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I'll cede coverage of the Pt. Edwards eagles' nest and babies to Terry and his big honkin' 500mm telephoto lens. In turn, I will keep all of you up to date on my back porch Bewick's wrens and their nest inside my wife's decorative bird house.
Wednesday (6/26) the male captured a spider for the female sitting on the nest......
Thursday (6/27) afternoon at the Pt. Edwards walkway.
Cedar waxwing.
Black cross-bill.....
aka an evil minion of the Dark Lord with a deformed bill.
I believe this is a juvie and/or female brown-headed cow bird. If it is a juvie, it was probably "adopted" by the red-winged blackbirds which live at the retention pond.
A gull at the marsh. Nothing special about the bird other than the way its bright white feathers contrasted with the gray clouds in the distance.
My backyard Bewick's wrens continue their relentless pursuit of bugs. I am photographing two wrens. Here are shots from Friday (6/28).
The one I believe to be the male will catch a bug, then spend 10-15 minutes hopping around the yard and back deck while calling in a raspy, buzzing voice. I wonder if it is some kind of courting ritual. There are some species of birds where the male presents food to the female as part of the mating process.
Eventually he will deliver the bug to the bird house.
The one I believe to be the female just make quick trips in and out of the bird house with no dilly-dallying.
Some more from Friday. The wrens are excellent hunters. Photographing them in the afternoon is a special challenge as they hop back and forth between shadows and bright sunlight.
The sunlight is especially bright around deck and the entrance to the bird house.
I experimented with various combinations of spot metering and under exposure settings to try to keep from burning out the lighter colors on the bird.
Caspian terns hunting over Puget Sound around sunset can create interesting photos. Here is a sequence of shots from Saturday (6/29) evening of one passing by off Sunset Ave.
Love the Cedar Waxwing...dont think i have ever seen one around here... The little wrens have alot of nice juicy bugs to eat... i think that is what might come to my yard.. i will take a better look next time.. right now i have no food for the birds.. Terns must gather around the sound? lovely shots!
Sunday evening (6/30) I once again went owl hunting at Yost Park. By the time the resident barred owl pair made their appearance, it was too dark for good photos. More rationalization to purchase a 1Dx for next year's owl season.
I came across a Townsend's chipmunk on the north side of the ravine near Main St. while it was still light. Unfortunately, it was too close to photograph with my 100-400L zoom. I worked my way west down the ravine to Shell Creek and then walked back east on the boardwalk along the creek. I came across a second Townsend's chipmunk, or it may have been the first one which just went straight down the side of the ravine and crossed the creek ahead of me.
After the chipmunk departed, I ran into a female black-headed grosbeak.
As I said, it was very dark under the canopy when the owls arrived. I really need that 1Dx.
My son and I ran into a well known local birder at the marina Monday afternoon (7/1) who had just seen one of the Pt. Edwards eagles perched on the boat transfer crane by the port office. I had never seen an eagle perched there before, so we went over to check it out.
The crane is used to transfer boats between trailers and the water. The eagle was fairly close to the walkways, but was not bothered by the people.
It seemed very intent on searching the water inside the marina for fish.
After a few minutes, the eagle flew to the mast of a nearby sailboat. The takeoff shots were difficult due to the back lighting.
The eagle remained on the mast for a few minutes, then took off north, I presume to its regular perch near the ferry dock. After a few minutes it returned south to perch once again on the boat crane and repeat the cycle.
This time I was paying closer attention and caught it taking off from the mast.
It headed south along the marina towards Pt. Edwards.
Those Caspian Tern images you posted are absolutely tremendous - what a great image-making opportunity you had! And you made the most of it. Great work!
