Voyage of the Guillemot

On Sunday I had the great privilege of taking a trip on Guillemot, a fine old wooden motorboat owned by Peter Mann and his wife, Nancy Everds. Nancy takes truly amazing wildlife pictures, and she also photographed the trip. If she posts any, I'll link to them and we can all gaze in awe.
Anyway, here are some pictures that I took:

Here's the wake of the Guillemot on the glassy early-morning water of the Ship Canal.


Double-crested cormorant drying its wings. (And doing the bat-signal.)



Mr. and Mrs. Common Merganser, perhaps charmed by the cuteness of the vessel, consent to be photographed.



Surf scoters out in Puget Sound.


There was a big flock of western-grebes. We could hear their trilling calls above the hum of the engine.




A pair of bald eagles looks on from Blakely Rock, off Bainbridge Island.



Two pelagic cormorants and three sea lions share a buoy.



Brant on Blake Island.



Brant with Mount Rainier in the background.



A yellow-faced bumblebee, I believe. Spring continues.



If you moor at Blake Island, make sure your boat is secure.



There are curious characters about.



Another pelagic cormorant.


Harlequin ducks, off West Seattle.

Glimpses of red in Discovery Park

Fall in the lowland Pacific Northwest tends to have low-key palette of greens, yellows and browns, but once in a while, reds emerge.

Fireweed.


Trailing blackberry.


Vine maple, which tends to turn yellow in shady spots.


And finally, a true sign of fall, the ruby red eyes of western grebes, back in Puget Sound for the winter. I saw eight off Discovery Park's north beach.