Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
I didn’t have much exposure to great blue herons before I moved to Oregon years ago, but the ones I had seen hunted in bodies of water, so I was rather surprised when I moved here and saw herons frequently hunting on land. This young heron, as you can see from its muddy beak, was hunting for voles in a meadow. There’s a little bit of blood at the base of its beak, I’m not sure if it’s from the heron or one of its victims.
A barn swallow takes a break from hunting insects over Long Lake on a rainy spring day. This was one of my favorite spots at the refuge to take pictures, the dead tree to which this branch was attached was close to the road and I spent many hours just sitting in my car watching to see what would swim or walk or fly by, but sadly the tree fell over into the lake.
A marsh wren pulls nesting material from a cattail, soaked on a wet spring afternoon.
A yellow-rumped warbler (Myrtle) gets pelted by the rain on a spring afternoon.
A yellow-rumped warbler pauses at the edge of South Quigley Lake on a spring afternoon.
A great blue heron preens its neck feathers by running them through the tip of its bill.
A male red-winged blackbird sings at the edge of the marsh on a winter morning. This section of South Quigley Lake is lined with cattails where the blackbirds sing (and in the spring, raise their young).
A bushtit perches in one of our dogwoods while waiting her turn at the suet feeder. Female bushtits, like this one of the Pacific race, have yellow eyes.
Late in 2012, I used the pupil of a cooperative red-tailed hawk to take a self-portrait in my new car. To avoid spooking it, I setup the camera before I drove up, adding a 36mm extension tube to my telephoto and extender to make sure I could focus even up close.
Bufflehead are one of our smallest ducks and fairly shy so it’s always a treat when they swim in close. This male swam across the smooth surface of Rest Lake with his tail splayed flat, as a diving duck he can use his tail to push down against the surface of the water when he dives either in search of food or to flee from one of the resident bald eagles.
Boolie 