Spring pops on the Greenbelt

Last week, I got back on the greenbelt after a couple weeks of being laid up due to banging up my knee.  It was a sunny day, and the birds were very active so I really enjoyed myself.  Then it got all rainy and snowy again but I digress...

The one that got away was the shot of the 2 red-winged blackbirds engaging in an aerial territorial dispute.  Most of the resident birds have started their spring singing, letting everyone within range know who lives here and is looking for some company.  I tried to get a shot of the blackbirds but they were too far away and too active so I never got a good framing.

However, the blueberry bushes and several other birds were very happy to be more stationary so here's some of the shots from that walk.  The branches on the blueberry bushes turn reddish while they're budding out so it's easy to see which bushes are going to be really loaded with berries later this year.

And there were lots of robins scattered around the grass between the bushes and in the trees nearby.   They haven't yet gotten their new spring feathers yet so they look drabber than they will in a few weeks.

But the way I really know that spring is here is this one:  a towhee up on a high branch, singing to let the world know that he's there and available.  Towhees normally skulk in the bushes and stay pretty close to the ground so the only time I get really good views of them is in the spring when they're being very social.  I'm going to be trying for a shot that shows the red eye if I see one out and close enough to get those details.

Our weather forecast for the next week includes more chilly nights and maybe even some snow so I'll be looking at these photos to remind me that spring is really on the way.

Greenbelt and Pokemon

It's been a rough month what with some major upheaval in my life and then the election.  So I've been spending lots of time on the greenbelt when it wasn't raining seriously looking for birds and since they're somewhat scare this time of year, finding some Pokemon.  This is part of my self-care, along with meditating and reading.  The nice thing about the greenbelt and Pokemon is that I can share them here.

In the fall, all the blueberry bushes along the greenbelt near Larsen Lake turn a gorgeous red.  And as some of the leaves start to fall, the bushes get a bit more sculptural rather than bushy.  I enjoy looking at them as part of the cycle of life and as beautiful parts of nature.

I start my walks on the bridge behind the Boys&Girls Club and usually I pick up some birds there.  Alas, on this walk, there were no birds around and instead I got this very common Pokemon Pidgey.
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I also got lots of great nature shots showing the change of the seasons.  October & November are when we have fall here in the Seattle area and it's fun to see the contrast as the seasonal foliage goes away leaving the green stuff that's here all year.

I'm getting several common Pokemon on each walk and at least one new one every couple of days which is nice as I'm in that stretch of the game where I have to level up before things get really interesting.  Sometimes that makes me feel like this guy.

I hope you all are taking care of yourselves.  We're living in interesting times for sure.

Sunny day at Larsen Lake or why snags are important

Today's walk on the greenbelt was fabulous!  I remembered to put my heel lift in my shoe so my back was happier, the sun was out, the air was just slightly warmer than crisp, and the birds were showing off.  Before I made it out of the parking lot, there was a towhee calling from the tree next to my space.  After admiring him and his red eye, I glanced to the right and saw a Great Blue Heron on top of a snag.  They like to perch up high and preen in the sun and in the spring, the leaves aren't out enough yet to obscure them.

distance view

I headed to the trail with my phone in my pocket so I could take more shots like the one below.  This GBH was not at all nervous about all the people and dogs on the greenbelt today.  

closer view

I kept walking and got good views of some sapsuckers but they were flitting about, chasing each other so no photos of them today.  I'm glad to see they didn't abandon the greenbelt but just moved down the trail a bit to an area where there's more bird cover.

Since the pier is flooded right now, I instead headed for the trail that goes up the middle of the blueberry fields.  At the bend, there's a very tall snag that has been used multiple times as a nesting site by woodpeckers.  This morning, there was a flicker busy excavating a new hole.  He was also tolerant of me being on the trail so I got some nice shots of him going in and out of the hole.

Flicker making new hole

Unfortunately, my camera phone doesn't get enough detail on its own and I didn't bring the zoom lens for it.  So, no fabulous closeup for the flicker.  But you can see the holes above where the flicker is working.  They tend to start at the top and work down as that's how the snag dries out.  

And here's a shot showing how much more stump there is to be used.  I would estimate the flicker is about 30 feet up.  So this snag will be a woodpecker nesting site for years to come.  Also chickadees if I'm remembering things my expert birder friends have said about reuse of woodpecker holes by other birds.

Lots more room in the neighborhood

Definitely looking forward to getting out there with my camera real soon!

