Bill Anderson: Edmonds wildlife enthusiast and photographer
Posted: February 3, 2021 2277
Bill Anderson at the Edmonds Marsh. (Photo by Terry Olmsted)
Bill Anderson with his son Daren. (Photo by Terry Olmsted)
Bill Anderson with his signature gigantic lens. (Photo by Alan Mearns)
Bill Anderson, 70, passed away on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. Bill was well known in Edmonds for his knowledge and fabulous photos of the Edmonds Marsh and its wildlife. His almost weekly photographs in My Edmonds News brought to life the diverse wildlife of the Edmonds Marsh (usually hidden to the naked eye). His generous contribution of wildlife photographs to a variety of venues to help educate the public was recognized by the City of Edmonds, with the mayor proclaiming Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019 as Bill Anderson Day in Edmonds.
Bill was a familiar face along the Edmonds waterfront and the Edmonds Marsh with his huge-lens camera and welcoming approach to anyone stopping to ask him what he was shooting. Bill wasn’t just an avid photographer; he was a one-of-a-kind, self-trained ecologist who strived to understand and photograph wildlife behavior and then share that knowledge with others. It was not uncommon to see Bill, with his son Daren, in the middle of small gatherings of people at the Edmonds Marsh, the Edmonds Fishing Pier, or Brackett’s Landing talking about the wildlife in the area. If you wanted to find a rare bird reported in Edmonds, all you had to do was look for Bill and his giant camera lens, or his red Toyota pickup with the WSU Cougar license plate.
Bill will be remembered as one of the few people that really understood the wildlife of the Edmonds Marsh. His expertise and advice about the marsh will be sorely missed. Wesly (the Marsh hummingbird), Katie (the Marina kingfisher) and other birds he came to know from his daily excursions to the waterfront will also miss him. In addition, he will be remembered for the key role he played as a member of the annual Puget Sound Bird Fest Planning Committee, bringing the love of wildlife photography to so many in the Edmonds community and beyond.
Even in his last months confined to his house, Bill continued his passion for wildlife photography on his back deck,posting his exquisite photos of backyard birds in My Edmonds News.
He is survived by his wife Pauline, daughter Jennifer, son Daren and great niece Elizabeth.
— By Joe Scordino
~ ~ ~ ~
From the publisher:
Here’s a gallery of selected photos Bill Anderson has submitted to My Edmonds News over the years:
June 7, 2015: “Saturday (6/6) my son and I finally got good photos of one of the Pt. Edwards deer. We caught glimpses of one in August of last year and had heard reliable reports that this year there were as many as four or five in the area.”
June 23, 2015: Bill was walking around Southwest County Park hoping to find a barred owl, but found a Douglas’s squirrel instead. The Douglas’s squirrel is native to the Pacific Northwest, but is being displaced by the more aggressive Eastern gray squirrel, an introduced/invasive species, he noted.
Bill captured 4th of July fireworks in 2015.
July 11, 2015: Bill spotted a male common yellowthroat off the No. 3 viewing platform of the Edmonds Marsh. “Although It is not an uncommon bird for our area, I had only seen one once before,” Anderson said. “Coincidentally, it was at nearly the same exact location.”
Nov. 23, 2015: A recent storm dropped snow on the Olympic Mountains, which made a more scenic background for this shot of a private plane flying over Puget Sound.
A young seal resting on an Edmonds dock in January 2016.
February 2016: Point Edwards eagle drying off at the fish hatchery.
Feb. 13, 2016: Bill who notes that wind and rough water grounded the local heron fleet. “I counted 18 of them enjoying the safe harbor of the [Edmonds] Marsh,” Anderson says.
Feb. 20, 2015: The dunlin flock that has been hanging out at the southwest corner of the Marina Beach breakwater.
Feb. 22, 2016: Anderson says the trees and plants in and around the Edmonds Marsh are ready to bud out, so he took an opportunity to take winter marshscapes.
March 3, 2016: Anderson shot one of several rainbows seen over Puget Sound as squalls passed through the area. These shots were taken about 5:15 p,m, when Amtrak’s Chicago-bound Empire Builder departed Edmonds.
March 15, 2016: A juvenile bald eagle perched in a tall tree near the corner of Daley Street and 7th Avenue.
March 2016: Anderson spotted a pair of brown creepers were going up and down a tree at the Willow Creek fish hatchery. “I assume they were looking for material to line a nesting burrow,” Anderson said. “I caught one pulling some spider webbing off the bark.”
