Posts Tagged ‘bird’

Great Blue Heron – Fir Island

Great blue heron standing at edge of muddy irrigation channel, Fir Island, Skagit County, Washington

A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) watches for fish or frogs in a muddy irrigation canal in a field on Fir Island.

Dec 25, 2019 | Categories: Featured, Natural History | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Pine Siskin

AEF1-pine-siskin-winter

Spotted this little finch eating seeds in a shrub alongside the Nooksack River. Pine siskin live year-round in Washington State,  and are seed-eaters closely related to gold finch.  This little guy can increase its metabolic rate by 5X in order to survive overnight temperatures as low as -85F.  They store extra seeds in a portion […]

Dec 15, 2019 | Categories: Featured, Natural History | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Frosty Morning in Snohomish River Estuary

Sun rises Union Slew and Spencer Island, Spencer Island, Snohomish Country Parks & Recreation, Everett, Washington

It was a frosty early morning of bird watching on Spencer Island in the Snohomish River Estuary. An extremely high tide (12.0 feet) flooded through breaches in the dikes and into the estuary, providing great fishing habitat for great blue heron and bald eagles. The sun rose in a spectacle of color and began melting […]

Nov 30, 2019 | Categories: Featured, Natural History | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »