There were snakes everywhere on yesterday’s walk along Big Soos Creek. There are no venomous snakes in Western Washington, so we didn’t see anything fearsome. We did see four of the local version of garter snakes. Ours have beautiful blue striping, and are very handsome creatures.

A couple of days ago my husband and I went to Corral Pass.  Corral Pass is just ‘this side’ of Mount Rainier.  We were looking for huckleberries, and hoping to spot elk, deer,  and bears.  Well, we saw elk and deer, but no bears.

The huckleberries are not ripe!
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There were a few scattered ripe ones, but not enough to make the bears come out and feed.

Still, a lot of interesting plants and animals spotted on this trip:
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A native penstemon

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A stonecrop

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Wild strawberries (there’s a strawberry hiding under the leaves)

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False hellebore

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Close up of the False hellebore’s flowers

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One of the Indian Paintbrushes, this is a soft pink colour.  They also come in bright orange!

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To be identified!

Birds seen included Northern Flicker, Bohemian Waxwings, Mountain Chickadees, Red Crossbills, Pine Siskins, Audubon’s Warblers, Ravens, and this mysterious footprint:

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I believe this was from a grouse.

Yes, we finally had sprinkles today.  In fact, it is raining quite nicely right now!

On my walk down at Big Soos Creek today I saw a Little Green Heron.  I think that they must be colonising the Creek, as I have seen them several times now.

My husband and I set off bright and early this morning (well, 5.00 am) to head over to Fort Simcoe.  This was the site of our very first date, many years ago.  To be exact, August 3, 1993.

I had met a very pleasant young man in my workplace, and had told him of my desire to see Lewis’s Woodpeckers.  The young man’s brother just happened to be an expert on woodpeckers, and knew exactly where to find this bird.  So on our day off, we went to find the Lewis’s Woodpecker, Melanerpes lewis. Did we find them?  We most certainly did!

Did we find them today?  We most certainly did!  We also saw Horned Larks, Mourning Doves, Eastern Kingbird, Magpies, and two Cooper’s Hawks calling to each other.  In addition, we spotted bear tracks.

Indeed, a good day of seeing the World’s Most Beautiful Bird!

After being miserably hot for the last several days, I decided to get out early enough to beat the heat.  Not a lot of animal activity, but I did manage to spot a female wood duck today.  Also a Little Green Heron.  Very satisfying sightings!

It was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday here–something which has never occurred before!  I spent most of the day inside, and when not inside, was busily watering the garden (and naturally, getting wet).

The previous evening my husband had caught a Big Brown bat in our house.  No photos, unfortunately.  He was debating about whether or not it should be tested for rabies (a big problem with bats in the US), but decided that it had appeared to be flying normally, and as it had not bitten him, we let it go.  It took off quite readily, leaving us to believe that we had done the right thing by the bat.

Yesterday I got to witness a Cooper’s Hawk pluck a Barn Swallow out of mid air.  I had been walking along Big Soos Creek, and looked up at what appeared to be a flight of swallows, until I realised that one of the ’swallows’ was not only rather large, but had a tail edged in white, and not forked.  Hmmm.

It suddenly dawned on me that I was watching a Cooper’s Hawk in the midst of the swallows.  It wheeled and soared, then got close enough to a hapless swallow to simply reach out it’s legs, and took hold.

It departed to the shelter of a nearby tree.

I appear to have convinced the wasps to move.  Actually, the nest fell off the shrub to which it was attached, and I moved it into an area not so heavily trafficked.

Hmmm, I need a photo!

It’s hot and sticky here in Washington State.  I am now in a position to be able to get out and do some gardening, though.

Today, in the midst of mowing my lawn, I discovered I had a lovely large wasp’s nest within  inches of one of my garden paths.  I am now busily trying to decide if the wasps need to go, or if I should stay out of their way.

It is supposedly Spring here, but mostly what I have seen lately is rain, rain, and more rain! I have been dying to get out and do some digging in my garden, but have been kept indoors by yes, rain! Of course, in a month or two I will be complaining about the heat instead.

I managed to catch the raccoons in the act one night.

Not the best photos, but I was surprised that I caught them at all!