A peregrine falcon throws up its wings to maintain its balance atop a dead tree as the wind blows across Canvasback Lake.
Tag: Canvasback Lake
Two Tundras
A peregrine falcon perches above Canvasback Lake as tundra swans fly past in the background. The swans winter at Ridgefield in large numbers and are impossible to miss, but seeing a peregrine, while not rare, is much less common. I think this is the tundra race of peregrine.
Round Two
This Columbian white-tailed deer fawn, nibbling on foliage at head height, is the second generation I’ve seen its mother (out of frame to the right) raise at Ridgefield since she was moved to the refuge a couple of years ago, continuing the recovery of the Lower Columbia River population.
Stately
The robin is one of the most familiar birds in the United States and I had a fondness for them growing up, partly because they were easy to see in the many trees around our house and partly because they were the state bird of my state at the time, Michigan. I love photographing them but funnily enough don’t see them that often in the places I visit most. This male was feeding on the ground on a rainy winter afternoon at my favorite wildlife refuge and was the last shot I took on the day.
There Goes the Sun
It was a mostly cloudy day but the sun peaked out early in the morning as I watched this shoveler feeding in Canvasback Lake but it ducked back behind the clouds not long after I took the picture and stayed there.
Little But Close
Kestrels are our smallest falcon but late in December of 2010 I was thrilled to see them up close at several locations around the auto tour at Ridgefield. This male was hunting for earthworms beside Canvasback Lake on a rainy Christmas Eve.
Nest Material
A marsh wren pulls nesting material from a cattail, soaked on a wet spring afternoon.
Downpour
Raindrops pelt the surface of Canvasback Lake as a greater yellowlegs hunts in the shallows.
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.
Clues Two
I saw my first muskrat at the Virginia Tech Duck Pond back when I was first getting into photography. Sadly I found it dead not much later, but my fascination with these rodents was born. So I was particularly pleased when we moved to the Northwest to find them here as well. Over the years I’ve seen one in most of the ponds and lakes around the auto tour at Ridgefield, although surprisingly I seem to be the only one who is excited to see these adorable creatures.
While the face of the muskrat is unique compared to the other aquatic rodents at the refuge, its distinctive white claws are also an important clue, visible here on the front paws of this hungry muskrat. While I have seen muskrats many times, they are shy creatures and my glimpses are usually brief. Thankfully though this one let me photograph from close range to my heart’s content as it dined on plants at the edge of Canvasback Lake.
This is why I can’t stop going to Ridgefield.
Boolie 