adinelee

[adinelee]

One of my friends share this video on Facebook and I had to put it in my bird journal immediately! Starlings have always been my favorite birds to watch and the flight, obvious why. Here is a really neat video for all you starling lovers out there...

[adinelee]

Humans being kind. Ducks benefiting from it. This made me cry ❤️

[adinelee]

This is Jackson's beach. There were also some harlequin ducks on the wildlife preserve ponds, and the driftwood beach on the other side.

[adinelee]

Birding in Friday Harbor

I went to the San Juan Islands over Thanksgiving break, and got to see a lot of birds that I hadn't had the chance to see up until then. On our way back to my friends house from the ferry, an owl flew right in front of us across the street. It was too dark to see exactly what kind of owl it was, but according to my friend Sophie, barn owls are common in that area.

The next day we drove down to Jackson’s beach and saw a Blue heron, as well as some harlequin ducks. We drove around the island and saw more bald eagles on the southside, as well as some type of hawk which I could not identify.

Back at my friend Sophie’s house, we saw two kingfishers down by the dock. By the time I got down to the dock from her house to try to get a photo, they had already flown away. I spent the next hour or so walking around the grounds of Roche Harbor looking for birds, but the cold prevented me from staying much longer and aside from a few sea gulls, I didn’t see anything.

Just before sunset, I went over to another friends house. She lives closer to the middle of the island and there is a pond near her house. We went for a walk and I saw some beautiful white swans on the pond. The next day, we drive by the same pond and saw a cormorant and who looked like he was drying himself on the top of a very tall pine tree. It was too far for a photo but it was a sight to behold!

The funnest part of this trip was when my godson and goddaughter were helping me Look for birds as we were driving around the island. They knew so many species and names, it was really cute to see how excited they got and I’m excited to go back to do some more birdwatching as there are a lot of amazingly beautiful birds that winter on the island.

[adinelee]

This is the heron we saw at the wildlife preserve down at Jackson's beach. He stood that way for quite sometime!

[adinelee]

I was parked outside of a Korean barbecue restaurant in Shoreline when I saw this little crew of crows hanging out by the dumpster. There was one Crow in particular who seemed to be in charge of checking out the goods inside the dumpster, while two crows stood watch nearby. Another crow was flapping about on the retainer wall that divided the parking lot from Highway 99. My first thought was that maybe they were building a nest. it was fun to watch him hop around and go in and out of the dumpster. Periodically the crows would all fly up to the railing together. At one point two of them flew on top of the light post directly above my car. They seemed to be just as curious about me as I was of them.

[adinelee]

I saw this guy just sitting like this behind a fence. Whenever I see pigeons that don't look very healthy, I get kind of sad and obsessive. I'll take a few minutes to check it out and make sure it's okay. I threw a piece of my pastry at the bird and he was just fine. He lunged after the food and a bunch of other pigeons plus seagulls and a couple crows all swarmed down to get the food. He put up a good fight and got some food.

[adinelee]

There are always a lot of birds at my bus stop. It's also a little park so there are lots of trees around. I noticed these pigeons walking around and thought of an article I read about pigeon social hierarchy. I was going to try and see if there was a clear leader in their walking patterns. Can you spot it? :) I thought I did...

[adinelee]

Once again not having binoculars has prevented me from identifying a bird. This little guy, obviously a climbing Bernard, must of found some goods inside the tree. The tree is right behind my building and my balcony looks right out about it. I heard my cat chirping at the window and looked to see what the commotion was about. I use my phone to zoom in and this was the best picture I could get. The bird was climbing up and down the tree and sticking his beak in and out of the park. All I can get is a little bit of a solo that I could not make out any coloring or shape.

[adinelee]

Crow part two: I watched the crow fly into wire and had to catch it for another few seconds. I thought it was cool how it just flew up there nearby. I like to think j have some sort of connection to them.

[adinelee]

Crow, part one: I just love crows. This little guy let me get pretty close just filming this. I always feel sort of overwhelmed by the fact that these birds live in our habitat, all this concrete and electrical wiring and cars and madness. Watching this crow strut about made me really happy. He flew away when a man asked me for directions.

[adinelee]

I noticed this pigeon walking around in Pioneer Square today while I was running some errands for work. I quite literally broke my heart as I felt extremely helpless when I noticed that his wing was broken and dragging on the ground.I wonder what it says about me that I felt so desperately tempted to stop everything I was doing and hope the spur to somehow. I went through 1 million situations through my head, most of them were of being laughed at when I call animal control or some kind of government agency. I’m going to buy some food on my way back and see if he still there. I feel so helpless. I can’t even imagine how the bird must feel 😞

[adinelee]

Saw this seagull diving for food!!! This was so cool.

it literally took my breath away. And although I cut myself off at the end there, I did say I thought it was a seagull :)

[adinelee]

Pigeons in flight in the international district.

I enjoy watching it so much. They fly from one building to another. Why do they do this? I need to look it up.

[adinelee]

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things. Mary Oliver

I LOVED this poem so much! I think I read it three or four times in a row the first time I read it, and it literally brought tears to my eyes.

This poem really speaks to me and where I am in life. I have been on my own for most of my life and have had my bouts of loneliness and doubt.

Korean culture focuses on perfection, and while I have been fairly independent, this cultural value has been imbedded into my subconscious mind. For this reason, I think when I read this, it overwhelmed me - the idea of love unconditional. The idea that someone could accept everything about you and that it doesn’t matter. The idea that the world is lending itself you your imagination. The idea that the world will go on doing what it does. It was strangely comforting. ❤️

[adinelee]

I sort of fell in love with her. I think she's a her. She was so sweet.... I wish I had some food to give her. There was a larger white gull next to her, but he was quiet and stoic. She stared right at my face as I filmed her from 5 feet away. And for a split second, I fancied a seagull for a pet. If it was going to be her. I wanted to call her Annabelle. She was sweet. She gave me the impression that she sort of depends on humans for food. Her ease with my closeness seemed to be evident of that. She didn't flinch when I came a little closer to get a better shot. She actually seemed to look at me right in my eyes, it was unnerving almost. But there is also a thing about her that was very sweet and vulnerable. I wonder if this is something that she has learned from living so closely with humans. I wonder if being around humans has made her more tolerant. Wanted to sit and stare at her for as long as I could, but I had to get back to work.

[adinelee]

I felt like I needed to film this little guy walking around. I noticed him as I was walking to the bank, he had a really fat neck. And he was walking kind of funny. I think he was a little bit annoyed that I kept following him around with my camera phone. Hehe.