Month: June 2020

Into the Green

We’ve been walking through Pt. Defiance Park for two to three days a week for the last two months during our state’s lockdown.  When you walk that often, you inevitably end up covering the same trails repeatedly. 

No matter how many times you walk the same path it never gets boring if you spot seldom-seen birds like this Pileated Woodpecker

or encounter patches of Foxglove.

Even without birds or flowers, there is always something new to see if you take the time to really look at your surroundings.


Sometimes it’s so quiet and peaceful here that the walk becomes a walking meditation, lost in a world of green 

where shadow

and light

weave their magic.

Distractions

As I discovered long ago, it’s always easier to walk three to five miles if there are beautiful views to distract you.  Our latest distraction is the foxglove that is out in full force throughout Pt. Defiance Park.  

This one seemed awfully tall since I had to stitch four shots together to fit all in the frame, but, as Leslie reveals, it’s just a little over five feet tall.

Swallows at Theler

Although we didn’t see as my swallows as I had expected to see on our latest trip to Theler, we did see three varieties commonly found there.

I expected Tree Swallows to be lining the railings on the boardwalk; instead, I found a single Tree Swallow hanging out on the barbwire near the lone birdhouse still standing.

Tree Swallow

The only bird I saw sitting on the railing was this Violet-Green Swallow, and it was so far away that  I didn’t get a very good shot even with my telephoto lens.

Violet-Green Swallow

I also expected to see Barn Swallows nesting under the boardwalk or bringing nesting materials back to build new nests, but I didn’t see one until we got back to the Salmon Center at the end of our hike. 

Barn Swallow

We’re looking forward to gradually visiting places where we need to use our car rather than just crossing the street and walking into Pt Defiance Park, though I’ll have to admit that it has been pleasant rediscovering parts of the park I’ve forgotten since Skye died.

At least it’s nice to know that life out there seems to be proceeding as usual, even if our life is anything but usual.

Goslings

Canada Geese are so common here in the Pacific Northwest that, despite their considerable size, they tend to go unnoticed, like trees in the forest.  However, there’s two times during the year when it’s impossible not to notice them. 

The first time is when a pair is establishing their breeding territory. They’re so loud that you can’t walk Theler Wetlands without hearing in the remotest sections of the refuge.  The second time is when they have young goslings, and, ironically, that’s about the only time of the year when you don’t hear them talking to each other.

We obviously missed the stage immediately after the goslings are born, but they’re still young enough to be cute.  The easiest way to spot them is to look for a pair of geese.  Once we spotted a pair of geese, we always found gosling close by.  It’s no wonder that there are so many Canada Geese because they are great parents and both mother and father are there to protect them, usually with a parent leading the way and the other parent right behind.

Even with a 500mm lens it’s difficult to get a shot of a gosling without cutting off parts of an adult goose, so I was happy to get these two shots of a gosling eating the tip off a long shoot of grass 

and of another gosling goose-stepping through the mud.