Just eat of Olympia on I-5 is the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Excellent for bird watching and nature photography. The twin barns are iconic. The area was a dairy farm in the early years.
I hiked there for years until the dikes were breached to improve salmon habitat by increasing the wetlands.
I was walking the loop trail at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge when I spotted these baby otters on a small island in the middle of a pond … and I had left my camera at home, just carrying binoculars. I wanted a photo … so hurried my pace, drove home, grabbed my camera and telephoto lens and returned to the Wildlife Refuge. I hiked the mile or so back to the pond, expecting the otter pups to have relocated, but they were still there! And they were curious at my presence.
(The loop trail has since been broken to return the interior of the refuge to a salt water marsh and the refuge has been renamed the Billy Frank Jr. – Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.)
I like to take photos of the little birds. I think the big birds (hawks, eagles, etc) get too much press. It’s easier to get close to a lot of small birds (but not all) and they don’t ask for royalties like some of their more famous kin. These were at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge outside Olympia, WA.
