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Australian Hiking Buddies

Hiking the trails in Australia National Parks has been an experience that we won't soon forget - not to be missed if you have the opportunity.  Not only are the beaches and forests unique, but they are among the best maintained and most scenic we have seem.  And the wildlife - so much fun.  Here are a few examples - photos that I haven't posted on facebook or Instagram.

What did we see first day out in the wild?  A Koala hanging out it one of his favorite trees.  So lucky not only to see him, but to be able to photograph him as well in his natural setting.  A rare experience I'm told. 

Emus were not quite so rare.

Stay away from these guys.  They are big and seemingly unafraid.  

Kangaroos seemed to be everywhere, but we also managed to see a family of pademelon, smallest of the kangaroo family.

The Tasmanian Native Hen has some pretty colors.

A few more of our hiking buddies, not so unusual.

Kangaroo

Hooded Plover, currently mating and nesting.

Cockatoos, the noisiest and most obnoxious bird I've seen.  The penultimate gang members.

In part, because of the hot summer weather, most the wildlife we have seen are sparse or out of sight during the day, spending their time napping in the shade during the day and being active at night.  But thankfully, we found our hiking buddy Mr. Koala moving about and were able to observe and take a few pictures.  

Having way too much fun.

Snowbirds

A combination of people and warmer winter climate seem to have resulted in more wild birds wintering over in the northwest rather than migrate further south.  When we do have a period of winter weather, it's interesting to see how these birds cope in the snow.  Following are a few pictures of our feathered friends dealing with the snow and cold of early February.

The colors of this male House Finch really stand out in contrast to the snow.  They also look a little larger than normal as they puff out their chest to help protect from the cold.  

I can't remember seeing so many Varied Thrushes like the one above hopping across our deck.  Following is one in flight.

Robins really stand out in the snow too and boy do they puff out their chest.

The "thugs" of this winter, and very noisy ones too, have been the Stellar Jays and Northern Flickers.  This flicker should be arrested for attempted "breaking and entering".

We did find a couple of casualties in the aftermath.  One was a humming bird, though I'm not sure why since we kept them supplied with unfrozen sugar water, and a Towhee. Here's one of the towhees that stayed close to the bird feeders.

Gotta love the Chickadees.  

Hopefully, it's time to say "until next year".

Snow Buddies

One might think that snow and cold weather would bring levels of outdoor activity to a halt.  Nope, it's been quite the opposite.  We've had visitors stop by that we haven't seen in some time knocking on our door.  Regulars take us a bit for granted, like our hummingbird friends who stare at us through the window if we are late in thawing the sugar water in their feeders.  Or the tribe of Dark-eyed Juncos who invited all their friends over.  I must say, they are fun to watch as the snow falls.  They stay so "puffed up" in the snow.

I still haven't been able to figure out which Juncos are females and which are males, though love is certainly now in the air.  They also invited their friends the Towies over for lunch.

The Wigeon family have been the biggest party crashers and made themselves at home in our yard and under our deck.  We haven't seen them all year.

Two females scouting the territory, followed by the boys.

The army of Coots stayed in the water (only about 100 or so of them), which is just fine by me.  Mallards, of course, acted as if they owned the place, waddling along right up on our deck.  We never feed them, but they sure looked like they expected a hand-out.

Mallards are truly the "Rodney Dangerfield" of the duck family but they really are a pretty bird.

And, of course, the squirrel family joined the party, cleaning up after the others.

Quite a menagerie on a snowy day.

Time to go for a hike in the snow.  Enjoy!

Bald Eagles

Why do we get so much pleasure from observing and trying to photograph bald eagles?  For me, it's a long list:

• It gets me out into nature
• Provides both physical exercise and mental therapy
• Though eagles are no longer endangered, they are still somewhat rare
• They are so beautiful, regal and strong
• Fun to watch
• Always satisfying to capture a good photo, which is not always easy to do
• I learn a lot about nature and our environment

As I have had more opportunity and some success with photographing eagles while they were perched on a tree limb or maybe doing a fly-by off in the distance, capturing an image while they are engaged with other eagles or perhaps doing something out of the ordinary has become my greater focus.  And its fun.  Following are a few of the more unusual and action sights from my couple of trips to the Nooksack this winter.

