Back to Nisqually in the Fog

With another sunny day forecast, I asked Mike if he wanted to go to the Nisqually national wildlife refuge. We left Tacoma in the sunshine but by the time we got there the fog was quite thick. If this keeps up, I may give Mike the Indian name He-Who-Brings-Fog.

The thick fog certainly added to this American Bittern’s camouflage, not that he needed it

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Bittern in long grass

However, we got so close to another American Bittern that not even the fog could blur it. It was so close that this picture is actually made up of four separate shots because I couldn’t fit it into the finder.

American Bittern

It was nice to see a few shorebirds, like this Yellowlegs, since I haven’t seen any since late last Fall.

Yellowlegs

I also managed another first, as this is the first time I’ve ever seen a Canvasback Duck outside of the Denver Zoo.

male Canvasback Duck

Nisqually in Sunshine

Monday’s trip to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge outing made it perfectly clear how sunshine, bright sunshine, makes for superior photographs, no matter how good your photographic equipment is or how well you can manipulate photographs in in Adobe Photoshop.

Readers unfamiliar with Pacific Northwest weather might assume that we have more sunshine than we really do if they were to judge from my photographs. Truthfully, too often I think I’ve make a picture look brighter than I really saw it because my digital camera can see color where I cannot see it with the naked eye.

Sunshine, however, provides reflections and reveals fine details that you can never — at least I can never — duplicate, like

Green-Winged Teal

the ripples in the water or the multiple reflections of this Green-winged Teal.

Sunshine also makes it possible to capture details from far away subjects much better than you can under low light. This Belted Kingfisher was actually a considerable distance away,

Belted Kingfisher

but had enough detail that I can still use this small portion of the shot enlarged to its fullest extent. (Nor does it hurt to have brilliant Autumn foliage on the far bank.)

There are so many things going on in this shot of a common Yellowlegs

Yellowlegs

that I wouldn’t have a clue how to replicate it with Photoshop. Those circles within circles make the photo for me, and it looks even more impressive when you can see it full screen, uncropped.

Bright sunshine also makes it possible to use faster shutter speeds so that you can catch your subjects mid-flight as they land or take-off.

Yellowlegs in Flight

I could probably make an argument that the good feelings engendered by the sunshine have a positive effect on my photographs

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A Frogging We Will Go

Right after I returned from Malheur, Margaret called Leslie and told her that Kylan had just checked a birding book out of his school library and was enthused to “go birding.” Needless to say, Leslie couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take the kid(s) birding the next weekend, and, after I pointed out that birding around here is extremely slow, we decided to go to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

Both kids were ready for anything, with binoculars for birding

Mira with binoculars

and jars to collect insect specimens

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As it turned out, the first interesting thing we saw was this small, orangish frog.

Orange frog

After that sighting, I told them, as grandpas are prone to do, how I’d seen small tree frogs on the cattails in the past.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Kylan and Mira found small tree frogs sitting on leaves.

small tree frog

not just once but several times.

After I’d pointed out a bullfrog sitting low in the water, with just its eyes or head out of the water,

Frog with head out of water

Mira spotted one sitting on top of a log nearby:

Bullfrog on log

As you might have guessed from the (lack of) pictures, we didn’t see many birds except for Mallards and a few Great Blue Herons in the distance.

The kids seemed just as happy when I spotted this painted turtle way out in the pond,

Painted Turtle

well, that and the cricket that Grandma had helped Kylan catch.

One of the reasons Leslie chose to take them to Nisqually was so she could buy Kylan his own birding book. When we got to the store, though, he and Mira decided that they would rather have little stuffed birds than a birding book. Birds or no birds, Kylan pronounced the day “the bestest ever.”

Dragonflies

If I’d been birding rather than finally getting my favorite Torta, checking on a National Forest Pass, and generally enjoying one of the hottest days of the year, then last Thursday’s trip to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge would have been a total flop because I saw very few birds despite walking to the end of the new walkway.

Luckily, the Torta was excellent and I learned that my Golden Passport should be good at National Forests in Washington and Oregon (I’ll let you know if I get a ticket).

And if all the birds found it too hot to waste energy flying around, the dragonflies more than made up for it as they seemed to find the weather perfect. And as I’ve noted before, I was fascinated with dragonflies long before I was fascinated with birds.

The intense light made it relatively easy to get sharp photos of the dragonflies using high shutter speeds. Even though I never quite managed to capture one in flight, I still like this shot,

Dragonfly

this shot,

 Dragonfly

and even this shot.

Dragonfly

Until I can find a praying mantis in the wild, dragonflies and butterflies will remain my favorite insects.