I spent a bit of time at Ridgefield this year enjoying capturing photos of the birds. I have not been doing much photography, and I thought birding might be something I would enjoy. I do enjoy it, I enjoy watching birds and photographing them, but the need for ever longer lenses is a real handicap in pursuing it as a hobby. What I can get with my 200mm lens has been nice. In the winter the Refuge is very much a target-rich environment, particularly if you like Blue Herons:
Swans are seasonal visitors.
The deer here are some endangered Columbia River variety
Also: little brown jobs
Egrets, I think?
Coyotes
And, if you are lucky enough to see them, raptors:
One afternoon in May we decided to grab the camera and go for a drive somewhere where I could get a scenic shot, and have some dinner with a view. We headed over to Gresham, Oregon, and swung by Abby’s Pizza, got a pizza to go, and then continued on to the Portland Women’s Forum Overlook – a beautiful viewpoint on the Historic Columbia River Highway. It has a lovely view of the Gorge all the way to Beacon Rock, and particularly nearby Crown Point, with it’s little gem the Vista House.
It was relatively busy at the overlook. Other picnicers and photographers were hanging around to see the view. I set up my camera and tripod pointed at the view, and waited for the sun to break out of the clouds and light things up. Things were pretty dull at first.
However, by the time we’d finished our pizza, things started to jazz up a little.
That’s more like it. The light on the wall of Crown Point really makes it pop out of the background.
Next we headed over to Crown Point ourselves to check out the Vista House. The sunset was pretty, but I couldn’t get the sunset and Vista House at the same time, and there were a ton of people around. Dave walked around to the other side to check out the view from there.
While I was waiting for him to come back, I realized the battery in the camera had died! That’s annoying. My Sony A7II DSLR really eats batteries compared to the little a6000 I used to shoot with, so I hadn’t stuck any extra in my pocket before we left.
Right about then the light got low enough to shine through the art-deco stained glass windows of the Vista House, so I grabbed my cell phone to get the shot.
It actually did a nice job! This is why on vacations I just use my phone instead of dragging a DSLR around anymore.
So I went home feeling accomplished, with a couple nice pictures, and a dinner our favorite pizza, eaten in one of the prettiest spots in the area.
This guy showed up in my backyard and I got a few shots of him. Apparently they drill holes in a tree, and then lick up the sap that runs out. So I don’t know if they are bad for trees (this guy was on my neighbor’s Birch Tree. I hope not! Cute little bird though, and he didn’t seem to mind me coming out into the yard to get closer for a picture.
One of my goals for this year is to spend more time photographing birds. I only have a 200mm lens right now for my camera, which is a bit small, but I think I can get close enough to get a few good shots, and that will keep it interesting to get started. For a target rich environment, around here there is nothing better than Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, and the auto loop. You get to drive a couple mile loop around the refuge, with room to pull over to spend more time if you want to, and photograph birds and animals that are so used to the cars, they will wander pretty close by.
Lots of waterfowl. This is a great opportunity to just enjoy them at the refuge, and come home and spend some time looking up what they are and learning about them.
Lots of birds coming and going. I love these geese against the puffy clouds.
You have to stay on the loop, and stay in your car! Or the little adorable birds will get you!
The refuge is also just a beautiful place to visit, with lovely scenic views and a quiet, peaceful atmosphere, broken up only by the occasional Amtrak train zipping by on the east end of it, and the quiet sounds of birds.
The stars of this visit were the Trumpeter Swans. They migrate through here. They are so beautiful and dignified – well, most of the time.
What’s up, swan butt?
Red-winged Black Birds hide in the reeds.
And Raptors hide in the trees – in this case a juvinile Bald Eagle.
Little black Coots.
A Great Egret
There’s always at least one good opportunity to capture a Great Blue Heron.
Red Tailed Hawk. They sit high up in the trees and watch over the wetlands.
And the big surprise on this trip:
An American Bittern, hiding in the tall reeds right close to the road, making a weird ‘buh loop’ kind of sound. Look them up on Youtube, they are really cool!
This guy says STAY ON THE ROAD and I think he means it!
A trip around Ridgefield is always a good use of time, you just never know what you will see!
Smelt are a kind of small, greasy fish, which people catch by dipping nets in the water as huge schools of them travel down the river by the thousands. People literally scoop up their limit of ten pounds in minutes and get out of the way for the next person to dip a net in. I have not tried it, as crowds are not my thing, and I don’t know what I’d do with ten pounds of fish!
But, as much as people love catching smelt, animals love it even more, because it’s a moving feast swimming slowly upstream. I heard from other fishermen that the smelt run was about to enter the Lewis River, near Woodland, WA, where it empties into the Columbia, and so we headed up there on a cold, rainy day in late March to see what we could see.
To my surprise, we saw: Pelicans!
Just like the humans enjoy scooping up the smelt, these guys do too, and they were built for it!
We also saw Bald Eagles!
When I was a kid in the 70s they told us the eagles were all going to go extinct from DDT poisoning. So even though the eagles have recovered and are not too hard to find, I still get really excited to see them.
And the biggest surprise – sea lions!
Look at those fat boys, feasting on the smelt!
So that was a pretty successful visit. I didn’t realize such a variety of critters would be hanging out waiting for the fish! I can’t wait to make this an annual trip!
President Biden made a trip through Portland yesterday, and I didn’t even realize it until later in the day after I got done with work and looked at the news. There wasn’t much time left, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do: Grab my camera and my longest lens, and head downtown to get a look at Air Force One as it flew out! I had missed my chance to see it a few years ago, and if we hurried, I might get to see it this time!
