It was a great day for avians and, consequently, for us as well. It was a glorious day. A stupendous day. It was, actually, pretty doggone good.
And the reason I say that? Well, you'll see.
What started this particular ball into motion was an e-mail we received from our ASLC brethren identifying a fourth goose that had joined our three friends from Canada. Seems we have yet another visitor from the Great Northwest, this time from up around Alaska way.
Joining our three Barnacles (sounds like a musical trio, doesn't it?) is an immature Greater White-Fronted Goose. You'll see him later on in this dissertation so be patient. However, I have to introduce you to him now as he was responsible for our second outing to the Little Nustucca River in the past three days.
We read about him early this morning through the wonders of our modern world, the E-Mail. And since the morning was looking good, we decided to get out and get on over to the river and take a gander at this latest addition before the sun got too high in the sky. And we did. We were actually out and on the road at 0824!!! Woo-Woo!!
I tell you, we haven't been out this early in a while. One of the really great things about being retired is not having to wake to an alarm. Never!! Hahaha, I mean it. It is so liberating to be able to sleep until I wake and not be rudely roused from some deep slumber by the irritating sound of some alarm. Brrrrrrrrrrr, I get shivers just thinking about them!!
And that found us on NW Jetty heading north towards adventure!!
Heading north on The 101, we buzzed by The Blue Bird Station. It used to be a gas station...
Yes, children, that's the way gas stations used to look before they became these neon-lit, multi-pump, 24-hour mini-grocery stores. Yeah, it's true!! They used to close around 8 or 9 at night if not earlier.
But enough of this trip down Memory Lane....let's get back to The 101 and get on over to the Little Nestucca!!
I was thinking I'd like to show the REALLY BIG junction that we go though every time we leave LCO heading for Salem or Portland. It's the junction of The 101 and Oregon Route 18. Decision time here. Either keep on a-headin' north on The 101 or....
...bear to the right and catch OR18 heading east towards the big city lights. Oh, and to Otis with the Otis Cafe and the Pronto Pup. Two great places to eat within 100 yards of each other in a city with a business district that is just a tad over 100 yards long. Hahaha, go figure.
We bore to the left and The 101...our road to Adventure!!
And, once again, I get a kick out of this drive!! I'm getting ready for Autumn and the changing colors. This drive will be a different kind of pretty then!!
In the e-mail it mentioned that the geese had gone into another field...at least that's what I took from it (and what I remembered...realizing that my short-term memory ain't all that hot anymore) and so I had resolved that we would motor just over to the north side of the Little Nestucca River and stop there to see what we could see.
And we did. Nothing spectacular happened for the first 15-20 seconds and then I saw a large spot sitting up in a tree across the way and zoomed in on it with my camera and realized...it was a Bald Eagle!!
And the fun began!!
Man, I was working that camera!! I had it on 'continuous sequence' shooting and was banging out the pictures left and right!!
Smokin'!!
Honest, I was knocking them out. When I down-loaded the pictures from today, I had over 600 of them. Just from this morning. Through some judicious and merciless editing, I got that number down to just over 150. I mention this to let you know I was workin' it this morning!!
Hahaha, I even went back to the Mini and got my Uni-pod!! Watch out, y'all!! Pretty soon I'll be calling myself a rank amateur photographer rather than just a picture-taker.
But, there he was in all his fine and patriotic glory...just sitting up there like he owned the world. (You'll be seeing just a couple pictures of him through this blog. Suck it up, Man!!)
Then, looking to the right at a stand of trees along the river bank we saw this hawk. What a kick in the pants!! I was feelin' like this was gonna be a very good day!!
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| Hmmmmm, who's for dinner, today? |
And I was right!! Near the hawk, there was this interesting line-up of Starlings. They were getting together to warm up before starting the days routine.
But, back to the star of the show, the Eagle!!
Here you can see the tree where he was when we saw him. Hahaha, he's the little dot at the top of the tree. The river runs through a kind of triangular valley and this field, along with the field where the geese are, forms the angle of the triangle that points to the east. The other two tips of the triangle, in case you're interested point mostly north and south.
Ok, there's a larger view of the valley. The Eagle Tree is the second one from the right. You can still see the Eagle up there if you squint real hard and bend your nose close to the screen. At least that's what I have to do.
Lookin' good, Mr. Eagle!!
Here's a view of the other half of the valley that is cut in two by The 101. The Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge is to the left here. It's the southern corner of the valley's triangle.
And we're looking north on The 101. Carol's working her cell phone camera in the distance. There's something unnerving about standing on The 101 while cars, trucks and whatever zoom by you less than 15 feet away. At least it is for me. I have a lot of respect for the damage a half-ton car can do...and not a lot of respect for the driving abilities of the average motorist...like me.
Keeps me on my toes, it does!!
This starling was resting on a line near the bridge.
Smile!! Say, "Audubon!"
