A cackling goose spreads its wings in a crowded group at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland, Oregon in December 2006.
Tag: Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden
Woods in Fall
Three wood ducks swim surrounded by fallen leaves on a serene morning in late October 2017. A few days later my team would get laid off, this was not only my last visit to Crystal Springs but I only went hiking once more before we moved to Arizona in March 2018. Partly because I didn’t feel like it at first, partly because the job search was time consuming, partly because I took Ellie for a walk each morning. I had romantic ideas about taking one last hiking tour of many of my favorite places in the Northwest but all I managed was one last visit to Ridgefield. I wish there had been more time but I wouldn’t trade those walks with the pup for anything.
Subtle
Subtle is not a word you would use to describe the breeding plumage of the male wood duck, but the light in the shade muted the colors of both the duck and the reflections of the fall color in the water.
Water, Fall
Canada in Fall
A pair of Canada geese rest on a fallen tree on a fall morning in Portland, Oregon.
Colors
A wood duck drake in all his colorful glory swims near the trees at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland, Oregon.
On Golden Pond
A mallard takes a rest as he swims in a shallow pond, golden from reflections of fall colors, at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland, Oregon.
Rainy Rest
The pouring rain forms concentric circles around a female lesser scaup as she gets some rest as she swims. Taken in February 2003 with my Canon D30, an expensive camera with no weather sealing, but I’ve long loved photographing in the rain.
You Go Your Whole Life Without Ripping a Hole in the Fabric of Space & Time and Then …
I don’t even know how it happened.
I was happily photographing ducks back in the fall when I pointed my camera at the confluence of yellow and green reflections and suddenly a white spot appeared in the water and I felt the universe start to come apart at the seams. This wood duck drake swam by and its wake seemed to close the disruption and life as we know it was spared. All hail the mighty wood duck, silent guardian of all that we hold dear.
Today’s temporal disruption comes courtesy of an out-of-focus downy duck feather in the foreground
Wet Christmas
On this rainy Christmas day here in Portland (it did snow earlier so we had a shot at a white Christmas, but alas our more typical wet Christmas won out), here’s one of my favorite wildlife shots of the year, a mallard drake resting amidst the reflected colors of the fall leaves.
The picture was taken in late October at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden here in Portland.
Boolie 