Ridgefield

The second day in Oregon my daughter planned an early morning bird watching tour in Ridgefield, WA. The group ended up with too many people and was going too slow for our liking, so we bailed and decided to explore on our own. Not long after sneaking off like thieves in the night, we stumbled onto a couple of photographers with gargantuan lenses pointed toward a tree. To our sheer and utter amazement it was a pair of great-horned owls; a momma and her baby. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy so my pics didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. We were so glad we ditched the group because we circled the park twice and never saw the owls again. If we hadn't gone when we did we never would have had the opportunity to observe these beautiful birds.

All in all we saw 28 different bird species! How I wish I could have photographed them all and done them justice. Just gives me incentive to return again soon. So while these are not my best shots, many of these are lifers, and for that, I am beyond delighted.

Marshy area of Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Marsh wren with a grub worm

Pair of great egrets

Great-horned owl and owlet

Tree swallow

Pied-billed grebe

Cinnamon teal, female and male

Possibly a savannah sparrow

American goldfinch
I thought about cropping this down, but I liked the way he was leaning horizontally

Savannah sparrow

Song sparrow

Cedar waxwing

Black-headed grosbeak

Smith Rock

Smith Rock was my favorite destination in Oregon on this particular trip. That day I took about 200 photos with the DSLR and less than 50 with the iPhone 5. It's hard to believe I didn't take more shots. I think I was in awe and simply forgot to shoot! Plus, I was trying not to fall into the canyon. When the weather is cooperating, Oregon is absolutely breathtaking.

I whittled the total number of photos down from 900+ to less than 500, so you will be seeing the Pacific Northwest for some time to come. Without further delay, here is a sampling from Smith Rock. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for humoring me. :)

Edited to add: this is my beautiful daughter, Autumn, with my granddog, Callie :)

Stellar's Jay

The Stellar's Jay is a striking bird, closely related to the Blue Jay. It is the only crested jay west of the Rocky Mountains. It was named after the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Stellar. Primarily residing in coniferous forests, they also inhabit other forested areas. Stellar's Jays are omnivores, with 2/3 of their diet consisting of plant matter and 1/3 animal matter. The nest is usually in a conifer but sometimes they use the hollow of a tree.

These shots were taken at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland, OR. Unfortunately, he scampered around in a shaded area, so these are not the sharpest of shots, and the best I could do hand held at a shutter speed of 1/320, ISO 3200, f/8. The rule is to have your shutter speed at or exceeding your focal length, so I'm pleased that these came out as well as they did, considering I was using the 400mm lens fully extended. My poor daughter's Nikon pooped out on her during our visit here, throwing out a shutter error message. It will have to make a trip to the camera hospital soon. :(

The feathering appeared a lighter blue when he was puffed up.

The only shot I was able to get from his back side. So although his face is blurry, I wanted you to see the detail of the feathers.

953

Hello amigos! I had a glorious time in Portland with my daughter. What a good sport she was, driving me from the mountains to the high desert to Washington State! We both added many new birds to our life list, as well as other wildlife such as ELK! While we had some rain to contend with, it didn't interfere with anything we set out to do. Bertha managed to capture 953 images, so it may take a while to get my act together as far as sharing some of them on my blog. Don't worry, I will not be bombarding you with photos!

The image below was taken with my iPhone and is one of my favorites. This was from our first hiking expedition at Smith Rock. Nestled between the towns of Redmond and Terrebonne in Central Oregon, it is considered the birthplace of sport climbing, with over 1000 climbing routes of all difficulty levels. We meandered along Crooked River, the easiest of the hiking routes. Smith Rock reminded me of the Grand Canyon and is simply spectacular. I am so glad we ignored the weather forecast. Although it rained that morning, by the time we arrived at our destination, the sun made its appearance and blue skies smiled down on us. I felt very blessed.

Please stay tuned for more stories and images. I promise to catch up and see what you've all been up to as soon as I get my shower and a load of laundry in. Hope everyone has been well!

Coneflowers and a gift

One more post before I leave on my trip. The violent thunderstorm that rolled through here at 5AM bestowed three extra hours on my day. :) I hope all my friends in North Texas are okay, as I learned they had some pretty severe storms, too. Prayers still going out to Oklahoma and the Midwest.

Yesterday I made a quick dash to the arboretum to see what was blooming. Actually, I was hoping to see butterflies, but only saw a clouded sulphur that refused to light. The purple coneflowers were beckoning, so I obliged.

Isn't it sweet how the tall coneflower seems to be sheltering the little one?
It makes me think of the teachers in Oklahoma who sheltered the children from the tornado.

I have no idea what that snowflake-looking thing is in the upper right of the photo.

A sweet surprise awaited me when I returned from the botanical garden. My sweet friend at Gone Country had knitted me a beautiful red scarf! I purchased one from her in January and loved it. I meant to blog about it, but for one reason or another didn't get around to it. She has since learned a new method of creating the scarf and wanted me to have the 'new and improved' version—her words. Although I thought the first scarf was super nice, I must admit the new scarf is very full and luxurious. The yarn she uses is so soft, too. She has recently embarked on The Pink Scarf Project to help women fighting breast cancer. She's got a big heart and mad talent. :) Thank you for blessing me with this unexpected gift, and for remembering that my mom's favorite color was red.

I'd like to leave you with this:

Torn paper by French Kiss Textures
Butterfly by JoesSistah