For the past week or so I’ve spent a couple of hours a day touring March Point and occasionally Channel Drive here in Skagit County.  The birding has been productive, although by and large I keep seeing the same birds day after day.  But the good thing about photographing birds is that they are almost always in different settings or poses.

Earlier in the week I encountered a county mower, a large tractor with an articulated arm that was trimming grass and brush along March Point Road.  On the day I first encountered it, it was on the east side of March’s Point and wasn’t disruptive, but a day later, when I took some of the following shots it was a major factor in my birding.

I had discovered a small pocket of birds in one of my favorite stopping areas and had enticed a Ruby-crowned kinglet and small flock of Black-capped chickadees out into the open and was busily photographing them when I became aware of a loud mechanical noise.  I glanced away from my photography and saw the mower headed my way.  I thought I had a bright future at this location but I realized that my photography would be ending in just a matter of seconds, so I rather hurriedly squeezed off a few shots of the chickadees and gave up on the kinglet, which had gotten too close to my vehicle to photograph.  (Photographing kinglets is a rare enough experience that I hate to ‘leave any shots on the table’.)

On the east side of March’s Point I encountered the Black oystercatcher that has visited the area from time to time.  I can never count on seeing it there but have encountered it a good many times over the past couple of months.

The final feather in my cap (pardon the pun!) for the day was this Song sparrow hanging out in the rose hip bushes…

I managed to get out for another day of photography on the last day of January.  Early appearances were that the clouds which had dogged us for several days were being nudged along by a north wind, so although it seemed a little cooler than usual due to the wind at least the rain would be gone.  The clouds did dissipate, but not to the extent that we had any direct sun.  This would be, as opposed to my previous post, a day of numerous accomplishments but with smaller birds.

The wind was apparently discouraging to the waterfowl, so my first stop was a rather confined area I’ve found productive for birding which is located just off March Point.  But this area, at first, seemed deserted.  However I managed to locate a large group of Golden-crowned sparrows and before I left I had photographed several species of birds, most, if not all, eating either yarrow seeds or bugs hiding among the dried up seed heads.  Before I left the area I had also photographed Bush tits, Dark-eyed juncos and a single American goldfinch, all working the seed heads.  My suspicions are that these juncos I photographed were the same as the ones I photographed a week or so ago.

Dark-eyed Junco – Oregon Race

Male Bushtit

Male Bushtit

Golden-Crowned Sparrows on Yarrow Seed Heads

My next destination was Channel Drive along the Swinomish Channel.  There I found the first White-crowned sparrows (at least 3-4) I had seen in many months and a nice supply of Mourning doves, a species that I have found difficult to photograph in a natural setting in the Pacific Northwest.

Mourning Dove

White-crowned Sparrow

Finally, on Fir Island, I found this Red-tailed hawk perched on a power line.  This one was overseeing a large group of ducks on some water and was more tolerant of my presence than most of the Red-tails.  If you look carefully you can see that this bird’s beak has a prominent hook to it.  I understand that this is a problem among some of the Red-tailed hawk population.  While it doesn’t interfere with the birds obtaining food, it interferes with the birds ability to dissect the food which can negatively affect the birds’ health.

Red-Tailed Hawk

Taking advantage of the full sun we were given on 2/5/2014, I set out on another birding excursion in the afternoon.  I had a couple of opportunities to photograph a Yellow-rumped warbler at the HQ tract on Fir Island, but for some reason those photos weren’t in focus.  However these photos of a Ruby-crowned kinglet, which I encountered on the way to FIr Island, were in focus.  And, I am happy to say, the ruby crown can plainly be seen in two of the photographs.  It’s difficult enough photographing this small bird that is constantly in motion, but capturing the ruby crown is a bonus!

On January 28th (2014) I needed to take my wife to the Bellingham Airport so I loaded up my photographic gear and planned to bird my way back to Anacortes across the Skagit Flats.

It seemed like a bad day for photography.  I managed to find a few goldeneyes within barely photographic range in Bellingham Bay, but as I drove across the flats there was a lack of birds.  There were Red-tailed hawks but they were all on power poles or lines and all had their backs turned to me.  Upon nearing Anacortes I decided to drive around March Point, which had been very productive over the past several weeks.  But even the east side of March Point Road brought no photographic opportunities.  All that was soon to change.

As I drove down the west side of March Point Road a Bald eagle flew across the road towards a nest on refinery property.  As I quickly watched it through the upper portion of my windshield I was aware of a large ‘blob’ on the water side of the road.  A quick glance told me that it was another eagle, and this one was very near the road and at eye level!  I had the composure to drive past it, then turned around and returned for photos.  I was so close to this eagle that I had to back off my 400mm lens just to get it all in the photo!  These are probably some of the best Bald eagle photos I’ve ever taken!

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

January 16 was to be my best of three consecutive days of birding.  After my morning walk and coffee I drove by the Cap Sante Marina mid-morning and saw a male Common merganser in the basin and very near the shore next to which I was driving.  The problem… I didn’t have my good camera with me!  I hurried home, retrieved my camera and returned to the marina to find the Common merganser had disappeared.  However there were now four Hooded mergansers (two pairs) in the yacht basin.  I began taking some photos of them when I noticed a wake coming my way and upon further inspection saw that it was the Common merganser.  Unfortunately, this time it swam along the far dock line, eventually disappearing under the dock and later another dock to the east.  The bird only had to swim a hundred feet or so underwater and for me to reacquire it would necessitate a walk for me of several hundred yards… if it remained in the same place, which it did not.  So I gave up on close shots of the Common merganser.

The Hooded mergansers wouldn’t cooperate either so I eventually headed for my car, but then a Common loon showed up on the scene.  This was enough to keep me around for awhile and I was able to maneuver so that I got some fairly good photos of it.

Common Loon

After I had exhausted my photo opportunities for waterfowl in the marina I set off for March’s Point.  While driving along March’s Point Road I encountered a Belted kingfisher sitting in the light and with no intervening branches.  I took a few photographs of it before moving on.

Belted Kingfisher… probably a male.

My next photographic acquisition was a Song sparrow along March’s Point Road, but in the interest of brevity I’m not going to post one of those photographs.  However, shortly after leaving March’s Point Road I encountered a flock of about 8-10 Bushtits, birds I only rarely see and even more rarely get to photograph due to their rapid movements (in what are usually low-light conditions).   However these were in direct sunlight so I enjoyed a relatively long session with them.

Bushtits are extremely gregarious and travel in flocks of from about 5-6 all the way up to maybe 20 or more.  They seldom remain in one place very long but roll through the terrain from one set of trees/bushes to the next.

Bushtit

Bushtit

And now I’m going to backtrack a little.  I mentioned the male Common merganser I found in the marina.  I didn’t get what I consider good bird photographs, but I did get some good artistic photographs, one of which appears below.

Male Common Merganser