Fidalgo Island Crossings

Back in 2011, I wrote a post for Wild Fidalgo about Baby Pictures.  Blogger used to put a "Next Blog" link at the top of their pages for exploring other Blogger sites.  Every time I tried it, I always found myself mired in other people's baby pictures.  Not to be outdone, I wrote that post about Northern Flicker baby pictures.  I guess that's what Facebook is for now, and Blogger has removed the link.  I now have another opportunity to post my own "baby pictures" of sorts.

Meet Buddy

Buddy became my best friend last July through the services of the Washington German Shepherd Rescue group.  I haven't had a dull moment since.  He is estimated to be 2 years old, although some of us think he may be younger.  He acts like a big kid.  All we know of his history is that he was a stray.  All I know is that he is the most charming stray dog anyone could imagine.

Taking the photo above was an interesting challenge.  I am sitting with his ball held up in my left h…

This is a photo I took this morning of a rhododendron blooming in the cul-de-sac where I live.  It is the last day of January.  Several plants are doing this around the complex.  Prime rhododendron season is April to July.  There are a couple of reasons to see blooming at atypical times:
There are early/winter blooming rhododendron varieties such as 'Christmas Cheer' or 'PJM'They sometimes get mixed signals from weather or daylight which stimulate blooming The weather here this winter has been fairly typical although we have gotten more rain than usual.  Early this month, we had a cold snap where the temperature dropped to 27° F, -3° C.  Since then, the temps have remained above freezing and as high as 58° F, 14° C.  Our typical overcast has been broken up by several days with bright sunshine.
We had a few rhododendrons that pushed out two or three blooms early last fall.  That was most likely due to confused plants getting the wrong signals.  I have seen this in the p…

Lucky number seven describes this year's First Day Hike at Deception Pass State Park.  I have attended all seven, and once again, we were treated to a perfect rain-free New Year's Day.  This is one of the benefits of an Olympic Rain Shadow location.  Yesterday, however, all of western Washington had great weather.  At 10:00 am, we gathered in the meeting room at the West Beach food service building to fuel up with coffee, bagels and pastries provided by the Deception Pass Park Foundation.


Although the skies were clear, it was a chilly morning.  With the temperature at 27° F/-3° C, Cranberry Lake was covered with a skim of ice.  The picnic area and surrounding foliage were decorated with frost.


When we started the hike, the West Beach resident pair of Bald Eagles were in their usual spot overseeing the event.  Left:  Both could be seen in back-lit silhouette.  Right:  From a different angle, it's easier to tell they are Bald Eagles.  Its mate is hidden to the right behind …

Between getting one house organized to live in and another one sold, I have not had much time for hiking.  This week, after a rainy weekend, I decided it was time to get out and get a look at early fall in the North Sound.  I headed over to Kiket Island in the Kukutali Preserve.  The Deception Pass State Park Newsletter (.pdf) indicated some new amenities were being installed, and I wanted to check them out.


Off Kiket Island, there is a swim float out in Similk Bay, about 100 meters away.  It can be seen from the causeway leading to the island.  It is usually populated with Cormorants and gulls, but something was different this time.  Zooming out to 400 mm, I spotted this pair.  They were at least twice the size of our little Harbor Seals.  I believe these are either young Steller or California Sea Lions, more likely the latter.  From this distance, I'm not sure it is possible to distinguish which species they are.  Cormorants can be seen swimming at the right edge of the photo, …