Sun Day

Today was the first of what is supposed to be several “sunny” days here in the PNW, and we sure weren’t going to miss the chance to get out on a SUNday.

So we headed over to Belfair for a walk at the Theler Wetlands. Of course, we didn’t see anything new, but I managed to get some better shots of birds I’ve shown before, like this one of a Spotted Towhee

Spotted Towhee

and a particularly good shot of this male Common Merganser, one which captures the dark green head, which usually shows up as black, and the distinctive beak.

male Common Merganser

If it’s sunny tomorrow, I’ll probably be off to Nisqually to try to get even more photos.

Of course with my luck, I’m probably going to be stuck inside waiting for my new Mac Pro on the sunniest day of the new year later in the week.

8 thoughts on “Sun Day”

  1. I love the winter color and detail on this lively Towhee along with the pale green moss on the grey, white and black branch. I’ve only been able to watch the birds through my window lately. Looking forward to warmer weather. Nice to see the green of the Merganser.

  2. These birds should learn to write and thank you for showing them at their most flattering. Your pictures are just great! (and your site is a real pick-me-up, too)

  3. Your photos are a bright spot on a snowy day when I’m down with my first cold in years…I’d forgotten how a simple cold wipes you out. Btw, is the Audubon watching? You take better bird pics than they’ve got in their guides.

  4. When I first took Nelson Bentley’s poetry class twenty five years ago he showed us a short film in black and white on which Roethke recited several of his better known poems. It seemed to me at that time that Bentley said that Roethke died of a heart attack while playing tennis and somehow I had the impression then that it was at a tennis court on the UW campus. I’ve recently seen a number of online references indicating that Roethke actually died in a swimming pool on Bainbridge Island at the Bloedel estate, which has since become known as the Bloedel Reserve.

    My family moved from Kansas to Washington with the family of one of my dad’s colleagues in 1961. That colleague and his family moved to Bainbridge Island in 1965 where they were the next door neighbors to the Bloedels for about thirty years. I can remember hiking through the woods as a teenager in that family’s yard and finding myself on an abandoned tennis court that I was told belonged to the Bloedels.

    I can also recall reading a poem written by the first person I ever met who had had the privilege of reading at Castalia. A phrase from that poem referred to “Roethke’s unplanned swim” which has somehow stuck itself in my mind. If I give it some time I’m afraid I may be able to recall the entire poem. I think it began with the line “This is the dark side of the mood ….”

    Just out of idle curiousity, have you had a chance to visit the Bloedel Reserve?

  5. No, I never have visited the Bloedel Reserve, though I’ve heard of it before.

    However, I moved away from Seattle for over 35 years and seldom got back except to briefly visit with friends, and, later, to visit with my children after my divorce.

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