This morning I braved the ever-changing winter weather to go birding with the Salem Audubon Society out at Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge.

With today’s birding, I’m at 145 Oregon species for the year, but I still have 5 species to go if I’m going to hit my goal of 150 species for the year.

Of course, this time of year, it’s mainly ducks and geese out at the refuge. I saw:

• Cackling Goose
• Canada Goose
• Tundra Swan
• Gadwall
• American Wigeon
• Mallard
• Northern Shoveler
• Northern Pintail
• Green-winged Teal
• Ring-necked Duck
• Bufflehead
• Ruddy Duck

Raptor viewing was also excellent. We spotted five immature bald eagles and one adult. Of course, harriers and red tails were frequently seen, though we spotted several dark-morph red tails.

The real excitement of the day centered around a Red Shouldered Hawk that I spotted. I thought it was the Peregrine that hangs out at the Pintail Marsh. Then the group decided it was a Cooper’s hawk (not rare, but infrequently spotted.) Then a red tail came over and the group (I should mention the group at this point was everyone except me because I was still looking up birds in my book) decided it was a red shouldered hawk and the two were harassing each other.

When the peregrine showed up, well, it our little group, it was pretty exciting. The group probably spent an hour discussing raptor identification and watching the various birds move each other around. By then it was time for me to take off (laundry and grocery shopping await…)

A blue heron flew by, as though to underscore that it was time to leave.

Today I got up early to go with the Salem Audubon Society out to Ankeny Wildlife Refuge. I arrived promptly at 7:00. Not a single person was there.

Tturns out the hike is next weekend; they posted the scouting trip a couple days ago and I got mixed up. So I decided to tour the refuge on my own.

I saw a small variety of birds: Red tailed hawk, song sparrow, white crowned sparrow, golden crowned sparrow, savannah sparrow, kestrel, Great Blue heron, great egret, American bittern (a first for me).

Then, as I was rounding a corner, this young fellow appeared in my path.

He stayed just long enough for me to get a couple of good snaps of him, then…

After those highlights, I’ve spent the rest of the day tackling a lot of house chores and errands. Two trips to Goodwill, a trip to the library, bought some pants, cleaned out the closet, rearranged some furniture, fur management, a trip to the Humane Society to deliver some unused cat medicine, tons of emails, a load of laundry, a load of dishes… you get the idea.

I hope tomorrow to run a couple of errands up north (I’m in the last two weeks before the Watercolor Society of Oregon Convention I am chair of and it’s full-blown panic now) and then sit down and do some painting. I didn’t make it into the show, but I’d like to put in a painting for the critique session and I’ll be taking a workshop from the juror, so I should probably know what to do with a brush…

After a week that I feel could be definitive proof that all people are crazy all the time, I decided to take the time after escaping the office Friday to take Key to do a long exploration of Minto-Brown Park (one of the treasures of Salem.)

We saw a good variety of birds.

And Key had a grand ol’ time sniffing along and getting excited every time a squirrel or rabbit came out.

The problem arose when we came to a muddy little pond. As we went by a frog jumped. And Key jumped after him.

Umm… dude, you’re disgusting.

Oh, that’s a problem? I’ll just rub it off here in this delicious, stinky dead grass.

A few months ago, the Salem Audubon Society put a notice in their newsletter that they were going on a “Pelagic Tour” on September 11 through Whale Research EcoExcursions (Carrie Newell.) I called up my mom and asked if she wanted to come, and with her resounding yes ringing in my ears I called to make our reservation. The September 11 trip was already booked up, but they promised they could get us in on a September 10 trip that they had booked for the overflow. So we took our 8am time and marked out calendar.

Mom and I had taken a whale watching tour from Carrie (and notably, her dog Kita) on June 29, 2013.

Kita on our 2013 trip.

It was a really great trip, but they advised coming back in September when the whale watching was REALLY good.

Today our trip got moved up about a half an hour due to weather conditions (while it was a sunny day, there was a bit of wind which made the waves pretty high.) So we showed up prepared to be wowed again.

