Southworth Notes: The Dike at Skagit Bay Bird Refuge

We had to go out one more time to try to get photos of the swans while we had the 600mm lens. It turned out to be a fairly nice morning.......patchy fog with a few sunbreaks here and there. The wind was not blowing, and hunting season for the Snow Geese is over, so there were NO hunters. We drove out to the Dike just before sunrise and walked out along the dike for a little way. I couldn't believe how many birds are out there...........Trumpeter Swans, Eagles, Blue Herons, Mallard Ducks, Snow Geese, Crows, Hawks, Seagulls and a few that I couldn't identify. We wish that we didn't have to take the lens back.......someday we would love to buy one. The following photos are a combination of both Ron's and my photos. I gave up trying to get the birds in flight, because my ISO on my camera doesn't go as high as Ron's. All in all, there are some interesting photos, but still nothing that is exactly what we were hoping for.

Looking east toward the Cascade Mountains, (Mt. Pilchuck) over the fields near Conway, WA. I used a Singh-Ray blue and gold filter for this warm color.

Close up of a dewey spider's web on some leftover fall berries.

The noise of the Snow Geese is incredibly loud.....you have to hear it to understand how noisy they are. The following photo is looking east toward White Horse Mt. with thousands of Snow Geese flying inland to feed for the day. They always fly in large flocks, and you can hear them coming a long way away.

Everything was wet from the overnight fog and dew. It made for a very interesting photo of the dried fall berries.

This is one of my favorite photos of the day: using a Singh-Ray blue and gold filter, looking east across the farm land near Conway, with both White Horse and Three Fingers Peaks in view. The layered patchy fog was very interesting.

The tide was on it's way out, and that left the tidelands with lots of driftwood. I used the Singh-Ray blue and gold filter again for this shot. This is looking northwest towards LaConner, WA.

There aren't too many birds or animals for that matter, that are as beautiful and elegant as a Trumpeter Swan. Ron got this shot of a pair of them, paddling peacefully along the shore.

As you can see in the photo below, Ron got both a Great Blue Heron (which is the hardest of any of the birds to get a close photo of) some Trumpeter Swans, and some Ducks.

It was interesting watching this Eagle.......he sat on the log close to the swans, paying them no attention. He was looking for breakfast among the smaller birds. We noticed the other day, that the Eagles are quite intimidated by the Swans.......they won't get close to them, and the Swans could care less about the Eagle. The Swans wingspan is 9 feet plus, where the Eagle's wingspan in about 6 feet. The Swans are as big as a turkey, weighing as much as 30 pounds.

Ron, standing along the top of the dike, having fun with the 600mm lens.

This shot, looking west towards Whidbey Island, gives you an idea of what the lay of the land looks like. This is a bird refuge in this area. All the birds (Snow Geese and Swans) go out on the water to nest at night, and every morning come inland to feed in the fields. It is a cacophony of sound!

The Eagle flew overhead, so I was able to get a shot of him........his wings flap slower than the Swans, so he was easier to photograph.

Stephen called from Florida while we were on the dike. Isn't that amazing.....you can talk to someone over 3,000 miles aways even when you are in the middle of nowhere! I was telling Stephen about all the different kinds of birds.