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, [...]

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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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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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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. [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 …

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Candid Falcon-Cam in San Francisco

May 4, 2009 Baby Animals

If you tune into UCSC’s Peregrine Nest Cam while the youngsters are stumbling over themselves, it might be tough to connect these awkward chicks to their agile parents — who happen to be the fastest birds in the skies. Peregrine Falcons are also the speediest creatures on the planet. Their stoop (diving) speeds can exceed [...]

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Bird and Windmill Collisions at Altamont

December 3, 2008 Raptors

One of the tragic patients we get at the wildlife hospital where I volunteer is raptors such as hawks, who’ve suffered an encounter with a windmill. Unlike Quixote’s imaginary foes, the windmills through Altamont Pass present a viable lethal threat to wildlife of the area. In fact, Altamont Pass has the highest bird kill rate [...]

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