Category: Special Places

Summer must be running about two weeks later this year than last year if the flowering of plants is an accurate measure of the seasons.

Here’s the picture of a Tough-Leaved-Iris I showed last year:

Here’s the picture I took Tuesday:

And here’s the way I think I saw the flower but was unable to capture with my expensive digital camera.

Of course, neither of these pictures quite captures the way I felt when I suddenly discovered tough-leaved-irises many years ago while hiking a familiar trail on the Columbia Gorge, which might, in turn, explain why I somehow thought that these common-everyday Feral Pigeons must be Banded Pigeons or Mourning Doves, not feral pigeons, when I first spotted them at Belfair:

We’ve had a week or so of wet, cloudy weather. So as soon as I looked out the window this morning I knew I was going for a long walk. I’m glad I did because the latest forecast predicts rain the rest of the week. It was so warm and clear today I didn’t even bother to carry a jacket.

Apparently mating season is over and nesting season has begun for the Redwing Blackbirds because instead of lone males singing from every cattail there were pairs trying to drive away intruders, apparently including myself as several birds tried to distract me, while others preferred to dive bomb me as I walked by.

While it’s not unusual to see deer at Belfair, I’ve never seen a buck before. Still, as I walked up the river bank to see if the kingfishers were on their usual branch, I was confronted by this pair:

All in all, it was a delightful day, capped by finally getting a decent picture of the Red-Breasted Sapsucker that’s eluded me since they tend to forage in the deepest shade, obscured by branches:

Perhaps it’s merely old age slowing me down, but the longer I observe nature the more apt I am to spend long periods observing behavior rather than merely recording sightings

I know Mallards are so common as to be boring, but I paused five or ten minutes to watch this female with her young, trying to figure out whether she was chasing away stray ducklings who were tagging along or attempting to discipline her own progeny for floating amiss.

I’ll admit I was glad it wasn’t my job to keep track of this flock of ducklings because they were everywhere, 200 yards ahead of us, 100 yards behind, on the near bank, on the far, ducking first here, then there.

Adorable perhaps, but exhausting no matter how cute.

We spent another ten minutes watching this diminutive Marsh Wren trying to make himself as visible as possible, flashing his tail and singing with enough volume to drown out nearby red-winged blackbirds.

We debated whether it was trying to attract a mate or draw us away from a nearby nest.

Finally, Leslie spotted our all-elusive Green Heron, though we didn’t recognize it as such until we examined the photos on the computer.

Not surprisingly it bolted as soon as I pointed a lens at it. It seems certain that this will be this year’s Kingfisher, much pursued but seldom seen. A challenge to look forward to.