There is some small virtue and gain to be had from waking early. Oh, I know all about "the early bird gets the worm..." but I'm speaking of something a bit different. You see, being retired colors your life. Things which had meaning and import now seem amusing and innocuous. They've diminished with time and, of course, with the changes in life.
Getting up early isn't so much a choice as it is a given. Time changes everything and sleeping in late is one of those facets of teenage life that I can only envy and dream of. It's a fact of my life now that sleeping in is a rare treat. Waking early is now the norm. Ratz.
And all of this leads up to the fact that we were up early and so, after an hour of having the morning coffee and doing the usual routine we decided to head out for our weekly shopping and have ourselves a mini-adventure in the process.
Drawing on the previously mentioned analogy about early and the worm, we determined that there was a bird involved in that ancient adage, too. Hmmmm, a bird? Well, if they're up and about early than why not go on out and visit their place and see what these little rascals are up to in the a.m.
And so we were off!! Headed to the Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge...just 44.3 short miles up the road heading east towards Salem. Hahaha, love that Google Maps thingie!! The neat thing is that there is a Walmart about 5-6 miles away from The Slough. BAM!! Do one and then the other. Shopping AND an adventure all bundled up nicely together.
(Official Caution: This blog is rather lengthy, lots of pictures, and most of those, the great majority, are scenics with a few birds, etc., thrown in for relief. You've been warned. Second, these pictures have an unusual tonal quality to them. I blame this on the hour of the day, the mist in the air and the slant of the rising sun through that mist. Other than that, if you have any ideas why the color rendered by my camera is off I'd sure like to hear them.)
Heading down Oregon Route 18 (OR18). A small word here about the drive to Salem. It is, at first, through forests and round mountains and then it breaks into the Willamette Valley with rolling farmland and copses of trees. It is always new, always refreshing and always fun to look at. In other words, I have only gotten tired of this drive once...when I was returning from a long trip and this was the last leg of a long, long trip.
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| Autumn is here! |
And then we were at The Slough. We tend to avoid the Wildlife Viewing Kiosk just off OR22. We've learned to turn prior to getting to the kiosk and come in the back way, so to speak, along the Colville Road.
It quickly turns into a dirt road and it was here that I stopped for this shot as we entered The Slough. And, yeah, the sun was rising and its light was slanting through the mist and coloring everything.
Carol got this unusual, and pleasing, picture with her cell phone. The Colville Road looking north from a position further up the road than I was when I shot mine.
Plus, you can see a color shift from her camera to mine.
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| CB |
And one of the first things we noticed was this stately tree. Right at the top, on a small branch sticking out of the very top of the tree was a lone bird. We were, unfortunately, too far away for the reach of this small lens. You can see, in the upper right, a skein of geese noisily moving across The Slough.
We may have been too far away, but it didn't stop me. Hahaha, again, I LOVE digital cameras!! I can shoot, shoot, shoot and then shoot again!! And, as you well know, I do!!
As for this guy, we know he's a bird and we think he's a hawk but, beyond that, we haven't a clue.
(October 22...yesterday we went to the Little Nestucca River and saw an American Kestrel. Now we think this bird might be a kestrel. Maybe. Could be.)
The first of the many scenics I took today. It was, honestly, a target-rich environment. The valley to the west of Colville Road.
One of the many copses spread throughout The Slough. It is interesting how they've managed to provide migrating Canada geese with what they'll need to survive during the fall and winter and make the trek back to Alaska in the Spring along with the needs of the farming families mixed into The Slough.
As we drove in, we saw this guy way off in the distance. To be honest, we were in the mini and we thought we'd spotted a deer lying in the field getting warmed by the rising sun. I stopped and turned in my seat to get a couple of pictures of the deer over my shoulder. I didn't realize it was a hawk until I got back and downloaded the pictures. Hahaha, no pictures of a deer but, there were two pictures of this guy.
Here's the hill with the observation deck on top of it. Don't let this picture fool you. Carol and I trekked up this huge mountain. It was plenty high that day!! Kinda like climbing up Mt Everest!!
