Birds

Climbing the [Salmon] Ladder to Success

August 10, 2011 Birds

Images taken at Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, aka Ballard Locks, in Seattle Washington. Summer means salmon runs at the Ballard Locks fish ladder . . . twenty-one watery steps from Puget Sound, to the ship canal, to the fresh water spawning grounds where the returning salmon were born. Salmon are a miracle of navigational skills, [...]

Things I’d Never Seen ….

July 30, 2011 Animal Behavior

As little as I’ve been out in the field with my camera lately (relative to how it used to be), I’ve had a disproportionate number of firsts in terms of wildlife viewings. Some of it is my change of environment and the newness of Seattle and its wild offspring. And some of it is, well [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Quark in Flux …

July 26, 2011 Birds

I was surprised and dismayed when I saw that my last post to the Quark was on July 6. I’ve always told my friends that the condition of my home seems to mirror the condition of my life and my psyche. And, it appears the condition of my blog suggests the same. Since relocating to [...]

[read the full post ...] 3 comments

And Osprey Makes Two

July 6, 2011 Animal Behavior

So far, that’s all I’ve seen at this nesting site . . . two diligent Osprey, bringing each other fish and taking turns sitting. The structure of the cell phone tower obscures the interior of the nest, so I see only what happens on the rafters outside. To date, it’s been just a male and [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Eagle & Crow

June 21, 2011 Animal Behavior

There’s no lack of courage among the black birds. (Exhibit B: the eagle/crow face off I photographed last October.) I joke that Bald Eagles in Seattle are never without a personal entourage, usually crows and gulls. In this particular altercation, a Red-winged Blackbird joined the squadron as the eagle flew over Union Bay Natural Area [...]

[read the full post ...] 4 comments

Cleaning House

June 10, 2011 Animal Behavior

Much-maligned but still loved by me, a European Starling makes the drop: grubs for breakfast, in the door; baby droppings out the door. The parent carries the nestlings’ waste out through the portal, drops it in the shrubs nearby, then forages again in the grass for the babies’ next meal of insects. Because Starlings, en [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

The Turns of Terns

June 6, 2011 Animal Behavior

I’ve described terns, with their distinct calls, as aerial barflies with too much whiskey and smoke on the voice box. Each tern is raspy in its own way, and Caspian Terns have a sharp croak that pierces the air over my balcony. They’re huddled on a warehouse rooftop one minute, hundreds of them, blurred by [...]

[read the full post ...] 3 comments

Anthropomorphizing a Caspian-Peregrine Tussle

June 3, 2011 Gulls & Terns

I’ve been grabbing Seattle’s ever-so-fleeting sun breaks to photograph a group of Caspian Terns who fish every evening on Puget Sound. I’ll post those shots soon. As I was packing up my tripod tonight, I saw the telltale movement and wing shape of a Peregrine overhead. She was riding the thermals up and out of [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

The One I Couldn’t Help

May 16, 2011 Bay Flotsam

It was one of those precious sunny days in the midst of Seattle downpours. A Flickr friend of mine told me about a tugboat race on Elliott Bay, so I thought I’d walk the Terminal 91 bike path to the water. The “path” is an industrial slog — a cement slough leading to Puget Sound, [...]

[read the full post ...] 3 comments

No Dropped Calls

May 11, 2011 Animal Behavior

This Osprey doesn’t have to worry about mobile phone dead zones at home — nesting, as he is, at the top of a cell tower. Osprey love the tall platforms of human invention, but the settings can take their toll, too — in the form of power outages, or even electrical harm to the birds. [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Under a Watchful Eye

May 8, 2011 Baby Animals

Happy Mother’s Day! Canada Goose parent and goslings, photographed at Lake Union in Seattle, Washington.

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Kingfisher of the New Wave

April 3, 2011 Birds

photos ©ingridtaylar – email me for permissions Big-haired, 80s-style, Belted Kingfisher — on a windy day in Des Moines, Washington. Kingfishers are famously elusive when they see a lens pointed at them. This girl had good fishing prospects at the Des Moines Marina, so she put up with me for the sake of her prime [...]

[read the full post ...] 1 comment

Les Mouettes Aimes Les Petits Pains

March 31, 2011 Birds

photos ©ingridtaylar – email me for permissions mouette = from Middle French mouette = from Old French moette = diminutive of Old French maoe (Anglo-Norman mave, mauve) = from Old English mǣw (“seagull”) = from Proto-Germanic *maihwaz, *maiwaz (“seagull”) Someone challenged these gulls with leftovers from the patisserie. If a gull can swallow a starfish, [...]

[read the full post ...] 1 comment

Anatomy of a Cormorant Landing

March 25, 2011 Animal Behavior

Double-crested Cormorant – Phalacrocorax auritus. Photographed with my Olympus E-3 and Zuiko 70-300mm. The birds were silhouetted in late afternoon light, high ISO 1000, some post-processing NR to compensate for the darker conditions.. I shot this series along the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle. If you’ve watched Double-crested Cormorants [literally] coming home to roost, [...]

[read the full post ...] 9 comments

A Great Blue Yawn

March 23, 2011 Herons and Egrets

I watched this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) preening and relaxing for a half hour or so. At the very end of our “visit,” he yawned and held the pose for just a few seconds. I snapped this shot. A bird yawn always takes me back to the chaotic year of looking after two rescued [...]

