Photos By Shawn Weigelt
December 2, 2010
Vaughn, Washington
The bird I count on seeing in our yard every day, year round, no matter what, is the Song Sparrow. The weather is temperate enough here in Western Washington that the birds never leave. Every once in a while I’m able to get some decent photographs of them.
Nikon D80 70-300 VR at 230mm, 1/160sec, ISO 400, f/5.6, hand held
Photos By Shawn Weigelt
November 19, 2010
Carrie Blake Park, Sequim, Washington
For some reason I really like Carrie Blake Park in Sequim. In all actuality it isn’t all that spectacular. It’s a popular place for dog walkers, cyclists, and the elderly with nicely paved walking trails. It also offers a nice playground, swings, and a skate park that appeal to the kids. A couple of small ponds adjacent to open fields also make it a magnet for ducks and geese. I guess that’s why I like it so much. That, and the superb views of the nearby Olympic Mountains! Recently I took the kids to our home in Sequim after losing the power for nearly 48 hours in Vaughn. We decided to head over to Carrie Blake Park to take a walk and get out of the house before the sun went down. I was very surprised to find a small flock of Greater White-fronted Geese and a lone juvenile Snow Goose hanging out with them! I got a few photos but the light in the closing minutes of the day was very poor. Still, they’re good enough for identification purposes and show how that Snow Goose really stands out!
Nikon D80 70-300 VR
Juvenile and adult Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons)
Juvenile Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens)
Photo By Shawn Weigelt
November 24, 2010
Vaughn, Washington
The Northwestern Crow is strictly a coastal species and can be found along the coasts of Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington. It differs in size and voice from the larger and more abundant American Crow. All of the crows I see in our neighborhood in Vaughn are the small Northwestern Crow. They strike me as being extremely intelligent and are conditioned to eating leftovers and other food scraps that we leave on an old Douglas Fir stump. This individual allowed me to approach closely and get some good detail in the photograph. You can clearly see that it hasn’t cleaned the food off its bill yet!
Nikon D80 70-300 VR at 180mm, 1/160sec, ISO 160, f/5.3, hand held
883
Montlake Fill, Seattle, Washington
November 3, 2010
f/6.3, 1/200, ISO 200, 460mm
This is the last of my 2010 photos taken before Dec 1, 2010. Hopefully I’ll get out in December to shoot some ducks – photographically speaking. Shawn posted a couple of his photos of this species back on November 19th. Here are two birds, probably a mating pair. I took two of the female and two of the male. These weren’t the only two Northern Shovelers on the pond. I like the female photos best because it gives you a good look at that enormous schnozzle this species has – “Better to feed with my dear!” Notice the green coloring on the body of the male. All photos were taken with my Nikon D80 and Tamron 200-500 zoom on a tripod.
f/6.3, 1/320, ISO 200, 460mm
f/6.3, 1/400, ISO 200, 460mm
f/6.3, 1/320, ISO 200, 460mm