side on.  I went with both!

Shovelers Doing Their Thing

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The shoreline of San Francisco Bay has a bunch of ducks.  Of the ones I see a lot of, there are two main species.  The Mallards are a duck you will see almost anywhere.  The others are the Shovelers.  As the name suggests, Shovelers like to shovel around in the murk at the bottom of the water to see what they can find.  Their bill is shaped to help with rooting around in this mud.  The result can be that their heads are no longer the color of the feathers but are, instead, covered in mud.

There is plenty of muddy shallow water along the shore so the ducks will often take off and head to different feeding grounds.  It’s fun to try and get them in mid-flight.  If things are closer, they will save energy and paddle to their next spot.  The best shots are when they come up covered in mud.  They look almost surprised by what a mess they are!

Flocking in Some Numbers

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I don’t know whether a murmuration is a thing specific to starlings or whether it applies to any large flocks of birds.  I was looking out across San Francisco Bay recently and there was a large flock of birds whirling over the water in the direction of the San Mateo Bridge.  It looked just like a murmuration of starlings I had seen once before but I don’t think these were starlings.  I have no idea what type of bird they were and what they were up to – hunting or something else – but I was transfixed watching them for a while.  A still doesn’t give you much impression of the motion but at least you can see that it was a big flock swirling around.

Egrets

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How about some photos of egrets?  They aren’t rare and they all look pretty similar but they are still an interesting looking bird and, since they like to hunt in the shallows, they end up being pretty close and therefore accessible to shoot.  I have shot a bunch of them while waiting for something else and, occasionally, specifically because they were there.  Here are a few of the more recent shots I have got.