Category: Washington Coast

Ft Worden provided a perfect ending to our outing

Being a creature of habit, I start my trip to Port Townsend with a birding stop at Ft. Flagler, fish and chips at Sea J’s Cafe, a tour of the art galleries, particularly the two Co-ops, and a final birding stop at Ft. Worden where we often see birds that we haven’t seen at Ft. Flagler.

On this trip, I managed to get some good shots of what turned out to be not one but two different Belted Kingfishers. We’ve seen Kingfishers here many times in the past, but they like to laugh and fly away before your camera can focus on them. On this trip, though, this one landed right under me and sat there as I leaned over the railing in several different places trying to get the perfect angle.

A close-up of a kingfisher perched on a wooden surface, showcasing its distinctive blue-gray feathers and orange-brown underparts.

After I’d taken a dozen or so shots, though, I was distracted by a river otter diving right below the Kingfisher.

A river otter swimming in calm blue waters, with ripples surrounding its body.

The Kingfisher flew away by the time I grew frustrated with trying to capture a shot of the otter’s head. As we headed back to the car a Kingfisher flew back overhead and landed a few feet away from where the earlier Kingfisher had been. I assumed it was the same Kingfisher.

A close-up of a kingfisher perched on a weathered wooden post with a rusty metal cap.

I didn’t realize otherwise until I got home and uploaded my shots to my computer that I realized this was a male Belted Kingfisher. The reason they had completely ignored me was that it must be mating season

Capturing the Perfect Harlequin Duck Photo at Fort Flagler

I was easy to spot Black-bellied Plovers and Sanderlings at Fort Flagler, but I might not have noticed the Turnstones if Leslie hadn’t spotted them first with her binoculars. I started looking for them, and a few minutes later I spotted this one foraging right next to a Sanderling.

Two shorebirds foraging along a rocky beach near the shoreline, with water in the background.

This one stood out more than the others I spotted because the water provided a background, but several of the shots I took were blurry because my Canon EOS R5 focused on the rocks instead of the bird.

I managed to focus on another one as it ran across the wet sand before reaching the rocky stretch of beach where it finds food.

A small bird foraging on a wet rocky shore, with a mix of brown and white plumage.

I enjoyed seeing all these different varieties of seabirds, but I began to worry that we hadn’t seen a single Harlequin duck until we reached the very end of the spit.

I’ve noted before that I don’t chase rare sightings, that I prefer to visit refuges or special places where you can see all kinds of wildlife, but a skeptic could argue that I do chase Harlequin ducks, and the only place I can count on seeing them is Fort Flagler. I’ve been going there for years, trying to capture the perfect Harlequin shot.

I’m afraid I’m going to have to go back again next year because these shots aren’t even as good as some I have taken in past years, because they were as long ways off shore. These shots have all been heavily cropped, even though I shot them with a 200mm-800mm zoom lens.

Two harlequin ducks swimming in blue water, with one male displaying bright orange and black plumage and one female with a more subdued brown coloration.

Even worse, I continue to struggle to avoid blown-out highlights and am forced to tone down the whites and highlights to show some of the detail in the white feathers.

Two ducks swimming in water, one with distinct black and white markings and the other a darker brown with a light patch on its head.

These might be considered better than some shots I’ve taken in the past. If so, it is probably because my equipment has gotten better and better (and more and more expensive) over time. Not to mention that photographic software allows more precise adjustments than when I started birding.

A Sunny Day at Fort Flagler

A week of sunshine and temperatures in the low 50’s almost convinced me that Spring was near, especially since it got me out birding again, but none of the birds we saw at Ft. Flagler were in breeding plumage yet.

In fact, most of them were definitely still in non-breeding plumage, like this Black-bellied Plover

A shorebird walking along the sandy beach near the ocean waves.

which definitely lacked the black belly that the species is named after.

There were a few, though, that seemed to be gradually transitioning to breeding plumage

A shorebird standing on a rocky beach, surrounded by various colored pebbles, with water in the background.

though they still weren’t recognizable as Black-bellied Plovers.

Most of the Sanderlings were still in non-breeding plumage, too.

A small bird foraging among wet rocks and pebbles by the water's edge.

None displayed the Rufus color I associate with Sanderling in breeding colors, but a few of them were definitely darker than the ones in winter plumage.

Two shorebirds searching for food among rocky shorelines and shallow water.

It turned out that the birds had a much better sense of what season it is after we ended up with a late snow day about a week after these pictures were taken.

I guess we’ll have to wait until Friday for Spring to arrive. Hopefully Mother Nature will remember to glance at her calendar.

Finding Peace in Birding: A Unique Form of Meditation

It’s always exciting to photograph Whimbrels and Red Knots because they are bigger and rarer than most shorebirds, like Western Sandpipers or Dunlin, but my favorite part of birding during Spring or Fall Migration is actually when smaller sandpipers completely surround me .

To make that happen, you need to be standing on the beach long before they arrive and stand very still, becoming part of the scenery. On this visit, that meant we were on the beach by 6:00 AM, just after sunrise.

While the Whimbrels, Dowitchers, Red Knots, and Black-Bellied Plovers maintained their distance feeding at the water’s edge,

A group of shorebirds, likely Whimbrels or similar species, foraging on a sandy beach at sunrise, with soft golden light reflecting on the water.

Western Sandpipers covered the beach, skittering here and there, eating only God-Knows-What.

A shorebird with brown and white plumage stands on wet rocks near the water's edge.

They come so close that you almost need a zoom lens to fit them into the frame.

A small, brown and white shorebird standing in shallow water, looking down at its reflection.

You obviously don’t have to stand perfectly still, or you wouldn’t be able to get pictures like this, but sometimes something as subtle as a camera click can startle them into flight. And it should go without saying that the last thing you want to do while birding is scare them into flight since these little guys migrate up to 6,000 miles to breed.

A bird walking along the edge of a shallow water body, with its reflection visible in the water.

It’s not unusual to end up with more blurry shots than focused because they seldom slow down, but sometimes you get lucky, and they will pose for a series of shots like this Dunlin and Western Sandpiper did.

Two shorebirds foraging in shallow water, reflecting their images on the water's surface.

I wish I had experienced the Spring or Fall Migration when I worked in Aberdeen nearly sixty years ago. If I had, I hope that I would’ve returned to the area much more often than I have over the years, because it is a powerful experience with or without a camera. For me, it is probably the ultimate meditation, one that calls to mind a saying we practice in Spring Forest Qigong, one that I translate as “I am in the universe, the universe is in me, we are One.”