Landing on a tree branch isn't always quite so easy.

Weighing on average about 4 lbs, finding a sturdy branch to land on makes things a whole lot easier.

Making room on a branch or stump for both Mr. & Mrs. can also be a challenge.

1st or 2nd year juveniles can look pretty fierce.

Adults, though, seem to have a real grace about them despite their ferocity.

Being on a hill above eagles as they dive down to dine on salmon carcasses provides some interesting perspectives and close ups, and sometimes can put you at nearly eye level.

Two more photos out a several hundred.  The stare down of this eagle is down right intimidating.

And my favorite - in the spotlight.

None of these are the perfect shots either technically or artistically, but it sure is fun.

Lake Sawyer Wildlife - Making it through Winter

Helped no doubt by our unseasonably mild weather, local wildlife seem to be thriving at the lake right now.  I see one or two bald eagles most mornings taking stock of what's on the menu for the day.  They also are flying a lot together - could it be mating season?  Migrating ducks are also abundant now with mergansers and goldeneyes also making preparation for mating season.  These Common Goldeneyes are good sized and live up to their name.  First the male:

Females too.  Their orange tipped beaks and reddish brown colored heads, along with their eyes, stand out more than many female ducks species.

My favorites are still the Pied-billed Grebes that go fishing every morning just off our dock.  The females have quite a long neck.

Males have more coloring on their beaks and are noticeably smaller.

I think we have a pair of squirrels nesting under our deck.  They love to do cleanup duty on the seeds and bits of suet that fall from our bird feeders when the birds are feeding.

Easy to get closeups of these guys. 

This one looks like he's sticking his tongue out at me.

Our favorites, of course, are the hummingbirds.

Will post some lake eagle pics when we get some more sunshine.  In the meantime, here are a couple of eagle photos from my travels to the Nooksack.

 

 

Salmon Fishing - Eagle Style

Having the opportunity to observe bald eagles feasting on salmon each December along the North Fork of the Nooksack River is one of those experiences not to be missed.  You'll find plenty of these beautiful birds hanging out in the trees along the river in no apparent hurry to go "fishing".  Given that salmon often outweigh eagles, finding a carcass floating downstream along the shore after the fish have spawned is the typical method of choice for landing an eagle's breakfast and dinner.  Occasionally, however, we do find an eagle diving out into the water to drag one to shore.  A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to be able to capture the sequence of one eagle eyeing it's dinner in the river and then diving down to "land" it.  

Following are a few of the highlights:

On the glide path.

Concentrate!

Splash down!

This was the easiest part so far.  Now you have to get really wet and drag your dinner to shore.

After a few minutes of really hard wet work, you can finally rest and savor your meal.

The only problem, however, is that once ashore, all the eagles who have been watching this spectacle would love nothing more than a free lunch.  Here they come.

One hates to eat and run, but that's the life of an eagle.  Fortunately, there's lots of food in the river this time of year.
 

How Do Hummingbirds Make It Through Winter?

The short answer to this question is that most of them migrate to warmer climates in Mexico and the Caribbean in winter and even to South America.  That's a long way for such a small bird.  But, according to National Geographic, more hummingbirds are staying north these days as a result of both warmer winter weather and human activity.  Winters in the Puget Sound region are by no means severe and we have lots of people activity, so we find lots of hummingbirds here year round.  How many of us have hummingbird feeders that we dutifully keep full of nice sugary water?  Many of us I'm sure.  Watching them fly and feed is so much fun!  So is trying to photograph them while in flight.  This one was taken Christmas eve morning.

To capture this image, I took the photo through our kitchen window and had to use a shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second.  What do hummingbirds feed on?  Of course, we all know that they love sugared water.  A concentration of 25% sugar is very similar to the high sugar content of flower and plant nectar that we typically see them feeding on in our gardens.  But hummingbirds are actually carnivores and feed on insects as their main food staple.  For some reason, the more people there are, the more insects and the better the habitat for hummingbirds.  Hmmm, some "food" for thought.  Sugar from plant nectar and people hummingbird feeders provide the fuel needed for them to catch their real nutritious food.

