Bewick's Wren

We've had them in the yard before, but not too often and not for a long time. Today I was out back trying to photograph some chickadees when I heard the distinctive sound of a Bewick's Wren. In the driveway's fig tree there were two of them, hanging out by the chickadees. The wrens are pretty quick to hop around, but they stayed around the yard for about fifteen minutes. At times they were too close for my telephoto lens to be any good. I managed to get one good shot:

Falling: The Rough Cut

Here's the first experiment I did with the "falling" effect.

Trip to Ridgefield, Washington

Today Greg and I went up to the wildlife refuge in Ridgefield, Washington ("Birthplace of U-HAUL"). I took a lot of photos, but only a few are good. Here's probably the best one, of what I think may be a Rough-legged Hawk:


There were lots of birds today, and I saw many interesting ones, including a flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows (the most I'd ever seen at once), a Red-headed Sapsucker, a Red-throated Loon, a Red-shouldered Hawk, Tundra Swans, a Merlin, some Harriers, Great Blue Herons, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow-rumped Warblers, a nutria, Coots and Shovelers galore -- and even a few Tree Swallows, here in February.

Then there was a weird human story. On the path toward the blind we noticed the memorial stone for David Dynes was upturned:


This is what it says on the plaque:


Inside the blind, this was written on the wall:


It says "D. Dynes was a child molester who hung himself because I wouldn't let him forget what he did to his students. Swing in hell, Mr. Dynes."

There were many bald eagles there today also, at least two adults and four juveniles. Through Greg's scope we got a great view of an adult, and I stuck my camera up there to see if I could get a shot. Not bad: