A Few More Hours of Spring Sunshine

We had at least three hours of brilliant sunshine today before the predicted storm hit, so I decided to go to Belfair since it’s been quite awhile since I’ve managed to get there.

Unfortunately, although I went expecting to see the tree swallows, there was nary a one to be seen. In fact, there were remarkably few birds at all.

Still, I managed to comforted myself by basking in the brilliant sunshine reflected in these leaves,

Spring leaves in sunshine

by admiring the many crocuses,

Crocus

and enjoying the birds I did manage to sight, like this pair of Common Goldeneyes.

Common Goldeneye pair

Sunday Worship

I usually don’t go to Nisqually on the weekend, but with a long-range forecast of rain and more rain, Leslie and I spent Sunday’s three hours of sunshine birdwatching. If the birds are any indication, Spring is near. We saw the greatest variety of birds I’ve seen since last fall.

My favorite part of the trip was the return of the tree swallows who joined us often on our five mile walk. Unfortunately they’re so fast that I’ve yet to capture a decent shot of them in flight. I’ve had to save that for larger, slower birds, like this Red-Tailed Hawk that buzzed us several times, obviously enjoying the sunshine as much as we were.

Red-Tailed Hawk Overhead

There were too many varieties of birds to include all of them, but here’s a favorite shot of some Lesser Yellowlegs running along McCallister Creek.

Lesser Yellowlegs Running

The media hit of the day, though, had to be the baby Great Horned Owl

Baby Great Horned Owl

and his mommy who stood guard on the opposite side of the nest:

Great  Horned Owl

Another Sunny Day at Nisqually

Considering the amount of rain we’ve had recently, I quickly seized on yesterday’s sunshine to head off to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, my first chance to walk it since they opened the outside loop at the end of January. More than a few people seem motivated by the same idea.

I pointed out this American Bittern to a man and his mother whose pace seemed to match my own.

AmericanBittern

As it turned out, we spent most of the morning together and once again proved the old birding adage that three sets of eyes are always better than one set as his mother pointed out this beautiful heron right beside the trail

Great Blue Heron

and the son pointed out this impressive kestrel just as we were finishing our walk.

American Kestrel

All in all, it was a delightful day and a much need respite from the continual grey weather that has dominated this winter.

Pt. Defiance Boathouse

I’d originally intended to include a couple more shots from yesterday’s trip to Nisqually because I didn’t plan on getting out today to take photographs. After two and half hours of exercise at the Y, I’m generally not up to going for a long nature walk.

However, it was sunny this afternoon despite the forecast of rain or snow for the next three or four days so I was tempted to head down to the Point Defiance boathouse. I was delighted to discover that my favorite Belted Kingfisher was sitting on his usual perch, just waiting to see me before flying off. But I sat around visiting with some fishermen long enough that he came back and stayed around long enough for me to get several good shots.

Belted Kingfisher

But he didn’t stay around nearly as long as this Red-Necked Grebe, or get nearly as close. I felt like I was having lunch with him as he came up with several delicious looking shrimp, larger than any I thought existed in Puget Sound. I found it fascinating watching him dive, particularly the way his feet propelled him as he dove and swam.

Red-Necked Grebe

I also liked this picture of a Common Goldeneye, who wasn’t nearly as excited about sticking around to have its picture taken:

Common Goldeneye Taking Off