Things Are Looking Up
Or at least Jean and I were looking up. After a thoroughly crappy week, we went to the Nisqually Delta to go canoeing at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. I was in charge of checking tide charts and finding the place to put in. I need different responsibilities for future trips dependent on put-in places and understanding of tides. I should really just be in charge of driving, food and bird books.
It was POURING down rain all the way there. But we didn't get rained on at all. First of all, because we were in the car. And B., because we ended up in the Nisqually Rain Shadow. The only rain free zone in the south sound.
There were Purple Martins in nesting boxes where we launched. On the North side of the river there were blue herons, terns, swallows, (Cliff, Barn, and probably Violet Green) Occasionally we would see other birds we couldn't ID on the N. side. That is the marshy main part of the refuge. On the S. side is a mixed forest. We let ourselves drift to see if we could see any of the birds responsible for the cacophony of song. I was thrilled to see at least two pairs of Western Tanagers. Not v. common in these parts and it seems early for them to be up here. They Winter in Central and South America. Smart critters.
Both Jean-Jean and I like exploring little nooks, crannies and inlets. A fine idea if the tide was coming. I said, I am sure it is coming in. After a pause, I am not absolutely sure. I was SOOOOOOOOO wrong. Shortly after I reached into the muddy shallows to toss a little gray crab into the canoe, we noticed that we were pretty much in a mud puddle. Jean-Jean started saying things like, time is of the essence. I started cracking up wondering why, why, every time J2 and I are in a canoe something happens that results in someone leaving the boat and my laughing hysterically. Last time, I fell out of the boat in front of Rays Boat House lunch guests who looked down wondering, Why is that woman in the water?
Jean and I tried to step out into the mud. The mud had a different ider about that. We were slurped up. So Jean thought she would jump to what was hopefully more solid ground. She pulled me in the boat through the mud. I was paddling mud.
The shortlist for birds the day: Western Wood Peewee, Western Tanager, Baby Bald Eagle, Bullocks Oriole, Great Blue Heron, the American Crow
It was POURING down rain all the way there. But we didn't get rained on at all. First of all, because we were in the car. And B., because we ended up in the Nisqually Rain Shadow. The only rain free zone in the south sound.
There were Purple Martins in nesting boxes where we launched. On the North side of the river there were blue herons, terns, swallows, (Cliff, Barn, and probably Violet Green) Occasionally we would see other birds we couldn't ID on the N. side. That is the marshy main part of the refuge. On the S. side is a mixed forest. We let ourselves drift to see if we could see any of the birds responsible for the cacophony of song. I was thrilled to see at least two pairs of Western Tanagers. Not v. common in these parts and it seems early for them to be up here. They Winter in Central and South America. Smart critters.
Both Jean-Jean and I like exploring little nooks, crannies and inlets. A fine idea if the tide was coming. I said, I am sure it is coming in. After a pause, I am not absolutely sure. I was SOOOOOOOOO wrong. Shortly after I reached into the muddy shallows to toss a little gray crab into the canoe, we noticed that we were pretty much in a mud puddle. Jean-Jean started saying things like, time is of the essence. I started cracking up wondering why, why, every time J2 and I are in a canoe something happens that results in someone leaving the boat and my laughing hysterically. Last time, I fell out of the boat in front of Rays Boat House lunch guests who looked down wondering, Why is that woman in the water?
Jean and I tried to step out into the mud. The mud had a different ider about that. We were slurped up. So Jean thought she would jump to what was hopefully more solid ground. She pulled me in the boat through the mud. I was paddling mud.
The shortlist for birds the day: Western Wood Peewee, Western Tanager, Baby Bald Eagle, Bullocks Oriole, Great Blue Heron, the American Crow
posted by SA at 10:47 PM
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