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This week one of the Edmonds marsh regulars told me there was a photogenic flock of American wigeons at Mini Park in nearby Lynnwood. Wednesday (11/13) my son Daren and I drove over to check it out.
The wigeons at the marsh are difficult to photograph as they remain on the far south side. The ones at Mini Park eventually got out of the pond to feed on something on the grass. I included mallards in some of the photos for a size comparison. The wigeons don't quack, but make a rubber duckie bathtub toy sounding "bink bink."
Wow, this thread is up to 503 posts and 51 pages. Maybe I need a life outside of photographing the local wildlife. On the positive side, it keeps Terry, Daren, and me out of our local bars, out of trouble, and out of jail.
The thread has over 24,000 hits, so thanks to all (both?) of you (us?) who keep checking it. It will be interesting to see if it reaches 25,000 hits before the first of the year, when I will start a new thread for 2014. Until then, stay tuned for more photos.
Thursday (11/14) a western meadowlark visited the marsh and perched in one of the evergreen trees behind the #1 viewing platform where Wesley the hummer often sits. Unfortunately it chose a spot where intervening branches made it very difficult to focus. Others have seen meadowlarks in Edmonds, but it was a first for me.
Another bird flew in and perched on a branch near the meadowlark. At the time I did not pay much attention to it as I was trying to photograph the meadowlark. After examining my photos at home and consulting Sibley's, I believe it was an orange-crowned warbler.
Edit: Two local birders who looked at this photo replied to me that the bird may be a palm warbler, which according to Sibley's is not common for this area.
We kept hearing evil minions of the Dark Lord raising at the far southeast corner of the marsh in the trees bordering Sunset Ave./Edmonds Way. A look through my binos revealed a light-morph red-tailed hawk, probably the same one I have been seeing in the vicinity for the past week. Here is a full frame shot at 560mm (400L + 1.4x teleconverter).
Friday (11/15) as I pulled up in my driveway and got put of my pickup, I heard evil minions of the Dark Lord cawing like crazy. I looked up to see them chasing a rather ratty looking red-tailed hawk circling to my north in the vicinity of Maplewood Elementary School.
I made a brief trip to the marsh Saturday (11/16) morning for a quick photo session before the WSU game. My "focus" was on Wesley and the on-going hummer war, but I think I got some more shots of what several avid birders have told me is a palm warbler. The light was a lot better than Thursday when I took the first photos.
Note the white underside of the tail feathers.
Not a good shot, but I kept it to show the white underside of the tail feathers while the bird was in flight.
Nice shots, Bill. Christine, the Annas Hummingbirds are here year round. We have two feeders out that have to be filled every three days. We see them daily.
As a species, the Anna's worked their way up the Pacific coast from Southern California to the PNW and live here year around. The other hummingbird common to our area, the rufous, does migrate.
Some avian experts believe that our northern Anna's are evolving into a separate sub species. They are heavier and chunkier than their southern cousins due to the body surface area/mass ratio they must maintain in order to survive our colder winters.
Between Tuesday (11/19) morning's rain and the early sunset, Terry, Daren, and I squeezed in a visit to the marsh, where we ran into our birding friend Young Dave.
Green-winged teals.
Evil minions of the Dark Lord alerted us to a red-tailed hawk perched in the trees at the far east side of the marsh before they chased it off.
A resident great blue heron coming in for a landing.
There is a funny story regarding Young Dave and these northern shovelers, but what happens at the marsh stays at the marsh.
Terry and I have a standing joke that the good birds arrive after he leaves. Tuesday was no exception as Daren and I found an adult Cooper's hawk perched on a telephone pole beside the railroad tracks as we cruised the marina. This is not far from the old light tower at the west end of the Pt. Edwards walkway where I photographed one (probably the same bird) a week ago.
Like eagles and osprey, the hawk let out a poop before it took off, which signaled me to get ready for a take-off shot.
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