Got any bird pics?

[Scott Salzer]

I would tend to agree on this thread! Sadly, I don't tie....

The pictures are stellar and the commentary can be very interesting.

Birds are one critter you can see where ever you go. One of my favorites was at Dry Falls where I heard the peregrine in stop, before I saw it, and looked up in time to see it hit a duck.

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Westport a day back. I was looking for a Clark's grebe that people have been seeing but I came up empty on. That's ok. We all know you never go to the ocean and come home empty-handed if you look around. Watched a common loon raise havoc with a ball of sand lance. Saw some of the beautiful harlequin ducks in the finger jetties. Talked to a retired couple from Nebraska for 20 minutes from the observation tower who had never seen the Pacific ocean before.

That was a treat.

 

[Cabezon]

Wow, just wow. What an amazing set of images!!!
Steve

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Thanks Steve. The loon was doing the big work. I am bummed by a missed photo opportunity where I was slow catching the loon surfacing with a fish while fully surrounded by the boiling jumping school. That missed chance will haunt me for some time.

 

[Cabezon]

Thanks Steve. The loon was doing the big work. I am bummed by a missed photo opportunity where I was slow catching the loon surfacing with a fish while fully surrounded by the boiling jumping school. That missed chance will haunt me for some time.

While @Gyrfalcon22 was visiting Westport, I headed south to Ridgefield NWR to drive the Auto Tour Route. Usually, I complete the loop twice. When my wife is with me, I drive the first loop and she drives the second. That gives me a chance to shoot out of both seats of the car. It doesn’t always work as the birds just won’t stay stationary (damn them…), but whatever. But she had to work on Friday; someone has to keep this newly-minted retiree in the style to which he has become accustomed…
For this visit, I was interested in trying to capture some images of owls. I had seen recent reports (eBird) and even pictures (Pacific Northwest Birding on Facebook) of short-eared owls, barn owls, and great horned owls. When I have seen short-eared owls previously at American Camp on San Juan Island and at the Samish Flats, the short-eared owls were flying over the same grasslands and marshes at the same times as hunting Northern harriers and American kestrels.
In my two circuits I had seen several Northern harriers both perched on the ground and launching into the air as they flew acrobatically just above the vegetation in their pursuit of voles.


I even captured the iconic “kestrel perched on area-closed sign” image that I often see others show (and that I have captured previously from Ridgefield NWR).

But no owls after two circuits. The great horned appears to hang out in some of the thicker woodlands and without knowing exactly where to look, a single sleeping bird can be really hard to see when I am by myself [Driving and birding on a narrow road is risky...]. And the barn owl was a rare sighting. But short-eared owls shouldn’t be that cryptic, at least so I thought. After all, they should be out foraging with the Northern harriers. But in two circuits, I had nothing. I had some suspicion that something special was at one spot along a canal; on both circuits, I saw the same red car parked in the same spot and the driver staring intently at a bank of dried grass (gathering intel from other birders is VERY important here). The driver passed me later while I was waiting for a Northern harrier to start flying again. He had seen the great horned owl and the short-eared owl. And yes, the latter was at the spot where he had been camping out. So, circuit number 3…. And there it was, dozing in the midst of the long grass – VERY cryptic. How could I have missed it on the first two circuits…

When I first saw it, the bird was dozing with its eyes closed.

But it stirred a bit and opened it eyes to reveals its bright yellow irises. You can just see the short "tufts" protruding from the top of its head above its eyes.

All-in-all, a good day (with more pictures to come from this trip).

Steve

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Great work, Steve! Your diligence paid off handsomely. Reminds me of my summer in Cheney 30+ years ago where I'd drive the auto loop at Turnbull NWR there 2-3 times late afternoon to dark to try and see creatures new to a westsider. Whitetail deer, porcupines, badger, yellow-headed blackbirds and black terns to name just some of the reasons why one loop was never enough.
Glad you found the shortie in the end!

 

[RRSmith]

Incredible images @Gyrfalcon22 and @Cabezon... thanks as always for sharing. I'm sure you've posted this elsewhere in this thread but I'm always interested to hear what camera setups you use?

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[Cabezon]

Incredible images @Gyrfalcon22 and @Cabezon... thanks as always for sharing. I'm sure you've posted this elsewhere in this thread but I'm always interested to hear what camera setups you use?

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For my bird photos, I use a Canon 80D DSLR equipped with a Sigma 150-600mm zoom lens [fixed typo]. The combination of camera body and lens is heavy as hell as I rarely use a tripod when shooting. I do have a comfortable camera strap (Black rapid) that suspends the mass at my side within easy reach.
Steve

 

[Jim F.]

Westport a day back.

Absolutely awesome shots. John! The Sandlance images - Wow!

But no owls after two circuits.

Looks like your trip was a "hoot," Steve . . . also some nice work. Glad you found your subject.

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Incredible images @Gyrfalcon22 and @Cabezon... thanks as always for sharing. I'm sure you've posted this elsewhere in this thread but I'm always interested to hear what camera setups you use?

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I shoot with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 mark II w/ adapted Canon 400mm f5.6L prime AF lens shot on manual focus for most of my shots. I did pick up a much bigger Nikon 600mm/4 to shoot on the Olympus but it needs a monopod and my main bird of focus (<- I said it : ) is an eagle that is around hunters most of his stay seasonally and I have found that I cannot get near him with the gun-looking monopod. That means anything less than 400-500 yards and he is gone. He likely does not like the loud bangs. I think he is pretty safe.

