AKA BIRD NERD

870
Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
Washington State
August 29, 2010

I got a couple of good photos of an adult raccoon teaching its five babies to forage for food. Or, should I say, the babies were so cute that I got photos of them. Here are two I’ll share with you.

Nikon D80, Tamron 200-500 at 250mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO 400, tripod

871

I’m not sure what this is. It isn’t a bird! I suppose it’s a muskrat or something of that sort.

Nikon D80, Tamron 200-500 zoom at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/160 sec, ISO 400, tripod

Tags: Field Trip, Gallery by David Dilworth
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868
Northwest Trek Park
Eatonville, Washington
August 17, 2010

Here are four non-bird photos. The first two were taken from the tram ride. We saw a lot of animals, but I didn’t have a very good seat and the movement of the tram along with low light made it difficult for my trusty ole but limited Tamron zoom. This moose was casually walking along the fence grazing as it went. Much of the park is enjoyed without seeing any fencing, which adds to the experience of being inside with the animals rather than looking into an enclosure.

The second photo is some type of mountain goat.

Photo three and four were taken while walking around the park on the trails. I saw this dragonfly while watching the foxes and I liked the silhouette. The last photo is a wolf.

Nikon D80, Tamron 200-500 zoom at 200mm, f/5.0, 1/160, ISO 400, handheld

Nikon D80, Tamron 200-500 zoom at 200mm, f/5.0, 1/80, ISO 400, handheld

Nikon D80, Tamron 200-500 zoom at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/400, ISO 400, tripod

Using the Tamron as a macro lens is an interesting experience!

Nikon D80, Tamron 200-500 zoom at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/160, ISO 400, tripod

The wolves were very shy and stayed near the back of their habitat.

Tags: Field Trip, Gallery by David Dilworth
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On February 15, 2010 my wife and I in one car and our grandchildren and their parents in another, visited the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, Washington. It is one of those attractions where you drive your vehicle among the animals and stay in your car. With the exception of the domestic peacock, I’ve already posted any bird photos from this day. Most of the photos in this posting are mammals. I’m going to put all my photos in this post and get it over with, since AKA Bird Nerd is a blog primarily for our avian friends. Those who are not interested in these can simply skip on to the next bird post.

Most photos were taken with my Nikon D80 and Tamron 200-500 zoom with the camera resting on the car window frame. Some photos were shot with a Nikon 55-200 zoom.

Learn about the Olympic Game Farm at http://www.olygamefarm.com/animals.html .

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/1250, 200mm

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/250, 200mm

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/400, 200mm
frontal view

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/400, 200mm
rear view

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/640, 200mm
Black-tailed Prairie Dog

Grandson – Ezra
Son-in-law – Shawn

Yakity Yak Domestic Yak
ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/125, 200mm

ISO 400, f/5.0/1/80, 200mm

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/100, 200mm

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/60, 200mm

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/320, 200mm
Llama

Kodiak Brown Bear
ISO 400, f/5.0/1/250, 200mm

ISO 400, f/4.8, 1/200, 90mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

ISO 400, f/4.8, 1/200, 90 mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/125, 55mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

Black Bear
ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/100, 112mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

Roosevelt Elk
ISO 400, f5.6, 1/320, 17mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/500, 60mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

ISO 400, f5.6, 1/250, 200mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/400, 130mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

European Fallow Deer
ISO 400, f/5.3, 1/500, 145mm (Nikon 55-200 zoom)

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/500, 70mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/500, 130mm (55-200 Nikon zoom)

ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/160, 55mm (55-200mm Nikon zoom)

ISO 400, f/4.8, 1/320, 100mm (55-200mm Nikon zoom)
Notice the European Fallow Deer can be white or brown and the antlers are more Moose-like than an Elk.

Tags: Field Trip, Gallery by David Dilworth
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Photos By Shawn and Malia Weigelt
February 15, 2010
Olympic Game Farm, Sequim, Washington

Okay, here it is, at long last, a collection of our best photos from our experience at the Olympic Game Farm!  The Olympic Game Farm is a drive through zoo in Sequim where visitors are able to get up close and personal to a large number of both exotic and North American wildlife.  For a small fee you may purchase a loaf of bread to feed most of the animals as you drive through the park.  My four year old daughter was especially excited for this part!  Even before we started our drive we noticed many wild ravens, gulls, and tons of Bald Eagles, evidently there as the clean up crew!  Once we had paid and bought our bread at the gate we started our drive.  Roaming free all over the grounds were peacocks, domestic rabbits, and a few varieties of chickens.

