GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER ~~ IN THE YARD ~~ OUR SPRING VISITOR ~~ ASPARAGUS UPDATE ~~ PARTING SHOT

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER

This week's blog welcomes back Linda as guest photographer. Due to my having eye surgery last Thursday, I wasn't able to take pictures for several days. When Linda and I decided to take an Easter morning walk on the Greenway, I prevailed upon her to take pictures for me.

Swampy area

We were greeted at the Greenway entrance with this lovely swamp scene. To tell you the truth, I thought I was back in North Carolina! There, scenes like this are very commonplace. But here, in Yakima, such wet places are rare. On this beautiful, sunny and warm Easter Sunday, Linda snapped the perfect photo to start the blog.

Sentinel

We began our walk on the Jewett Pathway, which goes around a couple of small lakes. The other pathway that follows along the river is closed off because the pathway caved in a few years ago. Soon after we got around the lake, we spotted this fellow above, high up in a tree beside the water's edge. I believe this is an immature Osprey.

End of the line

The Southerner in her native environment

Continuing on the path, we came to the area where the cave-in happened. I stopped to check out a couple of Canada Geese who were honking loudly across the river. Something seemed to be disturbing them, but I couldn't tell if there was anything else around. They flew away in a few minutes.

A beautiful day

Linda paused to catch a glimpse of the sun, which we have sorely missed seeing for the past several weeks. The weather that day was absolutely perfect...although it could have been a little bit warmer for my taste.

Carolina Blue sky?

At one point I looked up and saw this beautiful tree against a perfect blue sky. Linda dutifully took a picture of it at my request. Some of the deciduous trees around here are starting to get their leaves, but these were not at that point yet. It was very easy to see birds flitting back and forth between the branches. I spotted several "Butter-Butts" along the way. They were too quick to capture a photo, but you can visit this website here to check out the Yellow-Rumped Warbler. If you look at the picture on the website, you will see why this bird is nicknamed a "Butter-Butt."

Serenity

Along the Jewett Pathway runs a little off-shoot from the river. The water in this off-shoot doesn't flow as swiftly as the river, so the reeds along the banks tend to bunch up and create little waterfalls. The picture above is a good example of that feature, and the sound of the water spilling over is so soothing. Beavers do tend to operate in this area as well, although we did not see any indication of them on this walk.

Male Downy Woodpecker

We heard a faint hammering and both looked up to see a Downy Woodpecker busily preparing a nesting hole in this dead tree. He was so busy he was oblivious to us standing just below him. There will soon be baby Downys around the path!

Cooper's hawk

As we headed back along the path, I spotted what I thought was a white bird in a tree (my eyes were still not 100%). Upon checking him out with the binoculars, I was delighted to see that it was a hawk of some kind. He posed nicely for this picture. When I got home I looked him up, and I believe this is a Cooper's Hawk. This web page here gives some excellent pointers for identifying this hawk, which is often confused with other hawks.

Thistle head

One last photo from our walk fills the bill for our "Arty Photo of the Week." It seems like every year at this time we both get photos of the dried thistle heads. It's only because they are so beautiful. By giving contrast to the green leaves starting to sprout on the nearby branches, they make a nice picture.

IN THE YARD

Back at home, there were plenty of photo ops as well, given that all the flowers are just now starting to go crazy with blooming. Linda strolled through the front yard and got some lovely pictures of our tulips.

Ruffled Tulip

This tulip above is one of my favorites. I love the fringed edge on it, that serves to give it more depth and interest. I also like the two-toned color on these.

A burst of yellow

This photo above shows a yellow tulip with a slight tinge of pink in it. Linda and I both agree that our favorite flower color for the yard has got to be yellow.

Pink Lady

Most of our tulips are pink, which sometimes looks pinky-red when photographed. I'm not sure why the camera sometimes chooses a slightly different shade than what our eye perceives, but it's probably due to the way the light hits it. Either way, these flowers are still beautiful.

Candy-Stripe

And now we come to my favorite tulip, the Candy-Striped tulip, seen in the photo above. I just love how these two colors come together on this one flower. So pretty.

Purple Haze tulip

I decided that I needed to have at least a couple of my flower pictures in the blog this week, so I got out my camera and managed to get this shot above of a gorgeous purple tulip that is coming up among our sea of Solomon's Seal plants. These are not the real names of all the tulips above, it's just what I like to call them.

Solomon's Seal

OUR SPRING VISITOR

While we were sitting in the living room the other day, I looked out the window and saw the leaves on our Golden Currant bushes fluttering in various spots. I grabbed my camera as I suspected it was our little visitor that we get every Spring. See if you can spot him in the video below.

Yes, it's the little Orange-Crowned Warbler (click on the name to read an article and see pictures, including one showing the orange patch). We have yet to see his orange crown, which I imagine he displays only when courting or when startled. He was busy visiting as many of these flowers as he could. It was so nice to see this little guy out our window. Spring is truly here to stay, if only for a short time.

ASPARAGUS UPDATE

It seems I was too impatient about my asparagus, because I went outside the other day and low and behold, there were a few tiny spears starting to poke up above the ground. Right now the count stands at four spears, which isn't a drop in the bucket of how much asparagus I can eat at one sitting. It is one of my favorite vegetables. But at least I know they are still alive, for now. We'll see what develops over the coming days.

After 3 years, this is what I have so far

PARTING SHOT

I followed Summer Girl outside this morning to see if I could catch her in a decent photo. Instead, I got a cute video of her. Now you can see why she has earned the nickname "PigPen."

That's all for this week, check back again next week to see what's up!