Washington Birds

Taken this spring in the Skagit Valley, this photo shows a few of the Snow Geese that winter there. When we saw them there were thousands of them feeding and when disturbed flying up and circling and returning.

The Black Oystercatcher is found only along the Pacific coast and even there they are supposed to be uncommon, but we almost always see them in the area of Deception Pass. This photo was taken at Rosario Beach just north of Deception Pass where I watched this bird for quite a while using his bill to find shellfish just at the tideline. With its long orange bill, it has been described as a crow smoking a carrot.

This was taken in Port Townsend from the ferry as it was preparing to sail. The bird is a Pelagic Cormorant, I think, a very common bird around the ports.

I had trouble with uploading a photo last night. For some reason they would not show up in my photostream after I uploaded them. After repeated efforts I gave up only to wake this morning and find that I had uploaded a lot of pictures. This is the one I've left, and thanks to all those who patiently ignored the rest. These are Snow Geese, Chen caerulescens, wintering in the Skagit Valley. There were thousands of them and the noise was unbelievable. Periodically someone would get too close and huge numbers of them would fly off, circle around and return. We spent several hours photographing them. It was quite a show!

Taken in the Skagit Valley while visiting the tulip and daffodil fields of the bulb growers. We were fortunate to see and photograph this eagle. There have been many of them around but I've not been able to get any good photos.

This is another photo from our visit to the Skagit Valley bulb farms when we saw the huge flocks of snow geese that winter there. I liked this shot both because it shows some of the geese coming in to land and because it shows a dark color form sometimes known as a "Blue Goose."

Photographed this morning (April 1) in the Skagit Valley near the town of Edison, this is a Red-tailed Hawk. I was not certain but the ID was confirmed by a friend who is an expert on birds.

This is another shot from the Skagit Valley. We had gone to see the tulips and daffodils and ended up watching and photographing the huge flocks of Snow Geese that had wintered in the fields and still had not left for the Arctic. These two were coming in for a landing after circling around. Someone would get too close or a noise would spook them and many of them would take off only to return as these two were doing.

We were out for the day today photographing a very early spring and while visiting the Skagit Valley to see the daffodils and tulips (the daffodils are at their peak and the tulips are started), we saw the most amazing thing - thousands of Snow Geese which had been wintering in the valley. Most of the time they were feeding on the ground but occasionally something would spook them and large groups of them would start flying. Whether feeding or flying the noise was incredible. We spent several hours photographing them and though I have some better pictures I wanted to post this to give some idea of the huge numbers. Snow Geese breed on the arctic tundra but winter as far south as Mexico.