Look at those tiny little feet!  Hummingbirds need lots of sugar to survive and consume up to 1/2 their body weight in sugar each day.  A hummingbird's metabolism is the highest of any endothermic animal on earth and thus the need for lots of fuel.  To conserve energy during extreme cold weather, a hummingbird's heart rate can plummet from 1,260 beats per minute down to fewer than 50 beats - entering a state of torpor.  Even then, however, they can still lose 10% of their body weight over night.  They need food and lots of sugary fuel to find it.

Following is our latest addition of hummingbird feeders, this one made of blown glass by an artisan at a farmers market.  Pretty fun and holds plenty of sugar water.

Some people caution about making hummingbirds too dependent on people during the winter.  Fair enough.  Probably the best thing we can do is grow more plants that bloom in colder seasons - like hellebores.   And a couple of feeders properly attended will do just fine.

Now, if only I could find a way to increase my metabolism while eating all of that sweet holiday food, instead of going into torpor.  

Eagles of the Nooksack

About this time each year, two large runs of pink salmon return to the Nooksack and Skagit rivers to spawn.  Pinks are reasonably small, averaging 4 to 5 pounds with a few 20 pound lunkers thrown in for excitement.  With a total of 6.8 million fish on average returning each year to all Puget Sound rivers, it's by far the largest run of salmon we have here.  But the Skagit and Nooksack are the places to see them in numbers - and also the large number of eagles they attract.  

Though perhaps a little early, I headed up to my favorites spots along the Nooksack last week hoping to see some eagles and I wasn't disappointed.

For me, it doesn't get much more fun than trying to photograph eagles while in flight.

You won't find eagles diving for fish like we do here at Lake Sawyer or at Wolf Lodge Bay in Lake Coeur 'd Alene while kokanee are spawning.  Trout and kokanee are much smaller than even small pink salmon.  Salmon are much too big and heavy for eagles to lift.  Instead, eagles feed on salmon carcasses that lie in the water after they have spawned and no longer flapping about.  

The "action", when it occurs for photographers, is when eagles engage in disputes over who gets to feed first.  Then, it's all about a display of power and threat in an attempt to chase other eagles from feeding on their favorite carcasses and territory.

Watching them feed is not a pretty sight.

Only when enough meat has been removed from the carcass will an eagle attempt to claim it and lift it away to a more private dinner spot.

They do seem to really like feeding on the skin too.  Always fun to watch even when just performing a fly by.

More eagle pics in a future post.

 

Return of our Lake Sawyer Feathered Friends

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are beginning to see quite a number of our feathered friends at Lake Sawyer.  Some, like bald eagles, pied-billed grebes, ring-necked ducks, bufflehead, hooded mergansers and cormorants often winter-over here (I've seen each of these so far this year).  Ospreys will soon join them.  Others, like common mergansers, coots, western grebes, wood ducks, gadwalls, wigeons, teals, northern shovelers, golden-eyes and pintail ducks generally pass through heading south after a short rest.  And of course, we have our year-round resident great blue herons, Canadian geese and kingfishers.  If only we could induce the geese to migrate south.

Following are some photos from last week.

Also saw a juvenile eagle making the rounds yesterday.  With their old nest in Lake Sawyer Park badly damaged in past storms, let's keep an eye out for where they might build another nest or repair the old.  

These cute little pied-billed grebes are great fishermen and we see them diving near our dock year after year.

This male hooded merganser was hanging out with a group of ring-necked ducks at the south end of the lake.  The following shows a ring-necked duck on takeoff followed by his/her buddy merganser.

This time of year, you will often find a heron standing atop the outlet weir in the morning hours.  

The above photo was taken at Nisqually showing the bird's reflections.  Still working on getting a good recent shot of our Lake Sawyer herons.

