Category: Port Orchard

I don’t have many rituals, but watching Horned Grebes go from non-breeding

to breeding plumage

is one of the delights of Spring.

On our recent trip to the Port Orchard marina we were puzzled why there were so few birds around, particularly Goldeneye. Usually questions like that go unanswered, but Leslie spotted the reason with her binoculars.

I’ve never seen a juvenile Bald Eagle

sitting in the marina before, though I’ve seen them fly overhead.

I’ll have to admit that I would have been hesitant to walk by eagle, but it finally flew off as we approached, so close that it was impossible to keep it in frame.

The only other bird we saw in the marina was this Double-Crested Cormorant who was sunning itself as we approached.

It didn’t fly off, but paddled elegantly away from us.

After a few beautiful hours at Theler Wetlands, I headed for the Port Orchard marina to try to get some shots of the seabirds. With brilliant-blue skies overhead, I had high hopes. Unfortunately, it was much windier at Port Orchard than it was at Theler. Even if there had been birds outside the marina I couldn’t have gotten a picture because the waves were so high.

Heck, these Hooded Mergansers were in a protected area of the marina and there was still waves. This guy seemed to be putting on a show for the ladies (and me)

in this sequence,

but the winds were so strong that the males could only display their hood facing into the wind. It’s hard to look your best when the wind flattens your hairdo.

To make matters worse, it was really cold with the wind-chill factor, sun or no sun. No wonder the birds I saw there last week were hunkered down somewhere waiting for the winds to die down and the fog to move back in.