Tag Archives: Bull Lake

Well Fed

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An American bittern grabs a bullfrog tadpole from the water

When a bittern strikes at prey unseen I never know what it’s going to come up with, but often I can guess based on the location of the strike. When this bittern lunged out into the water, I guessed it would bring up a bullfrog, but I wasn’t expecting a tadpole! And such a large one! Fortunately for me it repeated the performance a moment later when I was better positioned for pictures. Despite their size the tadpoles were still relatively early in their development as they hadn’t yet started to grow legs.

Bug Hunt

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A male common yellowthroat with an insect in its beak

At the narrow tip of Long Lake where you can park and watch for wildlife, a lot of dead wood has drifted into the shallows near the shore. It must be conducive to insect life in all its forms, nymph to adult, aquatic to terrestrial, because come spring several species of birds work this area tirelessly as they collect insects to take back to their hungry nestlings and fledglings. In greatest numbers are red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds, such as the yellow-headed male plucking bugs off the plant stems below, but wait long enough and you might see a few common yellowthroats hunting the shoreline.

A male yellow-headed blackbird hunts for insects at Long Lake

Pitching Woo

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An adult bald eagle calls out to its mate at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

This adult bald eagle is the one that stole the meal from the young eagle in the previous post. Here it is calling out to its mate which was perched higher in the tree. Even though they are at the top of both the food chain and the social order, it doesn’t mean they have it easy. I saw multiple occasions over the winter and spring where a youngster would fly in towards the pair, agitating both the male and the female who didn’t welcome the intrusion. They frequently called out to each other during the months I was able to watch them, and one day did hypnotic swooping flights over Long and Horse Lakes.

They don’t nest on the refuge (as far as I know) but I enjoyed watching their courtship.

At the Top & Bottom

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A young bald eagle flies from a tree at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Bald eagles are commonly seen at Ridgefield during the winter, and while it’s always fun to see an adult up close, I’m also fascinated by the younger eagles that are at the top of the food chain yet the bottom of their social order. This young eagle left its perch and captured a duck in Bull Lake only to have it stolen by the adult in the previous post.

One nice thing (from my perspective at least) is that the young eagles, which greatly outnumber the adults, are forced to take up territories closer to the road and sometimes even perch in trees right above you. That makes for great viewing but for photography I prefer a more distant view like in these pictures where the angles allow a more pleasing perspective.

A young bald eagle flies from a tree at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

A Nice 4th of July Weekend

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An adult bald eagle flies from a tree at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

This adult bald eagle left the tree to (successfully) steal a duck captured by a younger eagle.

The 4th of July weekend started off with my wife running errands while I stayed at home to face the rigors of sleeping in. She picked me up a few bags of bark mulch so I could spread it underneath the new and new-ish plants to protect them from the drought to come. I’ll water to get them established since mother nature will turn off her spigot for the next few months, and the mulch will help keep the soil from drying out and the weeds to a minimum. I was going to order a big load of mulch but decided to put that off since there are a few bushes out front I want dug up first, but in the meantime this little bit will protect the plants most at risk.

The past few days have been nice and low key, a mix of yard work, hedgehogging, walks in the park, belly rubs and head scratches, sorting pictures, and sitting on the porch. It’s not going to be easy to go back to work tomorrow.