Monday, June 21, 2010

A Snowy Egret in Rodeo Lagoon

I spotted the snowy egret across the lagoon and walked across a bridge to get onto the beach side of it. I was on a mission, although my friend did not know. I was not sure if I could get close to the bird, but as I could finally see him from the beach and slowly approached, he did not fly away. I actually got quite close while he combed the shore for fish. He did eventually fly, but not too far and without my opposing it, since that is when I got my best picture. Thank you egret!





Thursday, June 17, 2010

Marine Mammal Center Visit




Visiting the Marine Mammal Center has become a must-do when I travel to visit a friend in San Francisco. I love the work they do rehabilitating the various seals and seal lions and the educated volunteers that are always available to answer any question you may have.

On my most recent visit, there were mostly young elephant seals in view who have weaned off their mother's milk, but could not find food on the shallow coastline. Looks like over-fishing and other changes to the world's oceans are causing many problems for these animals, and many others all over the world. You can see that these young seals have a lot of skin to still grow into.

If you ever are around the San Francisco/Sausalito area, I recommend a visit for yourself. Otherwise, enjoy the pictures from mine.







Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Images from my parent's house

My most personal of flowers is this little rose bush which blooms small roses that are not as well respected. This rose bush grew for a small garden I had as a child and didn’t have success at planting anything. I am not sure why this rose bush grew there, but it became the centerpiece of a pet graveyard. I had many small pets growing up, so I dug around it more often than I liked saying goodbye to short lived loved ones.


There are lots of various flowers growing around my parent’s yard which is along the Columbia River.




My father has a family background in Iris growing and so has become obsessed. I feel that it being a family flower so to speak, I should like them more, but they are kind of hard to photograph. My mom requested I take a picture of the blue iris, even though it was not her favorite, but to show off the different blues.




Hummingbirds fly by often looking for something sweet to drink. During the busy season, by dad restocks the feeders once or twice a day. And there are three on sight.