Nancy J. Wagner Photography

Preening Owl

2012-03-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

Just found this image while going through the short-eared owl photos I took last week. What a beauty! If you'd like to follow me on Facebook, click here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Nancy-J-Wagner-Photography/116694731736231


A short-eared owl shakes its feathers before leaving its perch to hunt.

Do short-eared owls have ears?

2012-02-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

Short-eared owls have tufts of hair on top of their heads that resemble ears. I finally got a photo of one prominently showing the tufts. I went up to Skagit County again on the weekend, and got some other images of the owls, too. I just can't get enough of watching these little owls!

Look at those tufts!

Short-eared owls

2012-02-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

A trip over the weekend to Skagit County, WA, resulted in my seeing and photographing several short-eared owls. As soon as I was on the marsh, I spotted an owl on a log. I was able to get close looks. Wow! Then, another owl landed less than 15 feet from me, it was just amazing to see. I also saw them hunting over the marsh, so it was an action-packed afternoon!

Sapsuckers in the yard, barred owl in the distance

2012-02-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

Was photographing a couple of sapsuckers in our yard over the weekend. Beautiful birds! Steve and I heard the calls of a barred owl that night, too, but by the time we got outside to better hear it, it only hooted once more and that was it. I think we make too much noise getting out of the house or something, then we scare it off.

Red-breasted sapsucker looking at me looking at it!

Look at all those holes the sapsucker made. Hummingbirds
and squirrels will often follow sapsuckers around,
hoping to get a free meal of trapped insects.

Free Lolita!

2012-02-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

It's time to free Lolita, an orca whale captured in 1970 near Seattle and shipped to the Miami Seaquarium. Today, I wrote an ESL (English as a Second Language) story about Lolita for an upcoming book. The story I uncovered about her capture along with seven other orcas is shocking in this day and age. And yet, she's still held captive, putting on two shows a day to gawking onlookers willing to pay the price of a ticket to see her perform tricks. After her two shows, she goes back in a tank that is just 50% bigger than her 3 ton, 22-foot length.

A group of people in Seattle want her freed, and are putting their money where their mouth is. They've offered $1 million for her freedom. They believe, along with scientists, that if she is allowed to join her pod again, she will immediately recognize the group's unique sounds and bond with them. Find out how you can get involved in this fight at: http://www.orcanetwork.org/. More information is also available on http://www.savelolita.com/.

Snowy owls still here!

2012-02-05T14:35:00.001-08:00

Got a chance to observe and photograph the snowy owls at Boundary Bay again. Last weekend, I cuold see 19 owls from my location along the dike road, and another few owls flying as I headed back to my car. So, they're still here. Beautiful creatures! My dream trip is to see them nesting in the Arctic!

Two juvenile snowy owls. Look at those
feathered feet!

Juvenile snowy owls at Boundary Bay.

The most barred snowy owls are juveniles.

A snowy owl lands on a log along the
marsh at Boundary Bay. B.C.

Coyotes hunting at Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge

2012-01-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

Went to Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge near Portland, Oregon over the weekend, and got some fun shots of a coyote hunting for voles. I also watched great blue herons hunting for voles. A mother and two baby raccoons inside a hollow log also made the trip fun. Not as many waterfowl or geese as usual, no rough-legged hawks either, so kind of quiet otherwise on the refuge. Did spot some sandhill cranes on the refuge road, but they walked into the heavy fog before I could get my camera set up.

A young raccoon peeks out from a hollow log
at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

Two feet off the ground...

...all four feet off the ground...


...but where did the vole go?! Lucky escape for the little vole. Not so lucky for the hungry coyote.

Part 2 of Alone in the Wilderness now available on DVD

2012-01-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

The sequel to Alone in the Wilderness is now available on DVD or VHS video. This part is full of wildlife sightings and Dick Proenneke's observations on hikes rather than building of the cabin.

Click here to learn more about the video and to watch a clip.

Happy National Bird Day - officially!

2012-01-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

Today is National Bird Day! Share this link with a friend, since it's all about the birds! Click here to learn more about this official day. I've posted several birds from Washington that I've had the chance to photograph during the past year.

Immature burrowing owls usually rotate their heads all
the way to the side to figure out what they are seeing. In this case,
they were trying to figure out what my big lens eye was!

Ruddy Duck

Shoveler

A king bird balances on a tiny weed perch.

Where to go close to Seattle?

2012-01-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

I've got a few places I visit in the winter to get wildlife photos, and now is the perfect time to head to any of them.

Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge makes a great location to see red-tailed hawks, lots of waterfowl, otters, coyotes, egrets, great blue herons and more. You can get really close to the wildlife here since it's all along an automobile-only route. Ridgefield is located about 35 miles north of Portland. Click here for directions on the official website.

