Category: nature

rDay Fifteen-Hundred-Forty-Eight

Following all-night rain and intermittent showers until noon, we head for the Sportsplex beside Mill Creek for a dog run.  The fresh rain had set the greenery aglow and seemed more than welcome by both Charlie and the birdlife.  One of the highlights was seeing a batch of young mergansers, without their mother in sight, frolicking in the creek.  They were the subject of a missed video opportunity when they turned en masse and quickly scooted upstream, against the current; only still captures were made in the moment.

Mothers’ Day, Phase Two

After an hour or two of Bennington Lake sunrise and hiking, we head back toward WaWaWA.  But Kim decides that she wants to travel to the McNary Wildlife Refuge.  So we continue driving, heading up Hwy 12 toward Wallula for about half an hour, doing the usual “windshield photography” along the way.  Then it is over gravel and dirt quasi-roads.  Another hour or two of hiking around the Refuge ensues.  We are vigilant for ticks and such varmints as we push through the brush and around the swampish wetlands.  Kim declares this venue to be the best one yet discovered locally for birding.

P.S. The matter of the “secret cloud message” is further considered at HHR.

[rDay Fifteen-Hundred-Ten]

What Greta and Other Young People Are Doing

Today, youth around the world protested the inaction their elders and their political leaders are taking around climate change.  One of the foremost activists in this movement has been Greta Thunberg of Sweden.  Learn more about her here.  And we also saw this interview a few nights ago.

Greta Thunberg, center, skips school on Fridays to demonstrate for climate action at the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm. Photo Credit: Elisabeth Ubbe for The New York Times

More Bird Photography

More from local Audubon member, Earl Blackaby:  https://www.facebook.com/BlueMountainAudubonWallaWallaWa/posts/1956637987716814

Also look for photo work by Paul Treman on the Audubon FB page.  And there are lots of other images on the site that should be of great interest to any bird enthusiast.

As passed on to me by Kim.