2For66

April 21, 2018

A couple of buddies and I went out to the local wildlife refuge today. Even though trains don’t roll through it – like the Ridgefield Refuge – there was plenty to see. Jay is updating his plant field guide so we focused on plants. It’s still early spring but we got our eyes on some nice buds.

This refuge is only about 20 minutes away from our house. We live in a beautiful place on the north end of the Willamette Valley; though to be accurate we were strolling along the Tualatin River today.

If I remember what Jay told me, this is a gall. It occurs when a wasp lays an egg on a tree; the tree builds this growth around it then the wasps eat their way out. Simpatico.

I took some pictures of trees and leaves, but for the blog today, I’ll focus on the early spring blooms. I’m real pleased with the image quality my little RX10 creates.

There are plenty of old tree stumps that are home to ferns, mushrooms and mosses.

I caught a quick picture of an osprey up above.

Getting pictures of birds in flight is a learned skill. My Sony RX10 will zoom in but it’s hard to find the bird when the zoom is out; so I pull back to a wider view to find the bird, then zoom in – I wish they would hold still – I get the camera on it only to have it dart in another direction out of the frame.

There were lots of visitors – many, many packs of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts – and volunteers out today. Jay is a guide there but he wasn’t on duty today. He and John checked in today about the location of a local yew tree.

After our walk, we went out to lunch at a Red Robin – you know what I liked about it? Not a dang thing. There’s a reason we haven’t eaten there in a long time. It definitely has the vibe of a corporate chain – everything is planned out. Well, there is one good thing about this Red Robin – it share its parking lot with Handel’s Ice Cream. We dropped in for some small scoops of creamy deliciousness.