Wildlife of Edmonds, WA.
- Thread starter Bill Anderson
- Start date
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Terry is the best company to have on bird photo shoots. If the avian action is slow, we pretend he is leaving in order to trick the birds into coming out. I say "Good-bye Terry, see you tomorrow" in a very loud voice. Terry walks toward his car, then sneaks back to where we have been shooting, hoping the birds didn't see him.
Hey whatever works LOL.
The birds suspect something is amiss when Terry doesn't take his 500L telescopic lens + camera & tripod back to the car with him.
People at the marsh and marina see my large white Canon 100-400L zoom lens and ask if I am a professional photographer. I reply that I have the best of both worlds: a professional's expen$e$ and an amateur's income.
I should demand a retainer by the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce. After I post up seeing an interesting/unusual bird at the marsh or marina on Tweeters, a regional bird watcher's internet forum, many people come down the following week to look for that bird.
They say they are there in response to "Bill Anderson's" post and/or will ask me if I am Bill Anderson. I don't know if this has elevated me to the status of a local cult celebrity.....
or a local eccentric.
We have many of the latter.
I gave you a call, but apparently you have a life outside of photographing birds?
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Well, I guess if I ever go north, I know who I won't go shooting with.
Terry is the best company to have on bird photo shoots. If the avian action is slow, we pretend he is leaving in order to trick the birds into coming out. I say "Good-bye Terry, see you tomorrow" in a very loud voice. Terry walks toward his car, then sneaks back to where we have been shooting, hoping the birds didn't see him.
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Terry is the best company to have on bird photo shoots. If the avian action is slow, we pretend he is leaving in order to trick the birds into coming out. I say "Good-bye Terry, see you tomorrow" in a very loud voice. Terry walks toward his car, then sneaks back to where we have been shooting, hoping the birds didn't see him.
Hey whatever works LOL.
Hey whatever works LOL.
The birds suspect something is amiss when Terry doesn't take his 500L telescopic lens + camera & tripod back to the car with him.
People at the marsh and marina see my large white Canon 100-400L zoom lens and ask if I am a professional photographer. I reply that I have the best of both worlds: a professional's expen$e$ and an amateur's income.
I should demand a retainer by the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce. After I post up seeing an interesting/unusual bird at the marsh or marina on Tweeters, a regional bird watcher's internet forum, many people come down the following week to look for that bird.
They say they are there in response to "Bill Anderson's" post and/or will ask me if I am Bill Anderson. I don't know if this has elevated me to the status of a local cult celebrity
.....or a local eccentric
. We have many of the latter.
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Daren and I got outside Wednesday (11/20) in time to hit the marsh about 3:30pm, less than an hour before sunset at my latitude. Nothing was happening there, so we went over to Marina Beach to photograph what was shaping up to be a pretty sunset.
http://www.pnwphotos.com/forum/showthread.php?7935-Sunsets-of-Edmonds-WA/page5
One of the Pt. Edwards eagles was perched on the sole remaining piling of the old oil pier. I had the 5D Mk III in HDR mode + 17-35L wide angle zoom mounted on a tripod for sunset shots, so I took these with the 7D/100-400L. The eagle posed for a few minutes, then took off over the Sound.
It made a 180* turn out in the Sound and flew back over our heads, buzzed the Pt. Edwards condos, then flew up over the condos and headed south. The setting sun added an orange tint to the eagle's white feathers.
It must be wonderful to be an eagle: you are a protected species at the top of the food chain and you get to make these wonderful, literal flights of fancy.
http://www.pnwphotos.com/forum/showthread.php?7935-Sunsets-of-Edmonds-WA/page5
One of the Pt. Edwards eagles was perched on the sole remaining piling of the old oil pier. I had the 5D Mk III in HDR mode + 17-35L wide angle zoom mounted on a tripod for sunset shots, so I took these with the 7D/100-400L. The eagle posed for a few minutes, then took off over the Sound.