We went down to the waterfront by McMennamins, which was on the flight path out, assuming the winds didn’t change. Other folks were gathered up and down the walkway as well, including a very enthusiastic little guy who was VERY excited about it and kept telling everyone!
For a while there was nothing but eerie quiet, because all flights are stopped for a half hour before and after. Normally it is very busy here. We could see lightning off to the east past the airport control tower.
The only thing in the air was this Coast Guard helicopter.
Little bird chillin out in the bushes on the bank.
Time to ponder whatever was going on down there. Looks like a big boat being worked on!
Finally some action, about six of these guys came roaring down the river!
Coast Guard, with guns mounted on the bow! I wasn’t expecting that! There was a fisherman out on the river who moved out of their way, and a big yacht that was heading out and didn’t seem to be put off by the Coast Guard, maybe they just had to stay out of the channel or something.
And suddenly, there it was!
It’s beautiful! I have a crush on the 747 anyway, it’s always been my favorite plane, so distinctive with that second-floor cockpit and four big engines! Listen to it whine! And this particular one with it’s special color scheme, and of course ferrying around the President and other important folks and journalists. Pretty exciting!
What a beautiful airplane!
And just like that it was gone. What a cool thing to see! And I wasn’t expecting the Coast Guard activity to escort it out. That was a pretty neat thing to experience. I’m so happy I got to see it before they retire the 747 Air Force Ones!
Someone in a hiking group mentioned that for a few weeks a year, in late June/early July, the sun sets far enough North to light up the walls of Crown Point with Golden Hour light. I did not research their claim, but it sounded like a good excuse to go take a picture, and I haven’t picked up my camera pretty much since the pandemic started in March. Dave and I hopped in the car and headed up to the Portland Women’s Forum Viewpoint in Oregon.
Lots of other folks were there too, setting in for an eclipse that evening. We just wanted the sunset. We had stopped by Abby’s in Gresham and got a pizza, and settled in to wait until the sun was as low as it could get hoping for better color in the sky, but this nice peachy color was as good as it was getting, since there was not a cloud in the sky.
I’d say that’s a postcard perfect pic of Crown Point and Vista house, and the Columbia River Gorge stretching off into the distance. You can see Phoca Rock out in the river, and farther upstream you can see Beacon Rock in Washington state.
The next evening, since I was so happy with the outcome of that photo, we headed out to Washougal on the Washington side of the Columbia, and snapped another picture of Crown Point, this time with Mt Hood in the background. I liked this shot best. Even though the light was not on Crown Point as nicely as the evening before, the glow on top of the mountain was very pretty.
So there you go, Crown Point, two ways, from two different states. Both are home to me, and I feel lucky to live in this beautiful place.
I guess we’ve been hearing about the virus in China for a month or so, but it has suddenly hit us hard. With the knowledge that this bad new flu is circulating, but without testing capability, and an already overtaxed medical system, we are now in semi-lockdown. The play we have been rehearsing for over a month (Much Ado About Nothing) is on hold until later in the summer, I’m working from home, and people are wiping out the grocery stores (glad I went to Costco with friends and stocked up a couple weeks ago). Crazy times.
I had just settled on a plan to expand my photography into family portrait work, and decided that this summer I would train and do any odd jobs I could get, and hone my craft. I bought a new (used) lens just for this pursuit.
This is a Sony f/4 70–200mm. It takes really sharp pictures with nicely blurred backgrounds. I’m really happy with the few test shots I’ve done.
Combined with my full-frame a7ii, this is certainly a rig capable of producing high-quality images.
I also plan to dedicate any ‘hustle money’ I can make to my meandering Mustang project. But who knows when things will get back to normal, when I can start hustling, if I will even care about the Mustang when this is all over. Maybe priorities will change? Right now the poor Mustang is buried in the garage under shipping materials leftover from Christmas. The toy shipping season has stretched out significantly. Things are still selling now in March!
But I don’t mind working at home. I’m hanging out with my hubby and dogs and cats:
surrounded by all my craft projects I’ve been putting off. Like my ‘learn to paint’ project. I’ve got my paints, I’ve got my easel, all I need is time.
I can FINALLY follow along with BOB!
It’s actually kind of nice, but I’m only a few days in. We will see how it feels by the end of the month! I hope to sneak off for some fishing when the weather warms up next week. We will see how it all goes. I’m just hoping people handle this sanely, take care of each other, remember to be kind and considerate, and we will all ride out this strange time, stay healthy, and be back to normal sometime this summer.
Until then I’ll try not to spend too much time riding the range in Red Dead Redemption.
Wow, it has been a long, cold, boring winter. I don’t remember a winter that has been this cold, or snowed so many times. We usually barely get any snow, and usually get none at all. But this winter…well, at least the dogs enjoyed it!
Not sports car weather!
I do love it when the trees look like this, especially against a bright blue sky.
And I love the dramatic shadows cast by the low winter sun.
So I cleaned it up in photoshop and made a piece of art of it. That is actually a pretty nice way to pass the time when trapped inside by winter cold.
Winter Navi.
We also went to a Winter Woolies horse show and took some photos. I love doing horse photos.
And then for something completely different:
This piece was made from a screenshot from Red Dead Redemption 2. I added the textures to make the sky-glow and painted it. I was really happy with how it turned out.
So that’s how I’ve been fighting the winter doldrums! Luckily it is almost over, and spring is on its way.
The Photo Club assignment for this month was to make a composite photograph, so I composited the heck out of that challenge! I set the camera up on a tripod and raced around changing clothes and setting myself in different scenes around the room, then merged them all together with a little photoshop magic, to produce a party of ‘Me’s hanging around the house with the dogs.
Steff Does Stuff! 