Category: Special Places

An Unexpected Greeting

Upon visiting the Rose Garden today I was greeted by locked gates and this sign. It reminded me why I don’t grow roses, or anything else that can’t survive with minimal care and an extra dose of water. Do you think it might explain why my small garden has more butterflies than the Rose Garden?

I was disappointed by the closure but not so disappointed that I didn’t visit the nearby Japanese garden, where the pond seemed even more beautiful than usual.

It turned out that the groundskeepers were merely waiting for the pesticides to dry. Do you think all the bees and wasps waited until they dried, too? Or will this turn into a modern-day equivalent of Rappaccinni’s Garden, producing mutant insects?

I could’ve sworn I used a photo exactly like this in my blog last year. If so, I certainly couldn’t find it in August or September’s entries.

Oh well, as I’ve been discovering in my musical studies, beautiful notes bear repeating,

Back to Birding

After not getting a chance to go birding last week, I jumped at the chance to go to Belfair when Leslie had to attend a shower in Portland today.

The walk began with some nice close-ups of Goldfinches, who seemed a little bolder than usual.

I wasn’t surprised when a national poll listed Seattle as the smartest city in America. After all, I was raised there. But I was a little surprised to discover it also applies to the local wildlife, who appeared to want to make sure walkers read the sign as hunting season nears.

My best shot of the day, though, was this shot of an Osprey, a raptor I’ve long wanted to get some pictures of. This one actually circled three time to make sure I could get at least one clear shot, though all three turned out quite well.

My Puritan Ancestors And I Share Some Beliefs

Since I arrived an hour early for the funeral yesterday and didn’t particularly feel like talking to anyone, I decided to make a quick trip to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

Nearly immediately I spotted three elusive Great Egrets through the trees.

Their startling whiteness makes them hard to miss, but perhaps because of that very trait they seem unnaturally shy and reclusive. Every time I pulled closer they flew off, and I was left catching glimpses of them through the trees and shrubs. I found these angelic creatures strangely comforting, if elusive.

I didn’t drive too much further, though, before I noticed a flock of large birds perched on old fence posts, so I grabbed my camera and hurried to get some pictures.

If I were a superstitious person I’d have been shaken when suddenly confronted by a flock of Turkey Vultures, a bird I can never remember seeing at Ridgefield in all the years I’d hiked there. I’ve never seen them on the ground before, content to observe me as I drove by in the car, almost as if they knew my final destination.

It certainly seemed that they had come home to roost.

Slightly shaken, I drove away quickly rather than stop at my usual observation point. In fact,I decided to circle back in hopes of once again catching a glimpse of those beautiful egrets.

Before doing so, though, I decided to actually get out of my car and do part of the short Refuge walk. As I was returning, I noticed a small bird sitting absolutely still on a branch sticking out of the water.

I’d obviously missed him a few moments earlier when I’d passed by even though I’d spent considerable time searching the shoreline of the pond. Though I wasn’t sure at first, it struck me that this was the elusive Green Heron I’d been chasing trying to photograph for the last two years.

It turned out that there were two of them in the pond and, though by now I was pressed for time, I stayed to photograph this beautiful but elusive bird that may well have been in front of me all the time and I was merely incapable of seeing it, beautiful as it was.

Snowy Egret

It looked like another slow day at Nisqually until a lady from Castle Rock asked me if I’d seen the Snowy Egret. I hadn’t, and I wasn’t really looking for one since they’re quite rare around here, so rare that my regular local birding book doesn’t even list them.

Once she told me that it had been spotted in the general area we were in, I did spot it, a long ways out, too far out to get a good picture. At that distance it looked like the egret that I’d seen here last year, and I wasn’t too excited, figuring I’d never get as good of a picture as the ones I already had.

I did take a few pictures, but wasn’t overly excited about them. About then, though, a hawk flew over and spooked the egret which, wisely, chose to fly closer to the people. Only then did I realize that it wasn’t the same bird that I’d seen last year. In fact, I’ve never gotten a picture of one of these, though they were fairly common in Northern California.

I stuck around nearly a half hour taking pictures and ended up with several different poses that I liked. The first of them

was the closest he got, but he made sure that he was on the other side of a wide body of water.

Later when he apparently got tired of me taking his picture, he flew off to settle in the top of a tree and preen

I was so intent on getting some good pictures of the egret that I missed what may have been my best chance yet to get a close-up of a Green Heron, one that I accidentally flushed while trying to creep up on the egret. It’s amazingly difficult to be totally aware, isn’t it? I guess I’ll just have to settle for trying to be a little more aware every day.