April 2016: A male red-winged blackbird calling at the Edmonds Marsh.
April 2016: Shots of a snipe and its reflection from the No. 1 viewing platform at the Edmonds Marsh.
May 2016: A Red Admiral butterfly licking a sticky substance off a fir tree in Anderson’s front yard. “Look closely and you can see the butterfly’s tongue retracting,” he said.
Nov. 12, 2016: “I returned to the fishing pier Thursday afternoon, but very few birds were present out in the water. A heron was at its usual spot inside the marina below the walkway leading out to the pier. I wanted to see how good of a closeup I could take with my big telephoto lens.”
Feb. 8, 2017: A snowy Monday morning at the marsh.
April 2017: A male Anna’s hummingbird at the Edmonds Marsh.
July 2017: Anderson found an active marsh wren nest off the boardwalk at the Edmonds Marsh…
August 2017: A pileated Woodpecker
May 2018: One of the western grebes that have been cruising the Edmonds Fishing Pier in recent days.
Oct. 24: Anderson found this barred owl yawning at Pine Ridge Park.
December 2018: Anderson captures the last day of autumn at the Edmonds Marsh.
Feb. 9, 2019: Snow on the beach.
Oct. 2019: A flock of geese fly over the marsh.
June 4, 2020: A male spotted towhee as seen from Bill’s back deck.
Aug. 20, 2020: A female hairy woodpecker that visited Bill’s suet feeder.
I went to the Edmonds Marsh today with my camera. There were quite a few Great Blue Herons and several white crown sparrows. Wesley (the male anna’s hummingbird) was on his “normal” twig. I wanted to tell him about Bill, but couldn’t; I suspect he already knows.
Bill’s beautiful photographs have provided such joy throughout the years. His love of nature clearly shines through the eye of the lens. Bill will be missed.
I met Bill in Yost Park shortly after moving to Edmonds in 2014. He kindly pointed out a resident barred owl and told me about myedmondsnews.com, where I’ve admired his photos ever since. I am so sorry to hear of his passing and send condolences to his family.
Bill’s love of nature was contagious and his beautiful photos provided us all with the exquisite sights Edmonds has to offer. I met him through his son Daren. What an honor it was to know Bill. He cherished his family. His legacy lives on in the photos he so graciously shared with us all.
condolences to his family and friends.
He was always fun to talk with.
A wealth of knowledge !
As an amateur photographer . I greatly appreciated his work !
Rest in peace and strength
Very sorry to hear that Bill has passed. I was fortunate to meet him and his son, often in my front yard at the beach. Bill was one of a kind. His breadth of knowledge was amazing. He will be missed! RIP Bill.
Bill will be sorely missed. I came to know Bill and Daren during my frequent trips to the Edmonds Marsh. I learned so much from Bill and was always amazed by his photos. My condolences to Bill’s family. So many of us share your profound loss.
I sadly learned today of Bill’s passing on a Ducati motorcycle website we both frequented for years. It wasn’t long before I made a connection with him because at the time he was nearing retirement with the FBI and I had already retired from a municipal police department in California. We rarely spoke about our work lives, it was more fun to talk about Ducatis and later, photography. This was a secondary common interest I had with Bill because I already admired his nature photography greatly and me being a rabid nature conservationist, we hit it off right away.
I was also interested in photography, but not the kind of work Bill did, my interest was in astrophotography. I met up with Bill a couple of times when I transported a motorcycle I sold to a buyer in Seattle and Bill was nice enough to ride down and meet up in person. The second occasion was when I had a business appointment in Seattle. I scheduled some extra time so Bill could take me over to the Edmonds Marsh, a place I was familiar with through his beautiful photos. We had a good time taking some shots, but the highlight of the day was when he took me to a nearby established Bald Eagle nest. To those who knew Bill, he spent a lot of time with the local Bald Eagles and it was great to view their nesting cycles through his skills behind the camera. I was amazed at how close he got to them using his very long Canon lens and how sharp the images were. Bill really brought local nature to life and shared his images with many people. RIP Bill, I’m going to miss your contributions and friendship.
Bill will be sorely missed by many in the Ducati motorcycle community worldwide. A true gentleman whom I only spent one afternoon with yet called a friend for life. RIP Bill. May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back.
