Alaska is known for its Bald Eagles. Get out to Kodiak where I am and you find them EVERYWHERE! Seriously, on our little stretch of coast, there are nearly a dozen nests. They love to fly and on the bluff of our camp, they fly by really close. I mean, really close. I am not trying to trivialize this by any means, they are gorgeous birds on the wing and I love photographing them. But literally, all I had to do was walk a few feet, not fall off the bluff, and point the lens and pan. They do the rest and there are so many, in no time you have shots like this and so much more. When back in camp after photographing bears, the eagles are such fun to watch and photograph. I have glass on all the birds when back in camp though that’s not a bear.

The first Yellow-headed Blackbirds returned to Lee Metcalf NWR about 10 days ago. Each day there is one or two more to now there are about a dozen on my favorite stretch of marsh. They go through all sorts of contortions when they call. While they do that they call what sounds like the old commercial theme … cha, cha, cha, Chia. They work themselves all up into a real frenzy to the point where they need to take an afternoon bath. The photo above is the male displaying his heart out. Below is after all his displaying and taking a bath. He kept moving his wings back and forth like what you see and all I could think of while taking the photographs was … neeeeeeeyyyyyooorrrwwwww!

By day four, you can see the nest platform was taking shape. It was funny to watch the male bring in a stick and the female throw it out and down into the water. At first I thought it was because she didn’t approve of the stick. But after a while she launched from the platform and grabbed the stick from the water. She did this a couple of times so I’m thinking she let them soak so the stick would be plyable.

Our last time to the nest we planned to have the setting sun providing some nice light for the Osprey’s romance. Everything was going as planned until the wind direction changed. You want the sun and the wind on your back photography birds in flight. With the wind in your face, you get this, the business end of the bird. It was a great time at the platform, learned a lot and shot even more. I loved it all, it’s all fun & games!

Sanderlings are the sweet little shorebirds that most know for chasing the waves back into the sea. They dart about following out going waves looking for food deposited by the wave. While on migration, some establish a small, temporary territory, much like grouse and prairie chickens and defend any intrusion by other Sanderlings. I have seen these “fights” for decades and have tried and tried to get the conflict on film. It’s a challenge as they happen and end so fast. I finally did lying on the sand of Bolivar Flats so now I have images that show that they are not so nice. (be sure to look at the series below)