Bald Eagles, Great Blue Herons, and the Hood Canal

When eagles grapple, lock talons and spin in the air, one of them has to turn over on its back and extend its feet for the other to come down and engage. I have seen this same behavior with white tailed kites (see prior blog post). A review on the web explains this behavior as a territorial struggle. At the Hood Canal you could see this happen often, one eagle turning on its back and the other engaging, though often they would appear about to engage and not. What is curious to me is why, if this is a battle for superiority, would one of them take a position upside down, which would seemingly imply a weaker, inferior more vulnerable position? I am still convinced it is more of a courting behavior. Of maybe just fun to do. In any case Bald Eagles are top of the pecking order and no one knows it better than the Great Blue Herons who feed in the same waters.

Speaking of fun, watch the behaviors between eagles and Great Blue Herons and you are sure to get a chuckle out of it. Here an adult Bald Eagle swoops down very near a heron. It is not after the heron, it is after the Midshipman fish near by.

Here a juvenile eagle is coming in for a fish and the heron appears to experience an elevated heart rate in its attempt to get out of the flight path.

Now, those midshipmen fish are everywhere, why is it the eagles tend to swoop down next to the herons? Could be they love upsetting the herons. Or it could be that they know the herons are good fishermen and wherever you find one you will find fish. It does seem at times that the eagles would prefer to take a fish from a heron that catch one on their own. Next week I will post a series of images showing what I mean.

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The Aurora Borealis, May 10, 2024

This last May, my wife, Jan, and I were on vacation in the San Juan Islands, WA. We were there for a week staying at the Trumpeter Inn, a B&B on San Juan Island. Mid way through our stay we heard there was to be a Northern Lights display and that we would likely be able to see it since we were at a latitude just north of Victoria, BC. The excitement was immediate. The conditions were just right as the sky was cloudless and the moon was in its crescent phase and would be low on the horizon (and therefore not overly bright) during the expected good viewing time between 10 pm and 2 am. The image above was taken that night and is what I was expecting to see, a green Aurora. Little did we know what was to come! Early on the was the first hint that something special was about to happen as color in addition to green began to show. I found this very exciting as I had seen green auroras before but never one with the purple/blue colors an...

Aurora Borealis - May 10, 2024, Last Installment.

On Friday afternoon, May 10, 2024, Jan and I were getting coffee in a very small somewhat crowded coffee shop in downtown Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. We overheard people talking about the Northern Lights showing up that night. And thus began one of the most exciting nights of photography in my life. If you have read my three previous blog posts you have seen some of the spectacular color displays we were able to capture. In these images I have included some foreground information to put the color displays in perspective. The picture above was taken to the northeast of the Trumpeter property where they house the pygmy goats and alpacas. Looking to the northwest you can see the moon low on the horizon. The building shown here has an additional suite that is separate from the main B&B house.. This image is looking due east showin the stable for the animals. Another view to the east showing the building with the separate ...

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Notes To My Mother

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