The male peacocks are stunning birds!

This one was showing off that characteristic tail!

“Yeah, I know I’m cute.”

As we drove further into the park past peacocks and rabbits we encountered the prairie dog colony.  It was really cool to get close to these very social animals.

Impressive dexterity!

Near the prairie dogs were a couple of zebras.  We were hoping to be able to feed them some bread but instead they ran off and didn’t even give us a photo opportunity.  Continuing on we found several yaks that were more than willing to poke their heads into our cars for some bread!  Needless to say, this was the closest any of us had been to a yak.  One after another they would come up to us, get a slice of bread, and move on to the cars behind us!

“You know, there’s this great stuff called toothpaste!”

My daughter did a great job feeding yaks!

In the same general vicinity of the yak herd were a few llamas and an impressive White Rhinoceros.  The llamas were eating hay and the rhino was keeping a low profile away from the caravan of vehicles.

Llama hick!

After making it through the gauntlet of yaks, we were pleased to find several HUGE Kodiak Bears!  Kodiak’s are the largest Brown Bear (Grizzly) and are native to Alaska.  All of the bears were behind fences (for which I was very relieved), but we were still able to toss them slices of bread that they quickly gobbled up.  When some bread would fall on the ground the bears deftly picked it up with their massive claw equipped paws!  There was one very large black bear there as well who I thought had a mean look to him.  He just did not seem impressed!

“Do you mind?  I’m trying to take a nap here!”

This guy was by far the largest Kodiak Bear at the park.  He frequently, “waved,” like this to get a slice of bread as a reward.

Malia thought this bear looked like it was smiling!

This Black Bear just didn’t look like he was enjoying himself.

After spending some time with the bears we moved on to the other predators.  The park keeps their lions, tigers, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, and cougars in cages for obvious reasons.  We were able to drive up beside the cages and still get pretty good looks at the animals, but because of the cages, decent photos were impossible.

When we had passed all of the predator cages the road wound out into a very large pasture full of Elk, Bison, Fallow Deer and a couple of horses.  Of course my daughter was more excited about the horses than anything else.

The Elk were beautiful.

“Hey, same to you buddy!”

I knew that Elk were big animals but they were still larger than I expected them to be.  This guy is just a yearling!

Malia described this moment as the grossest part of our visit!  This Bison went on to almost completely put his head through her window begging for a piece of bread.  Apparently the combination of slobber and stench were too much for her and I continued driving out of compassion for my wife!

Absolutely spectacular animal!

Fallow Deer (an Old World species)

My daughter’s favorite animal of the day was this horse!  Good thing we saved some bread!

After the horses we had pretty much finished our drive through the Olympic Game Farm.  We had a great trip and the kids absolutely loved it!  Once we left the park and got back on the road we found a really cute baby donkey in someones private pasture.  Of course Malia had to take a picture so I have included it in this post!  Thanks for visiting.

Awwwwwww….

Equipment:  Nikon D80 70-300mm VR; Canon Powershot XS10IS

Tags: Field Trip, Weigelt Photos by Shawn Weigelt
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832
Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
October 18, 2008

Surprisingly, a digiscoping setup can come in handy when you want to take a close-up. The only difference is that you are actually quite a distance from the subject.

The location of this photo is near the spot where I took some terrific Wood Duck photos a few years ago. I always check out this location in case the ducks are there again, but as the years go by I realize that I was very fortunate to get those photos.

Tags: Field Trip, Gallery by David Dilworth
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828
UC Santa Cruz Arboretum
Santa Cruz, California
March 31, 2009

My wife wanted me to take a couple of flower photos. They really look much better than these jpgs when viewed in Photoshop. I don’t know what kind of flower this is.

Tags: Field Trip, Gallery by David Dilworth
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Photos By Shawn Weigelt
October 3, 2009
Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, New York

My father-in-law and I made sure to make this place one of our few birding stops on our long cross-country drive to Washington.  We did not regret it!  I saw more Canada Geese here than I had ever seen before in my life…thousands!

Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge is located on the northern end of the Finger Lakes Region of central New York State.  The marshy habitat of the refuge seemed an ideal resting place along this major migration highway!  We saw thousands of birds on the water with a seemingly unending stream of birds flying in overhead.  It was a truly magnificent sight!  Other species sighted included Northern Shoveler, American Coot, Northern Harrier, Pied-billed Grebe, and Great Egret.

There was a conveniently placed visitor/observation center near one of the entrances to the refuge that provided us with great views of the incoming geese.  It was fun watching them turn around in mid air and make a steep descent to the water with their, “flaps,” down and, “landing gear,” extended!

A flock on final approach…full flaps…gear down!

A new group arrives….

Low altitude flyby!

Tags: Field Trip, Weigelt Photos by Shawn Weigelt
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Photos By Shawn Weigelt
January 14, 2009
New Harbor, Maine

Last week I read some e-mails from fellow Maine birders (I am part of an e-mailing list) of a Northern Hawk Owl sighted in a small village on the mid coast of the state.  Unable to immediately drive down due to my busy schedule and familial responsibilities, I continued to monitor the e-mails, longing for a chance to go, as this species would constitute a, “lifer,” sighting for me (a bird I could check off on my, “life list”).  I was disheartened, however, when I learned via the e-mails and amidst a great controversy, that some ignorant and misled people (non-birders by the sounds of it) had been feeding the owl live feeder mice purchased from a pet store.  I became so irritated by this, learning that the owl had been nearly hit by a car as a result,  that I almost refused to make the trip.  I resolved to go, however, for the hopes of seeing such an awesome bird of prey for the first time.  My lovely wife, Malia, agreed that we would make the trip down together along with our three year old daughter and four month old son.  Anyone who has kids knows that a one way two and a half hour trip with little ones this age is no easy task!  The kids did great, though, and as we approached the area where the owl had been seen, Malia and I spotted a dark silhouette perched at the top of an old dead spruce.  I initially (and foolishly) blew it off as a crow, but my wife with her extremely sharp eyes, recognized it as the Northern Hawk Owl!  I was ecstatic!  So much so that as I pulled onto the shoulder I got our minivan stuck in the snow!  Fortunately for some hearty Maine men passing by (for whom I am extremely grateful) we were able to get the vehicle back on the road so I could find a more appropriate place to park!  Enough of that and on with the owl!  Watching it and photographing it exceeded my expectations.  The casual observer would probably think, “big deal, an owl sitting in a tree.”  For me, though, it was great!  The bird did spend a lot of time perched near the top of the spruce with its head on a swivel searching for prey.  It sometimes went to another perch within the same tree to scan another area.  I wasn’t able to observe the owl for as long as I would have liked to, primarily because the temperature was in the mid teens with twenty to thirty mph wind gusts.  It was one of those raw January days in Maine, though the sky was clear and the lighting was good, making for excellent photographic opportunities.

On one occasion, I witnessed the owl leap from its perch, hover briefly, and then make a half hearted dive at a group of very frightened chickadees who were quick to take cover in some bushes below.  These photos show the owl on the return trip to its perch, swooping upwards in a fashion characteristic of the species.  I was initially surprised that it went after some birds, but when later reading about hawk owls, I learned that during the winter months they shift much of their diet from mammals to birds, sometimes taking species as large as ptarmigan and grouse!  This must be quite a feat to witness as ptarmigan and grouse can outweigh the Northern Hawk Owl by quite a margin!

Coming in for a landing

The Northern Hawk Owl measures slightly smaller than a crow, and, according to The Sibley Guide to Birds, averages only 11oz or 320grams.  Looking at the shape and markings of the bird, one can tell that it is aptly named, “hawk owl.”  It has a very long tail for an owl, reminiscent of accipiters (Sharp-shinned hawk, Coopers Hawk, Northern Goshawk).  It flies similarly to these hawks as well, very fast with quick wing beats and often at low level.

This owl is one of three species referred to as, “winter owls.”  The other being the much larger Great Gray Owl and Snowy Owl.  These owls are often observed during the daytime and are very diurnal (meaning that they are active during the day).  This really should come as no surprise understanding that in the extreme northern areas where these birds breed during the spring and summer, it is daylight for longer periods of time.  Perhaps living in these northern areas explains why the Northern Hawk Owl is so tame and seemingly fearless of people.  This particular individual could care less that I was there almost at the base of its tree.  It only seemed to acknowledge my presence on a couple of occasions with a fierce expression on its face.

