Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
I’ve often photographed a lone female ring-necked duck on Horse Lake, wondering if its the same bird that returns from one year to the next, but this one was on nearby Long Lake. Might be the same bird, of course the ducks move around especially when they get spooked, but I don’t have any way of knowing.
This song sparrow was working the same bit of floating branches as this red-winged blackbird but with a different technique. While the blackbird hunted for food by moving debris about with her beak, the sparrow was using its feet to do the same. Curiously it had one tail feather askew but it didn’t seem to be impeding it in any way that I could see. I saw the same bird on another day with its downward-facing feather but I suspect it fell off in short order as days later I saw a sparrow working the branches with all feathers cooperating.
There’s a spot in Long Lake where floating branches accumulate at the edge of the lake by a culvert. Both red-winged blackbirds (like this female holding what I presume is an insect larva) and song sparrows frequently hunt in this little section, looking for insects hidden in the plants and mud. The blackbird searches with its beak, as shown below, while the sparrow typically uses its feet. I’ve spent hours watching them on the hunt, as its also a good spot to watch mergansers hunt for fish just a bit further out, and a couple of times a river otter has swum up gone through the culvert to the other side of the road.
A hooded merganser swallows a fish she just caught in the shallows of Long Lake. She’s swimming away not from me but rather the other mergansers in her group who would be more than happy at the chance for a free meal. Once she surfaces with the fish she’s got to get it oriented head-first, lengthwise down her long thin bill, and toss it back and swallow it. The still squirming fish sometimes gets dropped even when alone, much less in a crowd, so a little private space is always welcome.
A close look at the face of a western painted turtle enjoying a spring afternoon in the Pacific Northwest.
A male belted kingfisher perches on a snag as it watches for fish in Long Lake on a rainy winter afternoon. Many of the snags near the road have fallen over, taking many good viewing opportunities with them.
I enjoy photographing wildlife that are inadvertently carrying around a bit of their environment, such as this female green-winged teal who still has a bit of the plant life she was eating hanging from her bill.
A barn swallow takes a break from hunting insects over Long Lake on a rainy spring day. This was one of my favorite spots at the refuge to take pictures, the dead tree to which this branch was attached was close to the road and I spent many hours just sitting in my car watching to see what would swim or walk or fly by, but sadly the tree fell over into the lake.
I had stopped at the culvert at Long Lake to see if any mergansers or other ducks were fishing in the shallows but saw a small dark bird flitting above the flotsam instead. A song sparrow often works this area but it is looking for food in the water, not above it, so I grabbed the telephoto lens for a better look. I was surprised to find the bird was a black phoebe, only the third time I’ve seen one (the second was also at Long Lake but in a different spot and time of year). I saw my fourth later in the day at Bower Slough but it didn’t give me the repeated close looks this one did.
A western painted turtle floats in the shallows of Long Lake, surrounded (and covered) by duckweed.
📷: Canon 7D | Canon 500mm + 1.4X
🗓️: June 12, 2011
Boolie 