I often see Pileated Woodpeckers in Pt. Defiance Park, but few pictures ever turn out as well as this one taken Wednesday at Nisqually.
Month: February 2009
Happy Valentine’s Day
Great Blue Heron
As a rule of thumb you try to get as close as you can to a bird in order to get the best shot, but this Great Blue Heron I encountered Wednesday was so close that I had to keep backing up in order to fit him in the frame.
Usually I’ll crop shots to use on the web since they’re being presented at reduced size, but i didn’t need to crop any of these:
Marsh Hawk
Despite the snow on the ground and some rather chilly temperatures, I couldn’t resist the bright blue skies that greeted me on arising this morning. So, after taking Skye for his morning walk I headed out for Nisqually Wildlife refuge.
While visiting friends in the visitors center, I noticed a Northern Harrier swoop across the pond right in front of the visitors center. I excused myself, and headed out to see if I could get some shots as it swooped over the pond repeatedly. But naturally, it wasn’t to be.
In fact, I was all the way to the old Ring-dike trail when something swept over my left shoulder, temporarily blocking the sun. I wasn’t fast enough to get my first shots focused, or it was so close that my 400mm lens couldn’t focus that closely.
So, I had to settle for this shot
and this shot
of a female Northern Harrier.
I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t going to be the year of the hawk.