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Earlier in the day I took some shots of a female adult kingfisher perched over Sprague Pond in Lynnwood's Mini Park.
Two kingfishers were chasing each other around the Edmonds marsh shortly before sunset. One perched on the snag and remained there for quite some time as though it were lost. Comparing it to the bird in the first two photos, I think it was a juvie that may have been chased away from the burrow by one of its parents.
Thursday (8/6) I made a rare early morning visit to the marsh to kill an hour before a dental appointment. I was rewarded for my effort by a sighting of the green heron on the far south side of the marsh.
It flew to one of the telephone poles next to the railroad tracks.
I caught a glimpse of something landing in the grass which caused quite a stir among the shore birds. I immediately looked for a predator and got some butt shots of a Copper's hawk flying back towards the bushes which line Willow Creek.
I returned to the marsh after lunch. The morning cloud layer had burned off and the bright sun made photography difficult. A birder on the #3 viewing platform pointed out two merlins perched in a tree next to Willow Creek. My shots were very poor due to the hat waves.
Back at the #2 platform I saw three evil minions of the Dark Lord chasing what appeared to be a fourth east across the marsh towards the trees that line the walkway. The attacks were quite fierce and the fourth crow was making strange sounds. I wondered what prompted these crows to behave so viciously toward one of their own.
The answer became apparent. The fourth "crow" was not a crow but a raven.
The crows were probably the ones that have juvies in that tree and were unrelenting in their attacks.
The raven was not happy about the situation either.
After much cawing from the crows and "groaking" from the raven, the raven took off northwest over town, showing its signature rear tail as it flew over me.
Ravens are not common in the urban areas of Puget Sound. I suspect that is due to the large crow population which does not welcome the presence of its larger corvid cousin.
Later that evening I returned to the marsh while my son played tennis. I had mentioned the earlier sighting of two merlins. This time I caught them perched in the trees along Willow creek during much more favorable lighting conditions. These shots were all taken with my 5DIII + 500L + 1.4x III teleconverter mounted on a tripod from a distance of about 400 yards.
The merlin on the right made a short flight over the marsh and returned to the tree while the one on the left remained perched.
As Paul Harvey would say, "And now for the rest of the story."
I was only tracking and photographing the merlin on the right side of the photos. I did not even see the merlin perched on the branch on the left side of the tree until after I downloaded the photos to my computer and began editing them.
I have not seen Wesley, the male Anna's hummingbird who guards the #1 viewing platform at the marsh, in quite some time. Friday (8/7) I photographed what looked like a young male perching near Wesley's usual spots. At times it was sparring with another hummer. I was experimenting with the autofocus of my 7DII and failed to get any good shots of that action.
I did get some photos of the young male hunting bugs by the tall evergreen next to the boardwalk.
Sandpipers continue to visit the marsh during the fall migration. Most appear to be western or least sandpipers, our smallest. The easiest ID feature is the color of their legs: westerns have black legs, leasts' legs are yellow. Unfortunately, their legs are not always visible and wading in the mudflats of the marsh at low tide turns everyone's legs black.
A group of sandpipers was swarming, which gave me an opportunity to try some flight shots with my 7DII.
Sandpipers will swarm when startled by a predator. A birder with binos spotted one of the marsh merlins perched in a tree above Willow Creek on the south side of the marsh. This is where we have been seeing the merlins perch after they make a flight over the cattails looking for dragonflies.
A flock of bushtits flew into the marsh Sunday afternoon (8/9), flying back and forth between the cattails and the evergreens on opposite sides of the boardwalk.
Male bushtits have black eyes. The eyes of the females are a spooky pale yellow.
Something in the bullrushes interested them as well.
A black-capped chickadee was not letting the bushtits monopolize the show.
Earlier this summer on two separate occasions I photographed a Cooper's hawk following another raptor as it circled over town. Someone suggested the hawk may have a nest and babies nearby. I had heard of sightings of Cooper's hawks flying around City Park, so Monday (8/10) Daren and I checked out the park.
We were only out of the car a few minutes when we heard the characteristic screaming of juvie Cooper's hawks. The fledglings are at that stage when they call to each other and chase each other around their nesting territory. We saw two hawks and I got photos of one.
I walked back to the fishing dock where I caught a glimpse of something flying toward the pond. It vaguely resembled a green heron, so I walked back to the pond. Knowing how skittish green herons can be, I prepared myself for sudden grab shots.
The heron suddenly flew from the pond southwest towards the houses.
It made a dive somewhere near the shore of the lake.
An osprey on patrol over the lake. Probably one from the cell phone tower nest about a mile south near I-5.
The red-tailed hawk picked up a Copper's hawk "tail."
One of the marsh merlins was out hunting Wednesday (8/12) afternoon. It was perched on its usual spot, atop one of the dead tees nest to Willow Creek. A great blue heron was perched a little lower on the tree. All photos were taken with my 5DIII + 500L telephoto lens + 1.4x teleconverter. All but the first one are heavily cropped.
Spot the merlin?
Close cropping.
The merlin would perch for a few minutes, take off on a hunting foray, then return.
It is very hard tracking such a small, fast bird flying across the marsh with a 500L telephoto lens + 1.4x teleconverter, even if it is mounted on a good tripod.
The best chance of getting flight shots is to focus on the merlin perched on the tree, then shoot just as it takes off. Start shooting when the merlin stands up on its legs and starts bobbing up and down just prior to take off.
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