It made a 180* turn out in the Sound and flew back over our heads, buzzed the Pt. Edwards condos, then flew up over the condos and headed south. The setting sun added an orange tint to the eagle's white feathers.
It must be wonderful to be an eagle: you are a protected species at the top of the food chain and you get to make these wonderful, literal flights of fancy.
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Nice lighting and good shots, Bill. I should'a been there
I gave you a call, but apparently you have a life outside of photographing birds?
Thursday (11/21) I sneaked in an hour at the marsh while my son was working out at the gym. Two others (one with a 5D Mk III/500L + teleconverter) were there looking for the palm warbler. The Chamber of Commerce owes me $$$. Every time I report seeing an unusual bird at the marsh, birders "flock" into town for the next week to look for it. Someone even posted up their shot on a local e-newsletter, to which I responded with a link to my photos on this site. Check it out here: http://myedmondsnews.com/2013/11/scene-edmonds-palm-warbler/
My theory is that the local red-winged black birds do not migrate, but just lay low in the marsh for the winter. Thursday may have proved my point when I caught a male that had come out of hiding and perched on a tree across the parking lot. This is one of the trees where we photographed the red cross-bills this past winter.
No hummer fights at the #1 viewing platform, but one of the combatants was out looking for bugs.
Back at the ranch, a female hummer showed why I have not seen any activity at my hummer feeders this summer and fall. Why bother swilling sugar water when you can sip nectar?
These photos show the difficulty the late fall and early winter sunlight can present when photographing birds. The low angle of the light can blow out white or light colored birds. I had to use a bit of post processing to keep the hummer from being completely over exposed. I must get in the habit of shooting at - exposure compensation under these lighting conditions.
My theory is that the local red-winged black birds do not migrate, but just lay low in the marsh for the winter. Thursday may have proved my point when I caught a male that had come out of hiding and perched on a tree across the parking lot. This is one of the trees where we photographed the red cross-bills this past winter.
No hummer fights at the #1 viewing platform, but one of the combatants was out looking for bugs.
Back at the ranch, a female hummer showed why I have not seen any activity at my hummer feeders this summer and fall. Why bother swilling sugar water when you can sip nectar?
These photos show the difficulty the late fall and early winter sunlight can present when photographing birds. The low angle of the light can blow out white or light colored birds. I had to use a bit of post processing to keep the hummer from being completely over exposed. I must get in the habit of shooting at - exposure compensation under these lighting conditions.
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Friday morning (11/22) my son and I sneaked in an hour or so at the marsh. Nothing spectacular, but I wanted to work on improving my low winter sunlight shooting techniques.
Black-capped chickadee.
Bushtit, one of a small flock which landed on the tree.
Look closely at the chickadee's bill and you can see the larva which it dug out of the cattail head.
Song sparrow.
A couple of marsh wrens were prowling about in the reeds and grass.
Black-capped chickadee.
Bushtit, one of a small flock which landed on the tree.
Look closely at the chickadee's bill and you can see the larva which it dug out of the cattail head.
Song sparrow.
A couple of marsh wrens were prowling about in the reeds and grass.
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From the marsh my son and I noticed a large bird perched on the Pt. Edwards eagles' family tree at the top of Pine St. We drove up there and found one of the Pt. Edwards adult bald eagles grooming itself.
I believe it was the male based on the presence of a forehead. The female, with her larger, higher beak, has no rounded forehead but just a straight slope from the top of her head down to her beak.
The low angle sunlight can wash out the eagle's bright white head and tail feathers. My shots appeared OK in the camera's viewing screen, but the white feathers in many of them were over-exposed when viewed on my computer screen at home. Next time out I may try using a circular polarizing filter.
I believe it was the male based on the presence of a forehead. The female, with her larger, higher beak, has no rounded forehead but just a straight slope from the top of her head down to her beak.
The low angle sunlight can wash out the eagle's bright white head and tail feathers. My shots appeared OK in the camera's viewing screen, but the white feathers in many of them were over-exposed when viewed on my computer screen at home. Next time out I may try using a circular polarizing filter.
