Port Orchard Between Showers

After two weeks of being housebound by near constant rain and with another 10 days of rain forecast, I finally decided I would go birding at Port Orchard without birding Belfair because I didn’t want to get caught in a downpour while carrying my photo gear. At least in Port Orchard I’m seldom more than 10-15 minutes from the protection of the Prius.

Ironically, workers were power washing marina walkways, scaring most of the birds away. Though the large flocks were absent, a few brave souls bobbed in the marina. This little female Bufflehead was actually quite cooperative,

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and I liked the subtle reflections in the water.

Not all the Barrow’s Goldeneyes were driven off by the workers, this guy and a few others were still feeding on the barnacles on the piers a the end of the marina.

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There might even have been more Horned Grebes

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than usual, and, unlike most wild birds, they’re not particularly shy. I was wondering if they would be in breeding plumage or not, but none of the ones I saw showed any signs of changing color yet.

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I’ll have to admit that I was disappointed that there wasn’t a single Hooded Merganser to be seen, male of female.

4 thoughts on “Port Orchard Between Showers”

  1. Lovely photos. Quiet here at the marsh too. Very few birds. And we went for a walk knowing that it’s going to be raining here for the next week. Not a single click of the camera here.

  2. I think “Bufflehead” will become my new affectionate term for loved ones when they are just slightly screwing up but in an endearing way. “Oh, you Bufflehead…”

  3. Send some of your rain down here to California! We’d love to have more. It must be hard to get through that much rainy weather. Great photos. I especially like the Bufflehead and the Goldeneye photos for the interesting pattens of light reflecting on the surface of the water.

    1. Unfortunately, we can’t seem to send the rain your way, but, don’t worry, it’ll probably follow us when we finally make it down to Santa Rosa after Leslie’s retirement replacement heals from recent surgery..

      Yes, the waves made the photos for me, too, I deleted a lot of better shots of the birds that lacked the wave patterns.

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