[read the full post ...] 3 comments

The Maw

March 12, 2011 Gulls & Terns

Two of a huge group of gulls, collecting on a duck pond during a fierce, Seattle wind storm.

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Bald Eagle in the Backyard

March 8, 2011 Raptors

This is a huge bonus of living in Seattle: the urban and suburban wildlife includes a multitude of Bald Eagles. This morning, Hugh went into our friends’ garden to fill up their bird feeder — a chore we both kind of enjoy. A huge contingent of birds descends right when our boots leave the scene [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Dating, Bufflehead Style

March 7, 2011 Animal Behavior

I wish I’d been closer than the far reach of my lens, struggling for focus in the thick of weather. I snapped these from the shore, capturing the distant dynamics of a Bufflehead courtship ritual. Two males were vying for the one female pictured here.

[read the full post ...] 1 comment

I Preen, Therefore I Am

March 5, 2011 Animal Behavior

If you know birds, you know that preening isn’t cosmetic fluff. It’s a meticulous cleaning and placement of the bird’s survival gear: feathers. Feathers need to be pristine for flight and for insulation. During oil spills, the analogy used about feathers is that a spot of oil on a bird’s plumage is like a hole [...]

[read the full post ...] 2 comments

Crow in Snow

February 28, 2011 Corvids

The above American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) was standing behind a short wall with snow on top — and he had a backdrop of snow which created the effect of this portrait. Crow flying against a background of snow-covered trees — and kicking snow off her feet as she takes off. This pair of crows was [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Eagle En Route . . .

February 23, 2011 Ducks and Others

. . . it’s a Seattle thing. First alert — a look overhead and warning calls: American Wigeon first responders leave lone Eurasian Wigeon to contemplate his next move: And he’s off: Safety in numbers: The instigator comes into view: The juvenile Bald Eagle shows little interest in the ducks, catches the thermals, and whirls [...]

[read the full post ...] 1 comment

Wigeon Report

February 15, 2011 Ducks and Others

I went to the local duck pond to follow up on the American Wigeon flock that took residence there in the late fall. The one Eurasian Wigeon in the flock is still among them . . . I’m not sure if he has a mate. There were several obvious couplings in the group, with pairs [...]

[read the full post ...] 3 comments

Flight of the Snow Geese

February 3, 2011 Birds

Snow Goose – Chen caerulescens Hugh and I waited until the end of duck hunting season to drive into Skagit Valley’s Fir Island. We were hoping to find one of the massive flocks of Snow Geese who winter around the island after a long migration south. When hunting season ends in late January, there’s a [...]

[read the full post ...] 3 comments

In the Reed Dome

January 29, 2011 Herons and Egrets

I saw this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), submerged to the top of its legs, an immersion I haven’t seen often among herons and egrets. Shortly after I snapped the photo, an unlucky fish made a splash in the cattails, and the heron whipped around and disappeared into the camo of the reeds.

[read the full post ...] 2 comments

Great Blue, Great Light

January 22, 2011 Herons and Egrets

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in Seattle, Washington. I shot these photos today at Normandy Park Cove, a semi-private beach and enclave where we have temporary access. We’ve seen this heron on multiple occasions, fishing in the creek, foraging through the cattails in the duck pond, perched in the perimeter of Madrone trees. But this [...]

[read the full post ...] 1 comment

Watch for Towhees, Flying Low

January 17, 2011 Birds

Spotted Towhees were the elusive ground foragers I never saw enough of in the Bay Area. I’d catch a glimpse as they scuttled under the scrub. Or, occasionally, snapped a photo of one heralding the morning light in the thickets of Tilden Park. My best Spotted Towhee sighting was the trusting bird who let me [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Gull of the Revolution

January 15, 2011 Gulls & Terns

Shot at the Seattle waterfront, framed by steam from Seattle Steam. Converted to B&W/sepia in Nik’s Silver Efex Pro.

[read the full post ...] 2 comments

A Bird Called Hummingway

January 14, 2011 Birds

He was christened Mr. Hummingway by a dear friend who likes birds but is ambivalent about interaction with birds. She had formative experiences that made her view birds as flapping missiles who get tangled in your hair, dive bomb you, or suddenly ditch into the open window of your moving car on a freeway. Those [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Mainmastmen

January 7, 2011 Cormorants

Double-crested Cormorants, with their totipalmate feet, gripping the ropes of a mast at Lake Union’s Center for Wooden Boats.

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

Diversifying into SEATTLEOGRAPHY

January 1, 2011 Birds

I launched my new Seattle daily photo blog today — SEATTLEOGRAPHY. Wildness and wild things are forever the passion of my existence, and they are my favorite subjects in front of the lens. But, the urban and urbane form my worldview, too. So, SEATTLEOGRAPHY will be a daily photo exploration of Seattle and vicinity — [...]

[read the full post ...] 0 comments

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →

May 2012
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Apr
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Birds

The Case For a Wildlife Watchers ‘Duck Stamp’

Member of:

Recent Comments:

Subscribe by Email

Search the Quark

About the Free Quark

Categories

Quark Archives

My Flickr Pics

Recently in the Blog …

Tag Cloud