Monthly Archives: January 2007

To Go Or Not To Go

A male red-winged blackbird sings atop a cattail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

I got up at sunrise this morning and had to make the classic decision: to go or not to go. To Ridgefield that is, one of my favorite places to visit. The weather was supposed to be variable with fog in the morning, so I wasn’t sure if the trip would be worth it.

Ridgefield has rewarded me well the past few weeks with a number of wildlife watching opportunities and the visits have helped keep my spirits up, so I decided to pass up the sleep and head out.

It was definitely foggy this morning but it did lift a little as the morning wore on. The red-winged blackbirds were actively singing, including two males who were displaying and chasing one another at the edge of one of the marshes (one of the males is pictured here).

Most of the ponds were still frozen from the cold snap we’ve had recently, so I’ve been trying to incorporate ice into my pictures. The coots and shovelers were co-operating this morning and I got some nice pictures of them on the ice.

Some of the coots were being pretty territorial, chasing each other off a little spot of open water in the ice. They were feeding by going underwater and bringing up plants, so I got a chance to watch both behaviors from my front row seat — one of my favorite things about the refuge is that you have to stay in your car on the auto tour during the winter months. While I normally like to hike, the wildlife will often tolerate a close approach if you stay in your car, so not only do you get some great views, but you get to spend a lot of time watching their behavior in a natural setting.

Some young bald eagles were pretty active this morning. A couple were sitting out on the ice early on watching the ducks, and later one was sitting in a tree close to the road. I’d have loved to have a blue sky for the picture, but maybe next time.

A small group of sandhill cranes were feeding in the fields at the end of the auto tour, along with the great blue herons and a small army of Canada geese. I also got to watch bufflehead, scaup, a ruddy duck, and a ring-necked duck from up close on some of the ponds and channels on the tour.

Just a fantastic morning and several nice pictures for whenever I get around to editing them all, I still haven’t finished editing my pictures from my Yellowstone trip in the fall, not to mention the past 5 months of pictures I took in the meantime.

Definitely glad I went and a nice start to the day, I left shortly after noon and came home to watch some football and play with the cats. But at least I didn’t start today’s post with another shot of the cats in their new bed …

I’ve Created A Monster! A Monster!

A Monster

Make that two monsters.

Templeton has been sleeping quite a bit in the warm bed he finally discovered yesterday (in fact, he’s zonked out in it right now). He was sleeping in it earlier today when Scout came up and discovered him sleeping in the bed she has avoided like the plague. Curious as to what he was doing, she jumped up beside him and he made a run for it. She decided to mimic her hero and curled up in the bed for a bit.

She didn’t stay long, but long enough for a few pictures.

Another New Year

Clematis

I’m a couple of weeks late in acknowledging it, but this little blog turned one year old on New Year’s Day. What started out from such humble beginnings has become far and away the most widely read blog about my cats.

This picture doesn’t have anything to do with the anniversary, it’s a picture of a clematis blossom from our backyard taken last summer. Something to give me warm thoughts when I’m freezing my wrists off on the way to work in the morning.

A Warm Bed

A Warm Bed

We’ve had a bit of a cold snap in Portland lately. Templeton often seeks out warm places to sleep even during normal winter temperatures, so before Christmas my wife bought him a little bed that has an electric warmer built into the bottom. It warms up when the cat lies down, which seemed like the perfect thing for a sleepy cat.

Only problem was, Templeton wouldn’t go in it. Scout seems to think it of the devil and won’t have anything to do with it, whereas Templeton just didn’t seem that interested. I promised my wife that I could get him to use it in a few weeks. She washed the cover just in case it had a smell they didn’t like.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present you with exhibit A: Templeton zonked out in his new bed.

He’s all curled up now beside me and snoring a little bit, so hopefully he will continue to enjoy his new bed. On the plus side, if he sleeps here instead of my chairs, maybe it will avoid little incidents like I had today, where I came home from a visit to Ridgefield and promptly sat down in a hairball he had hacked up while I was gone.

Good times!

The Northwest Welcomes Me Home

Sunset Swan

I’ve been back home in Oregon for a few days now after being gone for several weeks due to my stepfather’s illness and funeral. I have been away from home a lot the past few months, which is unusual for me, as I don’t normally travel that often. One nice thing about my personal travel was that I could spend so much time with family and friends, even if part of that time we were gathered together to mourn. I love living in the Northwest, but I do miss being able to see those I love as much as I would like.

Coming back to the Northwest, we had some nice weather the first few days and I needed to get out and do some wildlife watching, some time alone watching the natural world, time to recharge my spirit. Those few days provided a lot of nice moments and some nice pictures, which you’ll see here in the coming weeks. I picked up a savage cold on the third day that has grounded me the past couple of days, but it gives me a little time to write.

My first day out was in the late afternoon when I went to an old standby, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. It was clear and cold and I only had an hour before sunset, so I made one loop around the auto tour at the River S unit. The water levels were really high in the ponds so the waterfowl were pretty scattered and often far from the road. Groups of American coots were close by and fortunately were foraging for plants in the shallow parts of the ponds, so I got some nice pictures of a coot with plants it dredged up.

A red-tailed hawk came soaring straight towards me, and then a little while later the tundra swans started to take flight in the dying light. My favorite pictures came when a few swans took flight right at sunset. My back was to the setting sun, so I was able to shoot the swans against the soft pink of the opposing sky. This picture of a solitary swan is one from that set. It was a beautiful end to the day.

On the way out of the refuge, I saw the first short-eared owls of my life, as they hunted the large fields at the end of the auto tour. I nearly got a picture of one that had captured a vole, but there was other traffic on the loop and it was too nervous to sit still for long. Even though I only had an hour that day, it was a nice welcome home and a definite lift to my spirits.