Tuesday’s Walk at Nisqually

Tuesday’s trip to Nisqually stood out for the intense sunshine and a remarkable lack of photographic opportunities.

Still, it’s hard to complain when a flocks of swallows buzz you on your walk for nearly a mile, constantly displaying their remarkable flying ability. Can you really complain because you can’t get a good shot of Common Terns repeatedly diving into shallow waters to catch Salmon smolt?

Nope. No complaints. Instead, I focused on what I could shoot, like this Pied-Billed Grebe chick whose head seemed nearly as large as the rest of his body

Pied-Billed Grebe Chick

and these four Wood Ducklings, who seemed to have misplaced their mama but still maintained their formation as they scurried away

Wood Ducklings

For much of the day, though, I focused on songbirds whose songs filled the air but who were seldom visible and when they were visible seemed to disappear back into the leaves before auto-focus could focus, which explains why the leaves are sharper than this male Yellow Warbler

male Yellow Warbler

which was half a sanctuary away from this female Yellow Warbler who was willing to show herself to make a meal of these caterpillars.

female Yellow Warbler

I even captured another picture of the suddenly abundant Goldfinches

Goldfinch

I’ll have to admit that once I turned to trying to get a picture of the many songbirds whose songs constantly accompany my walk I found the challenge exciting. For the next few weeks when I’m out birding I’ll be trying to get more shots of these elusive darters.

3 thoughts on “Tuesday’s Walk at Nisqually”

  1. Love the pictures of the birds. I’m so envious you can take their pictures like that – usually I only can catch a glimpse of a few feathers as they flit around and I try to identify them!

  2. Once you’ve trained yourself to actually see the birds, the rest is relatively easy if you’ve got a 400mm lens on a relatively fast camera, mauigirl.

    It’s learning to see them that’s taken in my the longest time.

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