I love seeing signs like this … Two such signs were posted at Point Robinson Lighthouse on Vashon Island in Washington, one of the few public-access beaches in the area. It’s the same spot where I photographed the large flock of Brant Geese foraging along the shoreline earlier this year. On a crystal day, this…
The Benefits of Anthropomorphism
If you work with or care about animals, the nonhuman ones, eventually, someone will say something like, “shouldn’t you care more about what happens to people?” That question doesn’t faze me anymore. Given our predominantly anthropocentric world view, I’d actually be surprised if people didn’t ask it. I have plenty of answers for why it’s…
A Closer Look … for Birds in Trouble
This post contains one image of a long-deceased gull, just FYI. You’d think I would have learned my lesson last year, with the dead gull I found wrapped around a deterrent wire on a nearby warehouse … or the gulls we untangled last fall from a fish-pen net. But, in fairness, this location was difficult…
How Do You Feel About Wing Tags?
Edited 4/4/12 to add: I got a note from the biologist associated with this study, who gave me some background on the hawk pictured here. It’s a juvenile female who was tagged last August 2011 at SeaTac Airport. She — along with the other hawks who are trapped and tagged — was taken up to…
Staging “Nature” Shots
A friend of mine recommended 500px as an alternative to Flickr. Between Flickr, Facebook, Linked In and my inactive Twitter account, I’m maxed out on social networking, something I’ve never been all that hot on, anyway. But, I meandered over to 500px because the interface is supposedly beautiful, and the community gets rave reviews. The…
If You Build It, the Eagles Will Come
We barely saw this sub-adult Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), hunkered down and camouflaged, in a tree above the trail at Union Bay Natural Area. I shot a few frames right before the sun fell below Husky Stadium to the south. At full extension, the eagle was still quite small in the frame, and the aggressive…
Snowy Owls, Boundary Bay & Rethinking My Own Motivations
Snow Owls on driftwood, shot from the dike trail at Boundary Bay – ©ingridtaylar – Click for Larger Image My only intent in visiting Boundary Bay was to get a glimpse of Snowy Owls. I’ve never seen them in the wild, and although I brought my camera, I didn’t expect to be close enough to…
First … Signs of Snowies
Boundary Bay, British Columbia Edited to add (2/17/12): Since I posted this, I’ve had animated discussions with photographers who disagree with my stance on this owl/space/ethics issue. They’ve told me it’s acceptable for photographers to be out in the marshes, as long as they don’t flush the owls. I wanted to find out what the…
Wildlife Photography Ethics Matter
Edited to Add (2/12/2012): This was posted to the local birding list today, about the situation at Boundary Bay where the video below was shot: About 4:30pm a woman from [a rehabilitation society] up the road was seen walking out to the various groups and very kindly asking them to retreat back to the dike….
Giving Birds a Fair Distance
Off-season, I regularly walk the trail loops at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. It’s one of the longer spurs of waterfront access in a city. So, when I’m feeling homesick for San Francisco Bay and the miles of open trails, I find solace at the Arboretum. In the summer, the human and boat traffic can…
