Raptors

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, [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Bald Eagles Wear the Pants

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 [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Home is Where the Cell Tower Is

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 [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Barring the Hat

Barring the Hat

September 4, 2011 Animal Behavior

My first wild encounter with a Barred Owl in Seattle culminated in the photo below. Based on this experience, my advice to children in raptor territory is: avoid wearing plush toy animals on your backpack as the dusk hunting hour approaches. A boy was walking along a wooded path with his mother, a fuzzy toy [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Climbing the [Salmon] Ladder to Success

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, [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for And Osprey Makes Two

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 ...]
Thumbnail image for Eagle & Crow

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 ...]
Thumbnail image for Anthropomorphizing a Caspian-Peregrine Tussle

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 ...]
Thumbnail image for No Dropped Calls

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 ...]
Thumbnail image for Bald Eagle in the Backyard

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 ...]
Thumbnail image for Dine Like an Eagle

Dine Like an Eagle

October 24, 2010 Birds

Taken during a recent visit in the Northwest. We came upon this scene on a Seattle area beach . . . a small stretch of private community beach where we have a guest pass . . . the same beach where I was shown the gate, when I wandered too far during my first stroll [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for A Merlin’s Dragonfly Day

A Merlin’s Dragonfly Day

October 16, 2010 Raptors

I expected duck photos and got a Merlin. This female used her perch to survey the mass of dragonflies below. She regularly dove then reappeared on this tree with a dragonfly in talon. The Merlin Falcon Foundation has information on Merlins of Western Washington and British Columbia, including Merlin behavioral insights and audio of their [...]

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Balde Interloper

Balde Interloper

September 27, 2010 Pacific Northwest

I was shooting in the fog — the silhouettes of crows foraging at low tide — when every bird on the beach suddenly flushed and flew into the mist …

[read the full post ...]
Thumbnail image for Through the Lens of Glenn Nevill

Through the Lens of Glenn Nevill

July 28, 2010 Bay Area Faves

A photograph’s true essence is visceral: How does it make you feel? What does the image inspire? It’s an impression that defies pixel peeping — where the mood and meaning of a photo can be crushed in a haze of digital noise, scrutinized at 100 percent.

[read the full post ...]

Ari the Falcon Fledges

May 21, 2010 Baby Animals

The San Francisco falcons growing up on a ledge at the PG&E building in San Francisco are fledging. Palladin took off a few days ago and at last report, was perched atop a nearby structure. This is recently uploaded video of another baby, Ari, taking that first leap off the ledge. You can fast forward [...]

[read the full post ...]

Patriotic Red-Tail

April 9, 2010 Raptors

I didn’t realize until I came upon this photo today, that I have a minor theme in my image archives: birds posing with flags. This is the first bird-patriot picture to creep into the Today’s Photo feature.

[see the full-size image ...]

[read the full post ...]

Sharpie . . . Probably

April 4, 2010 Raptors

I shot this image of a Sharpie or Cooper’s at Mt. Tamalpais Cemetery last week, and ran the photo by my resident expert, Bird Master. She thought it was a Sharpie, but couldn’t say with certainty in the absence of a more detailed photo.

[see the full-size photo ...]

[read the full post ...]

Why Love the Uglies?

March 12, 2010 Raptors

This photo inspired this post: I uploaded it to Flickr — where one of my favorite Flickr people had this to say: It bothers me when people call them “ugly” or something like that . . . We have to learn and to accept . . . that all the living things are ok – [...]

[read the full post ...]

Lessons of the Totem Animals

January 2, 2010 Philosophically Speaking

Years ago, I found a book on animal totems — after pulling an all-nighter with a Navajo friend who clued us in to the shamanistic roots of animal guides and animal medicine. In this Native American spiritual tradition, we each have nine totem animals who walk with us on this life path. They appear when [...]

[read the full post ...]

Red-Tail Drifting on Thermals

September 29, 2009 Raptors

A Red-tailed Hawk rises with the thermals on the western slopes of Coyote Hills Regional Park. I snapped this image on the tail end of yesterday’s hike along the marshes and pelican ponds.

Related Posts with Thumbnails

[read the full post ...]

← Previous Entries