Spring inspiration at Larsen Lake

I've been down this last week or so due to a root canal.  I was very low energy but still had enough for walks on the greenbelt when the weather was good.  And I am happy to confirm that spring is really here.  I get some of my best inspiration from these walks and here are a few of the photos I got using my phone.

tree budding out

Spring is my favorite time to go birding since the trees don't have leaves yet and the birds are not only in breeding plumage, but being more social and active.  I also appreciate it as the gray of winter fades away and the colors pop in the landscape.  Great example below...

blueberry field starting to bud

I only got a decent photo of one bird.  Such is the splendor of spring that I even get fond of mallards in this season.  

grazing in the grass

I hope everyone else is able to enjoy their local spring as it pops forth.

Cedar Waxwing: Lake Larsen Bird of the Week

My big art project this year is to develop a new series using my bird photos.  I'm going through various ideas and techniques and I've decided I really need to narrow my focus.  (All of my friends and artists pals who just snorked their coffee, sorry for the lack of warning.)   So, I'm using an idea borrowed from a more famous collage artist - go find something and use it that day.  Only I'm giving myself a week, and it's going to be a bird I photograph on my weekly long walk at a local park.

This week, I was at the greenbelt at Larsen Lake.  Clouds were blowing in, and it wasn't clear whether it was going to be sunny or stormy so the birds were alternately hunkering down in the bushes and enjoying the sun.  I caught a cedar waxwing catching the rays in the top of a snag, as shown below.

I like these birds because of their subtle coloring and texture combined with the head crest and I particularly liked the branches of the tree he's in.   I have about 15 shots of this bird to pick from so I'm sure I have one or more that will work.

In fact, I'm discovering fairly quickly that it's easy to have too many pictures.  I did a 45 minute walk this morning and took 81 pictures.  I took multiples of most of the subjects but even so, that's at least 15-20 different elements for the weekly collage.  We'll just have to see what I do with it and see if I need to narrow the focus even more.

Earth Day Bird walk

This morning was so lovely and sunny that I went for my morning walk on the greenbelt with great anticipation and joy.  And I was not disappointed.  I had a stellar's jay come in close to the trail and hop around in a tree right in front of me.  Close enough I could see the blue streaking on his forehead.  (The picture below is from a different day at a different park since I didn't take my camera this morning).  Then I went another 10 feet down the path and a towhee, a sparrow and a hummingbird all popped up to give me a look.  I continued on to the lake pier and got a some nice looks at a couple of male mallards.

On my way back to the car, I had a momma mallard squawk at me as she was herding her little brood of ducklings across the path and into one of the waterways that feed into the lake.  I hurried past so she could continue on her way with her incredibly cute little balls of fluff.  A wonderful way to celebrate Earth Day and I am glad I took the time.  I hope you have a chance to connect with the natural world today too.

Spring Birding begins!

I actually got back into the field and got a full day of birding in last weekend with the last of the winter incursion of Snowy Owls. Three friends and I drove up to Canada and walked along the dike on Boundary Bay where there have been numerous owls sitting on the driftwood piles. There were lots of people, a few of them ignoring the signs about staying on the path, and the owls were mostly tolerant but did once in a while give a gruff look for trespassers. These owls show up about every seven years, depending on the food supply in the Arctic tundra where they normally live and it's always a treat to be able to see them this close.

After the owls, and a moderate wait at the border to get back into the States, we checked out the West 90 area in Skagit County. There are lots and lots of bald eagles to be seen. This group of young eagles looked like a bunch of crows from a distance but that's mostly because I'm not used to so many of them being in one spot.

Besides the eagles, we had great looks at several other raptors (Northern Harriers, a Rough-Legged Hawk, Red-Tailed Hawks) and a delightful look at several Western Meadowlarks. It was a great transition to spring birding.

My walks on the greenbelt this last week made it clear that the birds are definitely in spring mode. The swallows are back at Larsen Lake, swooping and skimming over the water, the Flickers are pounding on everything they can find, and the smaller birds are jumping around more. One of my favorites of the tinier birds is the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, pictured below. They are a greenish brown color that fades into the trees quite well but they jump around so much from branch to branch that it's fairly easy to tell they're there. This one cooperated in getting a couple of nice shots.


I really liked the composition on this one. Skulking little birds, the true challenge of Spring!

Guerilla Art (Fiber Art Program)

One of the assignments for my Fiber Art class was to do a site specific piece of public art. Since I walk at the greenbelt near Larsen Lake almost every day, I decided to do a piece for the pier at the lake. I selected pictures I've taken that represented each season, and a detail image to go along with the larger landscape picture. Then I put them together in a banner. I had originally intended to include a strip of green fabric representing the greenbelt, and silkscreened runners on the belt but once I got the images on the banner, I decided that additional layer would be too much.


I had some interesting conversations while carrying the banner from the library parking lot to the pier as it's about a half mile walk on the greenbelt. And I learned some things about creating art for a different presentation. I meant for the banner to hang over the lake but that didn't quite work out due to several problems. I got the angle wrong, the bamboo poles I used, to evoke fishing rods, weren't long enough, and I completely forgot about the predominant wind direction. If I'd gotten the angle and the rods right, the wind might not have been such an issue but as it was, I had to move the poles to a different hole in the railing so that the art was visible.

