On Monday, January 25, 2021, I made yet another birding excursion south,,, March Point, Pleasant Ridge and Fir Island. It’s usually a photographic exercise of taking different photos of the same birds I’ve already photographed, but on this day I obtained some very good photos.

The first noteworthy bird I photographed was a female Belted kingfisher. I’ve photographed them previously but found them wary and have generally been unable to get very close to them. In this case I was about as close as I’ve ever gotten but I had my (relatively new) Nikon 500mm lens I’m now using and was able to get probably the best photos I’ve ever gotten of a kingfisher.

Further down West March’s Point Road I ran into this unusually cooperative Great Blue Heron which, rather than fly, gave me ample opportunity to photograph it.

While in transit, southbound on Best Road just past Christianson’s Nursery, I viewed a large white shape flying low beside the road and directly towards me. As it passed I realized that it was the Great egret I’ve recently photographed. I turned around and stopped where it had turned east across the farm fields. Another photographer who had been following the egret had pulled to the side of the road and he told me he thought the egret was going to hit me… it was that close!

Moving on to Fir Island, I rediscovered the Northern shrike that I had photographed about a week or two previously. It was flying among perches on the WF&W Jensen Access area. (A note to other birders: Please respect photographers who are attempting to photograph a bird. You will be less disruptive if you will consider your vehicle a blind and observe from it instead of getting out and stalking a bird!)

From the WF&WD Jensen Tract I drove to the WF&W HQ Tract where I briefly viewed (one of?) the Black Phoebe(s) fly-catching. There was a lot of activity in the area and the phoebe quickly headed southwest along the slough. I’ve taken better photos of the phoebe but included this as a ‘record shot’.

I was retracing my route back down Rawlings Road when a patch of brown flashed in the ditch beside me. I drove a little ways and then turned around to investigate. I found this male American Kestrel perched on the power line with its recent prize… a rodent almost as big as it was. I was amazed that the kestrel was capable with flying with such weight! I managed a few photos until another oncoming car startled it from its perch, and I then watched it fly more than 100 yards with its prey!

By now definitely on my way home, I encountered this Red-tailed hawk, a winter friend, near its usual patrol area near the road. Unlike most Red-tailed hawks, this one has repeatedly allowed me to stop nearby for photographs, and this might have been my nearest encounter to date. It was a fitting ending to a remarkable birding/photographic day!

I had planned to post my observations of winter birding but my narrative grew too long and I felt I didn’t have enough current photos to supplement the narrative, so I gave up on that idea. Instead I’m going to post some of my photos I’ve taken recently of waterfowl at the Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes.

This is a male Barrow’s goldeneye…

At the end of the bird’s preening ritual it usually rises from the water to stretch. It can take a good while to catch this behavior. First you have to find the bird preening, then you have to wait until it completes the ritual, which may take 15-20 minutes or more. Then, if you are lucky and ready with your camera, you can get a photo of the bird stretching. I stood watch for well over an hour and caught two instances, which last only seconds.

Hopefully this is a female Barrow’s goldeneye. The differences between the female goldeneyes (Common and Barrow’s) are somewhat subtle.

On to Hooded mergansers… this male has its crest down…

And here is a male Hooded merganser with its crest raised…

This is a female Hooded merganser which as of late (late January) has been one of a small group that are fairly frequent visitors to the northwest corner of the marina. In this photo the female has her hood fully raised.

In this photo the female has her hood only partially raised. The hood can also be folded back against the top of the head, giving the merganser a completely different look.

Other waterfowl I sometimes find in the marina are Mallards, Common loons and sometimes a Pied-billed grebe.

I’ve already written, but not posted, my assessment of fall/winter birding here in Anacortes this season… stay tuned! But on my way to the forum I discovered that I had taken some photos with which I could make an important point for yard habitat and birding. On January 10, 2021, I took an unusually small number of bird photos in the yard and noted that many were of the same species, Dark-eyed (Oregon) juncos. Not very interesting from a birding point of view, although I think their feather patterns are very interesting, but from a photography/observation standpoint a good way to make an important point.

All the following photos were taken in our yard in a 20-minute period, all were taken from the same point and all were taken of subjects that were within less than 20 feet from the camera. It sounds like it could be boring, but thanks to a little creative arranging of staging objects (sticks and rocks) we have an assortment of photographs. And even if you’re not into photography, staging objects often give you more time and angles from which to view your subject. So here are a variety of photos as described above.

Have I made my point? As my OLD Latin teacher used to say, “A word to the wise is sufficient”!