Tag Archives: Kirkland

Eagle Bugged by An Annoying Osprey

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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.

Otter Foraging

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I have been meaning to post some more otter shots for ages, but various things came first, and I have postponed this one a number of times – when I say postponed, I mean postpone even writing something as opposed to postponing the actual posting.  This otter was busily moving around Juanita Bay as it searched for its next meal.  I initially saw it coming across the water towards me.  It swam around the inlet before heading to land so I could see it closer up in the water.

It then went back around the headland, and I thought it might be continuing off into the main bay, but it turned around and came out of the water onto the land near us.  A quick shake to dry off and then a bit more of searching the ground for any hint of a snack.  It didn’t last long.  Soon it was back in the water and out towards the open water hunting for something tasty.  I hope it found something good.

Half a Moon in the Morning

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I was driving to work one morning recently and as I headed south down the road near home, the moon was quite low in the sky.  It was partway through the phases and the angle of the sunlight on its surface provided a lot of texture on the surface.  I was driving to work so was not immediately in a position to stop but the drive to work is short so, as soon as I got to the parking lot, I took out the camera.  The moon was low above the roof of the office, so I had to move a bit to get an angle on it.  The trees were also in the way, so I decided to incorporate them rather than remove them.  Then it was into the office.

Afternoon Sun on the Ducks at Juanita

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It has been a long time since I was at Juanita Bay.  A combination of lack of time and lack of nice weather has stopped me going down there.  One afternoon after work, the sun was out, and the time was not too late, so I dropped down there for a walk around to see what was going on.  The answer was not a great deal.  It was a lovely afternoon but none of the more crowd friendly visitors were around.  The ducks were, though.  A merganser stayed too far away to be photographed by there were plenty of wood ducks and green winged teals, so I made do with them.  The low sun angle picked up the colors really nicely.

Grebes Scooting Over the Bay

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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.

Strange Little Isolated Tree

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Sometimes you just don’t have the right gear with you.  I had gone to Juanita Bay after work and was only carrying one camera with the 500mm on it.  Looking down in to the water to one side of me, I was quite taken by a stump in the water that had a new growth of a small tree coming from the top of it.  It was too far away to get a decent shot with the phone so the 500mm was the only option.  I took a sequence of shots to stitch together later on.  I quite like the separation that you get with using such a long lens for a shot like this.  I wonder how large the tree will ultimately grow to be given the limitations of its home!

Coots are Freaking Out

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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.

Water Lilies

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I haven’t been to Juanita Bay Park much recently.  The middle of summer is not a great time to go because the sun is high, the humidity is quite uncomfortable, the bugs can be in a bitey mood, haze makes photos even worse than the sun angles – you get the picture.  I did head down one afternoon after work, though, just to see what was happening.  The lake was covered in water lilies with the pads spread out in all directions.  The flowers were not quite so common but there were still plenty.  I was taken by how they were dominating a space that is normally wide open.

Deer Foraging in Juanita Bay Park

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Much of the wildlife I end up photographing in Juanita Bay Park is the birds or the aquatic life.  However, I do occasionally come across some other creatures as I stroll through and one afternoon it was some deer.  I have seen deer in the park before.  They tend to stay away from the more heavily trafficked areas, but they do cross the paths when getting from one spot to another.  That was what happened in this instance.  They jumped out of the bushes ahead of where I was heading and across to more foliage.  I thought they would be gone but they stopped and munched on some of the leaves for a while.  Not clearly in sight but not avoiding me either!