Knew Bill from work. There wasn’t a person that did not enjoy Bill joining a conversation. He was a really nice guy and an old school gentleman. Edmonds folks engaging him on the waterfront would never know how much he quietly did for our country. God Bless.
As a former colleague, I can say Bill served his country with honor and integrity. He was always fun to be around and could easily make others smile and chuckle at times, but was always truly dedicated to his work in service to America. He loved his family and left a great impression on his community.
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I went to the Edmonds Marsh today with my camera. There were quite a few Great Blue Herons and several white crown sparrows. Wesley (the male anna’s hummingbird) was on his “normal” twig. I wanted to tell him about Bill, but couldn’t; I suspect he already knows.
Bill’s beautiful photographs have provided such joy throughout the years. His love of nature clearly shines through the eye of the lens. Bill will be missed.
I met Bill in Yost Park shortly after moving to Edmonds in 2014. He kindly pointed out a resident barred owl and told me about myedmondsnews.com, where I’ve admired his photos ever since. I am so sorry to hear of his passing and send condolences to his family.
Fair winds and following seas, Bill.
To Bill!
Thank you, Teresa, for the gorgeous pictures which are Bill Anderson’s legacy. What a gift he has been to our community.
Bill was also an avid motorcyclist and was well liked in the riding community. He will be missed.
Bill’s love of nature was contagious and his beautiful photos provided us all with the exquisite sights Edmonds has to offer. I met him through his son Daren. What an honor it was to know Bill. He cherished his family. His legacy lives on in the photos he so graciously shared with us all.
condolences to his family and friends.
He was always fun to talk with.
A wealth of knowledge !
As an amateur photographer . I greatly appreciated his work !
Rest in peace and strength
Therese,
Thank you for sharing Bill’s beautiful photographs. He definitely had an eye for capturing nature at its best.
Condolences to his family.
Here is a video clip of Bill being interviewed in anticipation of the 2017 Puget Sound Bird Fest:
https://www.king5.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/evening/puget-sound-bird-festival-comes-to-edmonds/281-475320951?fbclid=IwAR1BXlJiifsfpXL6g8VdIpwK3gV2OlGGPQFTURlgedaTDT11KIDC3a3WaAQ
Very sorry to hear that Bill has passed. I was fortunate to meet him and his son, often in my front yard at the beach. Bill was one of a kind. His breadth of knowledge was amazing. He will be missed! RIP Bill.
Bill will be sorely missed. I came to know Bill and Daren during my frequent trips to the Edmonds Marsh. I learned so much from Bill and was always amazed by his photos. My condolences to Bill’s family. So many of us share your profound loss.
I sadly learned today of Bill’s passing on a Ducati motorcycle website we both frequented for years. It wasn’t long before I made a connection with him because at the time he was nearing retirement with the FBI and I had already retired from a municipal police department in California. We rarely spoke about our work lives, it was more fun to talk about Ducatis and later, photography. This was a secondary common interest I had with Bill because I already admired his nature photography greatly and me being a rabid nature conservationist, we hit it off right away.
I was also interested in photography, but not the kind of work Bill did, my interest was in astrophotography. I met up with Bill a couple of times when I transported a motorcycle I sold to a buyer in Seattle and Bill was nice enough to ride down and meet up in person. The second occasion was when I had a business appointment in Seattle. I scheduled some extra time so Bill could take me over to the Edmonds Marsh, a place I was familiar with through his beautiful photos. We had a good time taking some shots, but the highlight of the day was when he took me to a nearby established Bald Eagle nest. To those who knew Bill, he spent a lot of time with the local Bald Eagles and it was great to view their nesting cycles through his skills behind the camera. I was amazed at how close he got to them using his very long Canon lens and how sharp the images were. Bill really brought local nature to life and shared his images with many people. RIP Bill, I’m going to miss your contributions and friendship.
Bill will be sorely missed by many in the Ducati motorcycle community worldwide. A true gentleman whom I only spent one afternoon with yet called a friend for life. RIP Bill. May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back.
Knew Bill from work. There wasn’t a person that did not enjoy Bill joining a conversation. He was a really nice guy and an old school gentleman. Edmonds folks engaging him on the waterfront would never know how much he quietly did for our country. God Bless.
As a former colleague, I can say Bill served his country with honor and integrity. He was always fun to be around and could easily make others smile and chuckle at times, but was always truly dedicated to his work in service to America. He loved his family and left a great impression on his community.