Category: Nisqually NWR

I’d hoped to take Jim up to Mt. Rainier before he had to return to Vermont, but, like most of this year so far, the weather refused to cooperate, so he had to settle for a glimpse of the mountain on our way to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.

Since I’d already taken him to Belfair, and because the weather was too questionable to justify a long drive, I took him to La Fuentes by Nisqually and bought him his first-ever Torta. Any day I can eat a barbecued pork torta with cilantro and avocado is a good day for me. (You do know I walk and exercise as much as I do so I can eat what I want and still not get too overweight, right?)

It was relatively quiet at Nisqually, but we did see three different Wood Ducks with chicks. This was my favorite shot:

You think mom was asleep or keeping an eye on visitors?

As many Cinnamon Teal as I’ve seen this year,

I wonder why they were so rare the previous four years I was birding.

Once again, Jim spotted a bird I would have missed entirely if he hadn’t been there, this Band-Tailed Pigeon,

a bird I don’t think I’ve seen since Nisqually tore out the five-mile loop.

This was Jim and my last chance to do something together as he left for the airport early the next day. I did manage to get him there on time despite a traffic jam and an 8-mile backup on the freeway. He said he hoped there wouldn’t be thunderstorms in Newark on his return flight home. Strangely enough, WE had thunderstorms right after he left, a rare spring event here on the Pacific Coast. Somehow it seemed appropriate.

After I took Skye for his daily walk Wednesday and played with Mira as long as she seemed to be interested in, I wanted to take advantage of the sunshine so I decided to visit Nisqually Wildlife Refuge for a couple of hours. I was lucky enough to hook up with one of the refuge volunteers I know who gave me a guided tour since I haven’t been there recently.

He managed to spot this female Yellowheaded Blackbird in the wetlands just as we began our walk. He said he hadn’t seen one there before and I’ve certainly never seen one there, either.

There really weren’t many birds showing other than the swallows who were moving way too fast to get a picture of, but I was glad to see my first frog of the season,

my first butterfly,

not to mention the first time Bushtit.

It’s hard to imagine a better way to spend a sunny afternoon, especially since I got to end it with a barbecued pork torta from my favorite Mexican bus.

Yesterday’s predicted sunshine was largely blocked by a fog that hung around most of the day, but I still went to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge as planned. A number of people have urged me to return, saying that the construction has slowed and the birds have started to return.

There’s still not much of the refuge is open, and what is open looks like it might have been landscaped by Weyerhaeuser. I’ve made it a point in my life not to be nostalgic, but I had a hard time not feeling nostalgic over the reconstruction that’s going on, even if I’m still not up to tackling a five-mile loop. That sense of nostalgia wasn’t helped by the fact that I wasn’t the only visitor wandering around looking like he’d just returned home after a hurricane had just passed through.

Still, I managed to find some old friends hanging around, especially this Great Blue Heron

which may or may not be this Great Blue Heron that I found on the other side of the refuge just as I was leaving.

And, no matter how many times I’ve experienced it, I still get a thrill when a flock of Canada Geese comes flying by at nose level to make a landing.

That said, I doubt I’ll be back soon. Perhaps after nature has had some time to heal itself, I’ll be able to see it differently, but for now I prefer to seek out new places to explore.

The bad part of going on vacation is coming home to all the chores left undone. The lawn was so tall I had to mow it Sunday AND Monday in order to do a decent job. I spent the rest of Sunday pulling weeds and cutting back dead growth. Today I spread topsoil and planted the tomato plants that came while I was gone. I’ll probably be moving topsoil most of Saturday, too.

After picking up a load of topsoil for the garden, I did manage to squeeze in a trip to Nisqually Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, there were so many people enjoying the sunshine there weren’t many birds to be seen.

Luckily, the emerging plants and flowers weren’t nearly as shy. I enjoyed California’s flowers, but I love Spring blossoms in the Pacific Northwest even more, even when I don’t have a clue what kind of plant is blossoming, like this one:

Nor am I able to clearly distinguish between cherry blossoms, plum blossoms

and apple blossoms,

even though I can generally recognize Oregon Grape blossoms.

It hardly matter because they’re all beautiful this time of year.