Lots of learning going on this quarter, that's for sure. And now that I have my new computer installed, and most of the things I need transferred or installed from the old one, I'm back in business and will be blogging about what's going on in the course at least once a week.

Ferns: weekly photo at cougar mtn, 4/21

Those of you with calendars will probably note that I'm late posting these photos too. My last couple of walks at Cougar mtn got me lots of pictures of the ferns growing out of the moss that grows on the trees. I have a couple of pieces percolating right now, and I'm printing photos on fabric today so that I can work on them this weekend while I'm on Whidbey Island with the Seamsters Union. I don't think I'll be using the first photo because there's too much going on in it. But the second one, the closer one with the little fern, it will definitely be used in some way.

This one is here so people can possibly understand why I'm so obsessed with these ferns. I think it's just amazing, the layering of green that happens in the woods here.



And this one was the first of the close ups of a very small fern growing next to a tiny streamlet. I can't help but wonder if it will survive the summer when the stream will dry up.

Weekly photo: Larsen lake greenbelt, 4/11

Having successfully recovered after surgery and the almost neverending flu, I have resumed my weekly photo taking. I took the camera along to Larsen Lake, and was fascinated by the pussy willows budding out. I don't know what the yellow things I photographed are called, but I really liked their shape and contrast against the grey stones on the greenbelt trail. This one was taken using the macro lens on my camera.




And here's a more distant shot of the same things still on the bare branches of one of the many willows along the lake.



I'm mulling over how to use the macro one in a fiber art piece. I'm thinking I'll work smaller, probably 8 x 11 and see what happens if I focus on the textures and contrast of the colors.

Here's hoping you're finding your own inspiration this spring!

weekly photo: Larsen lake 1/31

I'm late posting last weekend's photo, which is just as well, as I didn't get photos this weekend because I'm having a delayed reaction to having surgery. I'm spending a few days curled up in my pj's and reading rather than doing much of anything. But, last weekend, I took some photos at Larsen Lake. The first one is another interesting one of the great blue heron. It's official, I am obsessed with him.



The second is a possible starting point for a piece based on "urban decay". It's not really the typical urban shot, but Larsen Lake is within sight of a major street, and in the middle of a city, so that sounds pretty urban to me. I like the reflections on the water and may end up using it for something else if I find something more appropriate for the urban decay piece.

Weekly photo: Larsen lake greenbelt, 1/25

There's been a great blue heron at Larson Lake around the time I normally walk about half the time over the past 2 weeks. He likes a stump that juts out of the lake fairly close to the pier I go out on when I walk. But he doesn't like people being too close. So when I go on the pier, he flies across the lake to the quieter part on the other side. I've been using my photos of herons a lot lately - I seem to have a thing for them right now. I'm already planning how to turn this photo into a piece. I like the lines and colors of the bare branches and the reflection of the light on the lake.




Since the heron shot was at a distance, I decided to do a closeup shot of something. I'm in a facebook art group that's talking about texture right now so I tried to find something that showed the texture of the woods in winter. Here are 3 shots of the same spot with the log shifted in the view. I'm trying to decide which I like best as a composition. Comments on your choice are welcome.

First, I spotted the log, liked the texture of the cut end, and the moss growing on the side. So, like any snapshot, I put it in the center.


Then I decided to focus on the moss, so I shot it with the cut end to the right side of the view.


And last, I decided I liked the parallel line of the snag in the background so I shot it with the mossy log on the left.


It was definitely an interesting exercise in looking closely and thinking about composing with the camera. I think I'll learn a lot this year from doing these weekly shots. And it should be a fascinating look at how my local spots change over time. My opinion: I think #2 is the most effective composition, but I'm not entirely able to say exactly why.

Weekly photo: Cougar Mtn Park

This year, I'm focusing on doing more fiber art using photos printed on fabric. Mostly I'll be using ones I take of birds and local landscapes, with a few bird shots from a couple of bird photographers I'm hoping to work with. In order to do this, I have to take pictures. So, one of the things to do to accomplish my goal is to take weekly pictures on my walks at either the greenbelt (Blueberry Lake) or Cougar Mountain Park. This week's photos are from Cougar Mountain. Some of the spring plants are budding out, but mostly there's the winter sparseness. And the winter water so that the streams are still running. I looked for things that might inspire me to interpret them or incorporate them into a fiber piece. This is one of the possibles from this week. I liked the way the water glimmered between the dead leaves and the stark tree trunks.




The second photo is from Coal Creek which runs along the meadow restoration site. I'm fascinated by the creek and the very narrow footbridge crossing it. Today, a fern next to the bridge caught my eye.