Casting a rare glance down at me

I was so grateful for the opportunity to see this magnificent example of God’s handiwork.  What a creature!  Thank you to Malia, Lana, and Ezra, for putting up with my obsession for birds!

Surveying its domain

All images taken hand held with a Nikon D80 and a 70-300mm VR lens at 300mm, ISO 100, f/5.6
Shutter speeds (from top photo to bottom):
1: 1/400sec, 2: 1/500sec, 3: 1/400sec, 4: 1/500sec, 5: 1/320sec, 6: 1/320sec

Tags: Bird Photo, Field Trip, Weigelt Photos by Shawn Weigelt
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It was a beautiful day in Western Washington – clouds yes, but some sun and no rain. No rain means beautiful in my book. My wife and I decided to bite the petrol bullet and drive to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. I guess you may say it is our favorite bird hike not too far from home. The new little Prius can get us there and back in less than 2 gallons.

The photo above was the last shot I took of the day. I wanted to take a photo of something that wasn’t moving so much. Most of the ducks are gone, so it’s songbird time – a very challenging time for any birder.

Our plan for the day is to walk out to McAllister Creek and back, and then do the Two Barns boardwalk loop. There were several Canada Geese families to the right of the trail going out to the creek. Here are a few photos.

I didn’t get the whole bird in focus.

Mom and Pop were very diligent about looking after their kids!

There was a lot of late spring activity on the refuge today. What geese and ducks that did hang around, were often with a brood of babies. I believe this is a Mallard with her gang. My son-in-law said that ducks are different than geese. I know that Canada Geese take care of their chicks together. In fact, they are often protected by other geese as well as the parents. But I’m told that the Mallard male heads for the hills after the family comes into the picture. You often see Mallard couples throughout the year, but when the kids are around, Dad can’t be found. I wonder where the guys go. This isn’t the greatest photo, but it is indicative of what we saw this day.

When we got to McAllister Creek we took a rest on the bench overlooking the creek. We observed a Black-headed Grosbeak and a couple of Cedar Waxwings in the trees not too far from the bench. A lady sat down beside us and asked us if we knew about the Bald Eagle Nest across the creek. She then took us a short way down a primitive trail so I could set up my fieldscope to get a good view. We observed an adult eagle near a nest, but didn’t see any young. From other reports there is at least one hatchling in the nest, so it must have been hunkered down out of sight. You can’t see much without at least 30x power.

I had never been down the primitive road that goes toward I-5 from the bench area. The road follows the creek for about one-fourth mile until it dead ends at a gate. There are some swallow nests on some old pilings just off the trail and I digiscoped these photos from a fairly close distance. The bird was very cooperative. At one point it flew off, but returned to the same piling within a few seconds.

On the way back to the visitor center we saw a lot of Marsh Wrens and a lonely Cinnamon Teal sound asleep, sort of. It would open its eye to check out our movements, but refused to pull its head up for a photo. As we got close to the visitor center, we took the Two Barns boardwalk in a clockwise direction. We observed several Yellow Warblers, but were unable to get any keeper photos. We did see a female Wood Duck and a couple of babes. Despite my efforts, I was unable to get a photo of one of the babies. Here’s the mom.

When we got out to the overlook at Two Barns, I set up my tripod and digiscope system. There were a lot of swallows and a few Rock Pigeons flying around. In the distance we observed a Red-tailed Hawk, young Bald Eagle and a Turkey Vulture during our time there. The following three photos are not great shots, as the distance was considerable.

Cedar Waxwing

male Common Yellowthroat

Brown-headed Cowbird

As we continued our walk we came back to the loop from the spur boardwalk that goes out to the Two Barns lookout. This American Goldfinch was digiscoped at this location. I see these guys in the backyard all the time, but it was nice to get a photo in a non-backyard setting. Again, distance was considerable.

male American Goldfinch

On our return walk to the visitor center, I photographed a frog, a Swainson’s Thrush, American Robin, and an interesting growth of grass on a log in a scummy swamp. The thrushes and robins were everywhere.

Swainson’s Thrush

American Robin

Well, there you have it. Not a particularly great day for the camera, but I always make a small request from God at the beginning of a bird walk. I ask Him for just 1 great photo. He must have been listening, as I think the Tree Swallow turned out pretty good.

