Jen and I went to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. It is not too far north of Portland in Washington. Jen was counting birds for the Audubon Society of Portland's Birdathon 2015 (that is the link to her donation page, if you wanted to give to help the birds). She identified 37 different birds! There are 3 more she is trying to figure out by the calls.
The Refuge is divided into units. We stopped at the Carty Unit fist.
 |
| There is an Egret! |
My 300mm lens decided to die.... it just extended and won't go back. In fact it makes a terrible crunching noise.... I don't know if if is a casualty of the move, or time , or something else.... I will take it to the shop on Tuesday..... sigh.....
But then I found flowers and bugs, so it was alright.
 |
| I am still trying to identify this one. |
 |
| This little girl was really tired or cold. I was excited she didn't fly away and I was able to get a photo! |
 |
| This bunny refused to get out of the trail for us to go by. That grass must have been super amazing! |
 |
| This is a Harpaphe haydeniana -- Polydesmid Millipede. It has twenty body segments and it blind. |
 |
| This is probably an Ent. |
We then went to River "S" Unit. There was a 4.2 mile car loop we drove through. There were many more birds at this part of the Refuge. We saw about 20 Great Blue Herons, 4 more egrets, zillions of swallow (three different species of them), assorted ducks, red-winged black birds, and a pair of Canada geese with 6 babies.
I had stopped the car to get a better look at a cinnamon teal (a kind of duck) when Jen got really excited and wanted me to get my camera out. (I hadn't been taking photos because, well, my birding lens is pretty broken.....) I wasn't sure why Jen was making such a big fuss over a duck. I didn't think she cared much about ducks......
Turns out it wasn't the duck after all. It was this guy.
This is an American Bittern. Jen had always wanted to see one. She has heard them many times before but there camouflage is so good you barely ever see them.
We watched the Bittern. It was busy sneaking up on something.
With a quick splash it found its meal!
 |
| Down the hatch little frog! |
It was pretty cool to watch. We were in the right place at the right time.
We also saw this little guy. It is a Savannah Sparrow.
It was a pretty awesome day. We also saw baby nutria (they are really adorable), a muskrat, and a coyote.
Too bad this is broken.....
Oh well.... Have a good night!!
No comments:
Post a Comment