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Tag Archives: Methow Valley

A Great Egret Near Twisp

Last week I got to watch this stately bird preen and preen some more in the morning sunshine. The bird didn’t mind me watching and taking pictures and was a lot more cooperative than the Mallards in the nearby pond. Great Egrets nest south of here in central Washington and after they fledge, they disperse to various areas, some going north like this one. Hopefully it will get some sense and migrate south soon, before the beaver ponds freeze over. There was a skim of ice that morning when I watched it and we’ve had smatterings of snow twice this week already.

The Aurora Borealis Last Night

It’s interesting that many of my recent blog posts which are, admittedly, few and far between these days, are about the night sky. Or hikes. But certainly I seem to be paying more attention to the night sky. I’ve always appreciated dark skies not illuminated by artificial lighting. But why more photos of the night? It’s never been something I’ve pursued. Maybe it’s because at night, I don’t see the devastation that came from wildfires the last two summers? Or maybe as I age I gain a greater appreciation for the infinite reaches of the space outside our own atmosphere? Or maybe I just don’t sleep as much as I used to!

Anyway, for whatever reason, here is another set of images from the Aurora Borealis. It’s best to watch the slide show but you never know when you get to the end!

There is a chance that the lights will continue this week but I am feeling sleep deprived so this might be the last of the night postings for a while.

Clouds and Stars

It’s good to go outside with the dogs at night. Sometimes they see something, like a deer, that brings on a fit of barking and they need to be corralled. Other times I see something interesting. Last night it was the clouds. They were thin and illuminated by the waxing moon that was low in the west. These views are looking north. The dogs went inside long before I did.

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Northern Lights During a Dark Night

Last night’s power outage made for a darker than usual night. No moon and no hazy skies also provided good looks at stars and meteors and even the northern lights! We are lucky to have less light pollution than a lot of places.

The dogs thought I was nuts standing out there in the dark and they went inside to bed. I was only up til midnight when it seemed like the aurora faded away. This morning I learned that they were even more dramatic in the wee hours of the morning. A girl’s got to sleep sometime!

This is looking down valley towards fires burning in Black Canyon and along the Columbia River
Looking up

Night Skies of the Methow

Last week I made a few attempts to stay up late or set an alarm in hopes of seeing the aurora borealis but my timing was all off. I never did see the colors and pillars of light that others were seeing. Big sigh. I did see some lovely night skies though. We are lucky to be able to see lots of stars since we don’t have a terrible amount of light pollution. People here value that particular quality of life in the Methow and work hard to encourage others to cut down on night lighting or shroud their lights in such a way that the ground is lit but the light is not spread far and wide ruining others’ night time experiences. For more information on this issue, see the International Dark Sky Association website.

This is a good time to see Venus and Jupiter in the early evening sky. From our vantage point they will come close to converging in a few days.

Venus and Jupiter appear to be getting closer to each evening.