River S Unit – Page 14

Otters at Play

At the dog park this morning two young dogs were playing when suddenly in their rough play a line was crossed and things got more serious. Their owners separated them and the aggression quickly dissipated and hopefully each dog made a little progress in their socialization. These two otters were part of a family group catching fish in Bower Slough, and thus were quite familiar with each other, but even so when one otter grabbed the other by the scruff of the neck I wondered if this playful move was a bridge too far. But as you can see the otter’s skin is loose with plenty of fat underneath and the victim took it all in stride.

It Rains Sometimes Here in the Northwest

It rains fairly often during winter here in the Pacific Northwest but it is often a gentle, misty rain and hard to convey in images. On this January afternoon, however, great big buckets of rain started pouring from the sky so I took the opportunity to show how predators like this egret, if they want to eat, have to hunt no matter the weather. If you’re wondering how the egret fared under such conditions, this happened about 10 minutes later.

I was playing off the shutter speed (to freeze the rain) with the depth of field (to keep as much rain in focus as possible), but I wish I could have had more depth of field. Hopefully it still conveys a sense of how hard it was raining.

This Used to be Goodbye

It used to be when I left the River S Unit at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and started my trek home, I’d round the bend and get this lovely view of Mount St. Helens. Early in 2004 I stopped to take a picture of the volcano with the foothills coated in snow, as they were just starting to convert a meadow into a subdivision and I knew the view wouldn’t last.

A large number of new subdivisions have gone in since as the sleepy little town transforms into a bedroom community for Vancouver and Portland. I’ve often thought about how wonderful it would be to live in one of those houses, to be able to roll out of bed near sunrise and be right at the refuge, but I wouldn’t seriously consider moving there — the refuge is on the other side of the Columbia from where I work and the commute would be soul-crushing.

No Shelter From the Rain

A downpour on Christmas morning left this young red-tailed hawk, sitting on a signpost beside the auto tour, drenched from head to toe with water drops beading up on the feathers on its back. The heavy rain and the holiday morning also meant that I had the refuge pretty much to myself and I was able to observe this tolerant hawk at my leisure without having to worry about blocking the road.

Backside

One benefit to earning an animal’s trust is that you can often watch it for a long period of time. The downside is that it often has its back to you as it doesn’t consider you a threat. I had been watching this bittern hunt on the far bank for over an hour when it swam over and sat down right in front of me. It turned around to scan the water and I loved the geometry formed by its body and beak, its two round eyes sticking out from the side of its head.

Late Flight

After spending a sunny fall day at Ridgefield, I found myself near sunset photographing ducks and coots feeding in Rest Lake. Suddenly a few tundra swans took off from a distant part of the lake and kept coming in my direction until they flew by my car. Sadly I didn’t have time to change settings on the camera so some things weren’t set up the way I would like, besides which I don’t normally shoot birds in flight so it’s not something with which I have much practice.

Nevertheless it was a nice ending to the day. I took a few more pictures of ruddy ducks and then headed for home.

At the Edge of the Ice

A female bufflehead surfaces next to the ice in a rapidly thawing Horse Lake. I felt bad for her, she had been feeding on her own, the only bufflehead on the lake, when a male/female pair flew in and started harassing her. She’d move off on her own, minding her own business, but the other two would still frequently swim over and chase her away. She was the first bird I photographed that morning but this picture is from an hour and a half later near the end of my time watching her.

The Pintails

Six pintails stand amidst the melting ice of Horse Lake. They reminded me of teenagers lined up along a wall at a dance, a little too nervous to take to the dance floor, especially the males who looked like they were decked out in formal attire. In truth they were a little ill at ease and anxious for the ice to finish melting, as they are as awkward on the ice as they are graceful in the water.

Sunny Day, Cloudy Day, Same Day

On a sunny afternoon, this seemingly happy wood duck raised his head to stretch before resuming preening some of the hard-to-reach areas. I don’t often see wood ducks in this part of Long Lake so it was a treat to watch him. Five minutes later the clouds rolled in and changed the lighting as he paused during his preening ritual. I love shooting on both sunny and cloudy days and on this day got to do both frequently, but the constantly changing light levels made it challenging to correctly meter the scene and I often didn’t keep up fast enough.

Do I Know You?

I’ve often photographed a lone female ring-necked duck on Horse Lake, wondering if its the same bird that returns from one year to the next, but this one was on nearby Long Lake. Might be the same bird, of course the ducks move around especially when they get spooked, but I don’t have any way of knowing.