Whales

First fluke

2nd fluke (waves are high!)

3rd fluke, probably the best picture

2nd picture of the same whale dive

4th fluke

5th fluke, my timing was off (those whales are tricky!)

also 5th fluke, you can see a little whale lice right on the end of the fluke

This was “SF”. No cropping on this photo; SO close!

I don’t know who this was, but even closer than the other one!

Birds

While I was a little disappointed in the “birding” part of the tour (the whales made up for it, obviously,) we did get in quite a few. I was hoping for a little bit more time close to shore really looking at some of the species.

Common Murres

Marbled Murrelets

Cormorant (Pelagic & Brandt) (these black birds were everywhere, flying every which way, and utterly defied my photography skills)

Oystercatcher
Black Turnstones & Shorebirds

Tufted Puffins (it was only looking through my camera at home that I realized the identity of these birds)

Great Blue Heron (actually two, both flying away)

Brown Pelican (at the same time as the first whale, you can guess what happened)

Kingfisher

Western Gull

Stellar Sea Lions

The final “highlight” was traveling out to the “whistle buoy” to observe a trio of Stellar Sea Lions (two females and a young male, according to our guide.) They were very photogenic.

I believe I am not the only person who woke up this morning with a plan to “do something.” Last night I Googled some ideas for hikes in the area (still new to me) and decided to experiment with driving up Highway 22 to see the Opal Creek Wilderness Area.

Finn is no longer capable of the extended hike I had in mind, so I loaded up Key, gave Finn a treat, and got on the road about 8am. In the spirit of exploring, we stopped at a small park labeled the North Santiam Recreation Area.

Almost immediately we spotted a young pileated woodpecker.

If you look closely you can see the little gray fuzz on the top of his crest.

Key got his feet wet, but confirmed my impression that he is not a water dog.

So we proceeded to head toward Opal Creek.

Being a rather out of shape hiker, it is always my goal to find a trail that is neither up or down, shaded and cool, with good scenery and bird watching. Opal Creek hits a lot of those points. And thus, it was VERY busy (the website said it was “lightly used.” Liar.) After some wandering, I parked at the 79th car. When we left there were 136 cars.

While we only hiked less than a mile in and out, to Sawmill Falls, it was a stunning trip. We saw a variety of little flowers still in bloom and saw and heard a very determined little Pacific Wren.

Sawmill Falls, however, was the real stunner. The color of the water almost looks unreal. These photos don’t do it justice.

I wish I was brave enough, like a few people, to dive in. But while I was hot, I knew the water was snow melt and VERY cold. Also, I didn’t bring a swimsuit and didn’t want to walk back in wet clothes. Yes, I know there was another option. I didn’t want to do that either.

We arrived back home about 2 and all of us have spent the day sort of vegging out. I’m trying to get through my normal Sunday tasks so I can take advantage of my extra day tomorrow.

At least part of the reason I have had so much trouble blogging the last few months is that i have been having camera problems.

If I had the money, I would love to buy one of those big cameras with the really long lens; however, as I live on quite a tight budget (those dogs think they need to be fed EVERY day), I “make due” with a point and shoot that my parents gave me and a bigger camera on permanent “loan” from my mom.

Last summer, when I went on the float trip with my work colleagues, my big camera got wet, in spite of my precautions. Nikon does not like to fix wet cameras, so it has taken me about a year to get re-equipped.

On Thursday the last piece of the puzzle, an auto-focus working telephoto lens came via the mail (I love my postal workers!) and I’ve spent my extra time photographing everything that caught my eye.

At the park

On a hike

But seriously, I’ve taken pictures of a few more things.

A bald eagle for Independence Day.

Siletz Bay

As you might be able to tell, I went down to see my mom this weekend. Key and I got up early (neither Finn or Mom gets up early anymore) to go on a hike where I lucked out on warbler viewing.

Hermit Warbler

Orange Crowned Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Not Warblers

It feels good to have a camera again!