But, in the early morning sun it's looking a bit benign.
It ain't!!
Ok, by now you should know about me and reflections in bodies of water. There's a Redwing Blackbird (Try saying that three times quickly after you've had several beers. Hahaha, dare ya!!) resting on a small branch across the pond from me.
Looking back on Colville Road. You can see it was a cloudy and overcast day...to the south. To the north and the east, it was occasionally broken up enough to allow in some sunlight.
Same road, a couple minutes later and the mist has risen and the sky has temporarily cleared and the light has changed...dramatically.
The pond to the west of Colville Road.
And the mist rolled in. Looking north up the Colville Road.
These were all taken from the Colville Road on the west side of The Baskett Slough.
Ah, my faithful Mini. Ain't she a Sweetheart!?! A constant in my life.
Carol got this great picture with her trusty cell phone camera. Again, I'm struck by the difference in tone between the cameras. I didn't change any controls on my camera...shooting as I did the previous time on a Tv setting to control the shutter speed.
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| CB |
Near where we parked is a large bush which is, evidently, quite popular with the local Redwing Blackbird community. Got quite a lot of traffic while we were there.
Another view of that monstrous mountain we scaled!!
Looking east up a canal from the Colville Road.
Hahaha, can you tell I am in awe of that huge mountain? Plus it made for a pleasant picture. That little figure to the right, by the Mini, is Carol.
This is yet another view looking south on the Colville Road. I put it here because it was taken maybe 20-25 minutes after we had arrived and you can see the sun has gotten a bit higher and the clouds in the south have receded some.
A young European Starling in his winter color...right??
We got in the Mini and continued north on the Colville Road. It shouldn't come as too great a surprise that I am, by nature and by choice, a lazy man. You can understand when I tell you I took these from the Mini.
And we saw this guy, a first!! A Ring-Necked Pheasant.
Fun Facts: These critters were imported from China way back in 1882. They were shipped over from China by Judge Owen Denny. The transplanted birds found a perfect habitat and their populations soon exploded in the Willamette Valley.
The ringneck is a farmland species, heavily dependent on cereal grains and other seeds. They are most successful where the farming is the least efficient. In earlier times, farming practices and the landscape were different than today and pheasants were more abundant.
Over the last several decades, however, pheasant numbers in Oregon have diminished as agriculture has become more efficient. While their numbers are still down you can still hunt these birds. Even areas where pheasant numbers are limited can continue to provide hunting since only roosters may be legally taken. Pheasants are polygamous and relatively few roosters are required for breeding.
Speaking as a man, I have to say this sounds exceptionally unfair.
Once again, guys, our need to impress the distaff side. The females of this species are brown and easily blend into their surroundings while the males, idiots that we are, sport iridescent copper-and-gold plumage, a red face and a crisp white collar. Sorta saying, in effect, "Here!! Shoot me!!"
Quick quiz: Male or Female?
Hahaha, it was a giveaway, wasn't it!?! You could tell it was a male.
We stopped by a turn in the road and saw this path leading down to another pond and so we headed on down that way on foot.
An juvenile Redwing Blackbird.
They were all over the place. As well as Brewer's Blackbirds.
We saw several of these Great Egrets there but they were always too far away for a good (hahaha, for me) picture. This fellow flew somewhere behind that stand of bushes and then we didn't see him again. We did see several others way off in the distance.
Views along the road.
There's a number of these.
Then we saw this Great Blue Heron (GBH) stalking along the other side of the pond. He was keeping pace with us as we strolled slowly on the other side of the pond.
I was hoping to see him catch something but I don't have the patience to sit and wait.
Are you getting a bit tired of this guy? Don't worry, it has an end. Then we'll visit another one!! Hahaha, keen fun!!
Then we saw this guy!! I was pretty excited because at first I thought it was a beaver!! I've never seen a beaver in nature!! We kept our eye on this guy while still walking.
Looking south towards the Wildlife Viewing Kiosk just off OR22.
Whup!!
Lookit!! a Northern Harrier!! See the white rump!!
Awesome!!
He rolled around the valley and then took off towards the west.