More reflections taken at Lake Sawyer park of Mr. & Mrs. ring-necked ducks along with more heron reflections that follow.

It's a fun time of year for birders.

 

Got Goats

Finally, the third time was a charm and I was able to photograph mountain goats at Mt. Rainier - except, they're not really goats.  Instead, according to the experts, they are Bovidea in the same family as antelopes, gazelles and cattle and not true goats of the Capra family.  No matter, they sure look like goats.  I finally found two groups feeding along the hillsides of Berkeley Park about a mile past where the trail from Sunrise splits three ways: (1) to the Burroughs, (2) to Fremont Lookout where goat sightings have been frequent lately (except when I'm there) and (3) following the Wonderland Trail on to Berkeley Park and Skyscraper Mountain.   I found two groups in Berkeley Park with about a dozen animals total, including 4 youngsters.

The youngsters looked a lot younger than I would have thought given that fall and winter are rapidly approaching.  Staying close to mom still, except for a few wandering about.

Fortunately, I was carrying my long lens and was able to get decent views.

A few of them posed as if they wanted to have their portrait taken.  I was only happy to oblige. 

Profiles too.

It still astounds me how they are able to find enough food up here to survive. 

The clan sticks together.

There seems to be a significant symmetry about where and how they sit or stand in pairs.

These are all females tending the herd.  Males live a solitary life except during mating season.

Twins?  They could be.  One of the bigger challenges to the herds' long term viability is to limit inbreeding.  Fortunately, it seems as though the herds at Mt. Rainier are fairly healthy, with 72 counted in one group last week by rangers on the hillsides of Freemont Mountain.

This female was apparently unimpressed by my camera.

Lots of fun.

 

 

Mika the Pika

Meet my camping buddy Mika the Pika.  A member of the rabbit family, pikas hang out at higher elevations in the cascades, living in burrows where they can stay warm when the snows come.  Cute little guys.

I found several of them feeding on a variety of grasses growing just above their den at the Mowich Lake campground.  Because they don't hibernate and stay active all year, they need to store plenty of food in their dens to tide them over through the winter months - a process called haying.

As you can see, short legs and no tail.  Looking pretty "plump" this time of year.  Don't be deceived by their body build, pika are fast, fast, fast and would be tough to catch by predators such as eagles, foxes and weasels.  

Though they do drink water when it's available, there is sufficient water in the food they eat that they don't need to find a source of water other than that contained in their food.  Apparently they are quite picky about what they hay away for the winter.   Keep your eyes open when out and about up at Mt. Rainier.  Chances are pretty good that you might see some.

Easy to identify by their ears.

Bald Eagles - So Much Fun to Watch

This year has been a banner year for watching eagles, be it at Wolf Lodge Bay in Lake Coeur d'Alene, along the Nooksack River, Skagit Flats and here at Lake Sawyer.  Lots of birds including youngsters and adults. There is something special about bald eagles that really grabs my attention.

Maybe it's seeing sheer power on display.  Look at those talons.  My curiosity about their habits and behavior led me to do a little research. 

• Why are they called bald eagles?  They are named for their white head (not lack of head feathers).  
• How big are they?  Females are typically larger than males, 35 - 37" long with a wingspan of up to 90".
• They can weigh from 8 to 14 lbs.

This is what I call a wingspan.

Their feathers weigh twice as much as do their bones, which are hollow and very light weight.  Their feet are actually tendons and as a result, cold resistant.  Eagle beaks, talons and feathers are made of keratin, the same material as in our hair and nails.  

• How do they stay warm when it's cold outside?  Their 7,000 or so feathers have several layers and can be rotated to increase or decrease insulating effect.
• How do they cool off in hot weather?  Eagles have a body temperature of 106 degrees.  To increase cooling, since they don't sweat, eagles pant or fluff their feathers.

Looks like he or she is having a bad hair day!  Eagles are known for their incredible vision.  They can be flying several hundred feet above the lake and see fish below the surface.  How do they do it?