Another favorite place is the Fir Island Farms Reserve Unit near Conway, about an hour's drive north of Seattle. Check at the reserve to see if you can find the tens of thousands of snow geese that migrate to the area from October through early April. More snow geese start appearing in January as the geese along the Fraser River in BC start to head south to meet up with the flocks on Fir Island, so the action gets even more spectacular. Watching thousands of snow geese take to the air all at once is a sight you'll never forget. If you don't see the geese at the reserve, drive around Fir Island as you're bound to spot them in some farmer's field. Just look for a large white blanket of geese. Click here for the official website, including directions.

Boundary Bay is a great place to visit along the coast, especially this year with the snowy owls showing up in large numbers. Boundary Bay is also great for harriers, short-eared owls, great blue herons and other birds. Click here to get directions to Boundary Bay - head for the 72nd Street parking area to spot the snowy owls.

If you prefer to walk around a beautiful park to see a wide variety of birds, head to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. I love this place! For a small fee, you get to walk among all kinds of waterfowl that come right up to you to be fed, so make sure and buy a little bag of birdseed and corn at the front office. Once you get past the begging mallards, look for the black-crowned herons that sometimes roost near the warming hut. The park also plays home to sandhill cranes, great-horned owls, saw-whet owls, chickadees that eat birdseed from your hand, woodpeckers and much more. Kids delight in this place as do birders and camera-wielding photographers who can get close shots of the birds without feeling guilty. Click here to visit the official website and to get directions to this refuge located near Delta, BC, just south of Vancouver.

I finally saw some snowy owls

2011-12-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

I went up to Boundary Bay in British Columbia a few days ago, and counted at least 18 snowy owls sitting on the logs at sunrise. Whew - what beauties! Later that morning, I saw a great blue heron approach a first-year owl sitting on some logs. The owl puffed up its feathers to look larger, but the heron kept coming. When the heron got within two feet of the owl, the snowy flew off and landed about 15 feet away. What fun to witness this interaction.


Cropped close to show those hairy (actually, feathered) legs, right down to the long talons. Those hairy legs come in handy in the Arctic, where snowy owls live most of the year.

A young snowy owl carefully watches a curious
great blue heron.

Better info about our snowy owl irruption

2011-12-12T20:04:00.000-08:00

I've been reading about snowy owls since the last irruption in 2005-06, so I think I've got the facts down. Then I read a post on a birding forum from Mike Patterson. Mike collected owl pellets during the last irruption to find out what the owls ate - primarily, snowy owls nera the south jetty of the Columbia River ate rats. But I found other information on Mike's site far more intresting - his site says alot of the irruption theories are old and probably not correct anymore, such as why snowy owls head south in certain years. It seems weather plays a far bigger role rather than lemming crashes. Here's a link to Mike's informative website page:

http://home.pacifier.com/~neawanna/SNOW/SNOW_FAQ.html

Owl Year

2011-12-08T20:08:00.000-08:00

More and more reports of snowy owls are coming in. I'm also hearing quite a few reports of short-eared owls again this year. Last year was very quiet for short-eareds, I had a hard time finding them on Fir Island, Washington, where I often go to photograph them. I can't wait to get up there again. These photos are from one particular short-eared owl I photographed all afternoon in the winter of 2009-10. I sat very still for hours as the owl hunkered down to wait out a windstorm on the marsh. It was just me and this owl and the wind...an afternoon I'll never forget.

Short-eared owl

The owl watched eagles and swans and snow geese as they flew overhead.

Once the wind started blowing hard, the owl
dropped down lower and lower on this piece of driftwood.
Eventually, it hunkered down in the tall grass, and I
could only see the tufts on the top of its head moving.

The wind and rain finally got to me, and I left the owl still
hunkered down in the grass in the protection of the driftwood.

First snowy owl report in Seattle

2011-11-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

Just heard of a snowy owl spotted in West Seattle yesterday, here's the link to the blog with a photo of the beautiful owl:

http://westseattleblog.com/2011/11/west-seattle-wildlife-look-who-showed-up-for-dinner

More on the snowy owls...

2011-11-23T16:17:00.000-08:00

I'm getting even more reports about the snowy owls coming to our area. Check out this article in the Shoreline News, two of my photos of the snowy owls were used:

http://www.shorelineareanews.com/2011/11/for-birds-year-for-snowy-owls.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ShorelineAreaNews+%28Shoreline+Area+News%29

Want to see the owls? Read this article before you go - it talks about how stressed out the owls are right now as they head south as they arrive starving and in hopes of finding food. Heading out to get close looks at them is best done in late December or January once they've been feeding awhile:

http://www.shorelineareanews.com/2011/11/for-birds-snowy-owl-facts-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ShorelineAreaNews+%28Shoreline+Area+News%29

Here are more of my photos from the irruption that occurred in winter 2005-06.

