Soo and I are on our way to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for a photography workshop.  These are our captures for day two of our trip: eastern Washington and Oregon:

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Burrowing Owls

Alpacas just outside of Pendelton, OR

Pronghorns in Eastern Oregon

Sandhill Cranes in Eastern Oregon

Coyote sizing up whether it was worth attacking the cranes.  The answer was no.

I have always enjoyed photographing the Horned Grebes.  They seem so dainty and elegant.  Then, come spring, they transition into a devilish appearance.  We just have a short window in which to capture this phase, as they take off soon to their breeding grounds up north. It took me three hours of searching the Edmonds waterfront to find this guy, but I was then able to follow him for about 1/2 hour. I got him in all sorts of lighting conditions, so that made it really rewarding.

Horned Grebe Horned Grebe Horned Grebe Horned Grebe Horned Grebe Horned Grebe Horned Grebe Horned Grebe Is that clear enough that I am enamored with these exotic looking birds? I sure would love to photograph them in their breeding grounds, but that is far to the north.

A small group of us went up to Blaine for the Wings Over Water Bird Festival.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we ended up spending more time birding than going to talks.  The winds were very light, so we got good reflection shots.  A Horned Grebe in transition to breeding colors was hanging around the end of the dock. We had ample opportunity to shoot him.

Horned Grebe Horned Grebe Horned Grebe There was also a Barrow's Goldeneye hanging out pretty close to the dock

Barrows Goldeneye There were no females around, but he kept displaying to the Horned Grebe

Barrows Goldeneye I have never had a chance to shoot a White-winged Scoter up close, but lots were flying by

White-winged Scoter We also had a close encounter with a Common Loon.  It was fishing along the jetty, so I got many opportunities to photograph it as it rose up out of the water.  I had hoped that it would have a crab in its mouth, but no such luck

Common Loon Common Loon Common Loon Common Loon Common Loon We went on a 45 minute boat ride, and the highlight was a Bald Eagle chasing gulls and cormorants. The Eagle was not successful.

Double-crested Cormorant Bald Eagle For the last part of the day we headed over to Semiahmoo. The highlight for me was a close encounter with two Black Oystercatchers.  They were eating clams, not oyster, but close enough.

Black Oystercatcher Black Oystercatcher Black Oystercatcher It was a gorgeous day, and we felt a tinge of guilt not attending the lectures, but we sure enjoyed the day.