Tag Archives: ice

Long Gone

Sunrise at a frozen Long Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

On my first visits to Ridgefield I spent little time at Long Lake, a narrow sliver of a lake near the start of the auto tour, as there never seemed to be much going on. Over time though I better understood its rhythms and it is now one of my favorite locations.

One unique aspect of this lake compared to the others are the dead snags near the road, shown here a couple of years ago as the sun was about to rise over the frozen lake. I choose a snag I most want to photograph and park the car precisely to get the background I want, then wait to see if anything flies into view. Many times I wait in vain, or find that I chose the wrong perch to watch, but the successes are worth the failures.

I have a particular favorite near the road for photographing small birds. It is in some ways a microcosm of what I love so much about Ridgefield, for like the refuge itself it isn’t beautiful or grandiose, rather easy to overlook and easy to pass by. But it lets me view my subjects up close without disturbing them, a window into a world I would otherwise never see. I got these closeups of a barn swallow on that snag. A tree swallow and violet-green swallow too. A common yellowthroat, a hungry red-winged blackbird fledgling, and so many more.

So I was crushed to arrive at the refuge this winter and discover it had fallen into the swamp, along with a few other favorites too. I knew this day might come, I had seen others succumb in the past, but this one is a bit hard to take.

A sad goodbye to, and a fond remembrance of, an already dead friend that is now truly gone.

Testing the Ice

A raccoon tests the strength of the ice at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Yes it’s true, sometimes even I take pictures when the sun is shining.

The second day of the year started off partly sunny but turned blue-sky sunny later in the day. I don’t always head to Ridgefield on days like this because it brings out the madding crowds, but it was not only the end of a two week Christmas break where I had spent nearly every day at the refuge, but it had also been cold enough to freeze the shallow lakes and sloughs and I wasn’t about to let this rare opportunity pass me by.

And while I ended up spending the entire day at the refuge, a look back at my journal shows that I almost didn’t stick around past the morning. I started to photograph some river otters that poked up through the ice when suddenly they bolted, screaming across the ice. I couldn’t understand why until seconds later a large SUV came blasting past at high speed. Then the traffic really picked up around noon and at one point I noted that not only could I not get off on my own, but that a crowd was surrounding me even when I was photographing nutria! The big lens can certainly draw a crowd, I’ve gotten used to that, but there are days when it seems to attract a feeding frenzy.

After debating whether to stay or go, I decided to stay both because I had to return to work the next day and because it had been a fun day so far. I nearly regretted my decision by the end of the day, the traffic was so heavy that instead of fighting it I parked at a favorite spot to see if anything would come by. I was alone for a long while until I was joined by a couple of raccoons down below the bank. I couldn’t really see them except for an occasional glimpse of a tail but eventually they decided to test the thinning ice, giving me a chance to photograph them.

But other cars coming past saw them too and pulled into the spots before and after me. Based on where the raccoons ended up, I couldn’t get a good look from my location, but fortunately the car in front left after a while and I got a picture of one of the raccoons standing still and gently reaching out with a front paw to test the strength of the ice. It didn’t like what it discovered as it retreated back towards the shore.

I slowly wound my way past the traffic on my way out of the auto tour and left ready to face the new year, thankful for a wonderful couple of weeks at the refuge, thankful to live near such a wonderful place, thankful for one more opportunity to photograph one of my favorite creatures.

Rarities at Horse Lake


A frozen Horse Lake reflects the pink light near sunrise at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

It rarely gets cold enough in the valley to freeze even the shallow lakes at Ridgefield. This sunrise is equally rare, the sun is just about to crest the hills to my left.

I spent most of my time at Horse Lake this winter watching wigeon, pintails, ring-necks, and a juvenile heron that often worked the water’s edge. But I couldn’t resist a scenic picture when I saw the shallow lake had frozen and was reflecting the colors of the sunrise. It wasn’t until a long while later while playing around with the image on my iPhone that I wished I had also switched to my telephoto lens to isolate the distant shore.

It’s so easy and fun to play around with composition on the iPhone and iPad, I wish I had them when I was first getting started in photography many years ago, but better late than never.


A frozen Horse Lake reflects the pink light near sunrise at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

A heavy crop of the picture above shows what I wish I had taken with my telephoto lens.


A frozen Horse Lake reflects the pink light near sunrise at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

A wider shot of Horse Lake, where in the past I haven't spent much time since it is the first lake on the auto tour and attracts a lot of visitors. It's more of a large pond than a small lake, but this winter I spent a lot of time there and came away with a number of nice pictures.

The Start of the Year


An American bittern holds a Townsend's vole above the ice on a winter's day

Pity the Townsend's vole, an important food source in the diet of a large variety of predators at Ridgefield

Although I failed in my quest to find a bittern in the frost on the last day of 2010, the first day of 2011 rewarded me with a bittern on the ice — a hunting bittern on the ice.

The day started out promising when I glimpsed a blacktail buck on the drive down through the canyon and onto the refuge at Ridgefield, but after putting on a show the day before the rest of the animals seemed to be sleeping in. While the early hours weren’t crowded, as the morning wore on the visitors picked up rapidly and the big lens attracted a small crowd whenever I stopped.

On the far side of the refuge, I like to drive slowly along Rest Lake to look for bitterns, so I pulled over to let an approaching car past so that I could move at my own pace. Even as I was pulling over I noticed this bittern down below in the frozen channel and settled in to watch. Within moments the bittern struck into the grass and brought out this terrified vole.

Bitterns often like to dunk their prey in the water and so it gingerly stepped down the rim of ice, struggling not to slip, and then dunked the vole into the water. Or tried to at least, but failed, since the water in this section was still frozen. It seemed mystified for a moment and stood motionless before eating its meal undunked.

After taking a few environmental portraits of the bittern on the ice, I moved ahead just slightly to another nice location and waited for the bittern to come past. But a Land Rover came up behind me and the couple got out of their car (a no-no on the auto tour during the winter) to set up their scope to view the distant ducks and swans.

Not surprisingly I didn’t see the bittern again.

When I got to the end of the auto tour, I was going to go around again but my heart sank when I saw a nearly solid line of cars between Horse and South Quigley Lakes. I learned my lesson from Christmas day, when I should have left when it got over-crowded but didn’t, and headed home.

Ellie got an extra walk and playtime in the park, and extra hedgehogging as well, so all-in-all a fantastic start to the year for everyone but the vole.


An American bittern tries to dunk a Townsend's vole through the ice on a winter's day

Neither bittern nor vole was happy with the outcome of this dunk attempt, but the vole got the worst of it