kknight: Hurricane Ridge, June 2006 (washington)
I've had enough of all coronavirus news all the time. I declared a moratorium on paying attention to it today. Instead it is time for another segment of my November trip report. Having finally made it across the mountains to the west side of Washington in my last post, this one starts out at my uncle's house in Lacey on November 13.

I wanted to get up and out early in the morning but my cousin N. wanted to join me and she's not an early riser. (As far as I know, none of my Washington family are early risers. Getting people related to my mother to get up and moving in the morning is difficult or impossible.) We did eventually get out of the house and headed over to Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. We stopped at the refuge store where we borrowed binoculars for my cousin then went for a walk. The weather was overcast and gray but not actively raining. (November is not the right time to go to western Washington if you want to see the sun.)

This is the marshy area behind the office/store building. There were a few ducks and a heron there, but not much going on in comparison to my past visits.

Nisqually marsh


More scenery )


I took photos of birds, of course.

An immature Northern Shrike was hanging out on a dead snag out in the marsh. It was a long way away, so my photos aren't great. It eventually flew over the path and into the area on the other side of it, but my efforts to get a photo when it was closer came to naught.

Northern Shrike


Cackling Geese

Cackling Geese

More birds )

Afterward we went back to my uncle's house. I let him talking me into going out to a "quick inexpensive lunch" with him. It was around 4 PM and the place we went was actually a fairly expensive seafood restaurant on the water front. He was right that it was possible to get a relatively inexpensive meal of clam chowder there, but overall it was not cheap. Once we were there he told me to go ahead and order whatever I wanted, which ended up being halibut with mango salsa. Halibut is one of my favorite fishes to eat and I never get to have it at home so I do try to eat it when I'm in Washington. It was really, really good.
kknight: Hurricane Ridge, June 2006 (washington)
After I finished stretching my legs at the Yakima Greenway I got back in the car and left on my way across the mountains and to my uncle's house in Lacey. I took a scenic route but I didn't have time to make any long stops.

This is the view I had coming out of Yakima on US-12.

leaving Yakima


The first stop I made was at a pull-off on the side of the road just after US-12 turns south, crosses the Naches River, and becomes the White Pass Scenic Byway. There wasn't anything there other than gorgeous scenery and some birds, but those were both worth spending some time on.


Two panoramic views behind a cut due to size )


White Pass Scenic Byway sign


I believe the Tieton River is hiding on the other side of the colorful trees in this photo.

colorful trees


More scenery )

There were birds, mainly Steller's Jays and Varied Thrushes, both of which I always enjoy seeing since they're west coast species that I don't see at home. I followed the birds from one tree to another trying to get good looks. Eventually I went back to my car, got into it, and then the birds came to me. They were eating something on the ground and came close enough that I could get some really nice photos.

Stellers jay with seed


Varied Thrush


More bird photos )
kknight: Hurricane Ridge, June 2006 (washington)
I had a nice comfy and quiet room at the Motel 6 in Yakima. I didn't realize it when I checked, but when I looked at where I was in the morning, I had the room on the second floor that that was over top of the office and not connected to anything on either side, so no noisy neighbors. The hotel was in the middle of a commercial district with nothing but other big buildings in sight so no hotel view photo this time. There was a California Scrub-Jay in a tree near my room though, and it was cooperative about having its picture taken.

California Scrub-Jay


There are several species of scrub-jay. The California Scrub-Jay is the one that is found in the coastal areas of the west coast. It used to be mostly in California but it moved north to Oregon and Washington. Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay is the inland western species. When I heard the jay at the hotel, I was hoping it was a Woodhouse's because I haven't seen one of those in several decades, if I've seen them at all. (I've been too lazy to check my records on where I saw scrub-jays when I was young and they were all considered to be a single species.) But no, the inland scrub-jays in Washington are the California species. The coastal species moved inland there rather than the inland species from the south moving north.


I wanted to stretch my legs for a while before spending the day driving so I went over to the nearby Yakima Greenway and spent about an hour wandering around there.

Yakima Greenway sign


The main trail is paved and I suspect it is on an old railway bed. The stretch I walked on goes along the Naches River and there were some ponds/small lakes on the other side of the trail. I saw a variety of common western birds there.

Natches River and nearby hills


Natches River


More photos )
kknight: Hurricane Ridge, June 2006 (washington)
Here are some more photos from Turnbull plants, rocks, and a spider.

Turnbull has lots of Ponderosa Pines and I found them to be interesting photographic subjects.

twotrunked pine tree

More pine tree photos )

I don't know what this plant is.

white plant


Turnbull also has lots of rocks jutting up all over the place, most of them with lichens and other stuff growing on them.

