I chose my campsite for its potential to have very dark skies without artificial lighting. I was right. It was terrific for seeing the stars. These were made during two different nights, shot around 2:30 to 4:00 am. They are single shots. I am always amazed at the colors of the night sky.
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?
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.
Yesterday we went birding. We made a big loop around Okanogan County, crossing the mountains between the Methow and the Okanogan, up on the plateau on the east side of the county, and then down to the big river (Columbia) and back up the Methow. During the day we saw over sixty species of birds, two coyotes, one beaver and three pronghorns! This was my first time seeing pronghorns in Washington. The Colville Tribes have re-introduced them on their lands and the animals have quickly spread with reports of them across the Columbia in Douglas County. I wonder if they swam or crossed a bridge. Do pronghorns swim?
As for birds, I was disappointed that we didn’t see more little birds and also cranes. I often see Sandhill Cranes in March. I’ll have to try again soon. The landscape was drier than usual. Normally roads are pretty muddy with more snow on the ground. The weather was perfect. I think it must have been sixty degrees down on the big river.
As for social distancing, we did not talk to other people or go into any businesses.
This little Northern Saw-whet Owl may have thought otherwise. Ken wanted to see if we could find them so I told him to watch for white wash under dense trees and if he did, he should look up. Sure enough, it worked and he found this tiny owl tucked up in some branches pretty well hidden. It was very hard to photograph.
Yesterday’s bird list for the whole day:
Canada Goose
Swan sp
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
California Quail
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
American Coot
Killdeer
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Golden Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk/Northern Goshawk
Bald Eagle
Golden/Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Say’s Phoebe
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Pygmy Nuthatch
European Starling
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
White-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
The girls and I traveled to an agility event Friday, stopping on the way for a hike and then lunch with friends near Tonasket. It was a perfect spring day. Sunny and warm. At the start of the hike it was still frozen in the shadows but that changed while we were out. A creek tumbled down the canyon wall disappearing into the ground before it got to the canyon floor. Buttercups were blooming. Canyon Wrens were singing. A Golden Eagle stirred up all the Rock Pigeons. A fine outing.
We saw or heard these birds: Chukar, Golden Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Rock Pigeon, Northern Flicker, Say’s Phoebe, Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, Canyon Wren, American Robin, Song Sparrow, Western Meadowlark. There were also lots of marmots.
My Everyday Photos 