A water spout from a Grey Whale in front of Mt Baker.
Snow and frost are melting from the landscape in the Pacific Northwest but the wind still blows cold in the morning that my scarf is wrapped thick around my neck. Leafless branches rattle in the breeze as songbirds stretch their necks to belt out songs of springtime love. In the forest, pink salmonberry blossoms and white tassels of the Indian Plum sparkle in against the yellow twigs of willows. Spring is trying to show its force, but winter is holding tight showing us her determination with snow covering the foothills of the Cascades. But the lowlands are showing us warmer days ahead and that is where we’re looking towards.
I do share some regret that my winter adventures didn’t take advantage of the snow this year. I never got the skis out; I only went snowshoeing once even though I bought a new pair of snowshoes. I canceled snow play-days left and right with concerns over snow blowing in the mountains and not having a car built for winter play. Oh, and I can’t forget the fear of not staying warm - that’s a big one. I’ve almost been hypothermic in the past and my obsessive fear about the cold has me paralyzed to go out or do anything to correct my fear. I have plans for this off-winter season to start collecting better apparel and equipment to help assuage my fears. Since winter is slowing down, I don’t want to spend too much time in the world of regret over what I didn’t accomplish but let’s talk about some of the cool things that happened.
I took a trip up to Northern Okanagen for winter photos and to explore the landscape in this often overlooked part of the state. I also went out to the Old Sauk River trail for a little exploratory trip. Both of these trips I had hoped to use my snowshoes, but there were errors. I decided not to dwell on the errors I made, instead I used the errors as teachable moments - primarily to remind myself, and you, to be prepared as you head out. My mistakes were not reading the instructions, checking my surroundings, and in not doing so missed out on adventures and photos. Yet I was still able to salvage those adventures - you can check them out on my YouTube channel.
March found me heading out on 3 birding trips. One trip was a day outing with the Seattle Mountaineers into the Skagit Valley and flats. The opportunity for birding in this area and throughout Puget Sound in Late winter/early spring is spectacular. My other 2 trips were to birding festivals: in Blaine then Othello. While I don’t consider myself a birder, I do enjoy watching the behavior and habits of both the birds and their admirers. I even spotted 4 lifers for me - a merlin, gadwall, white-fronted goose, and tri-colored blackbird. I’m still sorting through the photos and video. The photo of the whale above was taken while on a birding boat trip in Blaine. The whole boat was excited to see this grey whale swim past.
I watched this American Coot through my camera as our boat approached and was ready when it started to fly.
*TRY THIS*
This leads me to a photo idea you can try when observing and photographing birds. Mount your camera to a tripod and zoom in on some birds. Watch them through the viewfinder. Just watch, but keep your finger on the shutter. Keep the head of the tripod loose so you can move the camera freely to follow your group of birds. At some point, the birds you’re following will do something exciting - stretch, bicker, or even begin to fly. If you have been watching them, ready but waiting, you will be able to capture the action. You will also begin to see and recognize telling behaviors of different birds so in the future you will know better when to relax and watch and when to be prepared for some interesting activity.
*LOOKING FORWARD*
April will be all about wildflowers and stewardship. Arrowleaf Balsamroot and Lupine season on the east side is just around the corner and I will be in the Wenatchee area looking for signs of these beautiful flowers as well as the more delicate flowers of the season. Earth Day weekend will again find me on the wilderness coast of the Olympic Peninsula participating in the Washington Coastal Cleanup with several other Mountaineers. I’ve been heading out to the coast for over 20 years working to pull marine litter off the beach.
I hope April will bring you adventure and beauty. Make sure you follow me on my socials to reconnect with nature and, in a way, yourself.