A small stream that feeds into the Little Nestucca. See the Fall colors? Things are startin' to happen, y'all!!
I had walked on over to the bridge just for a gander (hahaha, that was intentional!! I am so doggone funny!! I crack me up!!) at the river. And, this is what I saw. I think we'll be kayaking on this here river soon.
And when I got back to the Mini, this guy was still posing.
I admit, I have been trying to improve my photography skills and I did, in a small gesture, turn off my optical zoom. I was trying to pump up the quality and I am too easily swayed by the optical zoom's ability to really reach out there and pull it in. I was trying to, by turning it off, force myself to concentrate on getting a good quality image rather than just an image. I mention this because I was getting frustrated by not being able to get close to my subject and so I caved and turned the optical zoom back on. All the way on.
Sometimes it can help.
We, and when I say we, I mean Carol, wanted to see the geese and so we pulled a very safe u-turn on The 101 and headed on over to Meda Road and the geese.
But before we got there, we spotted this guy, a Turkey Vulture, taking the air on a sturdy tree limb.
While above him maybe 5-7 of his buddies were circling in the sky. Standing there I could begin to understand a bit how the sight of a kettle of vultures could cause a bit of alarm to folks back in the long-ago day.
Fun Facts: A group of vultures is called a wake, committee, venue, kettle or volt. The term kettle refers to vultures in flight, while committee, volt and venue refer to vultures resting in trees. Wake is reserved for a group of vultures that are feeding.
Not a fun sight if you're injured and alone.
Not a particularly good picture but you get an idea of how ugly and revolting these things are with their little red-head and their ugly little white beak.
Fun Facts: Vultures have no feathers on their head so they don't get a load of clotting blood and gore stuck to their noggin as they plunge their beaks into rotting innards.
And, as if that weren't enough to repel you, they have extremely powerful stomach acids which not only digest their meat and destroy potentially lethal toxins and bacteria, but these acids also has a couple other uses. When threatened, they can projectile vomit the stuff up which, as I sure you'll agree, pretty much gets everything running away from them. Secondly, they urinate all over their own legs. Not because they're vultures and don't give a fig for what 'Proper Society' thinks, but because their urine retains some of the guttural (as it were) potency, allowing vultures to wade knee deep in decomposing horror without their legs turing into decomposing horrors. And it also helps to cool them down which seems like a pretty weak excuse if you ask me.
Makes you want to give'em a hug, right!?!
Ugh, think happy thoughts. To help get those Fun Facts out of your head let's just look at the flowers for a moment.
Ahhhh, feeling better? OK, let's go on....
To a Kingfisher!!!
Ka-Bam!! Two outings and two pictures of a Kingfisher!!
Honest, these guys are tough to photograph. They don't sit around in one spot too long...at least not when I'm trying to get a picture of them. They're elusive!!
Me trying to be artsy-fartsy again. Hahaha, I likes me some silhouettes, too. I am, I'm beginning to realize, one strange fellow.
Ha-hah!! I told you that you'd see several pictures of him.
We'd moved on over to the dike to get a better view of the Barnacles + 1 and I found that I had a closer view of the Eagle in the Eagle Tree.
When we got to the dike, another truck pulled up. I sorta figured if they were coming to the end of the boat launch area where we were they weren't there for the fishing and, doggone it, I was right. It was Jodie and he'd come on over to have another look-see at the geese.
Jodie was the one who first spotted these birds here. He got the pictures and then, because he wasn't familiar with them to identify them in the field, went home and did his research and found they were a trio of Barnacle Geese.
And he was back. It was good, talking with him because of his knowledge of the area and of the birds around here.
Then the Eagle took off. I saw him winging his way up the river. I got some shots of him flying upriver and then....
....he made a u-turn and began flying in the other direction....
....back to the Eagle Tree!!
And, finally, I was semi-ready for it!! I had the camera on continual sequence shooting and I had the viewfinder mounted and ready and....
....I got some pictures. Oh, they're not winners or anything like that but they are reasonable shots of an Eagle in flight in the wild!!
Hahaha, and I was lucky enough to see it and to get a picture or two of it!!
AMAZING!!
Thank you, Mr. Eagle.
I was more excited about the Eagle than the geese but Carol pointed them out for me and I was able to get a couple shots.
I mentioned that I had turned my Optical Zoom Lens feature back on so a lot of these were a little grainy. Don't worry, I deleted most of them. Hahaha, being around these excellent Audubon photographers is helping me.
While Jody and Carol chatted away, I was getting some shots of the scudding clouds...
....and the river valley.
Then, suddenly, a gulp of cormorants flew by and, once again, I was semi-ready for them!! I am gonna get a bit cocky if I don't watch out!! Hahaha, I'm learning by association. First off, I saw that Jack and the others would shoot their pictures, the few times I saw them while on a birding adventure, bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang...and so on. It makes sense with the amazing cameras we have these days to get onto a bird/subject and the shoot, shoot, shoot.
