Wildlife of Edmonds, WA. 2018

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
It has been quite a week at the Edmonds marsh.
Monday: Wilson's phalaropes
Tuesday: Playful coyote.
Friday: Blue-winged teals
Saturday: White pelicans.

Yes, Saturday afternoon (5-19-18) a flock of white pelicans flew over Edmonds while I was at the marsh. From a distance they looked like a flock of snow geese until viewed through a telephoto lens.

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They flew over town heading north.
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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
An evil minion of the Dark Lord broke into the salmon pond at the fish hatchery. At least it won't die of thirst before figuring how to get back out.

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One of its cousins was trying to crack open a shell on a driveway on Sunset Ave. I hope it notified General Telephone before digging.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
A male will build 3-4 nests in the hope of enticing a female to pick one.

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Sometimes we can find a nest by following a male as it flies off with the cattail fuzz.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
Monday (5-21-18) I located a marsh wren nest by watching a wren as it flew off a cattail with a bill full of fuzz. The nest is located behind a marked pipe off the #1 viewing platform.
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Closeup.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have yet to get a closeup of an osprey diving for fish. Tuesday afternoon (5-23-18) one flew past me on Sunset Ave., but never made a dive in front of me. It did give me an opportunity to practice tracking with the 500L telephoto + 1.4x teleconverter.

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Terry O

Well-Known Member
Great shots of the Osprey, Bill! To get a shot of one diving this close, I think you are going to need a kayak!

Terry
 

Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
Thursday afternoon (5-24-18) my son and I set up near the jetty at Brackett's Landing North hoping to get closeups of osprey or Caspian terns diving for fish. Here are shots of terns I took with the 1Dx + 500L + 1.4x teleconverter. I got some dive shots with the 5DIII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom that I'll post up later.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
I made several attempts at photographing a dive sequence with the 5DIII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom. Here is the best of the bunch.

Diving and splashdown. Note the manner in which the tern folds its legs forward and up into its body before hitting the water head first. Osprey and eagles extend their legs out and hit the water feet first in order to grab the fish with their talons.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
Coming up with a fish. Osprey catch relatively large fish with their talons and fly to a perch to fillet them before eating. Terns catch relatively small fish with their bills and swallow them almost immediately if they are not taking the fish back to feed chicks.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
Saturday's (5-26-18) trip to the marsh yielded another lifer and another mystery bird.

A pair of spotted towhees have been hanging out around the #2 viewing platform for a month. I suspect they have a nest nearby. Their bright colors contrast nicely with the spring green of the surrounding foliage.
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A pair of northern rough-winged swallows were another "lifer" for me. The birds are not uncommon in this area, I had just never seen any before Saturday. In the past I probably mistook them for juvie or female tree or violet-green swallows, which are more common at the marsh.
Another birder ID-ed them, citing their overall brown color.

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The underside of one in flight matched the illustration in my Sibley's.
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Mystery bird. I thought it was a juvie house finch, but it lacks stripes on its breast that I have seen in photos. It also lacks the stripes and bill coloration of a juvie dark-eyed junco. My last guess would be a juvie house sparrow.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
Mystery bird update.
I posted a link to the photos on Tweeters and have received two votes for a female brown-headed cowbird. I'm sure the marsh wrens and red-winged blackbirds will not like that news. This is only the second or third time I have seen a cowbird at the marsh.
 

Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
I saw two FOY's Monday (5-26-18). A mourning dove landed on the old martin gourd holder....
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and was joined by a pair of cedar waxwings.

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I guess the dove didn't like the company.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
A violet-green swallow made about six futile attempts to fly into the #2 swallow box with a large feather.

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
I believe a pair of song sparrows has a nest near the #2 viewing platform. Tuesday (5-29-18) I caught one with an insect (Mayfly?) I suspect will be delivered to it's hatchlings.

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