While still waiting for our first migrant warbler to arrive in the yard this season, I had an interesting birding day yesterday. Upon returning from a very early trip to Seattle on April 5, 2023, I drove through the Cap Sante Marina and noticed a Common loon. I hurried home, retrieved my camera and returned to the marina. Conditions weren’t ideal for photographing the loon… the tide was out which means any waterfowl are located farther from shore. I was somewhat surprised that the loon was still there… it hasn’t seemed to be spending a lot of time in the marina lately.

I watched the loon for a few minutes and saw that it was slowly moving eastward towards the nearest dock, so I went out on the dock in anticipation of the loon swimming under the dock. I had lost sight of the loon once I was on the dock but suddenly the loon surfaced very close to me… with a small crab in it’s beak! I wasn’t all that prepared for the occurrence so didn’t have my camera set for those circumstances, but realizing that time was of the essence I took a few photos. The loon quickly consumed the crab… I could hear the shell crunching in the loon’s beak!

I soon lost the loon and couldn’t find it again despite making a couple of driving trips around the marina. Stalking the loon on foot is extremely frustrating. It can swim 50′ under a dock which can necessitate me having to walk a couple of hundred yards!

Later the same day I staked out our yard in the hopes of getting my first good photos of the season of Rufous hummingbirds. I wasn’t disappointed. A male began hanging around the yard, for the most part ignoring both sexes of Anna’s hummingbirds using the feeder. Eventually a second male Rufous hummingbird entered the yard, ignoring the feeder but making a few passes at the first male Rufous.

I saw our first Turkey vulture of the season on March 31, 2023. I’ve seen two almost every day since.

On the morning of March 22, 2023, I drove to the Samish Flats early to obtain photos of one or more Short-eared owls.  I had scouted the area the previous week and this morning set up a chair for a good vantage point of a seemingly favorite owl perch.  As I was readying my equipment I glanced back along the way I had just come and there, sitting on a fence post I had just passed, and only about 20′ away, was a Short-eared owl, looking this way and that but almost totally ignoring me!  I began taking photos in uncharted territory… it was very dark, I had a relatively new camera and I had never taken photos at the higher ISOs that would be required too compensate for the lack of light.   

At this point I want to give a shout AT (not OUT!!) to the next two photographers who arrived on the scene.  The first parked across the road but kept creeping closer and closer until inducing the owl to fly another 30-40 feet from me and providing a background of electrical equipment!  The second photographer turned a large panel van around in the area, throwing gravel from under one of the rear tires and ultimately parking directly on the other side of my line of sight of the owl, giving me a bright white background (with rear lights left on!) instead of the natural muted gray.  This necessitated me having to change my position to maintain a favorable background.  Whatever happened to the concept of courtesy among photographers? 

When I left the area I encountered a male Ring-necked pheasant beside the road and took several photos.  I was rather surprised when the pheasant suddenly gave out with a mating display, part of which I managed to capture but with a too-slow shutter speed.  Sadly most, if not all of the population is not the result of natural breeding in the wild but of captive breeding and release for hunters.  

On the morning of March 20, while running an errand into town, I made it a point to drive by the Cap Sante Marina to see what might be in the yacht basin. I spied a Common loon drifting around and so hurried home for my camera. The loon was still there when I returned and I obtained some good photos.

This loon appears to still be transitioning to breeding plumage, but it appears there’s not a lot more to be done. In the past many of the loons in the marina have been rather shy but this one actually moved closer to me as it headed east along the passageway adjacent to the marina office.

I photographwedi this Song sparrow going through some of the debris along the shoreline.

A pair of Mallards were working along the shoreline…

And finally, as a kind of added bonus, a Killdeer was browsing along the shoreline…

All of these photos were taken with my new Nikon D850 camera mounted with my old Nikor 500mm f5.6 lens. I’m finding that I can shoot at much higher ISOs in lower light with the new camera and it seems to be much better at focusing on distant subjects.

If you haven’t read my previous blog post you should read it before viewing this post. On Saturday, February 18, I trashed my Nikon D500 camera and the following photos were taken to determine whether or not my attached 500mm lens was also damaged in the accident.

I’ve had a difficult time photographing Red-breasted nuthatches this winter because what few birds visit our yard. they almost never visit the watercourse. But on this day (2/25) one visited the watercourse twice.

A male Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco…

We seem to have had the same female Varied thrush all winter. We usually have only one thrush in the yard at a time and it’s almost always a female.

We have a few Spotted towhees in the yard, this one a beautiful male.

And finally, one of the rare White-throated sparrows that has been visiting our yard for several weeks now.

Bottom line… I can’t see the there is a problem with the Nikon 500mm lens!

It’s a sad tale I have to relate in this blog post!

On Saturday, February 18, 2023, I spied both our female Varied thrush and a White-throated sparrow in the yard at the same time.  I threw out some sunflower seed, grabbed my camera (a Nikon D500) and positioned myself in the yard for photos. The birds quickly ate the seeds and dissipated into the surrounding bushes leaving me with no photo opportunities. I leaned my camera (affixed to a monopod) against the side of the house, braced against the rain gutter downspout, as I have done over 1000 times before.  I reached for the seed and heard a horrible “clunk”.  The camera had slid down the side of the house and landed on our concrete walkway!    A quick examination of the camera revealed it was history!  

The Nikon D500… 

The last photo taken with the D500, a beautiful female Dark-eyed (Oregon) junco… 

Thus began a week of consulting with three photographer/friends, to whom I am indebted for their help and advice. I first ran some informal tests with my Nikon 500mm f5.6 lens that had been attached to the camera when it fell. It seemed OK.  (My next post displays some of the photos taken with the 500mm lens on a Nikon 7100 backup camera.).   

I initially decided to purchase one of the new Nikon mirrorless cameras (Z-series) which, with an adapter, would accommodate my existing lenses.  However, after examining a friend’s Z-series camera I recognized a design feature (actually lack of a design feature) that would make the Z-series camera, in my opinion, unsuitable for birding photography. 

One of my friends then suggested a Nikon D850 which offered a full frame sensor and 44mp  (megapixels), more than twice what my D500 had.  This camera will be fully compatible with my existing lenses… no adapter needed, and the controls will be familiar.  At this point I expect to have a new Nikon D850 by the first week in March.