• Eagle eyes are larger than eyes of adult humans.
• Each eye has two "fovea" or centers of focus allowing them to see both forward and to the side at the same time.
• Eagles also have binocular vision, allowing them to maintain depth perception while diving.

Despite being at the top of bird power ratings, their lives are far from easy.  Chicks stay in the nest after their eggs hatch for 10 to 12 weeks before taking flight and leaving.  Those early test flights can be interesting.  The following photo taken here at Lake Sawyer shows a juvenile taking some test flights outside the nest.  Look at how big they grow in such a short period.

Though they get their size early, the growing up process is a long one - 2 to 3 years before they reach full maturity and are able to mate. It has been estimated that 50 to 70% of all juveniles die in their first year and maybe 90% before reaching full maturity.  Learning to hunt for fresh food takes skill and practice.  Catching a fish for juveniles often takes quite a few passes and more often than not ends in failure.  This is one reason, perhaps, why juveniles rely more on eating carrion (dead animal carcasses) than do adults who feed mostly on live prey.

Following is a picture taken this summer of a juvenile "fishing" as the sun rose at Lake Sawyer.  Note the color of the bird's feathers.  They are just now turning into the familiar black with white head pattern of mature eagles.

It's so much fun watching them fish while competing with other eagles for territory.

How old do eagles live?  When in captivity, eagles have been known to live for 40 to 50 years. but when in the wild, 15 to 20 years would be more typical.  Life is tough out there.

Best time to observe eagles at Lake Sawyer seems to be in the morning during the first couple of hours after sunrise and late afternoon before sunset.  You can also see them in the middle of the day soaring high above the lake riding afternoon thermals, scoping out their territory - usually not fishing if they have already fed.  They eat between 1/2 to 1 and 1/2 lbs of food each day (6% to 11% of their body weight) and can gobble down a 1 pound fish in just 4 minutes. discarding what they don't want.

Following is a photo from a recent fly-by taken from our deck.

You can observe eagles at Lake Sawyer most anywhere on the lake, including at the boat launch park and the regional park at the south end of the lake.  Enjoy the spectacle!

 

A Summer of Butterflies

I'm not sure why, but I seem to be seeing a much larger number of butterflies taking wing this summer than I have in the past.  Locally, the Western Tiger Swallowtails are both abundant and colorful.  They seem to particularly like our phlox.

One thing I've noticed in contrast to other local wildlife is that butterflies seem slow to get going in the morning - kind of like our teenage grandchildren who like to sleep in late.  Why?  As it turns out, butterflies need to get their blood temperature up to a minimum 86 degrees before they can fly.  Their lifespan as an adult butterfly is also typically short, perhaps just 3 months or less.

I first thought this guy was a moth but the club on the end of it's antenna clearly shows it to be a butterfly.  No such club for moths.  Here is another tiger swallowtail enjoying the nectar from one of our rhododendrons. 

How can butterflies survive from year to year?  As we all were taught in grade school, they have four lives.  First, a mature female must lay fertilize eggs, usually leaving them on a leaf as shown in the following picture.

Image courtesy Canisius.edu

Interestingly, some butterflies can "taste" with their feet, helping them to identify whether the leaf they are on will be a good place for laying eggs.  Caterpillars (larve) rely on these leaves for food as they grow and grow.  That's the job of caterpillars - eat and grow big.  They are not always the prettiest creature at this stage of their life.  

Note the ants clinging to this caterpillar.  Looking for a meal?  Because they grow so fast, caterpillars continually shed skin.  Then comes becoming a pupa, hanging from a tree swathed in a protective net and looking like a mummy.

Finally, mature butterflies hatch from the pupa, completing the cycle back to adult butterflies.  Once able to fly, it becomes a mad dash to mate and lay eggs before they can be eaten by numerous preditors, starting the cycle all over again.  They sure are pretty now.

 

 

 

Lake Sawyer Scenes - Weekly Highlights

Despite the warm temperatures and a large number of boaters and swimmers this past weekend, I was surprised to see so many raptors still hanging around Lake Sawyer, including both osprey and bald eagles.  All I can think of is that the fishing must be very good.  If you want to see them, however, you best get up between 5:30 and 7 am as they set out in search of breakfast.  First to appear were the osprey.  The sequence that follows shows just how deep they will dive in search of fish.

