Saturday, March 15, 2008

Whhhoooooooooooooo are yoooooooooooooooouuu?


I thought I would add another glimpse of the duck in question. That white stripe along its neck is what makes me think it matches the pictures of the pintail.
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I declared the necessity of taking a sandwich to the wildlife refuge. I have been cooped up too long between the book fair keeping me busy and my cold keeping me down. A bit of strolling on a level ground, some fresh air--I can handle that.

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When we've visited the wildlife refuge before, there have been quite a few bits of it that we couldn't get to because of flooding over the trail. So I didn't realize that there was actually two miles of hiking to do. Well, it was still level, and a stroll not a strenuous hike, with a bench near the visitors' center for a rest.
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The cloudy day made for great reflections in the ponds. It was difficult to decide which photo to post. I settled on this one.


My lightweight tripod and zoom lens made it possible to get a good glimpse of some of the less skittish critters. I'm glad I had both cameras along. I'm not sure what kind of duck this guy is hiding behind the reeds, but it may be a Northern Pintail. What do you think?
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More than once we neared a thicket of rushes or reeds and were startled by the ducks we had startled into flight. Some of them were obviously mallards. From the sounds of the place, there should be a good crop of bullfrogs.

And it was all under the constant surveillance of the Long Eared Owl in the tall tree.

10 comments:

Cath said...

Wow. That owl is awesome! Well done. The first one - could it be a moorhen? (English term - not sure if it's the same where you are).

Katney said...

There are moorhens in the US, but I don't seem to find any that range into the Pacific Northwest. Of course, I could be mistaken on that.

I don't think it looks liek a moorhen, though, from the pictures I've seen. The white stripe on its neck is pretty distinctive, and is not seen on the moorhen--again, in pictures I've seen.

Why couldn't it have jsut been an ordinary Mallard? I know my mallards.

Paulie said...

Oh! I love the owl photo -- did you hear or see it first?

Katney said...

We had seen him before, so knew he might be there. The first tiem there were some REAL birders who pointed him out to us.

Hubby saw him first. It took me a while to find him. After I took his picture, he flew off. He doesn't much like us hanging around.

Anonymous said...

Hi! Great shots!
Thanks for the visit at my Photohunt but I prefer to put my comment here.

I am building my blogroll by the way.
I put your link there. I hope you don't mind.

Take care!

ANNA-LYS said...

Woooow great photos, surely breathtaking nature. I took a owl photo, an interesting story-line, btw. Thanks for the igniting-sparks to make an owl-post in the future ;-)

Daryl said...

I love these shot! That owl is terrific ..

BTW .. you are NOT OCD .. or ICD .. you are ORGANIZED .. and moving a library is a lot more important and difficult than a bunch o'papers!

I must add when CSI Vegas began airing I wondered why a theme song COOL WATERS was being used for a show set in the desert .. Husband pointed out that it was WHO ARE YOU .. NOT Cool Water .. laugh was definitely on me!

Barb said...

Hey, who are you calling a pin head? Photo hunt was a loon, now a pin head... There seems to be a patten developing.

Cath said...

Katney - I know what you mean. I think we should just stick with "duck". That covers it...

Unknown said...

That is a gorgeous shot of that owl :)
Great pictures :)