Tag Archives: video

Salmon Climbing The Ladder

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The salmon that come through the locks in Ballard come in three waves according to the park rangers.  There are three types of salmon and each type comes at a slightly different time of year.  (I’m sure the sales like this so they get three feeding times!). Within the fish ladder, they have a viewing gallery which allows you to see the fish as they loiter for a while before surging up the next step in the ladder against the flowing water.

It is quite impressive to see how fast they can go when they make an effort.  They swim gently against the current in the viewing area waiting for a time that seems appropriate to them.  Then they align themselves with the inlet port through which the water is rushing.  This needs a dose of acceleration to avoid being pushed back into the gallery and then, once they are stabilized, a surge of effort and they zip up the port.  Photos don’t do it much justice but video is a better medium.  The reflections off the glass are not ideal but you will get the idea.

Sunbathing Heron (I Think)

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This heron was standing around on Juanita Bay when mum and I were there.  It wasn’t showing any sign of hunting so I assume it had already eaten well.  The sun was out and it was pretty hot so, after a little preening, the heron adopted a pose I had not seen before.  It opened out its wings and faced the sun.  I couldn’t work out whether this was a position designed to absorb the sun’s rays or whether it provided a mechanism for cooling by maximizing the surface area exposed.  Whichever it is, it was curious.  I also shot some video of the bird which is below.

Baby Catfish En Masse

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I am no specialist on fish (or any other wildlife for that matter) so, if I have got this wrong, please feel free to correct me in the comments.  I was down at Juanita Bay seeing what wildlife was out an about.  I was on one of the boardwalks and looking in to the water to see if there was anything in there.  I saw a black mass seeming to pulse and move.  I was confused as to what it might be but the long lens gave me a clearer view of things.  It was a massive amount of baby fish.

My previous disclaimer comes in to effect here.  I think they were catfish based on the shape of the mouth and the barbs but that could be totally wrong.  Let’s assume for now that they were.  There was hundreds of them, if not thousands.  They were moving around furiously but staying closely packed together for safety.  The group would gradually move around and migrate through the plant life.  Occasionally, a group would split off into a second section and then later they would somehow find each other again and regroup.  They looked almost alien as they swirled and moved.  I did take stills, as you can clearly see, but video seemed like the better way to convey the impression that they left.

Did You Know SeaBees Can Reverse?

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I was up at Arlington when the Croman helicopters guys were in town.  One of the local aircraft is a Seabee.  It had pulled up on the ramp next to the S-61 – presumably so they could have a look at the visitor.  When they were done, they taxied off.  I figured I would shoot a little video of them pulling away.  What I hadn’t considered was that they would reverse off the ramp.  They backed away before adding some power to taxi north in the normal fashion.  Here is some video of them.

Comparison of Cloud Formation and Development

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I may be stuck in the house during work hours but the view out of the window doesn’t have to be totally ignored.  We have had a bunch of changeable weather recently and I have been shooting time lapses of the clouds.  The M6 works well for this but I have been using my fisheye lens on the M adaptor to get a wide view of what is going on out there.  It has proved to be interesting as a review the footage later.  Some of the skies have lots of activity while others don’t.

Sometimes we get the winds pulling the clouds across the sky but the overcast is thick and the lack of heat on the ground means that the clouds are pretty stable.  On other days we get almost constant development and dissipation of the clouds.  We are on a hill so we can get quite localized development around us.  Sometimes you have lower level clouds going one way and higher level clouds heading somewhere else.

I put together a video that includes a variety of clips from these time lapses to show how different things can be on different days (or even at different times of the same day!).

Red-Winged Blackbird Versus A Heron

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The herons at Juanita Bay are not universally popular.  The red-winged blackbirds are not keen on them at all and, since it seems that the herons may have raided one or more of the nests, it isn’t hard to see why.  The blackbirds will get quite aggressive at trying to drive the herons away from their nests.  I have seen them do this on more than one occasion.  At one point, I got some video of a heron getting attacked by two of the blackbirds although it wasn’t keen on leaving its fishing spot.  Usually, though, the herons decide to move on rather than take the abuse.

Chilly Hilly 2022

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The Cascade Bicycle Club organizes a few large rides throughout the year and March is the time for the Chilly Hilly.  This is a ride around Bainbridge Island which means taking the ferry from Seattle across to the island.  I was going to do the ride with a friend of mine but he got injured prior to the ride so I ended up doing it alone.  Not many photos from the ride but I did record some video on a GoPro and that result of that is below.  It wasn’t too chilly but it was definitely hilly!  No video from the big climbs.  Too much effort went in to not grinding to a halt!

Sea Lion Boys On Tour

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This winter, the area around Shilshole Bay in Seattle has had some new residents.  It is not unusual for sea lions to be in the area at this time of year but this year they have taken to hanging out on the floating docks around the bay.  One favorite spot for them is the barrier alongside Ray’s Boathouse.  This barrier has a flat top to it but is based on cylindrical tanks.  Consequently, while a bunch of sea lions might be on top of it, another one climbing on or one jumping off can cause the whole thing to rotate and, if they are not careful, they can get dumped in the water.

A lot of people have been coming down to watch them hanging out.  A bunch will be on the floats, some asleep and others barking at each other or the sea lions trying to get on.  More can be seen swimming around in the surrounding area.  It was fun to watch them for a while but it was pretty chilly the day we were there so we didn’t hang around for too long!

Kite Surfing on Puget Sound

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One weekend afternoon, we took a walk through Discovery Park in Seattle.  We started up near to the top of the park and then took a trail that brought us down to the shore.  The trail continued along to the lighthouse at which point we started back to our origination point.  As we walked along the shore, the wind was quite brisk and it was proving to be fun for some guy that was out kite surfing.  Not only was he enjoying the conditions but I think he quite liked the attention.  He was very close in to the shore so was being watched by a lot of people doing the same thing as us.  I shot a little video of him before moving on and here is what I saw.

Rushing Water Under Tokul Trestle

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Tokul Creek Gorge is the waterway that runs under the trestle at Tokul.  With the heavy rains that had been falling in advance of my visit, the creek was flowing heavily.  The trestle is a long way above the water so it was not easy to get a good look at it but I did try and get some shots.  I also had a go at getting some video.