Category: Port Orchard

Although I was disappointed that had to delay my trip to Malheur for a week, I was glad that I got another week to photograph the Horned Grebes at Port Orchard because I’ve watched them change plumage the last few weeks.

I was so amazed when I saw the transformation a few years ago, that watching them change has become a rite of Spring for me. In the winter they’re a rather nondescript little gray and white bird, one of the smaller members of the grebe family.

Come Spring, though, and they transform into a remarkably striking bird that makes it clear why they were name the Horned grebe. It seems to take three to four weeks to change from their winter plumage to their breeding plumage.

Until they complete the transformation, they can look quite motley and judging from the amount of preening they do, it can be quite irritating.

The result certainly justifies whatever discomfort the change might entail.

I’m not sure the transformation is quite complete, but I doubt that they will still be around when I return in a week. They seem to leave for their nesting area almost immediately after the change so I only have a short amount of time to enjoy them.

I still have a few pictures from the California trip I’d like to post, but yesterday’s post reminded me of some recent shots I took of Horned Grebes that I’d like to post first. While I was it still in California I noticed that fellow birder and friend John Riegsecker had posted shots of Horned Grebes in breeding colors, so the first thing Leslie and I did when we got home was to take a trip to Port Orchard.

It didn’t take long to spot a Horned Grebe that was just beginning to change into breeding colors.

Some grebes were further along but still hadn’t turned completely into breeding colors.

I only saw one or two that seemed to be in complete breeding colors,

though I’m not sure that they, too, won’t lose some of the white colors in the lower body.

Though I have photographed this phenomena for three years now, thankfully I’m still amazed at this magical transformation and never tire of explaining it to strangers on the dock who seem equally amazed. If you live in the Puget Sound region, now’s the time to see the changes because shortly the grebes will disappear to their breeding grounds.

Although the sun spent all last Friday ducking behind clouds, it was a little brighter than it was at Theler when I got to Port Orchard. I was greeted by this female Hooded Merganser

as I walked down the ramp into the marina.

Unfortunately it wasn’t very birdy and the sunshine didn’t last much beyond this first shot. The dominant bird was the over-photographed Grebes I’ve featured lately.

I spent most of my time trying to get better shots of the Male Hooded Mergansers. A few years ago I would have been thrilled by the shots I got, but now that I’ve gotten spoiled, this was the only shot I even kept,

mainly because the shrimp in its beak shows just how small these birds really are. I get so used to seeing the bird through a telephoto lens or blown up on a computer that I forget just how small a Hooded Merganser really is. Plus, I learned that they don’t dine exclusively on small fish.

When the sun finally came out last Thursday I thought of trying to get to Theler Wetlands and Port Orchard, but since we had a dinner date for 5:00 near there I thought I’d go to Pt Defiance first and Port Orchard later. Luckily, I got some great shots at Pt Defiance because things didn’t turn out nearly as well at Port Orchard.

I got there around 1:30 and did manage to get the best shot I have ever gotten of a male White-Winged Scoter, a bird I’ve never seen in the marina before.

At first I thought I might get some other great shots because there were more birds than usual and because the light was great. I did manage to get a couple of other shots I liked like this one of a male Barrow’s Goldeneye

and this one of a Horned Grebe swallowing a fish that seemed much too large for it to eat

before the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse. By the time I got to the end of the dock, a maximum of fifteen minutes, the sun had disappeared and even on the highest ISO settings I could get nothing but shadows.

Did I mention 38° can seem awfully cold on the Puget Sound if there’s no sunshine? I ended up driving home before our dinner date because I couldn’t imagine having to spend two hours sitting in the car waiting.