Escape to the real world

Reading the newspaper this morning was thoroughly depressing. The entire world is falling apart in a bad way. I needed a break from my hopelessness.

So I went birding. Out of town, to Nisqually, at the southern end of Puget Sound. Back in the 70's I was active in the group that fought to keep Nisqually Delta from being turned into a Weyerhauser log export facility. And we won. It's now a beloved, protected crucial link in the Pacific Flyway.

It was the day of the Bald Eagle. On the walk along the Nisqually River I counted over 20. One perched 30 feet from my face, low on a cottonwood, cleaning the remnants of a salmon skeleton. But at the start of the hike, stalking the edge of a marsh, was an American Bittern, a bird I haven't seen in  a decade. It's a highly camoflauged, skulky marsh bird, hard to find. This one was out on the open, but whenever it stopped I had a hard time picking it up.

I also got Merlin, three Peregrine Falcons, and a bunch of Red-tailed Hawks and Harriers. Along with big flocks of Pintail, Wigeon and Mallard. And too many to count Song Sparrows, Chickadees, Juncos, Downy Woodpeckers, and Bewicks Wrens.  With one sweep with the scope from the observation platform, I picked up another 18 Eagles.

As I approached the parking lot I heard, over the low roar of the freeway traffic, I heard the collective high honk of a vast flock of Snow Geese, and I saw stringy skeins of them low across the southern sky. For a few hours today, the world was set right.

More critter photos on, appropriately enough, Flickr.

Comments

[Aaron Britton]

Were you able to see the snow geese in Seattle? Over at Gas Works park there was a gathering of the geese on the 21st and 22nd of December. It was fun to watch them fly in and then proceed to waddle around sticking their heads in the snow to get at the grass to eat.

On the 22nd I was able to get a few photos of them. Which was nice because the snow was on the ground still and the sun peaked out from the clouds.

aaron

[romanlily]

Perfect in so many ways. Thank you.

[Bruce Nall]

I gave up on the newspaper about a year ago and now I find I don't miss it at all. A lot of "news" I really don't need and items about things I can't do anything about.

[Gordon Coale]

Thanks for the Nisqually Delta!