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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Watching Wildlife

What do you do when you go camping? Sometimes I get asked that. On this last trip, there was a lot of sitting and watching the world go by. I saw a beaver and an otter, a couple marmots, lots of birds and turtles too and a few fish. The fish were trying to climb a long steep spillway into one of the lakes, just as if they were salmon returning from the sea, conquering waterfalls to return to the place of their birth. This little fish had no chance of conquering the spillway.

Dippers had a nest under a bridge. They went to and fro with nesting material and dipped for bugs.

And turtles. So many turtles. What do turtles do besides lay on logs in the afternoon sun?

Camping with Dogs

The girls and I got away for three days last week and enjoyed a relaxing time bird watching, walking in the hills and playing in the water (for them, not me). It was pleasantly warm during the day and chilly at night with terrific dark skies and the milky way in all its glory (there will be a later post about that). We camped above a little lake, the one with the pine tree reflections and spent our afternoons watching Wood Ducks and Ring-necked Ducks and turtles lolling about in the sunshine.

WordPress continues to frustrate me. Now it is not showing captions on my images. The image above is the lake where we were camped. Our site is on the left on top of the hill, in the pines.

Beach Sunset

Is there anything better than a beach sunset?

Green

On my birthday, we drove to the Quinault Rain Forest and enjoyed a lovely walk in the green, green forest. Everything was lush and growing, growing out of everything else it seems. Trees were tall and covered with moss and lichens. Water dripped off of every surface despite the fact that we had partly sunny skies. Luna particularly liked the smells of the rain forest. For the first half of our walk, we mostly had the place to ourselves but later in the day, it was busy and we all returned to leashes.

Sanderlings at the Beach

Sanderlings are small shorebirds widely distributed around the world. They nest in the arctic tundra and winter on temperate and tropical sandy beaches around the world. They feed by running down the beach following the waves and collecting small stranded animals or probe for prey hidden in the sand.

I got to watch this flock as it foraged on the beach where we stayed last month. Fun birds to watch and photograph.