We visited the ‘George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary’ at ʔəleqsən last weekend! One thing that happened was that this adventurous red-winged blackbird landed on my friend Kim:
But really that was only the START of the bird-related activity. This time of year we were privileged to chill with this sandhill crane, one of the biggest/weirdest birds in the region:
But I was ALSO able to get a couple nice portraits of these somewhat less common birds (marsh wren, brown-headed cowbird, spotted towhee) plus one half-decent shot of the colorful american goldfinch!
Of course there were a ton of geese (& this time of year, goslings!) patrolling the area at all times to make sure nobody tries any bullshit. You can often find them standing directly on the path, glaring at you! But these pics show a family just out for a walk:
The wetlands there are beautiful, full of cattails & water channels & reeds. It makes for great landscapes of course:
But it’s hard not to get distracted by the scores of woodducks, sparrows and mallards stomping towards you at all times in search of fresh seeds! (There’s also a hummingbird in this set but those ones don’t stomp towards you)
The wet parts were home to various different kinds of swallow, which are like the tiny lil’ jetfighters of the animal world: They fly around at high velocity, banking violently in order to catch little bugs. I tried to catch some of them in flight, but it proved quite impossible (they were simply too fast). Here though are a few swallows at rest:
Lastly I could not leave you without this WHOLE-ASS GALLERY of adorable chickadee photos! These birds followed us through the trees along the sanctuary’s eastern edge, often hanging out within 2 or 3 feet of our heads (they were curious I think whether we’d offer them any food).
