Tag Archives: Kiwa Trail

On the Trail of the Boolie

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A GPS map of the auto tour and Kiwa Trail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

My wife recently picked up car chargers for our iPhones so last weekend I used the MotionX-GPS app on the iPhone to record GPS data of my movements during a day at Ridgefield. This takes a hard toll on the battery, and since I was there for 13 hours I couldn’t have pulled it off without the charger.

What I want is to merge the data with my pictures so that I can get a visual map of where I took my pictures, an idea I first had many years ago during visits to both Ridgefield and Yellowstone. The pieces are all falling into place now although I haven’t yet learned how to tie it all together. Next I need to learn how to merge the GPS data with the pictures, then I can use Apple’s Aperture to display the locations for each picture on a map.

The picture above is the GPS data overlaid on a satellite image of Ridgefield and shows how I spent 13 hours on June 19, 2011. I’ve annotated it with the names of lakes and marshes at Ridgefield. I’m not exactly sure where Bower Slough starts and ends as there is a series of dikes and canals, but this is my best guess. Google Maps only labeled one lake and they got it wrong, they have Long Lake incorrectly named as Quigley Lake.

At first I was a little confused by the satellite photo as there didn’t appear to be much water visible, but this would make sense if the picture was snapped during the summer. Many of the lakes are seasonal and even during the spring the shallower lakes fill with vegetation.

The GPS trace shows two main loops with the green and red dots showing where I started and stopped the recording. The larger loop on the right is the auto tour where I spend so much of my free time, the smaller loop on the left is the Kiwa Trail, a short hiking trail that opens up during the summer. Traffic flows counter-clockwise around the auto tour, most of it is one-way but the first stretch does allow for two-way traffic.

Many of the lakes to my eye are really ponds, or even large puddles, but what does it matter? Some of my favorite places to sit and watch are some of the smallest lakes. Some like South Quigley Lake and Rest Lake were favorite spots from my very first visit, while others like Horse Lake and Long Lake took me a while to learn their rhythms and charms and only recently have become favorites.

Here’s a quick rundown of where some of the most recent blog pictures were taken, ordered by their position along the auto tour.

Parking Lot


A close-up view of a killdeer calling out to its mate

Killdeer

Horse Lake


A northern pintail drake swims in Horse Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Northern pintail


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

Sun and ice


An American wigeon drake calls out to a female at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

American wigeon

Long Lake


A male violet-green swallow perches on a dead tree at Long Lake

Violet-green swallow


A male common yellowthroat perches on a dead tree at Long Lake

Common yellowthroat


A male belted kingfisher perches above Long Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Belted kingfisher


A river otter chews on a fish in Long Lake

River otter


A male red-winged blackbird collects insects on a rainy day to take back to his nest

Red-winged blackbird

South Quigley Lake


A ruddy duck charges at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Ruddy duck


An American bittern stands in tall grass at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

American bittern


A male yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon's) perches on a cattail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Yellow-rumped warbler

Observation Blind

One male drone and many female worker bees form in a swarm on a tree branch at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Bee swarm

A close-up view of a male tree swallow with a feather in his beak at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Tree swallow

Bower Slough (and the ash forest)


A mink hunts at the edge of a channel at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Mink


A close-up view of a male tree swallow at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Tree swallow


A common muskrat eats while standing on a downed log in a marsh at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Common muskrat


A house wren gives a spectacular view of its teal feathers as it preens atop a rotten tree branch

House wren

A male black-headed grosbeak eats berries while laying over during the spring migration

Black-headed grosbeak

Canvasback Lake


A close-up view of a male and female northern shoveler circle feeding

Northern shovelers

Rest Lake


An American bittern with a Townsend's vole stuffed into its mouth

American bittern and Townsend's vole


A great blue heron yawns on a cold winter morning at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Great blue heron


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

American bittern and Townsend's vole


An adult bald eagle fights with a juvenile in mid-air

Bald eagles

Schwartz Lake


An American bittern stands upright in the pouring rain at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

American bittern


A young bald eagle drinks from Schwartz Lake

Bald Eagle

Pond of Many Colors

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A western painted turtle pokes its head out of green-colored water near the Kiwa Trail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

A western painted turtle pokes its head out of the water

I’m back, baby, I’m back!

It’s been quiet the past month but hopefully that is about to change.

There were several themes running through May, starting with the rainy weather that allowed me to photograph at Ridgefield from when the gates opened to when they closed. All told I think I spent 63 hours in May at the refuge, keeping my spirits up despite long hours at work.

May is also a great time for watching birds as they court and nest and raise their young, and also to see birds that are migrating through and too soon pass on. I spent several thirteen and fourteen hour days at the refuge, much of it on foot, savoring each encounter as next time my subjects might be gone.

All of that time also highlighted some equipment problems, either outright failures like my teleconverter or issues like my tripod and ballhead, which aren’t up to the challenge of carrying the big lens for that many hours. I bought it to be my hiking tripod where it only needs to support my lighter lenses, or to handle the big lens in a pinch, but with that many hours with the big lens it just wasn’t up to the task.

I got to see many of my favorite species, such as this western painted turtle poking its head out of its pond of many colors near the Kiwa Trail. Painted turtles are one of only two freshwater turtles native to Washington, the other is the pond turtle which is so rare you’re unlikely ever to see one. The painted turtles seem to be doing fine, at least at Ridgefield, where on a sunny spring day I’ve seen a few dozen just along the auto tour.

There are lots more pictures from May to come, including some new species that haven’t been on my site before. There are a few house wren pictures, a pileated woodpecker, a male western tanager, several black-headed grosbeaks (male and female), at least a couple of great horned owl fledglings, and a white-breasted nuthatch bringing bugs to the nest.

Lots of updates to existing galleries too, most notably tree swallows, with both close-ups and environmental portraits. Also hungry cedar waxwings, a female yellowthroat, a red-winged fledgling, a couple of starling fledglings, the elusive sora, and a male ruddy duck resplendent in breeding plumage. Possibly a cormorant, white-crowned sparrow, kestrel, and cinnamon teal, I’ll have to see how they turned out.

And let’s not forget the mammals, including a new mink picture, several muskrats, a black-tailed doe, a nutria, and several new eastern cottontails. Also a Townsend’s mole, a new species for me, it was dead but the picture isn’t macabre.

And perhaps my favorite encounter of the month, a swarm of bees on a tree, I found them early in the morning when they were quiet and I could safely photograph the patterns of the colony.

I’m also going to put up a post of the pictures that got away, starting with a full-frame shot of a long-tailed weasel that is heartbreakingly out-of-focus. And there are still pictures from the winter I need to sort and edit, particularly of bitterns.

Stay tuned!