I don’t see enough American Coots. That’s a comment you probably don’t hear much in regular conversation — or even from birdy people. The coot is not a bird that inspires viewing frenzies the way an owl does. I’ve heard some people call coots “trash birds” — a pejorative I never use for any animal,…
City Bird, Winter Light
Photographed at Union Bay Natural Area in Seattle • Olympus E-3 + Zuiko 50-200mm + EC14 I’m tracking, with my lens, a Yellow-rumped Warbler who’s bouncing around her kingdom. She stops then hops, as warblers often do. And, for a split second, she clears the branches and looks back at me, bearing the criss-cross shadows…
Dear Catfish … the Heron is Not Your Friend
This is the largest prey yet that I’ve seen a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) catch and eat in one bite. The heron was hunting around Union Bay Natural Area in Seattle when it suddenly flew off, its breast skimming the water because of the drag from a large fish. The heron landed out of…
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…
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…
Eagle & Crow
There’s no lack of courage among the black birds. (Exhibit B: the eagle/crow face off I photographed last October.) I joke that Bald Eagles in Seattle are never without a personal entourage, usually crows and gulls. In this particular altercation, a Red-winged Blackbird joined the squadron as the eagle flew over Union Bay Natural Area…
