Category: Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge

Either iCal or I suffered a senior moment a couple of weeks ago when I noticed that I was scheduled for a dental appointment May 24th. As usual, I arranged to have lunch with several Vancouver friends, only to discover that the real appointment was June 12th.

I figured it would be rude to cancel the lunch, so I drove down anyway despite the high cost of gasoline here in the PNW, $3.49 per gallon. Luckily it was a great lunch with some interesting discussion, followed by a long visit to my old hiking partner.

As a result, however, I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time at Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge as I’d wanted to, and the sun was settling in the East by the time I got there. Needless to say, it made the photography harder than it would have been otherwise.

For instance, the highlight of the day was sighting a male Ruddy Duck in full color:

I was certainly happy with how close he came, that blue bill stands out beautifully, and his tail is standing up in the traditional pose.

Unfortunately, the light was behind him and much of his body lacks detail, even after trying to compensate for shadow in Aperture.

This shot, taken later after he had moved to the other side of the pond,has much better overall exposure, but he was further away and I couldn’t get him to pose as he’d done in the earlier shot.

This frustration makes me appreciate good wildlife photography more than I would otherwise because I realize just how many hours must have been spent to get the perfect lighting and be in perfect position to get the shot the photographer wanted. Heck, it even gives me an excuse to fill up more of my hard drive with imperfect shots of Ruddy Ducks until I actually get the one I want to get, not to mention lingering over that Canon 600mm lens that I’ll probably never own.

I had different problems trying to get a good picture of a Cinnamon Teal, a bird that seemed everywhere on the refuge, though I’ve only seen one in the wild before. They spend most of their time in the weeds along the shore, so most of the time I actually flushed them before I knew they were there. I had many blurry shots of foliage with no apparent sign of a bird, but I did manage to get this one

which has a certain appeal despite, or, perhaps, because of, the blur.

My favorite shot was probably this one

because it shows the Cinnamon Teal in its natural setting, even though later I got another shot in a pond that had even better resolution.

In the end, it was a great day even though I felt a little guilty wasting a tank of gas and thirty plus dollars on an unnecessary trip. Maybe I need more senior moments.

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.