Special Places

Spring’s Gone

I know at times I sound like a broken record, but, as in years past, I truly believe that Western Washington is the most beautiful place in the world during Rhododendron season. You can’t drive a street in the city without being struck by their beauty, but I never settle for just seeing them in neighbors’ yards.

Rhododendrons are at their best in woodlands,

and, luckily, the Point Defiance Rhododendron Garden is just a short mile away. It’s an added bonus that the walk is a gentle way to start getting ready to hike on Mt. Rainier once the snow has receded.

I always end up taking a lot more pictures than I’m ever going to process and post; so the hardest part of posting them is deciding which ones I like best.

Do you prefer pink and white,

purple and orange,

seen from above

or a deep red?

Or do you prefer some of those I’ve posted in previous years (the ones in the links down below) ?

Luckily, you can never have too much beauty in your life.

Dune Peninsula

Judging from the amount of space I devote on this website to our vacations, you might assume that we spend much of our retired life visiting wildlife refuges. (Un)fortunately, as much as I would like to lead that lifestyle, it ain’t true. At times I actually feel like I spend most of my retirement sitting at the computer working on blog entries, but looking back at the calendar to see how few posts I have made that’s obviously not true, either. In fact, I’m never sure where all the time went, just that it went a lot faster than I ever thought it would.

Our regular routine in the rainy season includes three days working out at the YMCA, which we occasionally supplement with walks in nearby Pt. Defiance or trips to local wildlife areas. One of our favorite walks in late Spring or early Summer is at the Dunes, a new extension of Pt. Defiance Park is named after Frank Herbert.

Built on the ruins of a historic lead-and-copper smelter it is covered with “prairie grasses and flowers,” and most of those flowers are at their prime in early spring. The trail from the upper parking lot is filled with these striking Rhododendrons.

Rhododendrons are native to Washington, but I don’t think these are a native variety.

Common Hollyhocks line the trail section that overlooks the marina.

If you can take your eyes off the beautiful flowers, and it’s clear enough, you can see Mt. Rainier in the distance lording over Point Ruston.

You know it’s a good day here whenever you can see The Mountain.

You can also find flowers like Columbine

and Tough Leaved Iris

on the Dune Peninsula Pavilion.

We usually finish our two-mile walk by going back through the Japanese Garden. That’s twice as far as we usually walk at the Y, but only seems half as long.

Deja Vu, All Over Again

We went to Broomfield to see Sydney’s soccer team play in the state playoffs and Zoe’s high school graduation. We stopped at Bear River on the way to find American Avocets after failing to find any in California a few weeks before. We took so many Avocet pictures at Bear River, that we certainly didn’t need any more.

So, what did we see on our first walk in Broomfield? American Avocets, naturally. Knowing how many pictures I already had to go through, I mentally hesitated to take more shots of them, but, as always, I found it impossible to resist taking yet another shot.

Somehow it just seems wrong not to take at least one shot when I see a beautiful bird,

and if the bird takes off, naturally you have to record what the wings look like in flight, mentally comparing them to Black-necked Stilts’ wings.

And if you happen to see another Avocet standing next to a Canada Goose you have to get a shot to get a sense of an Avocet’s size, something that’s quite difficult to do in a photo.

Luckily, it isn’t until you get home and sit down at the computer that you realize how many shots you have taken and how long it will take to pick the best shots from those taken and adjust them to end up with the best picture possible.

Bear River Odds and Ends

I visit the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge as often as possible to see the American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, White-faced Ibis and White-faced Ibis, Grebes, and Forster Terns, but whenever I visit I’m reminded that there is so much more to see there.

For instance, we were greeted by this Franklin Gull (which I admittedly confused with the Bonaparte Gull that I used to see regularly at Malheur).

We occasionally see Curlew on the beach in California during the winter, but I can usually count on seeing one or two at Bear River.

We saw Cinnamon Teal at the Sacramento NWR on our trip to Arizona, but I will never miss a chance to get a shot as close-up and as beautiful as this.

I see a lot more Brown Pelicans than White Pelicans, but it’s hard to miss seeing them at Bear River since they congregate at both the entrance to the auto tour and on the ponds on the far side of the refuge.

The Yellow-headed Blackbird’s raucous call makes them hard to miss.

Although I don’t remember ever seeing a Western Kingbird on the refuge itself, they commonly line the road to and from the refuge (and sometimes they will even sit still long enough to get a shot after you stop and retrieve your camera).

It’s probably a good thing I don’t live in Brigham City or I would spend all my time on the refuge and never have time to put together blog entries.

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