July 23, 2013; Seattle Union Bay

I was in Seattle on business and went one afternoon to the Union Bay Natural Area which is basically the botanical gardens at the University of Washington.  It is a pretty cool little spot to bird and I thought it was a pretty good afternoon.

Here is a map of the area:

 I first walked through Yesler swamp, which is a densely wooded area in the Northeastern part of the park.  I saw tons of Brown Creepers, different Wrens, and other birds but the lighting was pretty bad.  This is the best picture of the wrens that I could get.  I am pretty sure it is a Marsh Wren.

Marsh Wren

 I got a decent picture of this Black-capped Chickadee.  They are similar to the Carolina Chickadees that we see in the Houston area, but not the exact same.

Black-capped Chickadee

 I don't often take pictures of Robins, but this bird let me get so close to it that I could take some pretty cool pictures.  These pictures aren't cropped or altered in any way.

American Robin

American Robin

 I learned something cool about Pied-billed Grebes - apparently they puff up their heads when they feel threatened.  These guys showed it in these pictures.  First is a single Grebe before they were startled:

Pied-billed Grebe

 Now look at them in this shot - they look like they're ready to go to a 70's disco:

Pied-billed Grebes with "startled afros"

 I looked for a website description of this phenomenon but couldn't find one.  I saw it happen though and I'm pretty sure I didn't discover it.

I saw a lot of these: I thought this guy's smile was pretty cool.  It reminds me of Ugway in Kung Fu Panda.

Right after I left the Grebes I came across this Great Blue Heron.  I don't think I'll ever get this close to one of these birds again.  He had no idea I was there.  Only one of the pictures below is cropped, the rest are as I shot them with my 400mm lens.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron - zoomed in a little just to show the detail

Just as I was turning away I looked up and saw this...  a pretty common sight in Seattle, but still cool for me:

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle (cropped to zoom in a little))

 I saw this group of three swimming through the lilly pads:

 I really like this sequence of pictures.  They were pretty hard to shoot as they don't sit still for long:

 Ok, it's just a Canada Goose, but it's not too bad of a picture I guess.

Canada Goose

 I got some pretty good pictures of this sparrow.  I am fairly sure it is a Savannah Sparrow.

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

I'm not very good with Swallows, but I'm pretty sure this is a Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

  I stopped for a quick shot of Mount Ranier:

Female Red-winged Blackbird

Male Red-winged Blackbird

 I tried to get a good picture of this female Wood Duck but this is the best I could do:

Here it is zoomed in a little:

Wood Duck

As I was leaving, I saw this female Anna's Hummingbird.  We don't have this species in Houston, but the females don't look much different from the female Ruby-throated, which is what we have mostly around here.

Anna's Hummingbird (female)

 

Anna's Hummingbird (female)