This osprey was fully submerged from its dive and struggled to lift its prey out of the water.  Here it is struggling to rise out of the water before being pulled back into the water by the fish.  

The fish was almost too big as it turned out - probably a large mouth bass or big catfish.  Finally the osprey prevailed

The battle went on for almost a minute before the osprey finally succeeded in achieving lift off.  You can see the fish being held in the osprey's talons.

Next, with the osprey back at the nest, two eagles came by scouting the territory and brightened by the sun light.

This sequence was taken at very long distance and in a shaded area but it shows how the eagles tend to only skim the surface when they fish - seldom going under water.  Here, he/she makes the grab.

The buoy helps put size and distance in perspective.

Lots more pictures of these guys but also saw some nice mountain sunsets and sunrises from the lake too.  First, Saturday night's sunset.

The following sunrise photo was taken on Sunday July 15 showing mountain reflections just before the sun rose above the horizon.

Fun week.

Lake Sawyer Wildlife of the Week

Though we were out of town for much of the week, our wildlife friends did not disappoint.  Some are regulars, others passing through and most will be heading north over the next month for summer vacation.  None are more dependable than a great blue heron who flies by our dock most every morning at about 6:30 am.  A true creature of habit, it landed this day on our dock before taking up patrol in an area we maintain for growing rushes.  These reeds provide great shelter for little fish and attract lots of birds in search of a snack.

We regularly see river otters visiting this same area but this is the first time we've seen a beaver passing by.

Also for the first time, I saw a juvenile bald eagle dive down and snatch a fish out of the lake, taking advantage of the early morning sun.

If you look closely, you'll see the fish's head being held by the eagle's talons.  My pic of the "snatch" was not very good - a long way away and the lake was covered with "cotton" from the cottonwood trees, but this one clearly shows the fish in the eagle's grasp.

The air wars continued last week, this time with a brave crow trying to protect its recently hatched chicks from this notorious nest robber. 

Speaking of young birds, I saw this Hooded Merganser mother carefully shepherding around her youngsters in Frog Lake. 

Getting big.

What bird makes the most noise around your home?  At our house, it's definitely the Stellars Jays.

A member of the crow family (known as Corvedai), these birds are very wily, have a great memory and capable of solving complex problems.  Very noisy too.

Have a great week.

Wildlife of the Week

After taking our granddaughter back to Spokane following spring break, I headed for Othello to see what wildlife might be found this time of year.  With less than 10" of rain per year, finding sunshine would be a bonus.  First stop - home to a family of burrowing owls tending their nest under a concrete irrigation ditch.  Pretty bird!

Unlike other owls, these guys are active during the day.  They feed primarily on rodents and the occasional bird.  We should expect to see a brood of perhaps 6 to 8 youngsters peeking out of the nest in a few weeks.  Even at maturity, burrowing owls are small averaging about 10" tall.  The following photo shows the owl next to its nest as the sun rose.

This is Sandhill Crane Festival time in Othello and a key stopover for migrating flocks of cranes heading north all the way to the Bering Sea.  Quite the acrobatic fliers.

So graceful to watch - 100's of them making lots and lots of noise.

As you can see, clouds in the sky on this day making for an all white background.  Hard to get the right settings without blowing out the colors.

Always plenty of Harriers and Redtail hawks around the area.

This redtail wasn't too happy to see me and flew off its utility pole perch squawking away.

Eastern Meadowlarks were also big noise song makers.  They seemed to outnumber even the redwing blackbirds.

Look at those talons.  This is just a sampling.  Plenty of photo opps for photographers here and in the expansive Columbia National Wildlife Refuge.

