Edited to add: Originally, I posted the location of where we hiked to see the Snowy Owls. It’s fairly common knowledge around Washington, but I suffered post-blogging pangs about revealing the location of a popular species like a Snowy Owl. After chatting with a wildlife photographer I dearly respect, I’ve decided to remove those references….
The Snowy Owls of Seattle
12/31/12: I edited this post early this morning to correct for some late-night syntactical issues. “The piercing light of her eyes is a reminder there is light upon the dark path no matter how doubtful it might be …. Owl can navigate the dark realms of the night and still sustain her nourishment; if you…
Bird Verse: Eastern Gods
They are eastern gods — they meditate. (Yes they are.) “The Owls” by Charles Baudelaire (translated by Edna St. Vincent Millay) The owls that roost in the black yew Along one limb in solemn state, And with a red eye look you through, Are eastern gods; they meditate. No feather stirs on them, not one,…
A Sneeuwuil By Any Other Name
Sneeuwuil – Dutch Le Harfang des neiges – French Sniega puce – Latvian Snøugle – Norwegian Wabagano – Cree Shirofukuro – Japanese ~ Many thanks to Paul Asimow’s Snowy Owl pages for the above excerpt. We don’t yet know if it’s an echo year for Snowy Owls (the year after an irruption), but the Bubo…
Osprey: From Pairing to Fledging
There are three Osprey nests within three miles of our place … one is a pile of branches, marine rope and police tape, layered on a new platform over Commodore Park. The platform was built after Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) removed an ages-old nest on an even older communications tower on a railroad bridge….
Heat and the Osprey Canopy
I’ve never heard as much talk about the weather as I do here in the Northwest. Most people I meet do not like the drizzle, despite the fact that it’s an integral facet of living in a marine environment. For me, when the temperature starts to hit 80, I seek basement bunkers. Heat stroke cured…
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…
Meanwhile … Back at the Cell Tower
When I last left the Cell Tower Osprey, they were in an apparent tussle over their nesting site. Photographically speaking, I chose the wrong time for this week’s visit. But, I was in the neighborhood just after dawn and figured I’d drop in for a few minutes. The only place to photograph this tower is…
Utility Pole Eagles
Back in the Bay Area, if someone had described to me a place where Bald Eagles huddled on every utility pole like pigeons or Starlings, I would have thought it must be Alaska … or somewhere along the Samuel Morse telegraph lines of the mid-1800s. I didn’t expect that just two hours north — through…
Was it Something I Said?
Spencer Island, Washington — described by Audubon Washington this way: “A cornucopia of species! Come year-round for Bald Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Northern Harriers, Belted Kingfishers – and woodpeckers: Pileated, Downy, and Hairy, plus Northern Flickers and Red-breasted Sapsuckers. Spring-summer find Tree and Violet-green Swallows, plus Ospreys, Wood Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks,…