Snowy Owl on marsh at Boundary Bay, BC.

Snowy Owl landing

Four snowy owls in one frame - wow!

Harris hawk survival story

2011-11-15T19:18:00.000-08:00

Just read a photo-filled story about a family of Harris hawks that surrounded and protected a hurt Harris hawk, and wouldn't leave its side until some wildlife rescuers came to its aid THE NEXT DAY. What an interesting story!

http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=67291&CGISESSID=28d90e38dd07022b26f8aa6da382d41d&u=17928

A wolf contest...

2011-11-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

Oregon Wild is asking kids and teens to participate in a "Name the Wolf" contest. The wolf to be named is a 2-year old male that has traveled acrosss Oregon, probably in seach of a mate and a territory of its own. Part of the contest involves teens making a drawing of the wolf of which there are no current photos. The wolf was fitted with a GPS collar, so his movements are being watched by biologists.

I love how Oregon Wild is getting kids involved in something positive about wolves. By doing so, we've got a chance at saving them in other parts of the country, too. Here's a link to the story:

http://www.ktvz.com/news/29741822/detail.html

So, then I read the comments below the article and WOW WOW WOW, some of the readers HATE wolves, just DESPISE them. Geez.

Snowy owl irruption year?

2011-11-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

A couple of snowy owls have already been spotted down this way. Birders spotted two snowy owls on the coastline near Vancouver, BC. Another owl was seen on Vancouver Island and yet another snowy owl was spotted in eastern Washington. The last irruption occurred in the winter of 2005-06, during which time I saw more than a dozen snowy owls on one day along Boundary Bay.

While the owls make fascinating subjects, remember that they come this far south because they're looking for food. Many of them are starving by the time they reach this area, so make sure and give them plenty of space to hunt so they survive the winter.

EDITED TO ADD: Yet another birder saw a snowy owl today out by Ocean Shores, Washington. Wow!

Sunday's Photo

2011-11-06T14:19:00.001-08:00

Grizzly Bear, Tweedsmuir Provincial Park South, BC

Fall color is here

2011-11-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

We get fall color in western Washington rather late in the season. All that glorious color!!

Grizzly bear seen just north of Vancouver, BC

2011-10-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

This is exciting - a grizzly bear was seen on the upper section of the Pitt River, feeding on salmon. This area is just northeast of Vancouver, which makes the news even more interesting. Read the full article by clicking here. Add to this news the grizzly bear seen in the Cascades of northern Washington last fall, and it seems like wolves aren't the only species moving back into their former territories.

Photo for a Wednesday

2011-10-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of a grizzly bear sow standing in the still-flooded waters of Fish Creek after the first flood occurred in August 2011. Who knew that another flood in September would wash out the rest of the salmon carcasses, leaving almost no salmon for the bears and other animals and birds to eat.

More than just beautiful photos

2011-10-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

I've really been struggling with the idea that while I love taking the glam wildlife photos, they don't always depict what's really going on. Read my recent entires about the wolf killing in Hyder, Alaska, and you'll see what I mean. Wildlife really gets a raw deal at the hands of man. So, while beautiful photos make people aware of nature's incredible beauty, there's more to the story.

That's why I was so interested in reading a blog entry by Benjamn Glatt, a praiseworthy landscape photographer. Glatt suggests that while he loves photographing nature, does nature really benefit from the event? His blog entry raises lots of interesting questions.

And it got me thinking, again, about what my own photos are supposed to achieve. I'm starting to think that protecting the wildlife I photograph ought to be a top priority RATHER than just getting the shot, then turning my back and not doing anything to help protect those animals. Plus, in this day and age when anyone with an iphone or even an ipad can take photos, what is it that I'm trying to achieve? There are enough beautiful photos and video out there already. I'm starting to think that it's time to do this differently, and I hope some of those long-time photographers from Fish Creek will join me in this line of thinking.

Photo of the Day - October 15

2011-10-15T17:53:00.001-07:00

Bald Eagle, Dike Road
Hyder, Alaska

Protecting Wolves - might public trust doctrines be the answer?

2011-10-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

A recent article in Science suggests that a public trust doctrine may mean wildlife belongs to a state's citizens, and preservation is necessary for the public's benefit. Might this be the answer for the wolves near Hyder, Alaska, who seem to get no protection even though there's a wildlife viewing platform to see wolves and bears in the area? Click here to read the blog entry from one of the writers of the article.