Tag Archives: wildlife

Seals Explore the New Space

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It’s not unusual to see seals along the shoreline at Mukilteo.  The creation of the new ferry terminal seems to have provided them something new to explore.  It also provides an elevated location from which to see them which is great since photographing seals when you are close to water level makes for difficult conditions and less than inspiring photos.

I don’t know how much the base of the ferry terminal provides for good food supply for the seals but they seemed to be hanging around for a while.  Maybe it was curiosity or maybe the food was good.  I was just glad to see them!

Family of Swans

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A small bay on Cascades Lake was a spot that a family of swans was hanging out as we hiked by.  The cygnets were almost fully grown but still had the darker down to show that they were still not fully mature.  The parents were still clearly paying attention to the safety of their kids, despite their size.

Steller’s Sea Lion Looking for Attention

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Lime Kiln Point is a popular spot for watching whales.  A humpback was not far offshore but a Steller’s sea lion came swimming up along the shore.  It was very close in and headed past the lighthouse and to the north.  We went back to watching for the whale.  A little while later, a snort came from our right with a spray of water.  The Steller’s was back and was bobbing in the water right in front of us.  It hung around long enough to take a couple of shots and then it went back north.  I think it was jealous of the attention the whale was getting!

Cormorant Having Dinner

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The shallow waters near the new ferry terminal at Mukilteo seemed to be a popular spot for the local cormorants to hunt.  For a while, there was one cormorant almost directly below me that seemed to be having a pretty successful time fishing.  A couple of times I saw it pop up and swallow something large so I spent a bit of time tracking it waiting for it to return again.  Sure enough, it popped to the surface holding a rather large looking fish.

I am not a fish expert so I don’t know what it was.  I just know it was still struggling to get away and, given the size, I was curious as to whether the bird would be able to eat it.  I clearly underestimated its capabilities as a couple of quick adjustments and the whole thing went down in one go.  I waited for it to dive again but, having had a few decent sized snacks, it was clearly letting its lunch go down.  It was a while before it dived again.  Just before it did, a bloom in the water led me to believe that it was making space for its next course.

Cormorant Posing for Me

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We went out for lunch at Ray’s Boathouse one Saturday afternoon.  It was not a great day, weather wise, with fog covering Puget Sound.  I didn’t take the big camera with me but I did take the M6 along just in case there was something to see.  In front of our table on their deck was a piling which had a gull sitting on it when we got there.  The gull soon flew off and then it was replaced by a cormorant!  It must have been especially for me!  It was drying its wings after its swim and I got a few shots of it while sitting at the table.  I could have run to the car to grab the big lens but that would have interrupted our lunch a little too much!

Who Could Miss a Deer This Size?

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While walking through Fort Worden, we went through a selection of buildings to a trail up the hill.  As we turned a slight corner. I looked back where we had just come and there was a deer sitting in the shade of one of the buildings we had just passed.  It was looking very relaxed and I was amazed to realize I had just walked right passed it and never even noticed.

As we returned the same way a while later, I wondered whether it would still be there or not.  I looked for it but the space was now empty.  However, as my view opened up, I realized that a deer (I can’t say whether it was the same one or not) was strolling up the road.  It came to some shade from some trees and plonked itself down to rest.  We had to walk very close to it and it didn’t seem in the least bit bothered by us.  I took some photos as we went by and we left it in peace.

Cormorants on the Dock

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How long is it since I have had a cormorant post?  Too long, that’s how long.  Taking trips on the ferries means you can get quite close to the cormorants on the pilings in the water alongside which the ferries berth.  Of course, whenever they are close by, I don’t have a camera to hand.  One part of the dock did have a ton of them resting on it so, given my recent dearth of cormorant shots, I felt I had to do it.

Focus Stacking and Backyard Arachnids

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I’m sure a bunch of my relatives will look away for this post.  Maybe they aren’t fans of focus stacking but it could be the spiders that put them off.  My macro lens has been out a lot during the pandemic since it provides something to photograph close at home that is a bit different.  In fact, I have got so used to having it available, when I am out with a normal lens and come across something small and interesting, I am a bit frustrated to realize I can’t get a close up shot.

The problem with the lens is that it is not a very advanced one and the autofocus on it is pretty crap.  When I am trying to hand hold the lens and something is moving and so am I, things get a little unpredictable.  We had a few spider webs in the backyard with the owners sitting in the middle.  The afternoon sun provided great illumination so I figured I should give it a go.  I tend to go to manual focus and move to get the shot but with the breeze moving the web a lot, things are pretty tricky.  This is what prompted me to try cheating.

I figured that focus stacking does a good job of increasing the area in focus and it manages to align images and make use of what is already in focus.  If I can be straight on to the spider and stay reasonably still and roughly at the right focus point, let the web move towards and away from me and fire a bunch of shots off hand held.  Ignore the ones that have nothing in focus and then let Photoshop work on the remainder.

It isn’t a perfect solution and some weird things happen at the edges of the frame but the center works out pretty well and you can crop in a little to address the edges.  I was quite pleased with the outcome to be honest.  It is making the best of a few bad elements but it did do quite well.  You don’t get to control what is in focus for each shot so getting a complete set to work with is unlikely but overall, not a bad experiment.