Monthly Archives: February 2008

Is It Morning Already?

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A rough-legged hawk yawns at sunrise

I had the chance to photograph this rough-legged hawk over several weeks as she was often hanging out near the auto tour at Ridgefield, but I wasn’t happy with the close-up shots as the skies were always a dull gray overcast. I arrived at sunrise on Saturday morning specifically with the hope of photographing her under clear skies, ignoring all of the other animals at the refuge and heading straight to where I had seen her last.

Thankfully not only did I get my blue sky, but she was waiting on a sign post near the road. There was little traffic at the refuge at that hour, so I had the chance to watch her for some time. She eventually let out a large yawn in the beautiful morning light, and I was very lucky that she turned back towards the sun when she yawned so that the sun illuminated her mouth.

I laughed to myself thinking that I wasn’t the only one who thought it was awfully early in the morning to be out and about.

Hawk On A Stick

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Close-up of juvenile red-tailed hawk's face

It’s not uncommon to see hawks perched on the many signposts around the auto tour at Ridgefield — what I like to call hawks on a stick. I loved the pose when this preening redtail stretched its neck out to an unusually tall height. Young birds like this one often have pale brown eyes that will darken with age.

The Lineup

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Our cat Sam sitting in his warm bed

When I woke up this morning, pressed up to my side were Sam, Scout, and Emma. As I scratched the heads of Sam and Scout (Emma was out of reach), a cacophony of purrs reached my ears. As I rolled onto my back, Sam curled up between my knees and Scout lay down on my chest. I had only a few minutes before the alarm was set to go off, but it was a lovely few minutes.

Sam is growing like a weed — a long skinny weed with sharp claws. I trimmed his nails tonight and got a nice cut on my finger for my efforts, this one can’t be blamed on invisible wolverines. I probably shouldn’t have done it right after I got him all riled up by playing with him, a lesson for next time.

Emma is also growing like a weed, but since she’s full grown we’ll need to cut back on the wet food she likes so much. She did need to put on weight when we first brought her home as she was too thin, but she’s filled out nicely now and we’d like to keep her that way. Her bumps have mostly disappeared so she won’t have to wear the bib any longer.

She only had to wear the bib for short durations at the end, and she’d tolerate it just fine for a while but when she decided it needed to come off, she got it off. I’ll have to take a picture of it some day, it’s badly shredded and on its last legs. Some of that is Sam’s fault for when they roughhouse, but Emma certainly knew how to get out of it when the time came.

The Reason I Keep Band-aids in My Camera Bag

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Saturday afternoon as soon as I got to Ridgefield, I cut my finger getting the big lens out of its case. There isn’t anything sharp in there so I’m not sure how I did it, but fortunately I keep a bag of band-aids in the front of my camera bag. It wasn’t a deep cut but was bleeding bright red blood, so I cleaned myself up before bleeding all over the lens.

I learned to keep the bandages in my camera bag a few years ago during my first visit to Yellowstone. On my first day on the first trail, as I got out of the car I reached into my camera bag and cut my finger. There wasn’t anything sharp in there so I’m not sure how I did it, but I had some band-aids in my first aid kit in my backpack. That night I bought a box of band-aids and have kept some in my camera bag ever since.

The thing is, I’ve not been able to figure out how I keep slicing my finger when there are no sharp objects to be seen. But on the way home from the refuge, it suddenly dawned on me. It’s so obvious I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.

Invisible wolverines.

Wolverines!

Another Good Sunday

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I’ve really enjoyed the past few Sundays, thanks to the NFL playoffs and a fantastic Super Bowl, some fun visits to Ridgefield, and the ever present kitten madness. This past Sunday I headed up to Ridgefield at sunrise, expecting to stay for only a couple of hours, but had such a great time I ended up staying until sunset when the refuge closed.

It was a day full of red-wings and red-tails and rough-legs and ruddies. And even some birds that don’t begin with ‘r’, like eagles and herons and song sparrows and harriers and four meadowlarks (Oregon’s state bird, which I haven’t seen in years).

The sky was heavily overcast and didn’t make for the best backdrop for this juvenile red-tailed hawk, but it was still fun to see so this hunter up close. The dried blood on its bill is a sober reminder that it wasn’t such a good day for some little critter at the refuge.