It's not like yesteryear where you had to buy your roll of 24 or 36 exposures and then ration out each one carefully to make sure you had enough shots for the entire day. Hahaha, I would not go back to film ever!! Oh, if only I had digital way back then!! I'd have about five million pictures of my kids and about 15 million of Europe!!
But today with these marvelous cameras, I can shoot until the cows come home...and they will towards the end of this blog. Give it some time, you'll see.
And they were so cool going upriver that I caught them when they turned and headed downriver. Crazy birds!!
And STILL, this guy was sitting up in the Eagle Tree. He just wasn't going to move it seemed.
At least he had some company.
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| Pssst, be very, very quiet. Pass it on... |
It was really a beautiful day here in Oregon.
Here's a view of the Eagle Tree from where we were on the dike.
What a treat it was to see this guy. I've missed seeing Eagles. We used to see the ones in Renton at least once a week, sometimes more.
Hahaha, he looks pissed!!
By then, it was time for us to let Jody go and for us to hit the road. As we were leaving Jody suggested we drive the loop around the pasture land where the geese were and so, we did. When we got on it, we spotted Jody's truck ahead of us as we meandered along the farm roads around the river.
We started out on OR 130 and then caught Meda Road. What a great drive. Someday we're gonna drive OR 130 on up towards Salem.
Right after we'd turned onto Meda Road, Carol spotted this guy sitting up in a tree. That's funny, I just don't think of Herons as roosting up in trees.
Then the loop brought us around to another view of the farm where the geese were staying. And we got to see them between this small gap.
Do you see the cows down there near the fence? Well, they saw us and were very intrigued by our presence on the side of their road.
There they are, the Barnacle Geese + 1. I was really pushing the limits of my zoom to get this picture. Doggone geese won't move in a little closer for me. Ratz.
However, I didn't have that problem with the cows. See the one in the lead? She practically broke into a run coming our way.
I think, as Carol said, they were expecting us to feed them.
She kept on coming and the others, noticing her, started to slowly follow after her.
But that didn't disturb our geese a bit. They were quite content out in their field doing whatever it is geese from Canada do.
She finally began to question whether or not she'd get fed..
Should I or shouldn't I?
And Carol spotted this Flicker as he flew out of a tree and landed top of an old telephone pole.
Well, Bossy finally decided that she should.
And she did.
Maybe it was that the other girls had caught up to her. After all, if they also saw something then maybe she had been right in the first place.
Hahaha, these poor girls made the trip up the hill for naught as we had nothing to give them. I would have if I had something but, I think, the farmer might not have appreciated it very much.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some barn shots. Kinda helps to define the valley we were in.
And this old beauty.
Then, as we drove out, we saw this Turkey Vulture enjoying lunch in the field. He was mildly curious as to who was disturbing his meal but he didn't hesitate too long before diving back into his...meal.
We'd pulled over to looked at something and as I started back onto the road, this guy flew out of a tree overhead and flew across the street where he posed for this picture.
Hahaha, I was smokin'!!
Because there wasn't much else going on, we drove up and over to Pacific City. Just because.
Coming into the business district...
I needed to take a couple pills and so we went to Chester's Market for a DC. Across the street is a store where they sell kayaks. I mean really good kayaks...like the one that guy was sitting in and peddling across the river last week. Out in front, they have this mural depicting all the outdoor sports here in Oregon.
From left to right, paddleboarding, fishing, hiking, dirt-biking, surfing, and kayaking. They just left out birding and photography.
That's just rude, y'know!!
I couldn't pass this one up. Just $2.69!! In LCO it was $2.79 at the Shell. And this town is a lot smaller and farther away from anything than LCO is.
Hahaha, I'm loving these gas prices!!
The main beach area for the touristas in Pacific City. That's Haystack Rock just to the left of center and the sand dunes to the right.
We had a pleasant drive and then jumped back on The 101 heading back.
What a great drive.
And it's going to get greater as the seasons change.
It was a good day. We'd seen over nine different birds. We'd gotten to visit with Jody. We had a nice drive. We even got closer to see the geese when we drove around the field. All in all, it was great.
Oh, and I got to take a couple pictures, too.
Same area as the picture above with the zoom length of the lens being the only difference. In the picture above, the lens was zoomed in. In the one below, I had run the zoom out to more of a wide-angle lens.
Ain't it amazing what these cameras can do!?! And one of the best things, especially for me, is that I don't have to focus them anymore!! The camera does a much better job of that than I could.
There it is. The day started on a whim and turned into a real, certifiable adventure with plenty of bird sightings. Plus, we got to take an enjoyable and leisurely drive up the coast.
Hahaha, win-win, folks!!
Oh, and I still have about 30 or 40 pictures of that Eagle that you never saw. Be careful about accepting any dinner invitations from us for about 2 or 3 months, y'all!!
You've been warned!!
Hahaha, life is good!!
Hooah!!
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