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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

We Were Doing OK, Weren’t We?

Our black cat Emma rests on my couch on a hot summer day

When I got up off my couch I had to laugh when I saw the expression on Emma’s face. Her bewildered expression might have been explained by her wondering why we had adopted young Boo and brought such change into her life, but in reality she was reacting to the heat of a summer night. The picture meant a lot to me at the time, as she had hung out with me more and more that year and, rather than retreat to the cooler basement, she chose to stay by my side instead.

I’ve been sitting on this picture for a while, rather than posting it, as it reminded me too much of her suffering at the end of her life and the pain and frustration of not being able to save her. As time passes, though, more and more it’s gone back to reminding me of the bond I shared with my sweet Em.

Good Morning

A view of Rest Lake at sunrise from my Subaru XV Crosstrek

The last day of the year got off to a cold but sunny start. I stopped at Rest Lake when I came across this great blue heron sitting beside the frozen channel and then sat listening to the cackling geese and tundra swans in the lake behind it. I couldn’t resist a self-portrait when the rising sun created a perfect shadow of my little Crosstrek on the bank.