Boolie

The Unmistakable Bill

When I was in graduate school and just getting into wildlife photography, I spotted a pair of unfamiliar ducks at the Virginia Tech Duck Pond. They only stayed for a day or two before migrating on, but I was a bit puzzled as to their identification as they didn’t quite match anything in my guide book. I guessed (rightly so) that they were northern shovelers as nothing else in the book had a bill quite like theirs. I later learned that they were in non-breeding plumage, while my guide book only had their breeding plumage.

When we moved to Oregon I was delighted to find shovelers here in the winter, so now I get to see them on a regular basis, and am still amused by the variety of plumages I see within the same group of shovelers. This male for example, even though it was late winter, still has signs of his intermediate plumage. With that bill, though, there’s no mistaking him for anything but a shoveler.

King on White

As time passes more and more of the dead trees at Ridgefield succumb to the slough. Upon returning to the refuge after a long absence, I noticed this tree in South Big Lake had finally fallen. It was too far from the road to ever be a favorite of mine but I did shoot it occasionally, such as this portrait of a kingfisher on one of its branches from a few years ago, set against the overcast sky.

A Christmas Coyote

Thanks to the auto tour at Ridgefield NWR, I’ve had the chance to watch coyotes up close on many occasions without disturbing them, such as this one hunting for voles on Christmas afternoon in 2011. But if it survived into the spring of this year it’s likely dead now, as the coyotes on the refuge were killed in an attempt to improve the likelihood of Columbian white-tailed fawns surviving into adulthood. The deer are a threatened species while coyotes most certainly are not.

Killing coyotes may be necessary to help the whitetails recover, but I’ll miss them, they were one of my favorites.

Watched & Watching

I headed up to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge yesterday for the first time in nearly a year, wondering what changes I might see, but the most unexpected change was one I saw in my rear view mirror. I had stopped along Rest Lake to photograph a couple of bitterns that were hunting near the road, but I kept having to move up to let traffic behind me through, before backing up to resume my watch.

The bitterns were soon gone but a great blue heron was slowly working its way in my direction, so I settled in to see how close it would come. I frequently checked my rear view mirror to watch for approaching cars but none came. But then in the mirror there was a slow movement of brown from one side of the road to the other, and when I swiveled my head around to look got my first glimpse of a Columbian white-tailed deer. Two of them actually, a doe and her fawn.

The doe had bright yellow tags in each ear and a large radio collar around each neck, she was one of thirty-seven that were emergency translocated earlier this year from another refuge in Washington (and one of twenty-nine that survived). Her fawn, though, belongs to the first generation born at Ridgefield. It and the other deer will be closely watched to see how they survive in their new home, as the Columbian whitetail was only recently downlisted from endangered to threatened status.

But at the moment, it was just the two of us watching each other, each seemingly as surprised as the other by the encounter.

Bad Luck, Good Luck

Tundra swans usually don’t come close to the road at Ridgefield so I was particularly pleased late on a winter’s day to find an accommodating swan. But as I was photographing it, someone else came up and parked behind me and committed the cardinal sin of the auto tour — he opened his car door and got out. Of course the swan spooked and I drove away in frustration and was going to head home, but instead calmed myself and started looking for other things to shoot. The meadow at the end of the auto tour was empty, no herons or hawks or coyotes, so I thought I was done for the day.

But this great egret was waiting for me just past the parking lot and let me photograph it until it was time to head home.

Ball Goes Here!

Age has slowed Ellie this year so she can’t chase balls like she used to, but she still enjoys having me toss them into her mouth.

Snow Day

I had some time off coming in December but took one of the days a bit earlier than expected when I woke to snow coming down. I sent a quick email to work to let them know I wasn’t coming in as I wanted to take Ellie out in however much snow we got. I always enjoy seeing Ellie in the snow, as it reminds me of the day I started thinking about getting a dog while playing with sweet Porter from next door.

The snow stopped falling right after I decided not to go to work, so there wasn’t much on the ground when we went on our walk to the dog park in Irving Park, but we had a good time nevertheless. I brought my camera (the little EOS M, just stuck it in my coat pocket) and took a few snaps of Ellie enjoying one of her favorite activities, snapping sticks in half with her jaws.

Chomp chomp!

The Bed Thief

While Sam would occasionally sleep in one of Ellie’s beds, particularly the homemade one, the thieving of dog beds began in earnest in late July. Coincidentally, this is also when Boo was given free reign of the house. This is Boo on his first day out after a couple of weeks in isolation in my wife’s office in the basement. That week began his gradual introduction into the house at large, we’d let him out for a while but at night or when we were away we still kept him isolated.

Boo was shy and nervous when we adopted him and you could see on his face how exploring the house and meeting the pets was both exciting and exhausting for him, so we paced his introduction even slower than normal. Several times on this first day he’d go up and explore the ground level and meet the other pets and then come back down to Ellie’s dog bed for a little rest. The bed was right outside my wife’s office so he could enjoy a taste of his newfound freedom and yet easily scoot back in to his comfort zone if needed.

He showed little fear of Ellie from the start, and for her part, she was nonplussed by the arrival of the little fellow. So when he stole her bed, she laid down beside it on the hard floor, making life a little easier for the kitten as he began to understand what it meant to be home.

The Dog Bed

Ellie has always enjoyed sleeping on our bed but age has taken a toll on her legs and the other day my wife came home and discovered Ellie had jumped onto the bed but couldn’t jump back down. So after helping her down she took the bed and box springs off the frame and put them on the floor, where they’ll stay.

Spooning

Peace, love, & understanding.