Tag Archives: Juanita bay

Leaping Fish

If you stand by Juanita Bay for a few minutes, you will see fish leaping out of the water periodically. The carp are spawning and they leap out all the time. Getting a shot of a leaping fish seems like it would be almost impossible since you couldn’t know where they would be leaping next and getting lined up would not be possible in the tiny instant that they are out of the water even if you did see them immediately. However, there is some hope.

For some reason, the fish will often leap twice in roughly the same place. However, they only seem to do it when you are not training your camera on the spot where they last came out. I will watch with the camera down and see them jump again and again. Bring the camera up and they don’t play ball – normally. However, I did get lucky on one occasion. I got a second leap as I pointed the camera at the location of the previous ripples.

I had an even better chance on a later date. I was staring down into the water and could see the shape of a carp as it swam just below the surface. I didn’t know whether it would be possible to get a clear shot of it in the water but started tracking it anyway. Then it turned and came out of the water right below me. I couldn’t have been better placed to get the shot. I’ll take a good dose of luck any time.

Sun Angle Submerged Shooting

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Normally, while you might be able to see things swimming around under the surface in the bay, you wouldn’t really bother getting any photos. The surface reflections are too strong and the detail is not great anyway. However, as the afternoon was wearing on and the sun angle was getting quite low, I was surprised how well it was illuminating things below the surface and, because I was looking slightly down sun, the surface became almost invisible.

A turtle was swimming around, very occasionally putting its head above the water but mainly staying submerged. With the lighting as it was, I was able to get a very clear view of it so decided to take some shots. The water is still taking a little of the detail out but it was far better than I was expecting and the warmer light still picked out some of the color in the turtle.

Robin Versus Worm

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Robins are such a common bird, I guess they don’t get a lot of attention. This one seemed to have found itself a meal with a substantial looking worm. However, it seemed unsure what to do with it. It kept picking the worm up and then dropping it again. Do robins have to eat worms in small pieces or was it just playing with its food? Anyone know the details of their feeding habits?

A Pair of Eagles

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There is a resident pair of bald eagles in Juanita Bay. Originally, I had got some shots of the two of them which were going to be the basis for this post. Since then, I have seen them a bunch of times. They have been flying around together, swooping across the bay and hanging out on the osprey perch to either eat their food or watch for the next meal. I figured I could just share a bunch of photos of them either together or individually. Enjoy…

More Beaver Encounters

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I’ve had a run of good luck with the beavers recently which have resulted in some close up shots of the little critters. It pays to not have the long lens sometimes because they get so close but for the majority of shots it still comes in handy. Here are a couple of the better views I have got of them since last I posted on my beaver exploits.

Kids Love To Play With Sticks

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If you see a kid wandering along the beach of through some woods, what are the chances that they will be wielding a stick that they have picked up? Apparently, this is not limited to humans. A family of ducks was swimming across the bay and one of them had a small twig in its beak. At first I thought it was mistaken in grabbing it or had it stuck but it dropped it and then picked it up again swinging its head around with the stick swiping anything in sight. I guess all kids are similar!

Sometimes You Get Lucky With Timing

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One evening after work, I decided to head back down to Juanita Bay to see if I could get more shots of the beavers. I had been pleased with my first encounter and wanted to see whether there was a chance of getting some more shots. The weather wasn’t so nice but I had nothing on for the evening so decided to hang out for a while. I was there with nothing happening and the light gradually fading so set myself a target of 7pm. If nothing happened by then, I would go home. With about a minute to go before the top of the hour, a guy came out on to the deck I was on.

I figured I wouldn’t leave as he arrived since it would look like he had driven me away. I would wait to give him time to get bored and leave. Instead, a couple of minutes after I had planned to leave, out came a beaver. It swam straight towards me along the shore eventually coming right under where I was standing. I only had the long lens so it ended up way too close. I should have used my phone to be honest. I would never have seen it if it hadn’t been for his arrival.

I had a repeat a couple of days later. I had seen a pair of beavers swim by – not so close this time – and they had gone around into the inlet and I hadn’t seen them return. I was beginning to think I was not going to see them again but got a message from Nancy (who was traveling) to say she could chat. We had a call for a short while when I noticed a tree shaking not far from me. I told her I would call her back. One of the beavers had come across the land and was chomping on the tree. A little while passed and then it came down to the water, dropped in to the lake and swam right past me. I was ready for it to be so close this time. Another lucky break that I would have missed if it hadn’t been for the call.

Otter Skirting The Bay

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We have a few otters that are regulars in Juanita Bay. One afternoon, while waiting to see what would show up, one of them could be seen swimming along the shoreline across the inlet from where I was. It seemed to be on the move rather than hunting so the question was where would it go? It headed right into the inlet and then came along the shore. It would pop out of the water on to the land and wander a little before slipping back into the water.

It came around the edge of the inlet and up towards where we were on the boardwalk. Would it try and cross under us? No, it continued along the edge of the water swimming and then climbing on to land again. Back to the water, around the edge of the inlet and then around to the open part of the bay. It stayed close to the edge but kept on moving and disappeared around the corner and to the larger lake. At its closest, it was in the long grass which meant getting a clear shot was tricky. Still, it was pretty close for a long time which is unusual for the otters.

Random Heron Shots

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I have spent a lot of time at Juanita Bay recently photographing wildlife. One thing that you won’t have to wait long to see there is a Great Blue Heron. They are a regular feature of the bay and they often come very close to the viewing decks. Consequently, I have got a lot of shots of them. Here is a sample of some that I have recently seen. I haven’t got bored of shooting them but I certainly don’t rush to shoot them when they show up like I used to!

Juanita Bay Birds

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Ducks don’t make for the most exciting photographic subjects but, when you are testing out a new camera, everything is fair game. The eagles had been flying around Juanita Bay but they had been keeping their distance from us. A whole host of coots had been near the shore just tempting the eagles to come hunting but they hadn’t bothered. Consequently, I photographed the coots and the ducks instead.