Category: Special Places

When There’s Yard Work to Do, Duck

Unlike many birders, I don’t have a “lifetime list” of birds, though it’s hard not to maintain one inside your head when local guides list a bird as “common” and you haven’t seen one in two years of taking photographs and walking birding areas. So perhaps it’s not to be unexpected that my heart skipped a little beat when I looked out across a wide field to try to identify this duck who insisted, for the most part, in submerging his head as he foraged. It turned out to be a pair of Cinnamon Teal, and I’m pretty sure I would have recognized the male if I’d ever seen one before as it has a very distinctive body color.

It’s nice to be able to experience that little rush of feeling at something new, particularly when it doesn’t come in a UPS truck.

Still, I’m even happier knowing I still get a rush when I see something as as beautiful as Shelley’s favorite duck even if I already have a dozen good pictures of it.

Heck, I’m equally happy that Mallards still strike me as quite beautiful when found in their natural setting rather than in local parks where bread-throwing visitors have managed to turn them into beggars rather than wild birds.

Things to See on a Sunny Day

It was probably the best day of the year here in the Pacific Northwest, and I spent it wisely — walking Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

I spent the first thirty minutes trying to get a good shot of this Rufous Hummingbird who, despite the brilliant sunshine, insisted on sitting in the shade atop an elderberry. While it is possible to push the ISO to 1600 on my Canon D20, it certainly degrades the quality of the picture. So, only the two pictures I took at the end of the session, when the sun finally reached the branch where he was sitting turned out well.

I spent nearly as long tracking this Common Yellowthroat, not much larger than a hummingbird, who kept flitting from one cattail to another whenever I’d almost managed to focus my camera.

I spent another twenty minutes trying to get a picture of this (I think) Anise Swallowtail, a variety I’ve never seen before.

It may be clouding up tonight, but I’m pretty sure summer is finally here, with more sunshine forecast for much of the week.

Pt. Defiance Rhododendron Garden

Despite a dismal forecast and some early morning drizzle, today turned into one of those beautiful sunny days that make all the previous rainy days bearable.

I grabbed my Canon and headed to Pt. Defiance Rose Garden. I was disappointed to discover that all the spring flowers had been removed to make way for the summer flowers, and all there was to see were recently spaded beds.

Luckily, the Pt. Defiance Rhododendron Gardens more than made up for the lack of flowers in the Rose Garden. As it turned out, the biggest problem was trying to avoid overexposure because of the strong contrasts between the rays of sunlight and the deep shade of the firs:

It was the kind of problem that a photographer loves, and the best shots seem to radiate light:

Though humans seemed to gravitate toward the brighter colors, bumblebees seemed drawn to the white rhodies, and this plant was abuzz:

If tomorrow’s forecast is as wrong as today’s was, I’ll be spending the day at Nisquallly rather than going to the club and spending the rest of the day reading or working at my computer.