Blog

Exit Through the Cherry Blossoms

Commuters exit a subway line in Shinagawa Station in Tokyo, Japan

It’s hard for me to believe it’s been 10 years since my visit to Japan. The cherry trees were about to bloom while I was there on a business trip, kicking off the festivals, but I missed the main bloom by a tantalizing few days. I was afraid that these blossoms in Shinagawa Station would be the only blossoms I saw, but I did get a chance right before I left to see a few trees that had bloomed early.

Two Halves

Two Halves

I got lucky with the top picture: the soft, warm light of sunset, the frost from an unusually cold winter day, the perfect pairing of these two baby nutria, one facing forward, the other backward, and the one nutria eating a blade of grass while holding it in its tiny hands. Then they each walked off into the shadows and out of my sight. Nutria are not native to the Northwest but they are by far the most commonly seen of our aquatic rodents, and as you can see are able to give birth and raise young even during winter.

A baby nutria walks across ice on a cold winter's day.

A baby nutria walks across frost and grass at the end of a cold winter's day.

Fall in Irvington

Our black lab Ellie sits next to a tree amidst the fall color in Irving Park

A picture from the fall of 2011 of Ellie in Irving Park, there was a lot less gray in her face back then. The big red strip attached to her collar lit up, one of several approaches we’ve tried over the years to make her more visible at night on our walks. The dog park is at the top of the hill in the background, normally she would be on leash at this point but I took it off for the picture.

Sadly I haven’t found a good time to photograph her in the fall color in the years since.

You’ve Got a Little Something …

As the rain pelts down a female lesser scaup swims with plants on her back that she picked up during her last dive to feed at Horse Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington on December 29, 2011. Original: _MG_1273.CR2

I’ve often thought about creating an album called “You’ve Got a Little Something …” to highlight animals that are carrying around a bit of their environment they picked up along the way. Diving ducks like this lesser scaup sometimes surface with plants that snagged on their back during their last feeding foray, but they often shed them on their next (as happened here, she surfaced after her next dive with a clean back).

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 500mm + 1.4X
🗓️: December 29, 2011

Wet Lunch

An American coot is draped in plants it pulled up from Horse Lake in Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington on December 29, 2011. Original: _MG_0657.CR2

I love photographing animals going about their lives in all kinds of weather, but the pouring rain didn’t bother this coot as it fed in a shallow lake, as it was already soaked from diving underwater to dislodge plants from the lakebed.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x III
🗓️: December 29, 2011