Month: September 2010

I do enjoy the beauty of the Marbled Godwits often found at Tokeland, but I also find it frustrating trying to get a good picture of them because they are so crowded together that it’s nearly impossible to get all of the birds in the frame in focus.

And how do you crop a shot of them without leaving spare body parts littering the scene?

Trying to get a good group portrait reminds me of trying to get a shot all eight grandkids with a smile on all their faces.

Impossible!

Which is just enough to keep me trying.

Although I never intentionally picked a bird out to focus on for a year, it seems that a particular bird does become the focal point of my photographs for the year. The first year it was the Great Blue Heron, probably because it was a large bird and willing to pose for long periods of time. One year, it was the elusive Belted Kingfisher, still a favorite, perhaps because I could never get the shot I was, and still am, looking for.

This year, though, I think it would have to be the Red-Necked Phalarope. Even though the female only has the red neck when in breeding colors, it is a striking bird any time of the year.

What really makes the bird stand out, though, is its movement, particularly the constant bobbing of the head as it floats by.

Since I find shots of birds moving much more compelling than shots of them standing still, I was fascinated by the behavior of several phalaropes at Ocean Shores

as they stealthily crept up on insects,

ran after them for shorts distances,

and finally bounded after them, barely taking off

before landing again,

to repeat the process.

Of course, this sequence of photos also reminded me that both my Canon cameras can take motion pictures, and a short movie would probably have done a better job of capturing the action then any number of still shots. I’m trying to ignore that fact.

One of the goals of a recent ocean trip was to find a Pectoral Sandpiper, a seldom seen species around here, one I’d certainly never seen. I’ll have to admit, though, that was probably the other birders’ goal more than mine. It’s the experience that most interests me, not finding a particular bird, even a rare bird.

So while my birding friends were looking through their scopes trying to locate a Pectoral Sandpiper, I walked around the wetland ponds to photograph a number of common shore birds foraging in the wetlands.

While taking pictures of Sanderlings and Western Sandpipers, I noticed a sandpiper that seemed huge compared to the other birds I was photographing.

Turns out that I had accidentally discovered the Pectoral Sandpiper everyone was looking for in the distance, even though all I knew was that it was a bird I’d never seen before.

I was drawn to it because of its size and its behavior. Not only was it twice as large as most of the shorebirds, but it was also much more aggressive, driving off other sandpipers that came too close. If I’d seen it in the distance, I might have mistaken if for a yellowlegs, because its behavior seemed somewhat similar,

though its bill was much shorter, as were its legs.

I must have spent nearly an hour watching the three birds I found, photographing it in various poses,

though most of the time was spent probing the sand and water for food, making it difficult to get a better shot than the one I began this entry with.

It’s hard not to be awed by the amazing variety of birds once you start looking closely at them. I’ve been birding, seriously, or not so seriously, for about three years now and I still can’t go out birding for very long without seeing a species I’ve never seen before.

Although I haven’t gotten there nearly as much as I’d like to, the ocean beaches are certainly the place to be for birding right now with the Fall migration on. Heck, even the sewage plant in Ocean Shores is a goldmine for birds.

Apparently one man’s waste is another bird’s fortune, as we consistently find unusual or rare birds there. It’s often easier to get close to the birds, too, as in this picture of these Least Sandpipers,

where I managed to get close enough to notice the funny little “toe” at the back of their foot, an appendage that must help to maintain balance on rocky areas like this.

We also got a look at another bird I’ve never seen before, this non-breeding Spotted Sandpiper,

which flew away

when I came too close, but returned immediately to feed again once I’d walked over to the next pond.