Last week I was photographing artwork for someone in a gallery and when I was finished I could not resist making a few images of the flowers growing on the windowsill. The gallery owner had planted bulbs once a week so she could have fresh new flowers every week early in the spring. What a good idea! On a gray day with ice still piled around Twisp, it was lovely fresh scene that brightened the day.
You can see what I was working on here
Despite what the calendar indicates, Spring is bursting out all over. The animals feel it. They are out foraging for fresh food. Insect-eating birds have returned from their winter vacations and are having no trouble finding bugs to consume. A Northern Pygmy-owl spent a couple of days here eating the voles whose dirty handiwork is emerging from the melting snow. I’d hoped the owl would stay longer to put a real dent in the vole population but it has moved on. Both Western and Mountain Bluebirds have arrived. The Western’s are checking out nest boxes and making plans for the upcoming breeding season. It is fun to watch the pairs take turns examining a box and seemingly discussing the pros and cons of each one. ‘Look this one has a nice view’. ‘ Ahh but I like that one over there with the better perch’. Well what about that one out there?’ ‘Too close to the dog corral’. And on and on it goes. The Say’s Phoebe, a pretty bird with a soft, sometimes two-note call has also returned. It is a member of the flycatcher family and easily identified, unlike some of its relatives. And high on our hill I found a singing Western Meadowlark – truly a joyous sound of spring! Most of these birds were pretty distant for photography, except the ferocious looking owl. But that didn’t keep me from trying.
And on another note, Ken took the lids off of his two beehives and sure enough, they are still alive and ready to start foraging as soon as the flowers start to bloom!
I got out of the valley one day last week to do some birding in areas that really are ready for spring. We were hoping for a few winter specialties like Snowy Owls and Snow Buntings. We did see two very distant Snowy Owls in a field of green winter wheat with the last traces of snow still on it. But we dipped on the buntings. Other highlights included singing Sagebrush Sparrows in the coulee, a first of the season Mountain Bluebird, quite a good number of Rough-legged Hawks, three Golden Eagles and one sleepy Northern Saw-whet Owl. We were mostly in northern Douglas County but found the little owl on its regular roost near Bridgeport State Park in Okanogan County.
On Friday we went up to the Loup and enjoyed a walk on hard-packed snow on a Forest Service road. It was a nice change of scenery with tall healthy ponderosa pines and western larches. The dogs seemed to really enjoy being someplace different. Different smells, sights and sticks too. We saw some moose tracks and heard plenty of Pileated Woodpeckers and Mountain Chickadees. We walked about five miles or so and little Quincy kept up all the way and was not overly tired.
My friend Mary Ann got a new puppy recently! We traveled down to the Quincy Animal Shelter to find him. He was taken to the shelter as a stray and seems to be in very good health. He looks to be at least half border collie and the other half – well that’s a good guess. Maybe heeler, maybe English setter. Who knows? MA named him Quincy in honor of the place where she got him. He looks to be about four months old and is just as cute as cute can be. Yesterday the girls and I got to puppy sit while MA had other things to do. Frida came along for good measure. Fun was had by all in the soft snow!
My Everyday Photos 