I Visit Port Orchards

After we left Theler Wetlands and had lunch at the Sombrero restaurant, it finally started to clear. With a chance to get some better pictures, I decided to stop at Port Orchards where a bird photographer said he’d gotten some of the best shots of Kingfishers he’d ever gotten.

With half a day to waste, I figured I couldn’t go wrong. At the very least, I’d get to spend a couple hours in the sunshine looking across Puget Sound. As it turned out, it was one of the best birding day’s I’ve had for quite awhile.

The highlight of the day for me was managing to get several good shots of Western Grebes, a bird I’ve only managed to shoot at considerable distance before. As it turns out, there were several of them.

This pair seemed to be courting each other, but stayed off shore:

Pair Of Western Grebes

My favorite shots, though, were of one that was much closer, one that we actually were able to walk around and shoot from several different angles, and take advantage of the light. I couldn’t decide whether this one with the dramatic reflections in the water,

Western Grebe with Red-Orange Reflections

or this one of the bird rising up in the water and flapping its wings were my favorite, but either of them is far superior to anything I’ve managed to get before.

Western Grebe Flapping Wings