Bird watching on the islands

[DeddoArts]

I just returned from a week of fun in the northern snow - a couple days on Orcas Island then down Whidby and over to Port Townsend. I had no idea the best bird watching opportunity would be while waiting for the short ferry ride over to PT - I followed a belted kinfisher, blue heron, and bald eagle around the beach. This was my first trip out with the new Pentax 55-300, and I'm so happy we got to the ferry just ahead of the big snow!

kingfisher by Deddo Arts, on Flickr

heron by Deddo Arts, on Flickr

eagle by Deddo Arts, on Flickr

 

[BrianH]

Nice bird shots! Ive never been able to get close enough to a Kingfisher to get a shot

 

[JaniceL]

The kingfisher is a challenge for me too. Well, okay so it the eagle. Now that you mention it the Heron too

 

[DeddoArts]

The heron is a bit of a story for me... when I was around 22 my husband took me down to the Oregon coast and I was incredibly excited to have seen a heron just off the road. My husband patiently spent a good hour driving back and forth along the bay so I could try to get a shot, however every time we paused long enough for me to focus, the bird took off... and would land still just off the road back the way we had just come from.

With these shots... I'd spotted the kingfisher on a section of rope holding up the "draw bridge" part of the ferry dock... I got a few shots of him there, then he flew down to the water. I was so focused (no pun intended) on the kingfisher that my husband had to come up behind me and point out the heron standing just off the rocks, closer to us than the kingfisher.

I suspect that the high traffic of the ferry dock might make these particular birds used to the noise and movement of people. It took quite a while for the heron to take flight... then he came back to his territory about 25 minutes later to scare the eagle away. (It was a fantastic site, but I was zoomed in too close to catch them both in flight in the same frame) I took about 150 shots of the 3 birds all together - TOTAL redemption for that day of driving back and forth on the Oregon coast!

In case anyone wants to know, this was the ferry dock at Fort Casey, we were waiting to cross over to Port Townsend.

 

[squirl033]

very cool! and at the ferry dock, too... who knew? kingfishers are notoriously skittish, and rarely let people within 30 yards before flying off. i've been fortunate once or twice, and have some shots of a male from about 25 feet away, but other than that, i've never gotten closer than about 25-30 yards in 3 years or more of trying!

 

[BobH]

The Herons at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge are also pretty used to people, and you can frequently get nice shots of them from fairly close by.

That said, your Heron shot is very nice, he fills the frame, the background contrasts nicely with him and he's in a natural looking setting.