 

Winter Wildlife in Western Washington

When it comes to winter weather, north westerners are in a class by themselves, setting new standards for the art of complaint.  You might think that "wet and dreary" were names of prominent local sports team mascots.  But no, it can be pretty "cool" here in winter too (no pun intended).  The key - get outside.  Enjoy the snow, explore local waterfalls and hike trails you normally pass by on your way to summer time hikes.  It's never as bad outside as it appears from inside.  And enjoy our winter wildlife.  Here at Lake Sawyer, our nesting pair of eagles arrived in January and can be seen most mornings patrolling for duck dinner and other local delicacies.  Cormorants and pied billed grebes compete with flocks of goldeneyes, mergansers, bufflehead, coots and numerous others of the duck family for fresh fish dinner. 

Looking for more variety, I like to head to Samish flats in Skagit County - my vote for winter raptor capital of Puget Sound.  Lots of eagles including this guy standing on a fence post that I call "goofy" (or maybe he's a flasher). 

They sure are amazing inflight.

They do look a little thinner this time of year, particularly the males as we see above.  Watching them land in a tree is always fun.

But eagles aren't the only raptors here.  The hawk family is well represented, including these really cute Kestrels.

Others in the hawk family commonly seen are Cooper's Hawks, Northern Harriers and Red-Tailed Hawks like the one pictured below.

Pretty powerful legs on these guys.  

I expect that migrating flocks of Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swans that winter over here provide much of the raptor's diet and Bald Eagles remain king.

They even stand guard over the flag.

Well worth the drive.



 

 

Winter Wildlife at Yellowstone

Photographing wildlife in winter at Yellowstone can be even more fun that at other times of year.  With the need to conserve energy and withstand the cold, wildlife move more slowly and provide excellent contrast with the snow, making some easier to spot.  What can you see that is most common?  Without a doubt, Bison lead the list followed by Bighorn Sheep and Elk.

Bison have such hard heads that they are able to clear the ground of snow to gain access to the grass below.  Their coat of fir is also so thick that snow on their back often does not melt.  They are also very comfortable laying down in the snow for a nap.

Bison walk very slowly and often choose roads to walk along to conserve energy in winter.  They also give magpies a free ride.

One of the reasons you won't see bighorn sheep in the flat lands is the depth of snow.  By staying on hillsides, they have more ready access to the grasses they eat.  As you can see from the above photo, rutting season can take its toll on the rams' horns.  This one lost part of his horn in a previous fight.  This isn't the only one I saw with damaged horns.

I love the foxes and their rivals the coyotes.

Look at the thick winter coat on the fox above.

Coyotes run in packs and I managed to see them most every day.  When a pack of wolves and pack of coyotes are in the same general area, they create lots of noise howling back and forth, laying their pack's claim to the territory.  There is no doubt that in a confrontation, wolves win, so the coyotes maintain their distance.  Though I heard them, I didn't see wolves this trip.

First time I've ever seen a moose.  This one was "hiding" from behind the grass.

While males keep their distance from a herd of bison females, except during mating season, male and female moose appear to stay together all year.  These are huge and very dangerous animals.  I stayed a long ways away and they were hard to photograph even with my long lens.

A herd of pronghorn sheep hang out near the park entrance at Gardiner.

A surprise, and my favorite this trip, was this river otter.  They always seem to put on a show for us.

If you have the opportunity to visit Yellowstone in winter, I really encourage you to do so.  For more about Yellowstone in winter, follow this link to my earlier post Yellowstone in Winter.

Year of the Eagle

I've seen more eagles this year than I can remember and they seem to be everywhere.  Our nesting pair at Lake Sawyer have already returned to raise another pair of youngsters in the new year.  Several are also seen prowling the Cedar River and Green River.  Wolf Lodge Bay at Lake Coeur 'd Alene has seen record numbers (over 500 eagles) this November and December to feed on spawning Kokanee.  An early spawning season for chum salmon along the Nooksack found eagles less concentrated but perched up and down the river from mid November with some stragglers remaining still today.  The same can be said for the Skagit river.  As of yesterday, we also found them all over Skagit Flats and Fir Island feeding on snow geese and other migrating birds that winter here.  It's not just the total numbers that are impressive, it's the number of juveniles and recently matured birds that seem to tell a story (they are the ones with the "dirty" faces).  Perhaps a third or more appear to be youngsters 1 to 3 years still getting their formal whites.  Following are a few of my favorite photos from the last couple of months.