Tags: Field Trip by David Dilworth
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As you can see in the above photo, it was a beautiful day out at the Nisqually Refuge. My wife wasn’t with me today, so I decided to make a whole day of it and do the complete outer ring dike trail. I arrived at the refuge at 8:00 AM and because it was supposed to be a scorcher day (at least as far as Puget Sound standards go) decided to head to McAllister Creek first so later in the day I would be in the riparian forest part of the trail along the Nisqually River – shade.

The photo I posted above is the west side of the refuge, and almost half way around the loop.

Ok, let’s begin our trek. On the way out to McAllister Creek I first saw some Northern Shovelers, Wood Ducks and an American Coot. The lighting was not right and the distance too great, so I enjoyed them and continued on my walk. Throughout the day three-fourths of the loop trail could be called Marsh Wren haven. You know Marsh Wrens. They don’t like to come out into the open very much, but they make a great deal of noise. I didn’t get one keeper photo of this bird. It was also an American Robin day. They were visible all day long on the entire trail.

This American Robin photo was taken on the way out to McAllister Creek. Even though they were everywhere, I didn’t really try to get that perfect robin photo. However, on the riparian part of the loop I couldn’t pass up this robin nest. Did you ever have one of those days when you just didn’t feel like doing anything but take a snooze? These little robins were oblivious to those walking by the nest. They were really zonked out. Yes, I made sure they were breathing! Look carefully. One of the little ones is taking a peep at me.

Along the trail out to McAllister Creek I saw quite a few Common Yellowthroats. I think this is a female. I didn’t get a chance to put my digiscope gear together, and this bird was quite far off the trail. However, I really liked the setting, so I’m including the photo here.

I just couldn’t get the lighting to cooperate in my effort to get a photo of a male Common Yellowthroat in a tree not far from the above photo. Here is the result of my effort.

Today was a pretty froggy day at Nisqually. This fellow was begging to have his photo taken.

As I was getting close to Nisqually Creek, the trail was blocked by a family of Canada Geese. A couple brave walkers slipped by, but Mr. Goose certainly made them do the hokey pokey as they shuffled by. Loren Webster, a birder I’ve seen on my bird treks before, was busy trying to get a photo of a Sora he was stalking. I walked up and set up my tripod and noticed the Sora run behind Loren, cross the trail and disappear in the reeds on the other side of the dike. No photo here, but at least a good sighting of a bird I’ve only seen one time before. There were some other opportunities in this location – so I pulled out my digiscoping gear. Before I show you some digiscoped shots of a beautiful Cinnamon Teal, here is a quickie I took of the trolls at the toll gate. Actually, they decided to go for a swim and leave the trail safe to pass.

Most of you know already that I have difficulty narrowing down photos when I get a lot of good ones. Actually, I did quite well, but you’ll have to suffer through six of my best shots. It could be worse – I had nineteen keepers. Here we go -

I’m not a real flower person, but these purple flowers were really nice and I knew my wife would applaud my taking the time to photograph them. There is a cool little bee in one of the shots.

This next photo shows where McAllister Creek empties into Puget Sound. I’ve put my kayak into the water at the boat landing off in the distance and paddled up the creek. I’ve only done it once, but it was a fun paddle. This is a really low tide at the moment.

Other birds I saw along the trail are Tree and Barn Swallows, Killdeer, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow, Mallard, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch, Black-headed Grosbeak, Black-capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwing, European Starling, Turkey Vulture, several Bald Eagles.

I got back to the visitor center around 1:00 PM and ate the lunch my wonderful wife fixed me. Next to the parking lot, Loren pointed out something really cool. I set up my tripod and here is a few photos. This is really awesome. What do you see?

You’re right! It’s a tree trunk. But ah! It is much more to a couple of little birds. Here is one of them.

What do you suppose is under that bark?

How often to you get to see the underside of the Brown Creeper?

After lunch and a bit of a rest for my weary old bones, I decided to take the boardwalk loop out to Two Barns. This Great Blue Heron was found just off the boardwalk – doing a bit of fishing.

And, the last photo for the day is not even a bird. I said it was a froggy day, and a good one at that. I hope you enjoyed my photo walk around Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. It was a fun day!

Tags: Field Trip by David Dilworth
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