I have tried to get closer (under 300 yards) and then open the monopod but he is outta there and last thing I want is to spook something for a photo, hopefully.
Below: This site sort of gums up the quality but that's the golden eagle watching me very carefully from about 800 yards. "Not a step closer with that stick! (monopod)!"


As to the rest. Crop crop crop. I know Steve will agree, you get as close as you can with the lens and then you cross your fingers and start cropping afterwards. Fish shots below. This was shot with a 1200mm equivalent lens (Nikon 600 on Olympus so 24x pre-crop). Good glass is important.

@Cabezon shoots up to a 600mm as well , he has a typo on his camera info post above

 

[Gary Knowels]

Westport a day back. I was looking for a Clark's grebe that people have been seeing but I came up empty on. That's ok. We all know you never go to the ocean and come home empty-handed if you look around. Watched a common loon raise havoc with a ball of sand lance. Saw some of the beautiful harlequin ducks in the finger jetties. Talked to a retired couple from Nebraska for 20 minutes from the observation tower who had never seen the Pacific ocean before.

That was a treat.

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What is the name of the 2nd to last bird? The black one with an orange bill?

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

What is the name of the 2nd to last bird? The black one with an orange bill?

Male Surf Scoter. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Surf_Scoter/id

 

[Gary Knowels]

Male Surf Scoter. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Surf_Scoter/id

Thanks! I saw some at Nisqually when I was there but hadn't been able to figure out what they were.

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Thanks! I saw some at Nisqually when I was there but hadn't been able to figure out what they were.

Super cool birds, one of my favorites to see!

 

[Cabezon]

As every fly fisher knows, not all adventures go to plan. In late January, my wife and I took advantage of a break in the drizzle to drive to Ediz Hook. We left Olympia in early morning under partially sunny skies and experienced a largely uneventful drive along Hood Canal. But trouble arrived as we turned west toward Port Angeles – coastal fog. Thick fog, fog that reduced driving speeds due to visibility (or lack thereof). We kept hoping that the situation would improve, but the fog was still thick as we drove onto the hook. A flock of surf scoters bobbed in the water between the log boom at the paper mill and the shore, but due to the fog, decent photographs were impossible at this distance. Off the boat ramp near the end of the hook, buffleheads, eared grebes, and red-breasted mergansers were diving for a meal. But again, too far off for decent pictures. We even walked over to the strait side to see if there were any birds offshore; However, the water level was up to the breakwater rocks and there wasn’t much stirring offshore, as far as we could see.
The boat launch proved to be the one bright birding spot. Recently, the port staff had pulled in the floating docks by the ramp for the winter, probably both to minimize storm damage and to cut down on the load of fouling organisms. In the process of hauling the docks out of the water, they left piles of barnacle fragments from the floats on the boat ramp. Several black turnstones and several dunlins foraged among the shell debris at the water’s edge. Using careful movements, the birds allowed me to approach close enough to take many quality images.









So, a 250 mile round trip for maybe 20 minutes of quality birdwatching.
Steve

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

So, a 250 mile round trip for maybe 20 minutes of quality birdwatching.
Steve

When I was young I literally would wait and watch across our river for the daily train, so it was truly Trainspotting. Later, I found out that putting lots of time in for small windows of rewards was called Fishing. Now, I have been borrowing the birders term for putting in over-adequate time in for anything as a Stakeout. These are all wonderfully interchangeable words that can be used for excuses to be standing in the pouring rain, waist deep in a creek, in a trance looking for...at...something/nothing, and ..for no apparent reason, but used as explanations to extend to the sane..

They sometimes even buy it !

(great shots, Steve)

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

I really hate it when someone says, "Caption this photo." So here I go with some eagles today.

"Psssst! A Seagull, a Stork and a Flamingo walk into a bar..."

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Anyone want to take a stab at the beautiful dark hawk below I saw? Dark morph Red-tail or Harlan's? Steve? Sometimes lumped, then split, then lumped again.
Not sure latest.

 

[Cabezon]

Anyone want to take a stab at the beautiful dark hawk below I saw? Dark morph Red-tail or Harlan's? Steve? Sometimes lumped, then split, then lumped again.
Not sure latest.
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Yes I would say Harlan's subspecies of the red-tailed hawk (but I'm not an expert). According to several sources (and here and here) that I have consulted, this bird is on the dark-end of the Harlan's spectrum. The banded tail is one common variation in this subspecies. Red-tailed "subspecies" / "morphs" do interbreed commonly and intermediate birds are seen.
Steve

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Thanks Steve, and as always, for your great references. I would waaay back simply call any dark, dark red-tailed hawk a Harlan's. I know that does not cut it anymore. Mix in intergrades and now it is really a mess I see. Like those darn Olympic gulls.

Appreciate your knowledge.

 

[RCF]

@Cabezon his wealth/depth of knowledge, willingness to research and share, and his travels and keen eye for creating/capturing through his great photos of birds can not be thanked for enough.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Maybe we should give him a week or two off from answering our questions so he and his wife can get out more...