Birds

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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Thumbnail image for The Flying Wallendas … I Mean, Pijendas

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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Thumbnail image for Tribute to a Great Heron … a Blue One

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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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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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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The Turkeys I’ve [Almost] Known

November 18, 2011 Animal Behavior

This post is a tribute to the wild turkeys who walk among us. Every year, Hugh and I Adopt a Turkey from Farm Sanctuary. And every year, I try to somehow commemorate the awesomeness of the wild turkeys I’ve been privileged to be among and photograph. The timing of this new episode from Nature on [...]

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Add a Voice to the Refuge Stamp Discussion

November 12, 2011 Birds

There’s a great comment thread happening over at 10,000 Birds where Mike was kind enough to cross-link to my recent posts here on Non-Hunters and Wildlife Refuges. The 10,000 Birds site is an awesome place — a repository for all things bird and birding. It’s one of my regular stops for bird news and commentary, [...]

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The Halloween Raven

October 31, 2011 Art

When I photographed this Common Raven, wind surfing off Ocean Beach in San Francisco, I didn’t realize that new life would continually germinate from this one photo … through my Creative Commons license and into the public domain by way of sketches, artwork composites and collages. I’m always delighted when an image I’ve licensed under [...]

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Derelict Nets & Entangled Birds

October 19, 2011 Bay Flotsam

Note: All gulls pictured in this post, and other trapped birds were freed from the netting. Follow Up on 10/21/11: I phoned today and learned that an official went out to this net, confirmed what we saw in terms of bird entanglement, and holes in the net have apparently been fixed as a temporary measure, [...]

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Pelagic Family, On the Rocks

October 10, 2011 Baby Animals

We passed this Pelagic Cormorant family (Phalacrocorax pelagicus) on one of the few isolated nesting spots near Vancouver Island (British Columbia). We were told that in the 1990s, rampant shoreline development eliminated important habitat for the cormorants. This rock island was one of a few ecological reserves the B.C. government set aside for the cormorants’ [...]

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