Red-Breasted Mergansers

This morning I took my camera and a newly-designed/constructed cradle for my camera to show a friend.  On my way back home I decided to stop by the local marina so see what might be around.  (Lately there has been a loon hanging out from time to time but this morning were a few Dunlin and a single, very active Pied-billed grebe. 

I was just leaving when five Red-breasted mergansers quickly flew in and paddled over towards me.  I moved towards them to get closer and to be able to use a railing for support of the camera and lens.  This caused the mergansers to move away from me and I was ready to give it up when I realized that they were paddling towards a more restricted part of the marina where I might be able to get even closer.  I drove my vehicle ahead of them and crossed bridge to the docks to set up an 'ambush'.  It worked! 

They swam underwater to get under the walkway but popped to the surface relatively close to me and I began taking photos.  They continued past me but soon another person came towards them on the docks and they returned to my area and began milling around and preening.  This gave me even more opportunities for photos and at an even closer distance. 

I later found that I was so close, and so intent on freezing the mergansers' motion that when I had more than one of the birds in the photo at a time only one would be in focus.  So ideally I might have used a slower shutter speed and gotten some improvement with my aperture, or dialed back on the magnification, but on the other hand there probably wasn't much getting around the problem with my lens.  

One of the mergansers didn't especially resemble the others, and I have to assume that it's a juvenile.  I didn't include a photo of it here. 

This male was obvously in transitional plumage and has a way to go before donning full breeding plumage, but he had a nice little group of followers anyway! 

More Decent Weather and an Old Friend...

We had three decent days of weather this last week, and I managed to get into the field for all three.  On the day I took the photos of the American bittern I heard a Marsh wren in the same area, so I went back the next day to get photos of it.  I was somewhat disappointed in the photos... this is about the best of the lot. 

A quick trip over to the Jensen Access on Fir Island netted this Song sparrow which was good enough to pose on a piece of driftwood for me...

And this afternoon marked the return to our yard of apparently the same accipiter (tentatively identified as a Cooper's hawk) I photographed (and posted to the blog site) last week. 

Another Delay in Texas Photos

The recent weather has allowed some birding for the past couple of days and I've obtained some photos that are too good not to post, so I'm again delaying the postings of some of my Texas birds. 

I don't often run across Bushtits, and when I do they are difficult to photograph due to their constant movement and their habit of traveling through the brush/trees and not lingering too long in any one area.  I managed to 'pish' a pair out of the bushes at one of my favorite stops just off Fir Island. 

This is one of the most successful 'birds in flight' photos I've taken and I think it was because I had my shutter set at a high speed prior to encountering this Great Blue heron.  It's a very common bird in Skagit County but the birds are usually quite wary and take off at the slightest sign of a vehicle slowing. 

Meadowlarks are another species of bird that are difficult to photograph, being somewhat shy and often in a large field.  I found this one 'hiding' behind some tree branches in the LaConner area near farm fields.  I had to manouver my vehicle back and forth as the bird moved to try to get a clear path for a photo.  After a while the meadowlark even started singing!  I obtained a couple of photos with the bird singing but it had a considerable number of intervening branches. 

The Prize for the Day goes to this American Bittern which was in a field adjacent to the Rawlings Road access.  While not in it's 'reed-imitation posture' in this photo, the bird did spend most of its time with it's beak pointing into the air.  I guess it finally realized that there was a disconnect between that behavior and the grass in which it was standing!  This is the first bittern I've encountered in the county. 

Also noteworthy on my outing yesterday was a Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon's race) in full breeding plumage.  I just missed getting a photo of the bird but I think I've discovered a potential spot for some warbler and flycatcher photos later this spring.