My Everyday Photos

We had some nice days last week and it’s hard to just stay home and try to get the exercise we all need. The girls and I took a short drive and followed a dirt road to a small, mostly frozen lake. The temperature may have gone all the way to 70! Luna has increasing trouble with sunny warm days. At 13, it takes a toll. I was counting on a little creek for water for the dogs but Bowen Creek is already dry. Fortunately I brought water for them, just in case. The road was dusty with car and truck and mountain bike tracks. We saw and heard lots of birds and saw a small herd of deer climbing up the nearby mountainside. Almost back to the car, Sky took herself for a swim in a vernal pond while Luna lounged in a diminishing snowbank. Sky has been nursing a shoulder injury for weeks and is not allowed to jump or do any retrieving. It’s finally on the mend, we hope.

Snow-capped Mt Gardner above the Methow Valley

Aspens ready to burst into green

Dusty road

Lots of Mountain Bluebirds

Singing Western Meadowlark

Tiny wildflowers

That’s where the paragliders launch in healthier times

Mule deer

The dogs never saw the deer. I wonder why?

Ice-covered lake

Bubbles under the thin ice near the edge

The lake is lower than usual and the muck was quite stinky and full of snail shells

I had to search for this singing Yellow-rumped Warbler high in the cottonwood trees

Beautiful ponderosa pines

A pair of Mallards flew into the open water in front of us

Sky watched the Mallards

But then she returned to trying to talk me into throwing a stick for her

The hen Mallard said, ‘it’s time to go now’

And she went

He did too.

What do you call these little water skimming bugs?

Last year’s fireweed

Sky took herself swimming

Luna cooled herself in her own way

The first ballhead waterleaf I’ve seen blooming. Can you see all the pollinators on it? I counted at least five.

My first fully opened arrowleaf balsamroot

Here is the list of birds we saw and heard:

Mallard  6

California Quail  2

Dusky Grouse  1

Sora  1

Turkey Vulture  1

Northern Harrier  1

Bald Eagle  1

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-naped Sapsucker  1

Northern Flicker  3

American Kestrel  1

Say’s Phoebe  2

Black-billed Magpie  2

Common Raven  3

Black-capped Chickadee  5

Mountain Chickadee  2

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1

White-breasted Nuthatch  1

Mountain Bluebird  20

American Robin  15

Chipping Sparrow  1

Dark-eyed Junco  25

Vesper Sparrow  2

Spotted Towhee  3

Red-winged Blackbird  15

Yellow-rumped Warbler  1