From Wolf Lodge Bay:

Here, fishing and the interaction among eagles is focused on diving to grab a kokanee swimming near the surface.  An adult eagle will sometimes dive to interfere with a juvenile hoping to knock a fish out of the juvenile's grasp and steal it but not a lot of intense eagle to eagle action.  A photographer's win is to capture the splash down and fish as the eagle dives.  Not my best photos but following are a couple of pics.

Photographers typically position themselves at two locations - Higgin's point on the northeast and at the point directly across the lake on the southeast side.

At the Nooksack, it's a battle for possession.  The fish are big, much too heavy to carry.  Often a pair of mates will work together to fend off rivals until they have had their fill.  Capturing eagles while they dive bomb each other offers some of the best action.

They sure look fierce but I have yet to see them actually use their talons on another bird.  How would you like this coming at you?

Those talons are pretty amazing.

When they do collide, however, it's more like the aggressor trying to bump the competitor out of the way - it's their time to feed.  Quite a show.

Big fish too.  The eagle in the following pic appears to be just reaching maturity with only a few juvenile signs remaining.  The bridge across the river along Mosquito Lake Road near Deming offers one of the better viewing locations.

Observing eagles feeding on migrating snow geese is quite another matter.   This view was totally unexpected - an eagle feeding on bird in a field of grass.  The now deceased bird was pretty darn big.

Another recently matured eagle.  I couldn't believe all the birds son Craig and I saw yesterday while driving around Samish Flats, Skagit Flats and Fir Island.  Fun to see.  Plenty of birds at all of these places still out there for your viewing pleasure.  Hope you can get there.  You don't need to be a photographer to enjoy watching, though a pair of binoculars would be helpful.

 

 

Talons

Birds of prey, also known as raptors, have developed some interesting adaptations of claws to help them kill their victims - adaptations that date back to the days of dinosaurs.  Accipitrids, which include hawks and eagles, have giant claws on the first and second toes of each foot that are used primarily to hold large struggling prey.  In contrast, falcons have much smaller talons and rely more on the severity of their attack to disable their prey.  Osprey, also known as the fish hawk, have large highly curved talons on each toe as a special adaptation for fishing.  Having the opportunity to observe osprey do their fishing at Lake Sawyer and in northern Idaho, they do seem perfectly adapted, relying on fish for 95%+- of their diet.  Eagles seem "lazier" relying on their ability to steal dinner from other raptors or even eating already dead prey, such as salmon.  Kokanee are small enough salmon for eagles to grab without getting too wet while osprey will go all out diving for kokanee. This is what we see in northern Idaho, most recently at Wolf Lodge Bay in Lake Coeur d' Alene where eagles are current fishing en masse.

Salmon, however, are just too big to carry and a whole lot easier to eat when they are "seasoned' (also known as having rotted at bit).  This is what you can see now at the Nooksack River where chum salmon are currently spawning.  You will find carcasses littering river gravel bars and this is what eagles go after, not those fish still alive making their way upstream.  That's too hard of work. The action I find at the Nooksack River has more to do with fending off other eagles than it has to do with catching salmon.  And it's wild.  The photographic action at the Nooksack is all about capturing images of eagles attacking and defending their "catch"' .  Last week, I posted one sequence of eagles doing battle.  During my visit to the Nooksack last weekend, I was able to get a litter closer to the action and focus on how they use their talons during these battles.  Following is a sequence showing an adult stealing dinner from a immature juvenile, beginning with the approach.

Note the size of the thumbnail talons on this guy.

 The above photo prominently shows the "big four" talons ready for action.

How would you like these coming at you.  Time for this juvenile to get out of there.

Note the prize carcass located in the river between the two birds.

Mission accomplished - possession.  No damage inflicted on the youngster.  Just a show of force.  Fascinating to watch.  I feel so fortunate to be able to witness these beautiful birds in the wild doing what eagles do as nature intended - including junior learning a lesson.