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Moon Roost

February 7, 2012 Birds

click for larger image Every night, they dart under the highway bridge, buzzing boaters as their wings slice the air above the channel. Cormorants, nature’s flying and diving machines, are sleek and malleable to the point of being reptilian. Everything about the cormorant says speed … everything except parking it at the roost. As branches [...]

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GooseORama

February 4, 2012 Birds

This was a much better day for the Snow Geese — better than my last visit to Snow Goose Central. Hunting season is done, and all of the goose shooting on Fir Island is now camera-only. I started off at this field with one other photographer, and by the time I left, there were six [...]

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Eagle Noir

February 2, 2012 Bird Noir

I joke (but it’s true) that my best eagle and osprey in moments in the Northwest happen in silhouette. There’s the issue of light, and how low and flat it tends to be in the winter. There’s also the issue of my luck — where the light is perfect, I’m pointed in the right direction, [...]

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These Feet are Made for Diving

January 31, 2012 Ducks and Others

Ducks have reason to be nervous around us humans in the winter, and diving ducks are always dive-ready if danger is imminent. Sometimes, I refrain from even pointing my lens at ducks, having learned that this act alone can be a stressor for them. Almost all flying ducks will divert course, even a little, when [...]

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Bald Eagles Wear the Pants

January 29, 2012 Pacific Northwest

At the height of Bald Eagle season in Rockport and Marblemount, along the Skagit River, you’ll see dozens of eagles, lumbering across the sand bars, dragging and pillaging salmon carcasses. I like to say that birds like pigeons have jodhpurs — with flared plumes tapering into claws. Eagles, on the other hand, look like they’re [...]

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The “Cripples” … or Why I Hate Wing Shooting

January 28, 2012 Birds

Yesterday evening, we were photographing Snow Geese and didn’t realize that we (along with at least 10 other photographers) had chosen a field where hunters were lying in camo. I promised myself I would wait until hunting season was over before I ventured into the wilds beyond Seattle — just as I did last year. [...]

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The Flying Wallendas … I Mean, Pijendas

January 26, 2012 Birds

I’m a sucker for pigeons. I loved them long before Hugh and I rescued a couple of lost racing pigeons, and I continue to love them long after. People who’ve never observed pigeons will marvel when they first notice how pigeons out-maneuver Peregrines in harrowing chases. These birds, whose ancestors sprang from the cliffs alongside [...]

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Tribute to a Great Heron … a Blue One

January 24, 2012 Birds

I’m one of those people who can’t even give an injured quail a ride in the car without bonding (just a little) to the outcome. Similarly, when I’m out photographing — in those cases where I frequent a location and see the same animals repeatedly — I develop a keen interest in their well-being. For [...]

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Ice Storm

January 19, 2012 Macrocosm

Macros of the ice crystals on our windows this morning. * Shot with my Panasonic FZ50 bridge camera plus a Raynox-250 snap-on macro lens. Photographed in Seattle, during the first snow storm of 2012.

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Grackles & Apples …

January 17, 2012 Birds

… and grackles foraging across Nevada, exploiting urban food scraps. One of my favorite things about visiting southern climates is the summer night chatter of grackles … the cavatina that becomes the dissonant ensemble of grackle song when huge groups of the birds roost on urban plazas. These were winter-time grackles — Great-tailed Grackles roaming [...]

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Having a Heart for Horses

January 16, 2012 Laws & Policy

In commemoration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday: “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. ” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. I’ve [...]

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The Wild Horses of Vegas

January 10, 2012 Mammals

You see signs of wild horses before you ever see horses … And, along the way, these signs … From the point where I turned off the highway north of Las Vegas and headed west into wild horse country, I drifted under the speed limit in anticipation — watching for horses on the two-lane road [...]

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No Frozen Hummingbirds, Please

January 6, 2012 Birds

In the winter of 2011, my hummingbird nectar froze into a giant lifesaver of an ice cube. I’m a Californian which means I’m used to nectar that ferments into birdie moonshine after a few days in the sun. But last year we migrated north to Seattle … at the same time Anna’s Hummingbirds decide not [...]

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Best 2011 Pics … or Favorite Pics of 2011?

December 29, 2011 Bay Area Faves

A 12/31/11 Edit: HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! Wishing you a beautiful start to 2012! Every year, for five years now, Jim Goldstein at the JMG-Galleries Blog invites photographers to participate in his “Best Photos” project. Bloggers post about their top five or ten images from that year, then send the link to Jim who compiles [...]

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Giving Birds a Fair Distance

December 11, 2011 Birds

Off-season, I regularly walk the trail loops at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. It’s one of the longer spurs of waterfront access in a city where much of the waterfront is privately held. So, when I’m feeling homesick for San Francisco Bay and the miles of open trails, I find solace at the Arboretum. In [...]

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Bird Noir

December 3, 2011 Art

There are wildlife photographers who apologize for any urban elements — like street lamps — in their bird images. I embrace those shots, for three reasons: I admire the rugged survivalists that are urban birds and wildlife. What we throw at them in the way of obstacles, pollution, windows, automobiles, poisons, traps, wires and electricity, [...]

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You Thinking What I’m Thinking?

December 2, 2011 Animal Behavior

I saw a huge group of crows scrounging for grubs and snacks in a vacant field near the Seattle waterfront. Since it was raining when I left home, I packed nothing but my rain gear and a point-and-shoot … just in case. I guess I’m hard-headed because I should have learned by now that Seattle [...]

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Fly On Sweet Angel

November 28, 2011 Gulls & Terns

Angel came down from heaven yesterday
She stayed with me just long enough to rescue me
And she told me a story yesterday,
About the sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea;

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Home is Where the Cell Tower Is

November 25, 2011 Raptors

Sequestered indoors for the rain, I’ve been sorting through my photo archives, hoping to cull my duds, once and for all. I came upon my gallery of Osprey shots … taken this summer as I checked in weekly with a local nesting couple. These two never did produce any young. But I hope to see [...]

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I’m Not a Birder … and I Also Love Canada Geese

November 19, 2011 Geese and Swans

Here’s the ‘condensed’ chronology of how I became that someone who is not a birder: Age 0 to 4: My first (and only) nanny was a German Shepherd. Also, age 0 to 4, born into a family of animal lovers and mushroom foragers. Age 5 to 13: Living as an expat in Europe, left to [...]

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