Wild Fidalgo

The other day, I made an early morning visit to West Beach in Deception Pass State Park.  There is a short trail from the parking lot that heads over to the amphitheater and the beach on Deception Pass.  I wanted to see how the bridge looked.  On the trail, I ran into this fellow, an American Robin    (Turdus migratorius) .  I was surprised that he allowed me to get as close as I was without flying off.  He wasn't even paying attention to me.  Sometimes park critters become accustomed to having people around. Then I noticed why he was standing his ground.  He was working on an earthworm  for his breakfast.  They are one of the annelids or segmented worms.  From my observations, they are a favorite food of Robins.  When I am planting or digging in the garden, the birds will gather in a perimeter around me.  As soon as I leave, they will fly in to snatch the goodies I kicked out of the soil.  They have lea...

Imagine a place, a small island perhaps, where much of the wildlife of a region can be found.  What would it be like to experience a dozen or more wildlife encounters in just a couple hours of exploring?  Such a microcosm of the Pacific Northwest exists and it's a stone's throw from where I live.  You can literally walk a mile and find forest, wetland, beaches, tide pools, driftwood fields, salt marsh, rocky balds, grass meadows and a pocket estuary.  It also happens to be a significant Native American cultural site.  All of these things can be found in a 96 acre/39 hectare preserve just waiting to be explored. The Kukutali Preserve opened June 16th, 2014.  Over the past three months I have made several visits.  During this short time and in this small site, I have acquired an amazing collection of wildlife sightings and photographs.  To reveal what an amazing place this is, I decided to post them all at once. Along the Road From the par...

Uncle Robin, that's me!  An American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  picked the fuchsia basket on my entry porch to build her nest.  Needless to say, this has made watering and picking off old blooms a bit complicated.  I am basically banished from the porch. The fuchsia needs to be watered two or three times a week.  The method is to peek out and find a moment when the parent is not there.  Then quickly go out and water around the sides of the nest before dashing into the house again.  I've given up on picking off the old blooms to keep it flowering.  The birds are more interesting anyway. When she was sitting on eggs, she rarely left the nest.  Now she has three little mouths to feed and this is keeping her busy from dawn to dusk.  While she's out foraging, I get a chance to go out and water. Dad might be helping out with the feeding.  With the poor lighting, it's hard to tell, but that could be Mom in the first photo, Da...