Pine Lakes Loop rock

More rocks )

And finally, a spider, behind a cut for those who are squeamish about such things. )
kknight: Hurricane Ridge, June 2006 (washington)
The mammals were the stars at Turnbull NWR, but the birds were interesting too. I didn't see very many different species of birds, but most of the ones I saw were different from what I see at home.

This is a Pygmy Nuthatch. There were a number of them in the pine trees along the entrance road. They're hard to photograph because they don't sit still.

Pygmy Nuthatch

Another view of a nuthatch )


A Hairy Woodpecker - this is one that I do see at home.

Hairy Woodpecker


There are three Northern Flickers in this tree. They are the western, Red-shafted variety rather than the Yellow-shafted variety we have at home.

flickers in tree


Closer views of flickers )


This Northern Shrike was pretty much the last bird I saw there. I occasionally see one of these shrikes at home in the winter, but they're more a bird of northern places and only rarely show up where I live. I saw at least three of them while I was in Washington.

Northern Shrike

More shrike photos )

Other birds that I saw included Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees, a Marsh Wren, Mallards, American Wigeon, and Red-tailed Hawks. I'm probably forgetting a few others.
kknight: Hurricane Ridge, June 2006 (washington)
The scenery at Turnbull NWR was lovely but the really good part of being there was seeing mammals. I saw two moose as well as a porcupine, a few squirrels, and a chipmunk. Squirrels and chipmunks aren't surprising but moose and porcupines are not critters I expect to see during the middle of the day (or at all for that matter).

The moose were among pine trees, grazing on the lower branches. Can you spot the one in this photo?

moose in the woods

Here's a better view of one of them

moose

More moose photos )


Douglas Squirrels are the western version of the east coast's American Red Squirrels.

Douglas Squirrel

Another squirrel photo )


This is a Yellow Pine Chipmunk. It was not cooperative and this was the best photo I managed to get of it.

Yellow Pine Chipmunk



The porcupine was a brown blob on a rocky mound rising above a marshy area. At first, I couldn't tell what the brown blob was, but eventually it lifted its head and started moving and I could see that it had quills on its back. I never did get any really clear views of it, but at least you can see its face in this photo.

porcupine with face showing

More porcupine photos )
kknight: Hurricane Ridge, June 2006 (washington)
Continuing on with photos of the scenery at Turnbull NWR....

Another spot where I stopped to take a walk was Kepple Lake, where I walked down a path/road that went through the pine trees on one side of the lake.

Kepple Lake pines

Kepple Lake and more pine trees )


A little further down the road there was a trail that made a loop on the Kepple Pennisula, on the other side of Kepple Lake.

There was a beaver lodge but I didn't see any more beavers there than I saw at the first place where I saw their evidence.

lake with beaver lodge

More from the Kepple Penninsula )


Next came the Blackhorse Lake Boardwalk Trail and the other end of the Blackhorse Lake Trail which was featured in part 2 of this report.

Blackhorse Lake Boardwalk Trail


A few more photos )

This was the point where I ran out of time and had to get going.

Coming up next, Turnbull's mammals.
kknight: Hurricane Ridge, June 2006 (washington)
On my first day in Washington I went to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge nearr Cheney, southwest of Spokane. Turnbull is a mixture of wetlands, Ponderosa Pines, and steppe grasslands in a region known as the channeled scablands. November was not a very good time for finding birds there, but I found enough to make it enjoyable, plus I found interesting mammals.

None of you will be surprised that I took loads of photos. I'll start with the scenery and leave the critters for the next installment of my trip report. (After starting this post, I find I need to correct this to say I'll start with some of the scenery and leave the critters and plants and other stuff for several posts from now. I see now that the scenery isn't going to fit in one installment.)

As usual, clicking on the photos will take you to larger versions of them at Smugmug.

This is the entrance road, near the gate. This is pretty typical of the way a lot of the refuge looks.

entrance road


Pine forest )


There are open grassy areas with scattered boulders and rocks.

field with boulders

A closer view of random boulders )


The Pine Lakes Loop Trail goes around a wetlands area with several ponds.

Pine Lakes Loop Trail

Photos from the trail )

Blackhorse Lake Trail is a longer trail. It went past a pond then up into the woods. I turned around after a while rather than walking the whole thing. I just didn't have time for more than that. It is hard to fit a lot into the day when the sun sets at 4 PM. I saw a nice Marsh Wren in the vegetation at the pond but Marsh Wrens are secretive and unsurprisingly, I didn't get any photos of it.

Blackhorse Lake pond

view from Blackhorse Lake Trail

And I think this is enough photos for one post. More later...

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