Back to the Oregon Coast

Although we haven’t vacationed on the Oregon Coast for the last few years, I’ve visited it regularly since 1967. So, when Jen asked us if we’d like to join her at Arch Cape for a week at the beach, I quickly agreed, especially since we would be joining Logan and Hannah. Arch Cape is just a few miles south of Cannon Beach, a tourist destination I used to visit regularly when I lived in Vancouver.

I’m not sure I’ve ever walked the beach at Arch Cape before, but it certainly has all the characteristics I identify with the Oregon Coast, like these rocky headlands with sea caves.

If I was willing to jump/wade a few streams, I could walk a mile and a half to an even more impressive outcropping and cave.

One day when we hiked this the tide was way out, and it was possible to walk around the headlands all the way to Cannon Beach.

Luckily, at 84 I had better sense than to try that and settled with examining the small tide pools at the base of the outcropping and turning back.

We did a very different hike on another day — hiking an old-growth forest at Oswald West State Park — but I hiked this beach four days of the five days we were there and felt better every day I hiked it. It’s almost as if the ocean’s ebb and flow is Nature’s way of putting us in touch with our Chi.

Back to Belfair

Local birding is usually slow this time of year, so I wasn’t surprised that I spent most of my time during my recent visit to Theler Wetlands listening to birds rather than actually seeing them.

I didn’t mind too much, though, because most of the day I was immersed in a world of green

occasionally highlighted with brilliant white flowers breaking the shadows

and delicate purple flowers trying to catch rays of sunlight that penetrated the green canopy.

That’s not to say that I didn’t see any birds. I did see a few, and some of them even posed for the camera, like this Barn Swallow

and these Cliff Swallows.

The only disappointing part of the day was learning that John Riegsecker had recently moved and was no longer birding the area two or three times a week. Seeing him and catching up on the latest information about the wetlands was always a highlight of my visits to Theler.

A Quick Stop at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

When I was younger, I thought nothing about driving home non-stop from Ft. Irwin to Vancouver, WA. If I got too tired, I’d stop at a rest stop and snooze for an hour or so. At 84 I might still be able to do that, but now that I can easily afford a motel room, I prefer to spend two days traveling from Fresno to Tacoma. An added benefit is that we can stop and bird on the way home.

Of course, just because we can bird doesn’t mean that the birds will necessarily cooperate with us. On our recent trip, we stopped at The Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, but saw very few birds and didn’t manage to get a photo I thought worth sharing.

Our stop on the second day at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge was only fair, but we managed to get a few interesting photos, like this shot of a male Wood Duck who decided he didn’t want his picture taken.

Male Wood Duck launching into flight

This Common Yellowthroat seemed to think that the best strategy to avoid getting its picture taken was to stay at a distance and use reeds to make it difficult to focus on it.

An uncommon Common Yellowthroat hiding in the reeds.

I don’t think this American Bittern wanted its picture taken either, but it turned to camouflage and blending in with its surroundings to avoid being seen.

An American Bittern is barely visible in the surrounding vegetation.

It almost worked as my Canon found it almost as difficult as I did to separate it from its surroundings.

The only bird that really seemed willing to have its picture taken was this female Red-Winged Blackbird. It was so close that I had trouble fitting it in the frame with my lens zoomed in as far as it would go.

Female Red-Winged Blackbird ignoring the photographer.

The Ridgefield auto-tour was a nice ending to a two-week-long vacation.

Even the long trip home can be exciting

As usual, we visited Jeff and Debbie for three days in Fresno on the way home from Arizona. We had a couple of enjoyable hikes and a trip to Kings Canyon. Though we weren’t really birding, per se, I usually carry my camera on walks and take pictures of birds we see. I certainly couldn’t resist taking this shot of a Mallard with her brood of ducklings.

On another walk, I managed to get a shot of this Tree Swallow

and this Western Kingbird, a bird I’m more apt to see in Bear River than in Fresno.

The highlight of the visit, though, didn’t include any birds at all. We visited Kings Canyon where you can count on seeing Giant Sequoias firmly attached to the ground year-round.

Birds are probably my favorite part of Nature, but they’re seldom as awe-inspiring as the forests they live in.