And so we turned our attention back to our beaver!!
Except, regrettably, the beaver turned out to be a...
Dreaded Nutria!!
AKA the coypu, or river rat.
Fun Facts: It's a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent and the only member of the family Myocastoridae. Woo, woo!!
Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it has since been introduced to North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, primarily by fur ranchers. Although it's still valued for its fur in some regions, its destructive feeding and burrowing behaviors make this invasive species a pest throughout most of its range.
Carol had dealings with this rodent back in New Orleans where they put a bounty on these nasty critters paying a good amount for each tail turned in.
We saw a little drama. Nutria #1, out there in the water, saw Nutria #2, there on the left, sitting in his spot and evidently did some hard talking so #2 slunk off the land into the water while #1 watched.
Then #1 chased him a ways off and, finally, #1 went back to his spot and enjoyed it...all by himself.
Yet another GBH.
Here's #1 moving back to his place on the land.
You can see where we could mistake him for a beaver.
But once Carol saw that tail, she knew exactly what it was.
There's #1 getting up onto his spot while #2 swims disconsolately towards the far shore.
It was a beautiful morning...just made for picture-taking.
And some bird watching.
What a neat idea to be able to raise and lower the bird houses. Maybe to collect rent?
Brewer's Blackbird.
This guy was on the opposite, north side, of the path, away from the pond.
A wedge of geese.
And another heron. To the best of my knowledge, these are all separate GBHs. In that I mean I think they were all different birds; not one that flew here or there and was seen several times.
We were walking back and saw another GBH.
Carol's catching up. There's just so much to stop and see that you can easily get separated. And what she stopped and saw was
'bear scat' and a Woolly Bear caterpillar.
The Mountain!!
I stand in awe of the fact that we conquered that mountain so easily.
We're awesome!!
As we were driving out, we saw a Red-Tailed Hawk out looking for a bite to eat. He needs to fly over and catch a Nutria for lunch!!
Afterwards, we headed on over to Dallas, The Big D, to do some shopping at the local Wally there.
I seriously would like to ride a bike or a moped along these roads to be able to stop and grab pictures here and there easily. I hesitate parking the Mini along those roads for obvious reasons.
The day had been pretty nice. A bit more cloudy after the shopping, but it was still pleasant...and warm.
I drove on over to the Wildlife Viewing Kiosk. Carol spotted a couple more Nutria there and I saw these coots and ducks.
Looking north from the kiosk, we saw these geese taking flight. I know I'm not a birder, not at all. Not even after that great class on Birding Basics but I am learning. And one thing I learned is that when you hear a lot of geese making a lot of noise then they're taking off. They, at least this morning, let everyone know when they were shifting positions.
Looking west towards OR22 as it heads to the Oregon Coast.
We took one last country road before we headed home. This one just took us through the farm country and I got this one shot of the dirt road before we headed on over to OR22.
Here's a closer view of the same scene. Hahaha, yeah, yeah, I know. Too much of a good thing but, Man, what else are zoom lenses for, right!?!
On the road back towards OR22, we passed this magnificent tree. Kind of a Forrest Gump tree.
We're always surprised by the number of alpaca, or llamas here in Oregon. Like these two hirsute fellows. Along with their Little Pony.
Then I pulled up a bit and got this shot of a rakish young man. Love the Do, Dude!!
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| Hola, y'all |
Finally, on the road back home. And still an enjoyable drive.
It was a Sunday and there was an almost steady stream of cars heading east towards work tomorrow.
One last picture by Carol and her trusty cell phone camera. But we know that the camera is just a small component of a picture. Good shot taken from a moving Mini as we came back into LCO.
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| CB |
A good day. Another adventure safely tucked away into the memories of our life.
Hawks, Herons, Egrets, Pheasants, Nutria and assorted other birds and animals. Definitely worth all the time to get there. In fact, I am watching the weather for another non-rainy morning...Round Two at the Slough!!
Plus, we got our shopping done.
A win-win here without a doubt.
What great opportunities we have.
Life is good.
Hooah!!
Bonus Thought!!
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