Wildlife of Edmonds, WA.

[Bill Anderson]

Sunday evening (7/14) about six least sandpipers showed up at the marsh.

This one was in the mudflat closest to the boardwalk.




It flew to the mudflat a little farther away.


One of the Pt. Edwards eagles had been perching on the piling near the ferry dock. When it took off, it drew its usual gulltourage.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Friday (7/19) saw more than the usual avian suspects at the marsh.

A fairly large garter snake was sunning itself on the walkway by the tennis courts. Although they are common at the marsh, it was the first one I have seen this year.


A coyote was on the far side of the marsh.






If it is the same one I have seen two other times this year, the hair on its bald tail is growing out.


Later I heard of another deer sighting in the area by a reliable individual.

 

[Bill Anderson]

A fellow Edmonds eagles spotter reported that the Hutt Park pair has had two babies. My son and I went over to investigate. We could hear the babies, but saw only one adult perched on another tree while getting harassed by crows.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Saturday (7/20) Terry, Daren, and I made the usual rounds of Yost Park looking for the usual suspects.

A marginal photo of my nemesis bird, the golden-crowned kinglet.


The alarm cries of the robins led us to one of the park's barred owls.


I could tell the owl had enough of the robins and was ready to depart....


but the silent rapid fire burst mode of my camera was not fast enough to catch the take off. I did get a funny shot of a robin in hot pursuit.


A Swainson's thrush by the parking lot had a bill full of bugs.

 

[Terry O]

Fun shots, Bill. Great afternoon.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Some shots from Sunday (7/21).

While the female of the Hutt Park bald eagle pair likes to remain in a sentry tree near the nest, I caught the male in one of the fir trees at the end of Melody Lane. The Hutt Park pair likes to perch in this grove to keep an eye on the Shell Creek spit.


Meanwhile, a flycatcher was perched at the very top of the tall tree next to the nest tree of the Pt. Edwards pair of bald eagles.



Near sunset I caught an osprey resting in a tree on Daley St. just east of 7th Ave.


After sunset I saw another osprey fishing off Sunset Ave.


I believe this is the same osprey I have photographed the past three years as evidenced by its injured leg. It uses only one foot to catch and carry fish back to its nest, which I think is the one atop the cell phone tower on 205th St. next to I-5.

 

[Terry O]

I'm waiting to see those fledglings at Hutt Park.

 

[Bill Anderson]

I'm waiting to see those fledglings at Hutt Park.

Friday afternoon (7/26) my son Daren and I went to Hutt Park to look for the fledglings. We found the tree by tracking the mother making a meal delivery, but this was the best shot I could get of one of the babies from inside the park.


After a quick delivery, the mother retired to the sentry tree. I don't know if she was drying off or cooling off.


Daren and I walked the streets adjacent the park looking for a better view of the nest. I must have joined the ranks of our local "celebrities" as a woman walking her dog asked if I were "Bill the Bird Guy." She may have been the woman I had heard discovered my photos of the eagles by Googling "Hutt Park." She introduced me to a neighbor whose back yard had a view of the nest and the fledglings.


It was very warm and one of the babies appeared to be panting to keep cool.

 

[Terry O]

Great sleuthing, Bill!

 

[Bill Anderson]

Saturday evening (7/27) my son and I drove down to Sunset Ave. to check out the (what else?) sunset. A crowd gathering around the corner of Sunset Ave. & Edmonds St. and looking skyward can mean only thing: an eagle is perched in the tree of the house on the corner. Cars and pedestrians were stopping in the middle of the street, so much so that I thought there were going to be rear end collisions or someone would get run over.

7D + 100-400L zoom


The tree is lower than most that the eagles perch on and even cell phone cameras, which everyone except me carries, can get good shots.


The eagle would entertain the crowd below by screeching at harassing gulls.






I think the eagle was a female due to her high beak, which results in very little forehead compared to the male. I had to shoot at minus exposure compensations and make some post production color adjustments as the the sun was setting, which produces that harsh orange light which Terry hates.

Continued on next page.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Although I have seen eagles perch in the tree on Edmonds St. before, it is not very often that they do so. I wondered if the Pt. Edwards fledglings might be nearby and if this was their mother accompanying them on a longer test flight. A search of the trees in the area revealed another adult farther north in one of the remaining tall firs on Hanna Park Rd. off Caspers St. at the end of Sunset Ave. There used to be a nice set of firs on Hanna Park Rd. where the eagles regularly perched until the property owner clear cut the property and razed the old house to build an ugly trophy home.

My son and I walked north to photograph the second adult, which I thought might be the mate of the one in the tree on Edmonds St. The sun had already set by the time we got near the tree, so I swapped cameras. While the 5D Mk III does not have the reach of the 7D, it can handle the high ISO settings I knew I would be dealing with better than the 7D.

5D Mk III + 100-400L zoom




It took off shortly after we arrived.






Conclusions: I think both eagles were females. I believe the one on Hanna Park Rd. was one of the Hutt Park pair as it took off in the direction of Hutt Park. The eagle perched at the corner of Sunset Ave. & Edmonds St. had already taken off by the time we returned. One of the people photographing it said that it had headed towards the marsh, which leads me to believe it was the Pt. Edwards female.

 

[Terry O]

Cool that you were there, Bill!

 

[Bill Anderson]

Regular readers of this thread (yes, both of you ) may recall that last fall and winter, Terry and I were photographing "Junior", a juvenile Cooper's hawk that frequented the waterfront, marsh, and Pt. Edwards. I had not seen Junior in quite some time, but my son and I may have (almost) run into him (quite literally) Monday afternoon (8/5) up on Pt. Edwards.

As I was driving up Pine St. on Pt. Edwards, a juvie Cooper's hawk flew directly in front of my pickup and landed on a wire by the street. Fortunately there were no cars behind me, so pulled over as best I could and took some shots from out the window of my '94 F-150 pickup.


I turned around, drove back down Pine St., and parked the pickup. As soon as I got out, Junior began circling overhead.






After making several circles over us, Junior settled down and perched on one of the lower branches of the Pt. Edwards eagles' family tree at the top of Pine St.


Junior sat there for quite some time, but eventually took off to resume its aerial patrol of Pt. Edwards. Junior seems fairly accustomed to us humans, so I hope it remains in the area this winter.

 

[Terry O]

I'll keep and eye out for him, Bill. Nice shots.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Tuesday (8/13) I found one of the Pt. Edwards "baby" eagles perched on the family tree at the top of Pine St. It later took off and flew some circles over town before heading southeast.




My son and I later went to Hutt Park and found those two "babies" perched on their family tree. They are not as developed as the Pt. Edwards pair and were constantly crying for their mother.


Around sunset an adult was following a train northbound along Sunset Ave.

 

[Bill Anderson]

The following day (Wed. 8/14) I found one of the Pt. Edwards adults perched on the family tree at the top of Pine St. After posing for several minutes, it took off and headed north over town.

 

[Bill Anderson]

I had to go to Hutt Park to check up on the fledglings. They were screaming away in a tree that I could not see from the street east of the park. One of the fledglings flew to the family tree.


It left and one of the adults arrived.






The adult took off and flew over my son and I as we were about to get into the pickup.

 

[Terry O]

Some great shots, Bill. Glad to see our 'babies' are doing well!

 

[Bill Anderson]

There has been a bit of a mystery surrounding the Hutt Park eaglets. The babies have not been seen or heard in the park for about a week. Tuesday (8/20) my son Daren and I went to the park to check on the eagles.

While we were there, both adults flew in, landed on the family tree, and began shrieking. There was no response by the babies. Just six days earlier (8/14) the babies would cry like crazy when an adult flew into the park.


One remained for just a few minutes and took off.






The second one took off after Daren and I entered the park and stood beneath the family tree.



My theory is that the babies have started to hunt and have relocated to the tall firs which border Puget Sound north of the Shell Creek spit.

 

[Terry O]

Sounds like a reasonable theory, Bill. Great shots too.