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I wasn't fast enough Friday night to get a photo of an opossum that was getting into something on our back deck.
Terry and I got together Tuesday (11/26) morning while my son Daren was at the gym. Nothing was going on at the marsh, so we went to the fish hatchery. Quite often small birds will be in the trees and bushes at the top of the driveway. Tuesday's small birds included a yellow-rumped warbler,
and my nemesis bird, the ruby-crowned kinglet.
The clouds had rolled in by the time Daren and I visited Yost Park in the late afternoon. No owl sightings, but while tracking down the source of a woodpecker's drumming on the south side of the ravine, we saw a small flock of 3-4 varied thrush. By now it was getting dark, but I got a halfway decent, albiet high ISO, shot of one of them.
The varied thrush is very pretty, but good photos are difficult to take as it is a real low down bird: it is only present in the lowlands in the low light seasons of late fall-early spring and like many thrush species, it prefers to remain low to the ground in thick foliage.
The "drumming"sound we heard was a pileated woodpecker pounding on a tree near the thrush. I did not get a good shot of it, but I got a shot of a second one on top of a spar down in the ravine to the north.
Shortly before sunset I set up on the woodpecker's hollow. I heard it calling and like clockwork, it landed on the tree.
Shortly thereafter it went into the upper hole. I could still hear the second pileated woodpecker calling, so I waited to see if it would fly into the same hole. Eventually it made the calls that the pileateds make before they pop into their hollows for the night and I heard no more calls. Ergo, the two do not share the same hollow.
and my nemesis bird, the ruby-crowned kinglet.
The clouds had rolled in by the time Daren and I visited Yost Park in the late afternoon. No owl sightings, but while tracking down the source of a woodpecker's drumming on the south side of the ravine, we saw a small flock of 3-4 varied thrush. By now it was getting dark, but I got a halfway decent, albiet high ISO, shot of one of them.
The varied thrush is very pretty, but good photos are difficult to take as it is a real low down bird: it is only present in the lowlands in the low light seasons of late fall-early spring and like many thrush species, it prefers to remain low to the ground in thick foliage.
The "drumming"sound we heard was a pileated woodpecker pounding on a tree near the thrush. I did not get a good shot of it, but I got a shot of a second one on top of a spar down in the ravine to the north.
Shortly before sunset I set up on the woodpecker's hollow. I heard it calling and like clockwork, it landed on the tree.
Shortly thereafter it went into the upper hole. I could still hear the second pileated woodpecker calling, so I waited to see if it would fly into the same hole. Eventually it made the calls that the pileateds make before they pop into their hollows for the night and I heard no more calls. Ergo, the two do not share the same hollow.
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Terry O
Well-Known Member
Red-tailed Hawk and Townsend's Warbler shots from Nov. 26 outing with Bill Anderson
So glad you caught that Pileated, Bill...nice that it/they give vocal announcements of their pending arrival.
Here's four shots I got when you and I were at the Hatchery. All with the Canon 40D and 400mm f5.6L
The Red-tailed hawk that was circling over by the raptor tree - I was lucky there was just enough of an opening to capture it.
Three shots of the Townsend's Warbler. Looks like he just got out of the shower
So glad you caught that Pileated, Bill...nice that it/they give vocal announcements of their pending arrival.
Here's four shots I got when you and I were at the Hatchery. All with the Canon 40D and 400mm f5.6L
The Red-tailed hawk that was circling over by the raptor tree - I was lucky there was just enough of an opening to capture it.
Three shots of the Townsend's Warbler. Looks like he just got out of the shower
Good shots. Maybe the first time we stood side by side and did not end up photographing the same birds. I probably saw the same hawk getting buzzed by a crow while perched in a tree in the marsh on the east side of Sunset Ave. after I left the fish hatchery to pick up Daren.
Hummingbirds were the only action Wednesday (11/27) at the marsh. There were at least two and possibly as many as six hummers chasing each other.
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