San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

August 3, 2014

Pongo and I took a drive out to San Luis National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday.  It's a nice place for a drive.  I wasn't going to be very mobile anyway, a hike was definitely out of the question.  Even in August, when the waterfowl are all up North and the marshes are dry, there is still plenty to see on the reserve, it just doesn't come as easily as it does in winter.

American Kestrel -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

American Kestrel

There are plenty of birds on the refuge in August.  A safe guess would be that I saw around two hundred individuals of at least thirteen species.  California Quail.  Great Blue Heron.  Great Egret.  Snowy Egret.  Red-tailed Hawk.  Mourning Dove.  Belted Kingfisher.  American Kestrel.  Black Phoebe.  Western Kingbird.  Western Scrub-Jay.  Barn Swallow.  Western Meadowlark.  There were also blackbirds (tri-colored or redwing, I couldn't tell which) and Crows.  There's nothing too surprising in that list.  The kingfisher, perhaps.  Kingfishers aren't exactly rare in California, but I also feel like it's a treat to see one.  They do seem to be camera shy, I have yet to get a decent photo of one.

Belted Kingfisher -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sheep

The birds weren't plentiful enough to grab Pongo's attention and they were also having little trouble staying far enough away from us to dash any hopes of getting good pictures.  We weren't really there for the birds, anyway.  I knew we'd see some elk, that's pretty much a given at San Luis.  They're contained in a very large enclosure, much bigger than a zoo pen but fenced in nonetheless.  We weren't here for the elk, either.  They'd be the consolation prize if we didn't see our true goal: coyotes.

Sheep -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We drove the entire waterfowl route without seeing any coyotes.  That was a disappointment.  I've seen a couple of coyotes at San Luis, always on or near the waterfowl road.  Toward the end of the road we ran into a herd of sheep.  They were hunkered down in the bushes trying to stay out of the heat.  There sky was overcast, but it was still quite warm.  I stopped the car and we watched them sitting around for quite a while.  Pongo loves big animals like this.  He recently discovered cows on a trip to Point Reyes and I think the bovines have replaced deer as his favorite animal.  He thought the sheep were pretty cool.

Coyote -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We saw our first coyote near the start of the elk tour, right before it splits with the waterfowl road.  He/she was a little guy/gal who ran off before I could get all but one not completely crappy shot.  I think it was still a puppy.

Coyote mama & pup -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We drove almost the entire elk road before seeing any elk.  Then all at once we bumped into them.  Not only were the elk there, a mother coyote and her puppy were hanging out as well.

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Coyote -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

The mother coyote stopped on a small mound while the pup ran into the grass behind her.  The elk were close by and not too crazy about having the coyote hanging around.  The dog posed no real threat, I'm sure, but I think the elk would have preferred her to move on.  she didn't.  She plopped right down for a nice rest in the sun on the mound.  We never saw the puppy come back from the grass.

Coyote -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Thanksgiving 2013: Over the River and Through the Woods

Over the River and Through the Woods

November 26, 2013

Soundtrack:

• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds -- Dig, Lazarus, Dig
• The Decemberists -- The Crane Wife

Tuesday's drive was broken into two distinct parts.  Part one was the drive through the Northwest corner of Oregon from Lincoln City to Astoria.  The second part would be the drive up 101 through Washington to Olympic National Park.  In between would be the bridge.

Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, OR

I always am surprised at how long it takes to get from Lincoln City to Astoria.  Salem to Portland is forty-five minutes unless traffic sucks.  Portland is right on the Columbia River, and if you look on a map you'll see that both Salem and Lincoln City are on the Forty-fifth Parallel.  With Astoria being on the Columbia River as well, and given it's a straight shot North from Lincoln City just like Portland is to Salem, you might think that it would take perhaps an hour given the driving occurs on 101 rather than I-5.  It took me over four hours on Tuesday.  Granted, I stopped a lot, but even without stopping the drive would have been closer to three hours than two.

Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, OR

There are two things at work here.  One is the funky shape of the state of Oregon in that Northwest corner.  That little bump at the top isn't so little in real life.  While Portland is forty-five miles North from Salem, Astoria is one hundred ten miles North of the same latitude.  It's a winding hundred ten miles, too, through a number of small towns.  Google says it'll take two and a half hours to make that drive, but from my experience that's optimistic.  Count on three.  Don't worry about it, though, it's a beautiful drive.

What's up with that one goose facing the other way? -- Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, OR

I stopped at Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge just North of Lincoln City.  I hiked up to the observation platform and saw an osprey, a hawk and a couple of sparrows.  The view of the ocean from up there was amazing, though.  Down on the meadows right off of the highway I saw a large flock of canada geese and caught a brief glimpse of my first bald eagle of the trip.

My next stop was the cheese factory in Tillamook.  Tillamook is one of the few brands for which I've developed a keen loyalty.  There's a nice observation platform inside where you can watch the cheese getting packaged.  The employees were all friendly and waved at the people watching them.  Conveyor belts are mesmerizing.

There were plenty of samples to try as well as a large gift shop and ice cream parlor.  It's the best roadside attraction on 101 between San Francisco and Olympia, if you ask me.

I like how the little rocks seem to have just popped out of the big one -- Oregon Coast Highway, OR

Astoria is a cool little town.  It's got a lot of character, which is something a lot of towns outside of Portland seem to lack in the beaver state.  There's a distinct lack of strip malls on the Northern end of town, and the houses all look like they've stood there for decades.  I suppose it's a little like a hilly version of Alameda, but with killer views of the Columbia River rather than the San Francisco Bay.

Astoria, OR

The highlight of the day was finding the house where The Goonies was filmed.  I drove around a bit and couldn't find it, so I ended up looking up the address on my droid.  I was giddy after seeing the house.  Silly, huh?  The Goonies wasn't even that great of a movie.  I know it backwards and forwards, though, since it had a pretty long run at the Elsinore Theater when I worked there.  I've always had a fondness for it for some reason.

The Goondocks, Astoria, OR

Belted Kingfisher

Washington was a different kind of pretty.  101 stays mostly inland through the state, but it's still an impressive drive.  Rivers and wetlands abound.  The logging industry appears to still be thriving in Washington, at least if the amount of clear-cutting along the highway is any indication.  I'm surprised and disappointed at how few pictures I took on this portion of the drive.  I guess the views were so plentiful I took them for granted.

I finally got a decent picture of a kingfisher at Wilapa National Wildlife Refuge.  It's not a great one, mind you, but better than anything I've been able to get so far.  These guys don't sit still for very long.

Palix River, WA

Bald Eagle

I got my first good look at a couple of bald eagles about a half hour outside of Olympic National Park.  They were sitting in a couple of trees.  The light wasn't very good, so I wasn't able to take great pictures.  Still, I was pretty excited.  Little did I know my eagle encounters were only beginning.

Red-tailed Hawk

I stopped for the night at Kalaloch Campground.  I went to Kalaloch Lodge thinking I'd have to get a room there for the night because the South campground was closed, but they sent me on up the road another mile to the campground.  Nice folks.  It was a fairly warm night, but showering on and off.  I found a site that was well covered by trees and didn't have any problems.  I made a dinner of bacon, eggs and pancakes.  I love breakfast foods, but I rarely actually eat breakfast in the morning.

There's a bald eagle in the water on the beach, but he's too small to see -- Kalaloch Lodge, Olympic National Park, WA