Month: March 2010

Those Who Wait

Since yesterday was supposed to be the sunny day of the week, I went to Steilacoom after playing with Mira for awhile. Since birding has been slow, I really wasn’t expecting much more than to get some exercise in the sunshine.

As it turned out, there weren’t many birds there, though there were more Cormorants than usual and a considerable number of American Coots. At one point there was a single duck, which I was hoping was a Scaup far out on the lake, but heading in my direction. Since I hadn’t gotten many shots up till then, I waited longer than usual in one spot, waiting for it to get close enough to get a good shot.

If I hadn’t waited, I would have missed this shot of an Osprey trying to land in the top of a tree directly opposite me,

Osprey Landing

and then flying directly over my heard.

I also ended up with this photo of the Ring-Necked Duck, which seems as good as any I’ve taken before.

Ring-Necked Duck

Meanwhile, a pair of American Coots had apparently tired of me standing there and had left the lake to feed on the grass directly behind me.

American Coot

I’m shocked into instant recognition that they’re not ducks whenever I see them on land because of their odd-looking feet. Someday soon I’m going to have to explore their genetics, since they seem like a weird mixture of heron, duck and chickens.

Speaking of feet, after looking so long at the feet of this American Coot, I was surprised to discover that I’d never really looked at the feet of a Double-Crested Cormorant before:

Cormorant in Tree

Sunday Birding

We made a quick trip to Belfair Saturday before the rain moved in Sunday but had to be back by 2:50 PM so I could watch the Husky basketball game, one of my current obsessions.

Birding wasn’t great, but I did enjoy getting pictures of the Crossbills that John pointed out when we met him:

Crossbill

I was surprised how varied their color is, but this one struck me as the most beautiful. I missed an even better shot when my lens wouldn’t focus until I backed up, only later discovering that somehow I’d managed to change the setting on the lens. Sometimes I wish all the controls had to be set through the menu, and only through then menu.

There were more people than birds there, but there was a particularly exciting moment when I commented to Leslie that the Canada Geese seemed extraordinarily loud, and then two, including this one

Canada Goose flyby

flew right in front of my face, so close I felt the breeze from its wings beating the air.

I finally discovered that my lens had been set for distant focus while taking a shot of this Trillium, the first I’ve seen this year.

Trillium

We ended the day with a late lunch at Amy’s on the Waterfront. I would’ve loved to stay out birding longer, but I would also have regretted missing the Husky’s victory over New Mexico, a victory made all the sweeter by the number of analysts who suggested the Huskies didn’t really belong in the Tournament this year at all.

Ruined

Wednesday featured both brilliant sunshine and lowering clouds that blacked out the sky. Inspired by the early sunshine I headed out for a day of birding, but didn’t get any further than Titlow because the sunshine disappeared during the hour I spent there.

There really wasn’t much there but Widgeons, but I did like this shot

Widgeons Landing

because I’d never noticed the green wing stripe before.

The waterfront was dominated by cormorants, like this immature Double-Crested Cormorant

immature Double-Crested Cormorant

and this Pelagic Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant

I spent the most time, though, trying to get a shot of this male Red-Breasted Merganser in breeding colors,

Merganser with Plastic Stuck on Beak

but when I realized that it had a plastic sack stuck around its bill, it ruined the entire shot. I would have waded into the freezing water to try to free it if I’d thought it would stay put, but he seemed too healthy for that. Hopefully, he will be able to free himself from it somehow, but for me it served as yet another reminder of how we have despoiled this environment we must all share.

A Pleasant Sunday

The weather here has been, at best, “unpredictable” so Leslie and I took advantage of a brief break in the clouds to go Belfair Sunday. The sunshine didn’t even last until we got there, but at least it didn’t rain on us.

Ever since I read Pyle’s Sky Time in Gray’s River I’ve been looking for the first skunk cabbage, and Sunday I found it emerging in several different places. Few were open yet, but this one seemed a few days ahead:

Skunk Cabbage

Apparently even native plants think it must be Spring.

The Red-Winged Blackbirds were aggressively defending their territory:

male Red-Winged Blackbird

I saw my first Killdeer of the season:

Killdeer

Birding wasn’t especially good, though, except for the Bald Eagles that seemed everywhere, including Port Orchard where this pair seemed to be discussing something important after an acrobatic flying exhibition.

Eagles on Bouy

We had lunch out at Amy’s on the Bay, and capped off the day by having Dawn and family over for dinner. All in all, a most enjoyable day.