Here’s another image from the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge from before the breach of the Nisqually dike system (which opened up acres of salt water marsh for young salmon habitat). I love the monochrome of this image … monochrome, even though in full color. Click on the image for an enlarged view and see the interesting texture that this one ended up with. (just don’t ask me what I did!)
This is a road that runs through the Nisqually Natural Wildlife Refuge … or did before they breached the dikes to provide for salmon habitat. It was a wonderful spot for bird watching … with an occasional other critter … like a long tailed weasel that was carrying a sparrow in its mouth and ran right alongside me. Now visitors are channeled on an elevated boardwalk. You can see water birds from the boardwalk and lots of others in the woods near the visitor center, though. Still worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Here’s a close up of frost on the native blackberry:
These were taken a while ago, but we still have a few maple leafs left on a few of the maple trees. It’s interesting how there is so much difference between trees in a grove. It’s my favorite time of year for enjoying maples: when the leafs are bright yellow/orange and the sun shines through them.
The Northern Shoveler is one of my favorite ducks. Mostly, it’s fairly rare around here and easy to identify with that distinctive beak. This is a male in breeding plumage. I love the gold/yellow around the eye.
I have been posting a lot of views of the Olympic National Park and the big trees. I spend a lot of time there, mostly since it’s close to home. But occasionally I do travel to other areas and experience nature in other environments. The image above shows some open pine woods and grasslands down in California in Inyo National Forest. At least that’s my memory … my notes are sketchy on that trip.
On the other hand, the image below is back up in Washington, but down along the Nisqually River Delta area in a section of the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge that is no long accessible. What a difference in woods.
