Having already been to Theler last week and faced with another sunny day, I decided it was past time to visit Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. It turned out to be the perfect day to visit as I was greeted by a chorus of Golden-Crowned Sparrows,
Black-Capped Chickadees,
Yellow-Rumped Warblers,
and, John who I usually see at Theler, but always enjoy birding with.
I don’t think I’ve been to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge for nearly a year, even though it’s the only place I can get my favorite Torta. Truthfully, I’ve never felt the same about the refuge since they replaced the 5 mile loop around the perimeter of the refuge that I walked two or three times a week. There are still lots of birds to be found at the refuge, but I can’t help but remember all the birds and wildlife that I no longer see.
I did see a number of birds I have not seen since I walked Nisqually the last time, like this Golden Crowned Kinglet
and this Brown Creeper.
I was a little surprised to see a small flock of, I think, Least Sandpiper in winter plumage.
I couldn’t resist taking a series of shots of this Hooded Merganser pair. They were calmly paddling down this slough when I pointed a camera at them and simultaneously a shotgun blast echoed from across the river.
They took off so simultaneously that I didn’t even realize there was two birds in several of my shots
until I looked at the last shot in the sequence.
Sometimes I think it’s too bad that I walked Nisqually for so many years before they changed it; new visitors I meet often seem to be enthralled by the place. Strange how the mind subtly controls our perception of a place and how hard it is to overcome that perception, no matter what the reality.
Since last Tuesday was supposed to be as sunny as Monday and rain was forecast for the rest of the week, I decided to go to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge since I hadn’t been there since early summer. Unfortunately, birding wasn’t especially good, and as the day wore on I became more and more disenchanted.
With the leaves gone, the distant roar of the freeway and the Burlington-Northern trains became nearly as oppressive as the intermittent thump of Fort Lewis’s heavy artillery and the rat-tat-tat of firing on a distant rifle range. The final insult was the fire of duck hunters directly across the creek from me,
so close I almost hit the boardwalk. It was all the more surprising since I hadn’t seen the hunters in their camouflage.
Even my favorite torta at La Fuentes couldn’t convince me that the day hadn’t been a flop. In fact, it wasn’t until I uploaded the pictures and looked at them on the computer screen that I could admit to myself that the day hadn’t been a total disaster.
In fact, if I hadn’t spent the last few weeks deleting numerous Great Blue Heron shots, I might even have considered this
and especially this shot of a heron catching a fish
fairly good shots.
I would probably even consider this shot of a Northern Harrier flying at eye level
before suddenly diving to the ground
good shots, too.
Certainly the noise didn’t help, but I suspect a good part of the disappointment came from the fact that I had such high expectations because I’d gotten so many good shots the day before. In comparison, Tuesday certainly seemed like a total flop.
Looking back through six days of steady rain, Tuesday’s outing doesn’t seem nearly as disappointing.
Although it’s been an unusually wet April, I still have many photographs I haven’t had time to collate, edit, and polish up enough to post here. For instance, these photos came from my visit to the Nisqually national wildlife refuge in the second week of April.
The day began with a rare sighting of Sandhill Cranes, a bird I’ve only seen a few times and have never seen in Nisqually.
Unfortunately, they were walking away from the gathered photographers by the time I got there, so these shots were taken at a considerable distance.
I find it impossible not to be impressed by their sheer size, but they’re not really a favorite photographic subject.
I would probably enjoy getting a great shot of a green winged teal as much as I would a great shot of a sandhill crane.
For me, the highlight of the day actually came just as I was leaving and flushed an American bittern.
I ended up spending more time taking photographs of this commonly-seen bird than I did of the much rarer sandhill cranes. I always enjoy watching a bittern “hide” when it knows it has been spotted.
I even enjoyed watching it stalk its prey once it was convinced that I didn’t present any real threat.
I still get a “thrill” when I see a bird for the first time, but I get the most pleasure from observing and photographing birds that I’ve gotten to know. Perhaps that is why I’ve never really been tempted by birding trips to exotic locales.