Category: Pt. Defiance Park

Point Defiance Rhododendron Garden

If you live in Tacoma, or nearby, for that matter, and haven’t visited the Rhododendron Garden at Pt Defiance, you’re missing a real treat. Although some of the early-season rhodies are already beginning to fade and some of the late-season plants haven’t started to bloom yet, the majority of the rhodies are now in full bloom.

If you’ve visited in the past, you’re in for an even bigger treat than before, because the garden was rededicated this year and a number of changes have been made. Here’s a new rhodie named after the park:

and a subtle addition to the garden, signs identifying many of the rhodies. More substantial changes are evident in the piles of brush still awaiting removal. The clearing makes many of the plants easier to see, but thankfully still manages to preserve the greatest charm of this garden, seeing the rhodies in an old-growth environment.

If you’re lucky, you may even find yourself sharing the garden with a friend

like this young buck who, thankfully, seemed more interested in eating ferns than rhododendrons.

Though you can’t count on the wildlife, if you get there soon you can count on seeing this Naomi Pink Glow

this orange Medusa

and many others, that prove nature’s natural beauty transcends man’s attempts to classify or contain it:

A Little Sunshine Falls

It rained hard all weekend in the Pacific Northwest, and yesteday started out exactly the same. I came back soaked from my morning walk with Skye.

Right after lunch, though, despite the forecast, the skies cleared and the sun shone brightly. Inspired, I grabbed camera and headed straight for the beach.

I was greeted by my old friend the Kingfisher sitting on the railing at the Pt. Defiance Boathouse. Last time I tried to take pictures of him it was so dark that I had to use an ISO of 800 and 1600 and the pictures turned out grainy. Today it was so bright that even at ISO 100 sections of the white on his chest were burned out. Still, I considered the fact that he was there at all rather auspicious since I haven’t seen him for quite awhile:

As it turned out, it was a great day for birding. I saw a number of birds I’ve never seen before, and even more that I have seen before but never tire of, such as this Red-Necked Grebe feeding on a crustacean:

But most of the time at the beach was spent stalking a male Red-Breasted Merganser, a bird I first noted last week while identifying a female Red-Breasted Merganser, as opposed to the more common Common Merganser, though I’ve never personally seen a male Common Merganser, and the less common Hooded Mergansers, which I have seen.

The first time I spotted him out at quite a distance I thought it looked like a bird I hadn’t seen before, but I couldn’t be sure until I’d downloaded the pictures and saw them at screen size. I spent nearly a half hour waiting for him to move closer, but he never did. Finally I spotted this female Red-Breasted Merganser swimming nearby:

Knowing a little about male nature, I figured if I stayed close to the females that the lone male would soon show up, and sure enough he did, looking quite dapper:

Nothing quite like a day spent with old friends and a new acquaintance to start the week.

When Birding Isn’t

Usually when people see me out walking around with my camera, and it’s pretty difficult to miss a Canon camera with a 400mm lens, I tell them I’m “birding.� Heck, I even tell myself that, often times heading out with the intent to get a picture of a particular bird.

I’m always out to get a picture of a Kingfisher, as I did on this day,

and I much enjoyed watching this pair of Grebe lovers circling each other while bathed in sundown’s beautiful colors:

But the real highlight of my day, and probably not just the day, was getting this picture of four otters that just happened by while I was standing on the dock talking to two fishermen. They swam right under the pier we were standing on, so close that I couldn’t get my 400mm lens to focus on them. Only after they moved off shore a little ways and looked back was I able to get this picture.

When I got home I didn’t mention I’d gotten a better picture of a Kingfisher, or a beautiful shot of two Grebes, all I could talk about was the four otters I had seen.

Perhaps I’m not birding at all, but simply learning to pay closer attention to the magnificent world I share with others.