Bird Watching

Walking back from coffee this morning, I noticed this pretty couple fishing the shoreline. I didn't recognize them in the field guide we have on the boat, so I looked online searching for 'Washington Water Birds' and found a fabulous easy-to-use site! http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/birds

I found out these were Hooded Mergansers, and they WERE in our field guide, but I didn't recognize them because when I observed them, the Mister's hood was down.

And since we identified 'that noisy bird' as a Kingfisher, I have been trying to get a picture of one.  They are a rather nervous bird, flying quickly with fluttery wing flaps.  They make a loud, quite obnoxious 'ratchety' noise.  Over the summer we noticed them the most in Reid Harbor.  

This morning, as I was preparing to share about the mergansers, I had to grab my camera and was successful in getting this shot. It doesn't show the bird as I would want, but as I have been trying for months, I am happy to have a photo at all!